Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Keily was transported on the Hougoumont, departing 10th Oct 1867 and arriving 9th Jan 1868 with 281 passengers.
875 ton ship was built at Moulmein in 1852. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/on-this-day-in-history-australias-last-convict-ship-docks.htm ---------------------------- Incorrect Image ....This is a four masted steel hulled Barque in the drawing , im surprised Australian Geo didn't do a bit more research on this .......The Hougoumont was a works ship on the Forth Bridge Project in 1885 ....the one potrayed as a drawing in Aust Geo is the later version of this ship.....the photograph i have attached is the correct and original convict vessel. --00-- 1867 "The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn, and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land." Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 19 Dec 1867, p4, English Shipping, available on Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271?searchTerm=hougoumont.
HougoumontReferences
| Primary Source | https://www.friendsofbattyelibrary.org.au/bicentennial-dictionary https://tipperarystudies.ie/ https://tipperarystudies.ie/historical-journal-index/ |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Although previous entries state the birth location of John Kiely is unknown and believed to be Kinsale, County Cork, there is evidence to show John Kiely was actually born in Clonmel, County Tipperary. On the Houghamont are two Fenians with similar names, James Kiely, who has the spelling of the surname typically found in Tipperary, and there is a James EDWARD Kelly, who was from Kinsale. Some documents refer to him as Edward Kelly. THIS record is for James Kiely who was born in Clonmel to Michael and Nora Kiely. The changing of his surname occurred later in life, whilst in Western Australia and likely to become the more common version Kelly/Kelley. The details regarding his wife to Margaret and having two children in Ireland are correct. After James Kiely arrived on the Houghamont in 1868, he married Mary Ann Roach in 1883 and they had children. James is seen living in North Perth c1904 with fellow Fenians Tom Duggin and James Killeen (also on the Houghamont). James Kiely was the last surviving Fenian and died in Claremont (Nedlands) 1918. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery and has a memorial which includes a headstone to honour his memory. The other Fenian, James EDWARD Kelly, arrived on the Houghamont, but left Australia for New Zealand and then went to the US, where he lived his life, died and there is a grave for him which clearly states his particulars, including his origin being Kinsale.
1918, 31 October: James Keilly died at Sunset Homes, Nedlands. His death was registered at Perth (no.1033), and he was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery, Nedlands, WA. This record gives his year of birth as 1834 and place of birth as Clonmel, County Tipperary (Australia and New Zealand, Find A Grave Index, 1800s-Current). His memorial at Karrakatta also gives 1834 as his birth year (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142289173/james-keilly). -0- 1918, 1 November: From the West Australian, p1 “Family notices”: KEILLY.—The Friends of the late Mr. James Keilly, late of Waugh-street, North Perth, are respectfully invited to follow his remains to the place of interment, the Roman Catholic Cemetery, Karrakatta. The Funeral is appointed to leave Messrs. Bowra and O'Dea's Private Mortuary, 195 Pier-street, Perth, at 10.15 o'clock THIS (Friday) MORNING, per road. Friends wishing to attend the Funeral may proceed by the 11 o'clock train leaving Perth.
1877, 6 March: The Governor gave permission for him to live at York while holding his Ticket of Leave (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Establishment, Miscellaneous; Superintendents Register of Prisoners, 1867 - 1877 (V10)). --0— 1883, October: James Keilly married Mary Ann Roach, reg no.5607, in Perth (Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950). “They settled in Guildford, Western Australia and of their seven children only two daughters survived.” (Barry, quoted in FitzSimons, p342) --0--
Peter FitzSimons (p341-342) says James Kiely “endured the immediate retribution of his comrades’ escape”. Kiely claimed he suffered persistent persecution from the prison authorities “from that hour and for years after… After he refused to pick oakum and darn stockings he was placed in solitary confinement and fed on bread and water. This went on until – at least by his account – he ‘got hold of a little bit of information’ concerning what he would describe as ‘the arrears of the goods sent out for the convicts of Western Australia’” which he was sure the authorities would not want exposed. According to Kiely, his cage rattling earned him a visit from Governor Robinson and two days later he was let out with a Ticket of Leave, followed by a Conditional Pardon a year later. --0-- From his Fremantle jail record: KIELY, James M, prisoner #9797, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1845 [?] Place of Birth: Kinsale, County Cork Place of Death: Nedlands Marital Status: Married, 2 children Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Semiliterate Sentence Place: Dublin Crime: Not informing on a mutiny Sentence Period: Life Ticket Leave Date: 8 Mar 1877 Conditional Pardon Date: 28 Mar 1878 Comments: One of 62 Fenians transported on the Hougoumont, the last convict ship sent to Australia. Its arrival at Fremantle on 9 Jan 1868 signalled the end of transportation to this country. General servant, labourer, mower. Held at Mountjoy, Dublin & transferred to Pentonville, England, 4 Sep 1866. Ex 53rd Regiment of Foot (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --0—
According to Thomas Keneally (p669-70), the rationale for his exclusion is similar but more complex: “In the prison at Fremantle… James Wilson sat down to play cards with the others and passed round the information about [their escape] the next day. The unwitting prisoner who went uninformed was James Keilley, former soldier of the 53rd Regiment of Foot, life prisoner, whom… the others intended to exclude from escape. This decision was only in part due to Keilley’s being strongly suspected of having, in desperation and while serving his sentence in Dartmoor and Millbank, offered information to the authorities. In Millbank, he had tried to kill himself ‘by suspending himself by a coir rope from his gas pipe – believed to be a genuine attempt.’ In the personal and other description of 280 prisoners received per ship Hougoumont, it was noticed Keilley had scars on both wrists, an indication of a further attempt at suicide. This was the level of despair which had driven Keilley to his banal and totally unrewarded treacheries. Married with two children, he had been only twenty-one years old when sentenced in June 1866, and therefore still barely thirty at Easter, 1876 [not if he was born in 1834]. But it was not only the 10-year-old fallibilities of Keilley which excluded him from this escape. Early in 1876, Keilley had been assigned as servant to Acting Comptroller General Fauntleroy. He had become so friendly with the Fauntleroy family that he was permitted to remain at the residence up to nine o’clock at night, and sometimes later. It was Keilley’s tendency to be cosy and appeasing with Fauntleroy which led to a vote to exclude him [from the Catalpa escape]…”
1876: Nor was James Kiely included in the secret plan to rescue the remaining military Fenians, sentenced to life, from prison in Western Australia. It was an audacious plot, orchestrated and financed by Fenian sympathisers in America, to carry those men back to America on a whaler called the “Catalpa”. Thousands of words have been written about the escape of the “Catalpa six”, including the 1897 account, “The Catalpa Expedition”, by Zephaniah Walter Pease; Thomas Keneally’s (1999) book “The Great Shame”; and Peter FitzSimons’s (2019) book “The Catalpa Rescue”. Just why was James Kiely left behind? FitzSimons writes (pp208-209): “It is a bitter decision to be made, but all of Wilson, Cranston, Harrington, Hogan, Darragh and Hassett agree [the men who would become the “Catalpa six”]. Though they are tremendously excited at the news of the arrival of the American Fenians to save them… they must proceed very carefully from here. Obviously, the danger is that the prison authorities will find out before they can get away, and so... And so they must discuss the one of their number whose notoriously loose lips could indeed sink ships… their ship. It’s James Kiely, the Chatty Cathy who had blabbed at length to Constable Talbot about his uncles’ pike nests before The Rising. Apart from everything else, Kiely has become so close to Governor Fauntleroy – working for him as his family and personal servant, and gained extended personal privileges because of it – he feels more like one of them, than one of us. And so the six Fenians decide to keep the whole plan secret from him. Kiely is to be left out.” --0--
1869, 5 February: Thirty five Fenians who had been transported to Western Australia (as well as others imprisoned in Great Britain) were given Free Pardons / “unconditionally discharged” by the House of Commons. James Kiely was not among them. He and the other 15 military Fenians** at Fremantle were consigned to serve out their life sentences, or lesser terms up to 15 years, in WA. For a full list of those who received pardons, see the Melbourne Advocate, 22 May 1869, p4 (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169267360?). **Note: Of the original 17 military Fenians aboard the Hougoumont, John Boyle O'Reilly had escaped from WA by the time the Free Pardons were put into effect in the colony in May 1869.
1868, 10 January: On arrival in WA, James Kiely was listed as #9797, 21 years old [clearly an error if he was born in 1834 or a bit later], and a labourer; married, with two children (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department Registers (128/40 - 43)). However, on the General Register, his age was given as 31 years. His wife Margaret, and their two children – Michael (8) and Mary Ann (3) – were living at Clonmel, County Tipperary. James Kiely was able to read and write imperfectly and was a Roman Catholic. His character was “good”. His suicide attempt while in Millbank jail was also on record. This document also notes that in the normal course of events he would have been eligible for a Ticket of Leave in May 1879 (see Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599 – 10128 cont (R16)).
1867, 16 April: After almost 7 months at Millbank, he was transferred to Chatham prison, east of London at St Mary’s Island in Kent. Chatham, a public works prison for male convicts, was notorious for riots in the 1860s (https://www.prisonhistory.org). --0-- 1867, 23 May: Five weeks later, James Kiely was sent south to Portsmouth, a convict public works prison, in Hampshire, where he was listed as prisoner #951. The record for his incarceration merely gives his name and dates of admission and departure. He remained at Portsmouth for just short of a fortnight (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951). --0-- 1867, 6 June: He was admitted to Dartmoor prison, at Princetown in Devon – along with Michael Harrington and Robert Cranston (see their pages on the Hougoumont roster). Dartmoor became a male convict public works prison in 1850 and within five years it was reserved for less able-bodied convicts (https://www.prisonhistory.org). There are no easily accessed inmate records for this time but James Kiely’s WA Convict Record shows he was received aboard the Hougoumont from Dartmoor prison. --00--
1866, 4 September: James Kiely was received at Pentonville, in north London. Prisoner #3954, it was noted on his record that a parchment copy of his discharge from the army was attached. He was listed as having been sentenced to penal servitude for life (UK Prison Commission records, 1770-1951). Completed in 1842, Pentonville was built “for the detention of convicts sentenced to imprisonment or awaiting transportation” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Pentonville). --0-- 1866, 26 September: James Kiely was admitted to Millbank prison at Westminster in London, which served as a holding facility for convicted prisoners before they were transported to Australia. At Millbank, he was listed as prisoner #2431, a servant and Private in the 53rd Regt, No.907. He was listed as 25, a Roman Catholic, married with two children, able to read, charged with “treason (felony) mutinous conduct” and sentenced to penal servitude for life. Under “Previous convictions” is the notation: “Attempted to hang himself at Millbank 30.11.66 believed to be a genuine attempt. Good” [conduct, presumably]. His previous time in jail at Mountjoy and Pentonville had amounted to a total of 22 days of separate confinement. Next of kin were his wife Margaret Kiely and his father Michael Kiely of Dungarvan, Waterford (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners 1866). Note: By the 1850s, Pentonville and Millbank were places for all male convicts to serve “their probationary term (now reduced to 9 months), after which they would be transported or sent to a public works prison. This function continued more or less (notable exceptions including the reception of military prisoners in the 1860s…) until the decision to remove it from the convict prison system in 1885” (https://www.prisonhistory.org).