Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Peter Kelly was transported on the Thomas Arbuthnot, departing 6th Jan 1847 and arriving 4th May 1847 with 289 passengers.
Built 1841 at Aberdeen, Scotland. Wood ship of 621 Tons. Thomas Arbuthnot, 1847. “The Thomas Arbuthnot convict ship, Captain Thomson, sailed from Spithead this morning for Port Phillip, with a superior class of delinquents, officially called “exiles.” These are the first “exiles” sent to the above settlement, which the inhabitants of that respectable place are very wroth at, and have memorialised the Government on the subject. The most ingenious trades and professions are carried on, on board this ship; in fact, we believe, all trades in vogue have their representatives on board. The most ingenious affair, however, is a newspaper in manuscript, published every Saturday, having its foreign and domestic correspondence, advertisements, and, indeed, all the necessary accessories to an apparently well-conducted journal. The articles are well written and the arrangements well made. The name of this paper is the Citadel, and the conductors dub the captain of the ship ” the governor.” The Citadel having no opponents enjoys a large circulation. The editor is a man who has been of considerable note in the legitimate literary world; but all names and circumstances in connexion with their present position is strictly preserved secret with regard to these “exiles,” the greatest majority of whom are juvenile offenders from Millbank, Pentonville, and Parkhurst (Isle of Wight) prisons.”—Times, January 12. Published in the Launceston Examiner, 2 June 1847. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36252218?searchTerm=Thomas Arbuthnot There was a lot of public criticism of the arrival of these “Exiles” in New South Wales, and of their treatment, by being offered training, etc, to the detriment of honest but poor labourers.
Thomas Arbuthnot (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/15, Page Number 156 |
| 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
The December 1844 Edinburgh High Court of Justiciary trial of Alexander Cowie, George Metcalfe, Charles McKay and Peter Kelly was reported in the Scotsman newspaper 4 December 1844 p 4 on High Court of Justiciary - The Leith Street Robbery'. Cowie and Metcalfe pled guilty to the break-in and received 20 and 14 years transportation respectively. However there is no trace of Metcalfe on Convict Records, so he may have deceased. McKay and Kelly were convicted of reset of some of the stolen property and each received 7 years transportation. See also McGowan, John (2022) Policing the Metropolis of Scotland, 1833-1861 (Edinburgh City Archives) Volume 1, reference at pp 1141-1142 for account of the trial.
High Court of Justiciary. Alec. Cowie. Charles M'Kay, Peter Kelly, George Metcalfe, and W. Irvine. were charged with the crime of theft by housebreaking, and with of theft, to so far as the said Alexander Cowie, Charles M'Kay, Peter Kelly, and George Metcalfe, did on the 5th May last, wickedly and feloniously break into the premises into the premises in Leith Street, Edinburgh. occupied by Peter Hay, watch maker and jeweller, by means of breaking the ceiling or roof of a flour store in the same street, occupied occupied by Mr Littlejohn, confectioner, and situated under the said promises, and by cutting or boring with a saw or with a brace and bits, a hole or opening through the floor of a back room forming part of the said premises and having thus gained access to the shop, they wickedly and feloniously took away thirty, or thereby, silver watches, four gold chains, several other gold chains, two brilliant diamond rings, thirty gold breast pins, thirty-five gold rings. twenty-four gold guard-rings, twenty-four wedding hoops, twenty-eight gold lockets, twelve silver snuff boxes, and other silver articles, besides a great variety of silver tea, table, and dessert spoons, silver thimbles, eye-glasses, medals, &c., &c., the property of the said Peter Hay ; the prisoner Irvine was charged with resetting several of the stolen articles, knowing the same to be stolen; the prisoners Cowie and Kelly were charged with the farther aggravations of being habit and repute thieves. All the prisoners pleaded guilty, Cowie and Metcalfe of the robbery, M'Kay and Kelly of reset, and Irvine of resetting one gold watch and ring. Lord Montcreiff animadverted at great length on the enormity of the crime which the prisoner. had confessed; and the other Judges concurring in the amount of punishment which his Lordship proposed, the prisoners were sentenced, Cowie to 20 years' transportation. Metcalfe to 14, M'Kay and Kelly to 17 years, and Irvine to 12 months imprisonment. Witness (Edinburgh) 4 Dec 1844. -------------------------------------------------- Convict Exiles Index. Peter Kelly, age 19, per Thomas Arbuthnot. Date of trial, 2/12/1844, at Edinburgh, sentence, 7 years, Charge, ? Of theft. Remarks: Exiles. --------------------------------------------------- Reset of Theft. Scotch law. The receiving and keeping of stolen goods knowing them to be stolen, with a design of feloniously retaining them from the real owner.