Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Marchant 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 | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/19, Page Number 250. --00-- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000252/18660310/121/0007 |
| 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 |
Claims
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Photos
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Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE: Year of Birth is known from UK records but not the day and month. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty. --000--
From his FREMANTLE JAIL record: MARCHANT, James; inmate #9819, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1848 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Puddler Literacy: Semiliterate Sentence Place: Stafford Crime: House breaking Sentence Period: 10 years Previous Convictions: 6 Apr 1866, Newcastle Ticket of Leave Date: 15 Apr 1871 Certificate of Freedom Date: 8 May 1877 Comments: Labourer, sawyer, general servant (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --00--
IN WA: On arrival, James MARCHANT [sic] was listed as convict #9819, 20, single with no children, semiliterate, puddler, Protestant; family – father James, at Burslem, Stafford; 5’1½” tall, light hair, grey eyes, fair complexion, middling stout build. Behaviour in jail in England “good”. This record also lists two trials, both for housebreaking and larceny, each with a sentence of penal servitude – the first for 7 years and the second 10 years, along with the notation “sentences concurrent”(Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Convict Dept Registers, General Registers for Nos 9599-100128 cont. (R16)). --00--
EMBARKATION: 1867, 30 September: James MARCHANT was sent from Portland prison to board the Hougoumont for transportation to WA. “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 [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], 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 [not the senior Fenian, Captain Moriarty; rather, this was Bartholomew Moriarty, aged 17]. 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.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00--
1866-67: Some time after April 1866, James Marchant was sent to Portland jail; inmate #5906. Portland jail, south-west of London on the Isle of Portland, at Dorset, held adult convicts and “its purpose was largely to make use of convict labour in the construction of the breakwaters of Portland Harbour and its various defences” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Portland). --00--
JAILS: 1866, 6 March: James MERCHANT [sic], inmate #57, was admitted to Stafford jail; aged 19, from Burslem, semiliterate; committed by JE Davis for housebreaking; tried at the Adjourned Epiphany Sessions; sentenced to “7 years’ penal servitude”. The same document correctly gives Samuel Rowley’s sentence for the crime as 7 years’ PS (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for James Merchant; Stafford Gaol; Register of Prisoners; 1869-1874). --00--
However, subsequent reporting of the trial, in the Staffordshire Advertiser, confuses the outcomes of his two court appearances in March and April, as below: NEWCASTLE QUARTER SESSIONS ... [on 6 April] HOUSEBREAKING: Samuel Rowley, 26, labourer, and James Merchant, 20, potter, were charged wiih having broken and entered the dwelling-house of Benjamin Hancock, potter, Elliot-street, and stolen therefrom two coats, one vest, and one pair trousers his property. They were both found guilty. Rowley was sentenced to seven years’ penal servitude, and Merchant to three years, in addition to a term of seven years, to which he was recently sentenced at the Staffordshire Assizes [this is an error of fact]. The Sessions terminated at seven o'clock. (Staffordshire Advertiser, Sat 7 April, 1866, p5 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000252/18660407/113/0005) NOTE: This error is also repeated in his jail records and his convict record in WA. --00--
1866, 6 April: The next court document – from his appearance along with Samuel Rowley at the Newcastle under Lyme sessions, in the County of Stafford -- says he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ penal servitude for burglary. Rowley received 7 years (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Merchant; England; Staffordshire; 1866) --00--
NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF COMMITTAL: Local Police Court, Newcastle (Borough)... Tuesday. (Before J.Baildon, Esq., Mayor.) Housebreakers’ Confessions.—Samuel Rowley, a wooden-1egged man, and James Merchant were charged with having broken into the dwelling-house of Benjamin Hancock, a potter living in Elliott-street, and stolen therefrom two coats, one vest, one pair of trowsers, a handkerchief, a pocket book, and cigar case, of the value of £4. During the afternoon Thursday, the 1st of March, when the prosecutor and his wife were from home, the prisoners went to the prosecutor's house in Elliott-street, effected an entrance through the back window, and stole the above-named articles. Mrs. Hathaway, one of prosecutor's neighbours, saw the prisoners in Albert-street going towards Elliott-street on the afternoon in question, and they asked her to direct them to the house of a tailor named Peake, who was also a bass violin player, and who formerly lived in that street. Shortly afterwards she saw the prisoners going from the direction of the prosecutor’s house with a bundle in their possession. After the robbery had been discovered she gave the police a description of the prisoners. They were subsequently apprehended at Hanley and received into custody by Police-sergeant Lea. When they were first charged with the offence they both denied it, Rowley declaring that he had not been at Newcastle for two years; afterwards they both as freely confessed and related how they obtained the goods and how they disposed of them. Police-sergeant Lea detailed the confession made to him by Marchant to the robbery, and his admission that the clothes had been sold at a second-hand clothes shop kept by Richard Palmer, Broad-street, Hanley. The officer added that when he confronted Marchant with Rowley they immediately accused each other of having committed the robbery... The prisoners were committed for trial. (Staffordshire Advertiser, Sat 10 March, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000252/18660310/121/0007) --00--
JAMES MARCHANT / MERCHANT: The process of the arrest, charging, conviction and sentencing of James Marchant/Merchant is a little confusing. Court records show he was tried for housebreaking and convicted, on 6 March, 1866, at the Adjourned General Quarter Sessions at Stafford. On this date, the court document says he was sentenced to 7 years’ penal servitude, having two previous convictions for felony and one for misdemeanour (see England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Marchant; England; Staffordshire; 1866). However, a newspaper report of that court appearance says it was, in fact, a committal hearing and was held at the local Police Court, Newcastle, on 6 March, as below: