Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Mcgrath was transported on the Andromeda, departing 28th Aug 1830 and arriving 18th Dec 1830 with 71 passengers.
Also, same day, from Cork, whence she sailed May 25th, the ship Andromeda, 401 tons, Benjamin Gales master, with 173 female prisoners; Henry Kelsawl, Esq., Surgeon-superintendant. Passengers — Fourteen free females, viz. Mary Manning, Martha Morron, Margaret Mahon, Margaret Sheedy, Mary Ann Nixon alias Welsh, Catherine Kiernan, Mary Cassock, Catherine Stanton, Johanna Neville, Mary Lyons alias Hynes, Maria Moran, Catherine O'Donnel, Margaret Kennedy, and Mary Sullivan, and twenty-six children; also twenty-three children belonging to the prisoners. Sydney Monitor, 20 Sept 1834.
Andromeda (generic)References
| Primary Source | Irish Convict Database, by Peter Mayberry. |
Claims
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Convict Notes
National Archives. Criminal Petitions. HO 17/66/59. Date. 1833- 1838. Prisoner name: John Leary. Prisoner occupation: Farmer. Court and date of trial: Cork Summer Assizes July 1829. Crime: Conspiracy to murder Admiral Evens, George B Low and Michael Creagh, magistrates, by the whiteboys in Ireland on 27 April 1829. Initial sentence: Death commuted to transportation for life. Annotated (Outcome): Free pardon 16 April 1838. Petitioner(s): The prisoner (signed by son Archie Leary); D R Pigot, counsel for the prisoner. Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): Witness' story is fabricated and contradictory; evidence disclosed after the trial contradicted their testimony. Other papers: I Rackham (judge) on witness' credibility. Davies Callaghan to E Littleton MP transmitting and recommending petition. [Unknown] requesting papers be submitted. Note explaining why Burke not called to contradict Daly. R D Craig request favourable attention to the evidence and informing that O'Connell urges a free pardon and passage home. E Littleton MP expecting decision to be reversed. Judge Pennefather the trial judge omitted to ask for the relevant papers and that the verdict should stand. William Parker requesting the case be referred to the commission judge. Judge Pennefather's recommendation. Lord Liverpool case to be reviewed. William Parker requesting investigation into case. Michael Pennefather to the Lord Lieutenant the Marquis of Wellesley commenting on his opinion of report. Viscount Morpeth requesting searches be made of missing documents. [Unknown] sending papers. Lord Woolf, Attorney General history of case trial papers and recommends pardon. Davies Callaghan asking to be advised when convict is ordered home. Lord Morpeth recommending pardon. Davies Callaghan internal memo on action taken in Home Office. Additional Information: Indicted with William Shine, James Rocke and Pat Magrath. In Sydney, New South Wales.
All four were reprieved and arrived on Andromeda.
Irish Convict Database, by Peter Mayberry. James McGrath, age 27, Andromeda II (1) 1830, tried at Cork. 1829. Life, for Conspiracy to murder. DOB 1803, Native place Cork Co. Ploughman reaper milkman sower. Remarks: Single. Catholic. ------------------------------------------------------ Latest British Extracts. Ireland. (From The Times, Nov 1.) The trial of the men charged with the conspiracy to murder three magistrates of the county of Cork, for which a special commission had been issued, commenced at Cork, on Friday. Mr. Baron Pennefather and Mr. Justice Torrens were the judges. In the first count, the prisoners, John Leary, James Roche, James Magrath, and William Shine, were charged with a conspiracy to murder George Bond Low, Michael Creagh, and Henry Evans, Esqs.; the second, for conspiracy with others unknown ; and in various other counts for the conspiracy generally and individually. In the eighth count, John Leary stood indicted for soliciting, encouraging and inciting David Sheehan to the commission of the said murder. …. At a late hour at night the jury retired, and after an absence of five minutes, returned a verdict of guilty. Mr. Justice Torrens, in a powerful and affecting address, pronounced sentence of death. The lamentations of the friends of the condemned outside the court was the first sound that broke on the solemn stillness. The complete article from the Tasmanian, can be read: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233096159?searchTerm=William Shine