Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
James Mcgrath was transported on the Albuera, departing 6th Sep 1858 and arriving 28th Oct 1858 with 11 passengers.
Albuera, launched at Moulmain (British Burma) in 1854, made three voyages to Adelaide up to 1874. Sailing from Calcutta, India, on 6 Sep, 1858, she arrived at Fremantle with 11 military convicts on 28 Oct. They were all convicted by Courts Martial (in India and Burma) and sentenced to transportation. Note: Albuera is not to be confused with other ships of the same name or those spelled Albeura.
Albuera (generic)References
| Primary Source | Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 4679-5166 (R1). --00-- https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/courts-martial-desertion-british-army-17th-20th-centuries/ |
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Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE: NOTE: Year of Birth is taken from official records but not the day and month. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 (as well as 01 for day in the Death window) because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty.
DEATH: 1875, May: Name: McGrath, James Sex: M ale Age at death: 41 Place of death: Minninup [between Bunbury and Vasse] Year of death: 1875 Registration no.: 8467 Reg year: 1875 (Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages at https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice) --00--
FREMANTLE JAIL RECORD: MCGRATH, James; inmate #5056, arrived 28 Oct 1858 per Albeura [sic] Date of Birth: 1828 Date of Death: May 1875 Place of Death: Bunbury Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer, soldier Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Date: 1857 Sentence Place: Rangoon, India Crime: Desertion Sentence Period: 14 years Ticket Leave Date: 8 May 1861 Conditional Pardon Date: 3 May 1865 Comments: Labourer, general servant (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --00--
COLONIAL CONVICTION: 1862, 16 April: Swan – stealing from the person, 3 years’ hard labour; discharged 9 June, 1863 (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --00--
IN WA – OTHER: James McGrath Male, #5056, b. 1828, d. May 1875 Death: He died in May 1875 at Minninup, Bunbury, Western Australia. Convicted: Convicted of desertion (Court Martial) and sentenced to 14 years on 23 October 1857 at Rangoon, Burma. He had been convicted previously. Family Status: Claimed that his marital status was unmarried as at 28 October 1858. Occupation: Recorded as a soldier; weaver on 28 October 1858. Physical Desc. : Recorded with the physical attributes: D on left side on 28 October 1858.3 Literacy: Recorded as being illiterate as at 28 October 1858. Transported: Transported to WA on the Albuera arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia, on 28 October 1858. He had been collected from Calcutta prison. Convict No.: Assigned with Convict No. 5056 on 28 October 1858. Ticket of Leave: His Ticket of Leave was granted on 8 May 1861 at Western Australia. Conditional Pardon: His Conditional Pardon was granted on 3 May 1865 at Western Australia (https://www.waconvicts.fhwa.org.au/g0/p203.htm#i5056). --00--
IN WA – CHARACTER RECORD: 1858, 28 October: JAMES McGRATH, 26 [sic], single, illiterate, weaver; Roman Catholic; 14 years for desertion. General character – “Very Bad – 7 times convicted”. 1861, 8 May: On Ticket of Leave at Guildford; 1865; 1861, 23 July granted ToL; 1865, 3 May Conditional Pardon received (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --00--
BRANDED with a “D”: Up to 1829, any soldier in the British military could be branded, but after that it was reserved for deserters who were “‘branded’ with a D on their left sides as a means of humiliating offenders” (Hilton, 2010, p140 at https://eprints.utas.edu.au/17678/2/Hilton_Thesis.pdf). Hilton doesn’t say how the branding happened and there are conflicting versions among writers. For example, some writers refer to barbaric fire brandings, while others describe painful tattooing using India ink. A post on the Irish Garrison Towns website (http://irishgarrisontowns.com/d-for-deserter/) says both practices were used – hot iron/fire branding being the preferred method until around the mid-19th century when it was replaced by tattooing: “A new device was created to mark the soldiers’ skin with ink, or even gunpowder… The large, blunt points [on the branding tool] hint at the pain it caused as a spring mechanism forced these points into the skin. Regimental doctors described the practice as ‘cupping’." Simon Barnard’s book “Convict tattoos: Marked men and women of Australia” (p55) has several shots of one of these spring loaded, brass “branding instruments”, manufactured by John Weiss & Sons of The Strand, London. Barnard says they were used by medical officers to tattoo army deserters. The head of the “Weiss’ Invention” model holds 47 needle points arranged in the shape of a “D”, all clearly capable of puncturing human skin. So, too, the points of the brass instrument featured on the Science Museum of London’s website. Made by the major surgical instruments manufacturer of the 18th century, Savigny & Co of London, its adjustable points “still bear traces of ink” and were pushed through the skin by a spring-powered mechanism”. The Museum says branding was abolished in 1829, except for army deserters. The English Mutiny Act of 1858 provided that, in addition to other penalties, a court martial could order that a deserter be marked with the letter D on the left side, 2 inches (5.1 cm) under the armpit, with such letter to be more than 1 inch long. From 1829, the mark was tattooed on the body until the practice was abandoned altogether in 1879 (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co155799/branding-tool-for-marking-deserters-london-england-1810-1850-branding-tool). --00--
IN WA: 1858, 28 October: On arrival, JAMES McGRATH was listed as convict #5056, 30 years old, single, 5’8” tall, hazel eyes, brown hair, oval visage, sallow complexion, and middling stout appearance; marks – [branded] D on left side. A labourer by trade; convicted at a General Court Martial, Rangoon, Burma; sentenced to 14 years’ penal servitude for “desertion” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 4679-5166 (R1)). Note: Various records give his year of birth as 1828, presumably based on an assumption that he was 30 on arrival in WA. However, the “Convicts to Australia” site says the age quoted on these WA Convict Records “seems to refer to the age of the convict when the passenger list was created”. Also, if 30 when tried he could have been born in 1827 or 1826. --00--
THE VOYAGE TO WA: One of the few snippets of information found about the Albuera's voyage in 1858 appears in an article in the Melbourne Argus: “INDIA (From our Galle [Sri Lanka] correspondent. October 20, 1858): ... The very great mortality which has taken place in the shipment of horses from the different ports of Australia has created no little attention here. The Admiral Boxer, which arrived lately at Bombay from Sydney, landed only 76 out of 108 shipped. This makes the Australian horse too costly for cavalry purposes, and I am bound to say also, that the stamp of horses selected has not come up to what it might and should have been, in the opinion of the best judges, and those who have been in the colonies. The Government have despatched the ALBUERA [my emphasis] with convicts to Swan River, and to return with 120 horses from that colony. The experiment will be watched with much interest.” (The Argus, 18 Nov 1858, p5 at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/7304789) --00--
GENERAL COURT MARTIAL (GCM) This was army’s highest tribunal, dealing with commissioned officers and the most serious cases involving other ranks. It could only be convened by the Crown or its deputy (for example, the commander in chief, or governors general). At least 13 commissioned officers had to be present if ‘at home’ (serving in the British Isles, Ireland, non-British territories or small British possessions), or five if ‘overseas’ (the British colonies), together with a judge advocate. Decisions were confirmed by the person who issued the warrant (that is, the Crown or its direct deputy). (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/courts-martial-desertion-british-army-17th-20th-centuries/) --00--