Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
Miles Melia was transported on the Nile, departing 18th Sep 1857 and arriving 1st Jan 1858 with 271 passengers.
Nile (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/18, Page Number 238. --00-- Edgar, W. (Bill). (2018). “The precarious voyage of her majesty’s convict ship ‘Nile’ to the Swan River colony, late 1857 – and the unexpected aftermath.” The Great Circle, 40(1), 20–43. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783779 |
| 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
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: MELIA, Miles; inmate #4602, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1816 Date of Death: 15 Sep 1871 Place of Death: Champion Bay Marital Status: Widower, 3 children Occupation: Porter Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England Crime: Manslaughter Sentence Period: Life Ticket of Leave Date: 28 May 1861 Conditional Pardon Date: 6 Oct 1866 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
10 September, 1857: Sent from Portland to board the Nile for WA (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32)). --00--
19 June, 1857: Admitted to Portland prison; inmate #7133. Listed as 40, widower with 2 children, illiterate; porter; Roman Catholic; convicted of manslaughter 9 August, 1856, at Liverpool Assizes. Next of kin -- sister, Kitty Key, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. State of health "good"; behaviour "tolerable" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records to 1875). Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration—transportation.” (Edgar, p40) --0--
16 September, 1856: Admitted to Wakefield prison in Love Lane, Wakefield, Yorkshire; served 9 months 2 days in separate confinement; behaviour "indifferent". “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Wakefield, Millbank, Pentonville and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--
JAILS: 12 July, 1856: Arrest. Held at either Liverpool Borough Gaol and House of Correction in Walton Hill, Liverpool, or at Kirkdale County Gaol and House of Correction, in North Dingle Lane, Kirkdale. 14 July, 1856: Committal. 9 August, 1856: Held at Kirkdale for 39 days in association with other prisoners; behaviour "good". --0--
Newspaper report: From the 'News of The World', August 24, 1856: "THE FENWICK STREET MANSLAUGHTER Miles Melia, 40, porter, was indicted at the Liverpool assizes, for having, at Liverpool, on the 12th July last, feloniously killed and murdered one Francis Welch. Mr. Brett said the prisoner was a corn-porter, and the deceased a master lumper. The deceased was standing in Brunswick-Street, in the middle of the day, when the prisoner came down the street, and immediately went up to the deceased, and addressed him in an angry tone. He said to Welch, “We have known each other a long time; we have worked hard together;” and shortly afterwards he remarked, “You have been a bullying rascal among the men. The deceased said it was a mistake as he did not know the prisoner. Melia, however said that he did know the deceased, and said, “You are Frank Welch, and I am Miles Melia,” and he immediately struck the deceased violently with his fist. The blow was repeated three or four times and Welch went away to fetch a policeman. He tried to avoid the prisoner, but Melia passed by him, then turned back, and when he met the deceased gave him a violent blow under the throat, which knocked him down. Welch walked into Fenwick-street to find a policeman, and thither he was followed by the prisoner, who struck him a violent blow over the face which caused him to fall straight down and his head came in contact with the edge of the flags. He was picked up, and while the people who lifted him from the ground were supporting him, so determined was the prisoner to injure Welch, that he came behind, and over the shoulders of some of the bystanders, struck the deceased, several heavy blows with his fist, over the head. Thus the jury would find that the deceased, without having any words with the prisoner, was struck by him four times as he was going away in order that he might avoid the abuse which was being so gratuitously heaped upon him, and that the prisoner followed him, and being determined to injure him as much as he could, gave Welch a violent, a brutal blow which in the end caused his death. Witnesses were called to present the case. The Jury found the prisoner Guilty of Manslaughter. He was sentenced to be transported for life." --00--
9 August, 1856: TRIAL at Lancaster Assizes, Liverpool -- guilty of manslaughter; transportation for life (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892; England; Lancashire; 1856). --0--
Newspaper report of committal: From the 'News of The World', July 20, 1856: "LANCASHIRE Another Charge of Murder in Liverpool Francis Welch, a master porter, was standing in Fenwick-street, near the Brunswick buildings, Liverpool, talking to a corn-porter, named Richard Clarke. A powerful elderly man, a porter, named Miles Melia, came up, and made use of some abusive language to Welch, asking him for his wages. Melia concluded his abusive language with three violent blows on Welch’s face, which knocked him into the middle of the street. Clarke and another man picked up Welch and were proceeding to wipe off the blood and mud from his face and clothes, when Welch observed that he would call a policeman. Melia, who had a short pipe in his mouth, turned round and said, “I’ll give you a policeman,” and he then struck him a violent blow under the right ear. Welch fell powerless on the ground, his head coming in contact, with a fearful crash, with an iron grid. Welch was picked up speechless, with a large cut at the back of his head. He died the same evening, at half past eight, at his own house, No. 7, Cunliffe-street. Melia as brought up at the Liverpool police court, and committed for trial at the assizes on the charge of murder." --00--
14 July, 1856: Liverpool Police Court -- Committal hearing. --0--