Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Michael Gallagher was transported on the St Vincent, departing 28th Dec 1852 and arriving 26th May 1853 with 214 passengers.
St Vincent (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/17, Page Number 639 (322). --0-- Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/ |
| 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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Convict Notes
TO VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, MICHAEL GALLAGHER was listed as convict #27925, a stonecutter imperfect, 21 years old, 5’10” tall with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was single, Protestant and literate. Native place: Tyrone (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p80). He said he had been transported for “burglary, nothing taken, prosecutor at Enniskillen”. He had been sentenced to 6 months for a similar offence, and 3 months for assault. Prison report “exceedingly bad”. Gibraltar report “good”. Family: Father Michael; mother Ann; brothers James and Patrick; sister Ann – all at his native place (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai25415). -- 1 January, 1854: Free Certificate issued (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p80). --00--
VOYAGE: From the medical journal of the St Vincent, by Thomas Somerville, Surgeon Superintendent, Folio 3: 11 May, 1853: “Mic Gallagher, aged 22, convict; sick or hurt, opthalamia; put on sick list, 11 May 1853, discharged duty 13 May 1853.” (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4106910) --00--
On Gibraltar, Michael Gallagher was listed as 20 years old, sentenced to 7 years for “larceny from shops”; third conviction and “exceedingly bad”; born in Tyrone, Catholic; dark brown hair, black eyes and dark complexion, 5’9” tall; literate; labourer; single; relatives/family – Tyrone. --0-- 3 February, 1853: Sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL. --00—
Gibraltar and Bermuda were listed public works stations (and the second stage in the penal process). On Gibraltar, as “convicts worked together with free men on the dockyards, lines between them became blurred. Convicts, like seamen, were ‘easily recognised’ by ‘their swarthy, weather beaten complexions…[and] muscular well-knit frames’. The discipline on the penal settlement was also influenced by the naval department, who superintended part of the works. In the 1840s, for example, convicts were provided ‘a half gill of rum’ at 11am and 5pm, which they drank from a trough. This mirrored the daily allowance of diluted rum, known as grog, to Royal Naval seamen in the Victorian era. Convicts were also allowed to use part of their earnings, to buy goods, usually tobacco, which they were allowed to smoke in the evening in the barracks. Though official correspondence cited health reasons for grog allowance, it seems likely that the convict authorities feared insubordination if they were banned from drinking and smoking, which were provided to the sappers and dockyard workers whom they worked alongside… In 1854, the acting overseer stated that “half of the offences were committed when the men were excited by rum”. For more serious offences, convicts were flogged with a ‘cat o’nine tails’ whip against the ‘flogging mast’, and during an investigation Dr William Baly concluded that the whip which was used was an old naval cat, which was ‘much heavier than any now used in the government prison and hulks at home, or in the army.’” (Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/). --0--
TO GIBRALTAR: 3 October, 1851: GALLAGHER, MICHAEL #1908, arrived on Gibraltar from Ireland per Rodney. He was held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --0--
FROM SPIKE ISLAND TO BOARD THE RODNEY: 23 September, 1851: Michael Gallagher, male, aged 15, tried at Co Fermanagh on 7 January, 1847, and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation for the crime of larceny, a convict detained at Spike Island Gaol, Co. Cork, was sent to board the Rodney ('Ireland-Australia transportation database', Document ref1: TR 6, p 87, at http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/). --0--
JAILS: 26 July, 1849: Michael Gallagher was received at Newgate prison, Dublin, from the Spike Island Depot. Listed as prisoner #269, the only other detail provided about him during his one month stay is that he was convicted at Fermanagh. --0-- 23 August, 1849: He was sent from Newgate to Enniskillen Gaol (Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924; for Michael Gallagher; Dublin; Newgate; 1849-1858). --00—
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: 14 January, 1847: From the Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet, p2: “Michael Gallagher, indicted, for that he on the 9th November, Enniskillen, did steal and carry away one cotton striped neck kerchief, of the value of one shilling, the property of William Kettyle, merchant. Guilty —To be transported for 7 years.” --00—
TRIAL: 1 January, 1847: Michael Gallagher was convicted in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and sentenced to 7 years for larceny (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p80). --0—