Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
John Mitchell 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 618. --00-- 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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Photos
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Convict Notes
COLONIAL CONVICTION: 21 April, 1857: Longford Quarter Sessions -- Larceny in dwelling house at night with intent to commit felony (https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB693-1-1$init=AB693-1-1_036). “John Mitchell was convicted of being concealed in the dwelling house of Mr. Simmons, of Carrick, with intent to commit a felony. Mitchell was found concealed under the bed where one of the Messrs. Field was to have slept, during the Carrick Races. Sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour.” (The Cornwall Chronicle, 25 April, 1857, p5, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65723548). --00--
OTHER: 15 December, 1853: Received a Ticket of Leave. 14 August, 1855: Received a Conditional Pardon (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p125. --00--
VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, John Mitchell, convict #27969, was listed as a tailor (good); 36 years old, 5’1¾” tall with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was single, “Jew” and literate. Native place: Stepney. He said he had been transported for “housebreaking – denies having been before convicted”; second conviction. Gibraltar report “very good” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p125). Family: “no relations” (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai49898). --0--
3 February, 1853: Sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --00--
On Gibraltar, John Mitchell was described as 32 years old, sentenced to 10 years for “housebreaking and larceny and previous conviction”; born in St Mary’s, Whitechapel; “Jew”; dark hair, grey eyes and a swarthy complexion, 5’1½” tall; single; literate; tailor; relatives/family – 3 Fireball Court, Houndsditch (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
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/). --
GIBRALTAR: 4 March, 1851: MITCHELL, JOHN, #1617, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Cornwall. He was held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
15 February, 1851: He was sent from the York hulk to board the Cornwall bound for Gibraltar (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for John Mitchell; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1808-1814). --00--
2 January, 1850: From Millbank, John Mitchell was admitted to the York hulk as Gosport. Listed as prisoner #2970, 31 years old, previously transported, from Whitechapel, 5’1” tall, dark brown hair, blue eyes with a crooked forefinger left hand, “Jew”, single, literate, tailor, next of kin – mother A Mitchell, Houndsditch (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for John Mitchell; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1808-1814). --0--
JAILS: 13 February, 1849: He was sent from Newgate to Millbank prison, Pimlico (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for John Mitchell; Newgate Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1861). --0--