Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
William Noah was transported on the Hilsborough, departing 30th Sep 1798 and arriving 26th Jul 1799 with 300 passengers.
Hilsborough (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/1, Page Number 249 (125) |
| 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
Noah arrived in Sydney on 26 July 1799. In 1815 he received a conditional pardon and an absolute pardon in 1818, after which he become a clerk in a government lumberyard.
William Noah is the author of a shipboard diary now in the Dixson Collection, State Library of NSW, ms: SAFE / DLMS 32. It has been published in its entirety: "Voyage to Sydney in the Ship Hillsborough 1798–1799 and A Description of the Colony", William Noah, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1978. This is essential reading for anyone researching the convicts off the Hillsborough, usually spelt with two 'ls'. The publishers give a two-page potted history of Noah from which the basic details above are taken. For William Noah himself, there are many more details in Notes at SLNSW DLMS32n, qv. There is brief reference also in "Ebenezer Beriah Kelly; An Autobiogaphy" by Ebenezer Beriah Kelly, [no publisher], printed by John W. Stedman, Norwich, 1856. Kelly was an American seaman. It's likely he appears in Noah as Ebeneasor Kilcany, a boy seaman. Noah describes himself as a silversmith and, when he describes the tools his sister tried to give him prior to the sailing of the "Hillsborough", he probably was. Nevertheless, he was convicted for stealing almost one ton of lead, perhaps even more. He stole it from a neighbour who "lived opposite". The crime is listed as "breaking and entering… and burglariously stealing…" Noah's Diary indicates the Hillsborough attempted to set sail from Gravesend on 28 Oct 1798 but failed. By 2 Nov 1798, she was anchored off Margate. By 4 Nov, she was in the roads off Deal. She did not depart Deal until 15 Nov., by which time deaths on board were already being recorded. She was at Portsmouth Mother Bank from 17 Nov to 20 Dec when finally she sailed for Port Jackson via Cape of Good Hope. At least 95 of about 300 convicts would die. There are apparently seven convicts in the Transportation Registers (PRO HO 11) whom Noah does not make reference to. Of these, four are unaccounted for and need more work: William Pierce, William Purver, Cornelius Sharpless and Joseph Smith. On the other hand, Noah lists another seven convicts "Enter'd at the Cape of good Hope" who are either not listed or do not tally with PRO HO 11: Edward Butler & Thomas Smith from the Barwell William Winter from a Grab James Renalds Edward Hamal Thos Felingum".