Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Robert Pearce was transported on the Hougoumont, departing 10th Oct 1867 and arriving 9th Jan 1868 with 281 passengers.
875 ton ship was built at Moulmein in 1852. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/on-this-day-in-history-australias-last-convict-ship-docks.htm ---------------------------- Incorrect Image ....This is a four masted steel hulled Barque in the drawing , im surprised Australian Geo didn't do a bit more research on this .......The Hougoumont was a works ship on the Forth Bridge Project in 1885 ....the one potrayed as a drawing in Aust Geo is the later version of this ship.....the photograph i have attached is the correct and original convict vessel. --00-- 1867 "The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn, and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land." Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 19 Dec 1867, p4, English Shipping, available on Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271?searchTerm=hougoumont.
HougoumontReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 93, Class and Piece Number HO11/19, Page Number 234. --0-- 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
NOTE: Year of Birth is taken from official records but day and month are not known. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty. --0--
DEATH: Name: Robert Pearce Gender : Male Birth Date: 1840 Death Date: 16 May 1895 Death Place: Perth, City of Perth, Western Australia, Australia Cemetery: East Perth Cemeteries Plot: Church of England Burial or Cremation Place: Perth, City of Perth, Western Australia, Australia Has Bio?: Y (55, Depot Perth; Arrived 09/01/1868 per Hougomont; Convict # 9849) URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216212539/robert-pearce --000--
FREMANTLE JAIL RECORD: PEARCE, Robert; inmate #9849, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1837 [1839] Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Baker Literacy: Literate Crime: Larceny Sentence Period: 10 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 16 Jun 1871 Certificate of Freedom Date: 23 Aug 1875 Comments: General servant, labourer (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --00--
IN WA: 1868, 10 January: On arrival, ROBERT PEARCE was listed as convict #9849, 28 [on arrival], baker; single; literate, Protestant; convicted for larceny after previous conviction, 10 years PS; family – father Robert, Spelder St Road, 4 King Edward’s Road; behaviour in jail in England “good”. Previous convictions – felony 1858, felony 1858, larceny 1862; 5’0” tall, black hair, brown eyes, oval visage, dark complexion, healthy appearance; marks – scar right third finger and on breast, left leg broken (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers, General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). --0--
EMBARKATION: “The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up, by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank, for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty [not the senior Fenian, Captain Moriarty; rather, this was Bartholomew Moriarty, aged 17]. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00--
1867, 5 October: He was sent from Portsmouth to board the Hougoumont for WA. His health was “good” and behaviour “very good” (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Robert Pearce; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867, December). --00--
1866, December quarter: At Woking, he was inmate #2718; listed in the December quarter as in “delicate” health and of “very good” behaviour (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Robert Pearce; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1866, December). 1867, March quarter: As above. 1867, September quarter: As above but he was in “rather delicate” health; behaviour “good”. At some time during this quarter, he was transferred to Portsea Prison at Cumberland Street/ Gloucester Road, Portsmouth. 1867, September quarter: At Portsea, he was inmate #1225, health “good” and so was his behaviour. --0--
JAILS: 1865, 26 July: He was sent from Newgate Prison in London to the Invalid Prison at Woking (UK, After-Trial Calendar of Prisoners, 1855-1931 for Robert Pearce; 1865). Opened April 1859, primarily for invalided male convicts, by March 1860 Woking had taken over entirely from the temporary invalid prison at Lewes. Between 1862 and 1867, Woking was responsible for the working party sent to labour for the construction of Broadmoor Criminal Asylum. The prison closed in March 1889 as the decline in the convict population made it unnecessary to maintain a separate prison for invalids. (https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/woking-male-prison/) --0--
TRIAL: 1865, 12 July: Case #699, Robert Pearce (26, born 1839), baker, was tried before Mr Kerr at the Old Bailey, London, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years’ penal servitude for stealing a pair of boots belonging to Joshua Howe, and to having a previous conviction in 1858 [as Robert Pearce, for embezzlement] (https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=186507100039). --00--
COMMITTAL: 1865, 10 July: As Robert Pearce, 26, baker, he was committed by Alderman Abbiss, at Guildhall, to be tried for stealing a pair of boots (UK, After-Trial Calendar of Prisoners, 1855-1931 for Robert Pearce; 1865). --0--