Summary
Personal Information
Transportation
Henry Prestidge 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 241 (122). --00--Chipulina, Neville (2013). “1842 - The 'Gib' Convicts - Skipper Figallo and the Fandangillo”, available at https://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.com/2013/08/1842-gib-convicts-figallo-and.html --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. |
| 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
FOOTNOTE: WHAT BECAME OF THE OTHER FOUR CONVICTED MEN? 1. George SHEPHERD was also transported with Henry PRESTIDGE to WA per the Nile. See George's bio at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/shepherd/george/57305. 2. John PRESTIDGE, Benjamin TALBOT and William PRESTIDGE were imprisoned along with Henry PRESTIDGE and George SHEPHERD, at the same time, at: Northampton, Wakefield, Portland, and Gibraltar. But two of the five died on Gibraltar. The first death was that of Benjamin TALBOT (born 1830), in hospital, on 13 October, 1853. He was listed as Benjamin TALBOTT, inmate #1544, single, 19 when convicted, a labourer, born at Moreton Pinking [sic], and his family still lived there. He had brown hair, light hazel eyes, light eyebrows and lashes, a sharp nose, compact mouth, fair complexion, oval visage and a slight make/build, 5’5¾” tall. Other features: two small scars on right cheek, vaccination mark left arm (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). William PRESTIDGE (born 1822) also died in hospital on Gibraltar, on 21 June, 1856, following an accident. He was inmate #1542, married [to Sarah Tubb in 1841] with four children, 27 when convicted, a labourer, able to read and write, and had a previous conviction for assault. Born at Moreton Pinking [sic], and his family still lived there. William had brown hair, hazel eyes, brown eyebrows and lashes, a sharp nose, compact mouth, fresh complexion, oval visage and a slight make/build, 5’7” tall. Other features: small mole left side of back, one centre of breast, one inside small finger left hand (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). 3. On Gibraltar, John PRESTIDGE (born 1793) was inmate #1538, aged 56 when convicted; first conviction; married [to Mary Talbot]; able to read and write, a labourer, born at Morton Pinking [sic]. He had black and grey hair, hazel eyes, dark eyebrows and lashes, a sharp nose, compact mouth, swarthy complexion, oval visage and a stout make/build, 5’9½” tall. Other features: scar on left side, on back of neck, right breast and left shoulder, third finger broken (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). John returned to England per the Hamilla Mitchell convict ship in 1857 and, along with George SHEPHERD and Henry PRESTIDGE, he was admitted to Portsmouth prison, as inmate #4084. On 16 September, 1857, John PRESTIDGE was "invalided to Dartmoor". By this time, he had served 8 years 6 months 14 days in jail (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858).
DEATH OF HENRY PRESTIDGE: From WA BD&M site: Prestidge, Henry; aged 57; registration #11315; death registered 1882 (https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/). Family records give the full details: Died 2 May, 1882, at Greenough, WA. --00--
8 January, 1879: From the Victorian Express (Geraldton), p2: Dissolution of Partnership. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the partnership which has for some time past been carried on by Owen McGuinness and Henry Prestidge, under the firm of "McGuinness & Prestidge" at the Back Greenough Flats, in the trade or business of Farmers and Graziers, has been this day dissolved by mutual consent. As witness our hands this Sixth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Seventy nine: Signed } Owen McGuinness. Henry Prestidge. Witness: — Arthur H. DuBoulay, Solicitor, Geraldton. (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/212142074) --00--
From his Fremantle jail record: PRESTIDGE, Henry; inmate #4695, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Date of Birth: 1828 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Illiterate Sentence Place: Northampton, Northampton, England Crime: House breaking Sentence Period: Life Ticket of Leave Date: 7 Apr 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 15 Sep 1880 Comments: To South Australia, 20 Jan 1879 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
IN WA: On arrival, he was listed as: Prestidge, Henry; #4695, labourer, single, no children; 5'8", dark brown hair, hazel eyes, long visage, fair complexion, middling stout build; scar right arm (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers). --0--
8 September, 1857: Henry Prestidge was sent from Portsmouth, prisoner #10/4158, to board the Nile for transportation to WA. His behaviour on the voyage was “very good” (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). —00—
4 July, 1857: Henry Prestidge was admitted to Portsmouth prison, in Penny Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, returning from Gibraltar per the convict ship Hamilla Mitchell. Listed as inmate #4158; details mainly as per Gibraltar except again listed as 22 when convicted, and reads only. Next of kin — none named, only “Morton Pinkney” as their address. His behaviour at Northampton jail was “good”; at Wakefield “moderately good”; Portland “good” and Gibraltar “—” (no report). Up to this time, according to his record, he had served 8 years 6 months 6 days in prison (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
18 February, 1851: He was sent aboard the Cornwall for transportation to Gibraltar (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records; Undated). --0-- 4 March, 1851: He arrived at the large Gibraltar work station. The penal servitude system used Gibraltar as an outlying branch of Millbank — “the terrible base prison” in London on whose site the Tate Gallery now stands. “It never promised more remission than one year in four, and sentences were high” (Chipulina 2013). Between 1842 and 1875, Gibraltar, along with Bermuda, was regarded as the second stage in the penal process (along with Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England and Spike Island in Ireland) “whereby convicts spent one to three years on public works, after which they would be sent on to Australia” (Chipulina 2013). 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 2018, p40). 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 11 AM 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, 2018). On Gibraltar, Henry Prestidge was held on the Europa Hulk; inmate #1540. Listed as 23 when tried, convicted for housebreaking; second conviction; born Morton Pinking [sic]; family at Morton Pinking [sic], Northamptonshire. Other: Church of England, reads and writes, labourer, single; dark brown hair, hazel eyes, light eyebrows and lashes, aquiline nose, compact mouth, fresh complexion, long visage and stout make/build, 5’7½". Other features: Scar over left eye, vaccination mark right arm (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc. Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 and other years). --0--
3 May, 1850: He was admitted to Portland prison, inmate #1374. Listed as 22 when convicted, single, labourer, convicted for housebreaking, life; previous conviction (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portland Prison; Prison Records; Undated). 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--
13 June, 1849: He was admitted to the West Riding House of Correction (also called Wakefield House of Correction, Wakefield County Gaol, Wakefield Prison and HMP Wakefield), Love Lane, Wakefield, in Yorkshire. “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. In Wakefield, Henry Prestidge served 10 months in separate confinement. --0--