Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Arthur George Read was transported on the Thomas Arbuthnot, departing 6th Jan 1847 and arriving 4th May 1847 with 289 passengers.
Built 1841 at Aberdeen, Scotland. Wood ship of 621 Tons. Thomas Arbuthnot, 1847. “The Thomas Arbuthnot convict ship, Captain Thomson, sailed from Spithead this morning for Port Phillip, with a superior class of delinquents, officially called “exiles.” These are the first “exiles” sent to the above settlement, which the inhabitants of that respectable place are very wroth at, and have memorialised the Government on the subject. The most ingenious trades and professions are carried on, on board this ship; in fact, we believe, all trades in vogue have their representatives on board. The most ingenious affair, however, is a newspaper in manuscript, published every Saturday, having its foreign and domestic correspondence, advertisements, and, indeed, all the necessary accessories to an apparently well-conducted journal. The articles are well written and the arrangements well made. The name of this paper is the Citadel, and the conductors dub the captain of the ship ” the governor.” The Citadel having no opponents enjoys a large circulation. The editor is a man who has been of considerable note in the legitimate literary world; but all names and circumstances in connexion with their present position is strictly preserved secret with regard to these “exiles,” the greatest majority of whom are juvenile offenders from Millbank, Pentonville, and Parkhurst (Isle of Wight) prisons.”—Times, January 12. Published in the Launceston Examiner, 2 June 1847. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36252218?searchTerm=Thomas Arbuthnot There was a lot of public criticism of the arrival of these “Exiles” in New South Wales, and of their treatment, by being offered training, etc, to the detriment of honest but poor labourers.
Thomas Arbuthnot (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/15, Page Number 153 (78) |
| 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
Son of William Read and Sarah Howes. Born Leicester. Read married Mary Birch in 1843. She died in 1844 and he married Mary Bryars. Prior to becoming a postal clerk, Read was an upholsterer's stuffer. He mastered joinery while a prisoner in Pentonville. On landing in Port Phillip, Read was employed as a clerk by Mr RP Mervin. On expiry of his sentence, Read returned to England and resumed his employment in upholstery. He died at Croydon in 1916, aged 95.
At Stafford, Arthur Read, formerly post-office clerk Stafford, pleaded guilty the charge against him of stealing six £5 Bank-of- England notes from a letter, and was sentenced to transported for ten years. It appears that Read, about six months ago, married the sister of Miss Ann Bryers, who in 1842 became notorious for the active and ingenious manner in which she duped Mr. John Wooley, merchant of Bristol of Bristol, by feigned correspondence, in which Wooley had the offer of wife with a fortune of £47,000. Read and his wife have kept the Concert Tavern, in Richmond-street, near Williamson’s-square, Liverpool; and the Liverpool papers of the present week have announced the extraordinary fact that Mr. Wooley occupying public-house in Frederick-street Liverpool, Miss Ann Bryers residing with him, and her name being over the door. Taken from Stafford Advertiser 14 Dec 1844, Shrewsbury Chronicle, 27 Dec 1844, and Gloucester Chronicle, 21 Dec 1844. --------------------------------------------------- Convict Exiles Index. Arthur G Read, age 25, per Thomas Arbuthnot. Date of trial, 10/12/1844, at Stafford Sessions, sentence, 10 years, Charge, Stealing valuable securities out of a post letter. Remarks: Exiles.