Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Richard Coles 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 242 |
| 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
DEATH: 11 April, 1868: Richard Coles died at Guildford from "chronic dysentry" and an "abscess on the liver" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9059-9598 cont., 9599-10128 (R15-R16)). --00--
IN WA: On arrival, he was listed as #9691, aged 22, a groom, single, able to read and write a little, Protestant; next of kin -- his father, a carter, at 16 Thames Street, Manchester. He had two previous convictions -- for stealing calico and assaulting police. He arrived with a behaviour rating of "very good" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9059-9598 cont., 9599-10128 (R15-R16)). --0--
JAIL & TRANSPORTATION: 8 October, 1867: Richard Coles was sent from Portland prison, Grove Road, Dorset, to embark on the Hougoumont for transportation to WA (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930 Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9059-9598 cont., 9599-10128 (R15-R16)). There are no freely available records of his jail admissions between March 1866 and this time. Several men convicted at the same sessions in Manchester were sent to Millbank prison at Westminster, London, but his name is not among them. “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 [anchorage in the Thames estuary] on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank... 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." (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00--
Newspaper reports of the trial: "MANCHESTER ASSIZES, MARCH 13... GAROTTE ROBBERY AT MANCHESTER. RICHARD COLES (20) was indicted for robbery in Whittem-street, Manchester, on the 26th December. On the night in question the prisoner and two other men attacked Mr. Thomas Bullock, from behind, and robbed him of 2s. 6d. and a knife, leaving him temporarily insensible from pressure on the throat. Mr. Bullock cried out 'Murder! Police!' when first attacked, and a police-constable coming from Oak-street apprehended the prisoner in the act of rifling his pockets. Guilty. Sentence deferred." (Leeds Mercury, Wednesday 14 March, 1866, p3, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) -- "Garotte robbery near Oldham-road... Richard Coles and James Mulloy, ten years—Coles to receive 18 lashes [with the cat-o'-nine-tails], and Mulloy two dozen (Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 17 March, 1866, p10, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/). -- "A testimonial was handed in to the judge with reference to the prisoner, and his lordship after reading it said that like almost every other case which had come before him, this man's misconduct appeared to have been the result of drunkenness." (Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 17 March 1866, pp10-11, at at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --0--
TRIAL: 10 March, 1866: Convicted at Manchester Assizes of "robbery together with another and with violence, before convicted of felony", and was sentenced to 10 years' penal servitude and "once privately whipped with a Cat of Nine Tails and to receive Eighteen strokes" (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Richard Coles; England; Lancashire; 1866). --0--