Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Peter Salter 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 243 (124) --0-- UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1867 --0-- England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Peter Salter; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867; September --0-- https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa42.html --0-- https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/ |
| 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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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. -- SOURCE: 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 --000--
BACK TO LONDON: 1876, 23 November: Peter Salter, expiree #9862, sailed from WA on the “Daylight” for London. Listed as 47, 5’6” tall, black hair, brown eyes, long visage, very dark complexion (WA Police Gazette, 1877, No2, January 17, p12, at https://slwa.wa.gov.au/pdf/battye/police_gazettes/187701_m.pdf). --000--
FREMANTLE JAIL RECORD: SALTER, Peter; inmate #9862, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1830 Marital Status: Unmarried [see other records – married, 6 children] Occupation: Labourer Literacy: Semiliterate Sentence Place: Lancaster Crime: Burglary Sentence Period: 10 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 5 Mar 1872 Certificate of Freedom Date: 20 Sep 1876 Comments: Conditional Release 1874. Hay maker, labourer, general servant, miner, cook, grubber. To London, 23 Nov 1876 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --0--
IN WA: 1868: On arrival, Peter Salter, 36, was listed as convict #9862; sentenced to 10 years, at Lancaster Assizes, 23 July, 1866, for "burglary, on three indictments"; labourer; married, 6 children; semiliterate; Protestant; family – Mrs Salter, Haydock St, Preston; character “good”. Described as 5'6" tall, black hair (slightly grey), dark brown eyes, long visage, very dark complexion, strong appearance. Other: Ticket of Leave granted 5 March 1872; Cert of Freedom 20 September 1876 (Convicts to Australia at https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa42.html; and Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). --0--
EMBARKATION: 1867, 30 September: He was sent from Chatham to board the Hougoumont for WA. “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, 16 April: Admitted to Chatham Prison, St Mary’s, Kent – inmate #8916, aged 36; convicted of three burglaries at Preston; tried Lancaster Assizes, 23 July, 1866; 10 years (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Peter Salter; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867; September; image 116). 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--
1867, 21 March: Admitted to Millbank Prison, London – inmate #3107, Peter Salter, aged 36, lamp lighter, married, 6 children; semiliterate; Church of England; burglary, 10 years, convicted at Lancaster Assizes, 23 July 1866; behaviour “good”; served 1 month 3 days in separate confinement at Lancaster Gaol, and 6 months 20 days at Wakefield; family – wife Ellen, 19 Haydock Street, Preston (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Peter Salter; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners; 1866-1867; image 208). --0--
JAILS: 1866, July: Held at Lancaster Castle County Gaol -- served 1 month 3 days in separate confinement. -- 1866, September: Sent to Wakefield Prison (West Riding House of Correction, Love Lane, Wakefield) – served 6 months 20 days in separate confinement. “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. --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF TRIAL: From the Westmorland Gazette, 28 July, 1866, p6: LANCASTER ASSIZES. The commission of assize was opened on Monday last, before Mr. Baron Martin. CROWN COURT, Tuesday... His Lordship in addressing the grand jury, expressed his regret that the character of the cases indicated a prevalence of serious crime. Of the sixteen cases, six were charges of homicide, and one of murder. BURGLARY. Peter Salter, (36,) lamplighter, pleaded guilty to three burglaries at Preston. His lordship is passing sentence, said it appeared the prisoner had taken advantage of his lamplighter's ladder, to commit burglaries. The prisoner was sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000399/18660728/036/0006) --0--
TRIAL: 1866, 23 July: Lancaster Assizes – convicted of burglary on three indictments; 10 years’ penal servitude (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Peter Salter; England; Lancashire; 1866). --0--