Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Eleanor Sharket was transported on the Lord Auckland, departing 11th Oct 1848 and arriving 20th Jan 1849 with 118 passengers.
Built 1836 at Calcutta. Wood barque of 628 Tons. 1846 - VOYAGE; August 26 -Brown, master, from Dublin 19th April, Passengers-Dr. Roberts, R. N , Surgeon Supt. Lieut. Gorder ; Ensign Thillwall; 65th Regt j Ensign Despard, 99th Regt., and Mr. Moriarty, with 2 sergeants, 48 rank and file, 6 women, 6 children, 65th Regt., and 176 male convicts.
Lord Auckland (generic)References
| Primary Source | https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON41-1-20$init=CON41-1-20p193 |
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Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE 3: 1 March, 1853: Three children embroiled in the savage murder of Michael Burke arrived in VDL on this day. Aboard the Midlothian were Ann GIBLIN, 18, Mary GIBLIN, 16, and Mary SHARKET, 14 -- all of Sligo. Records show that on 8 March the Giblin girls were hired as housemaids by a Mrs Champ of Campbell Street -- with Ann to receive £12 per year and Mary £6 per year -- a notation stating "with a promise of increase if deserving". Also on 8 March, Mary SHARKET was hired as a nursemaid to care for the children of Mr Willmott Esq PM, of Hobart, and do general service. Her wage would be £10 per year (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CB7-13-1-1$init=CB7-13-1-1p069j2k). --0--
FOOTNOTE 2: And what of MATHEW GARA? Reports in two newspapers in 1849 round out his story. From the Liverpool Mercury 20/3/49, p7; and Dublin Evening Mail, 14/3/1849, p1: “Sligo -- Mathew Gara was charged with the wilful murder of Michael Burke, at Clogher, in November, 1846. At a former assize James Sharkett, Ellen [sic] Sharkett (his wife), and Bridget Burke, were tried for the murder, and convicted. The prisoner was also put upon his trial, but the jury did not agree. The case at the present assizes was much weakened in consequence of the principal witness [at the former trials], Anne Giblin [a daughter of Bridget Burke], having become insane. Her sister Mary, a girl twelve years of age, stated that on Ballaghaderrin fair night, in 1846, she and her mother [Bridget Burke], along with James and Ellen Sharkett, being in deceased's house, had whiskey there, with which they intentionally made the deceased drunk; that they then put him to bed, and went out of the house, but returned in a few minutes, with the prisoner Mathew Gara, and James Sharkett carrying a hatchet rolled up in a handkerchief. They went up to the room where Mr. Burke was lying asleep on the bed, and Sharkett and Gara despatched him with the hatchet. They then brought her mother [Bridget Burke] out of the house, tied her hands, and tore her clothes and face, and she and her sister Anne were sent to alarm the neighbours, and say that robbers had attacked the house. They did raise the alarm; and the neighbours having assembled found the deceased murdered in his bed. Under cross-examination this witness [Mary Giblin] was very inaccurate in her statements. The next witness produced was a child named Mary Sharkett, a daughter of James, who was convicted for this offence, and she proved that on the night in question her father sent her to Peggy Flannery’s, for the loan of a hatchet; she got the hatchet and brought it to her father, who, along with her mother and the prisoner, left the house, taking the hatchet with them, and said they were going to Burke's place to get some meal. They returned after three or four hours, having the hatchet with them. There was also circumstantial evidence against the prisoner; but Anne Giblin being incompetent, and Peggy Flannery dead, the jury gave the prisoner the benefit of the deficient testimony, and acquitted him ... The motive for this horrible crime is not stated in the report from which we have made this abridgment.” --0--
FOOTNOTE 1: What became of Eleanor's co-accused BRIDGET BURKE and JAMES SHARKET? Bridget Burke's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life. Like Eleanor, she was admitted to Grangegorman female prison in Dublin, arriving there on 17 November, 1847, presumably to await transportation. But she died less than a month later, on 12 December, of fever (Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924 for Bridget Burke; Dublin; Grangegorman Female Prison; 1840-1853). Eleanor's husband, JAMES SHARKET/TT, was held at Smithfield jail in Dublin, from 15 May, 1848, having had his death sentence commuted. He was supposed to be sent to VDL aboard the Pestonjee Bomangee in October, 1849, but he never boarded the ship. The Smithfield record lists him as prisoner #3712, 40 years old, illiterate, a labourer, married and the father of five children. He was 5'1½" tall with hazel eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. He had no previous convictions and was "well conducted' in prison. On 3 August, 1849, James Sharket was sent from Smithfield to Spike Island prison, County Cork. And here the trail in freely available records goes cold. It's likely that he died either on Spike Island or elsewhere by 1852, since Eleanor was listed as a widow when she re-married in VDL in March 1853. --0--
DEATH: 12 May, 1898: Ellen Shrimpton (aka Eleanor Sharket/Sharkett) died from senile decay at Hamilton, Tasmania; a widow, her age was given as 87 (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai63164). --0--
FAMILY: 21 February, 1857: The second Shrimpton child, Hannah, was born, also at Bothwell (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai63164). 13 December, 1876: William Shrimpton, age given as 60, a hawker, died in Hobart from hepatic dropsy [liver disease] (https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-9p16j2k). --0--
TICKET OF LEAVE & CP: 19 December, 1854: Eleanor received her Ticket of Leave (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON41-1-20$init=CON41-1-20p193). 25 November, 1856: Eleanor received a Conditional Pardon (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON41-1-20$init=CON41-1-20p193). --0--
FAMILY: 18 September, 1854: The Shrimptons' first child, a daughter Ellen, was born at Bothwell, Tasmania (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai63164). --0--
MARRIAGE: 7 March, 1853: Eleanor (called Ellen) Sharkett married William Shrimpton, shepherd, free by servitude (per Eden) at St George's Church of England Hobart; rego #295 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-12p122j2k). Ellen, 36, was listed as a widow. William, 33, was a widower (although not listed as such). Originally a ploughman, he had been transported for stealing geese and received a Conditional Pardon in 1846 and a Free Certificate in 1850. He had married Catherine Power (per Mary Anne) in Hobart on 1 February, 1847, but she died on 18 November, 1852. --0--
IN VDL: 10 January, 1849: On arrival in VDL, Eleanor Sharkett [sic] was listed on her Conduct Record as convict #843, transported for life for murder. However, in her own words she "murdered her child", and the prosecutor was named Giblin. Did she deliberately fabricate the facts? If so, for what reason? Other information from her Conduct Record gives her age as 33 (compared with her jail record in Dublin in 1848 sais she was 30); a housemaid by trade; 4'10½" tall (cf 5'1½ in Dublin); and married with four children, one of whom sailed with her. The ship's surgeon reported her behaviour was "very good" (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON41-1-20$init=CON41-1-20p193). According to her Convict Indents record, Eleanor's husband James, convicted for the same crime [again, wrongly stated as murder of their child], was expected on the next ship. Her living relatives were her brother John and sisters Mary and Winifred at County Mayo (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON15-1-5$init=CON15-1-5P129). --0--
JAIL: 15 May, 1848: Admitted to Grangegorman female prison in Dublin, and listed as inmate #1213, aged 30. Her child, Catherine Sharket, aged 1 year, was with her. Eleanor Sharket was described as 5'1½" tall, with brown hair, a sallow complexion; married; illiterate; no trade; Roman Catholic; no previous convictions (Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924 for Eleanor Sharket; Dublin; Grangegorman Female Prison; 1840-1853). -- 5 October, 1848: She was sent from Grangegorman to be embarked at Kingstown, Dublin, for transportation aboard the Lord Auckland. --0--