Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
Thomas Shaw 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 248. --0-- 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
13 October 1869: NEWSPAPER report of his trial "SUPREME COURT (CRIMINAL SIDE.)... Thomas Shaw was charged with breaking and entering the dwelling house of Edward Chuck [a shepherd's hut], at the Serpentine, on the 11th Sept., and stealing [clothing] therein. He pleaded not guilty, and was undefended. Verdict — guilty. Sentence — 6 years' penal servitude." (The Inquirer and Commercial News, p1) --0--
RECONVICTION IN 1869: SHAW, Thomas; #9966 Colonial Other No: 4745 Date of Birth: 1830 Date of Death: 13 Mar 1877 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Labourer Sentence Place: Perth, Western Australia, Australia Crime: Breaking into dwelling house & larceny Sentence Period: 5 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 9 Jan 1874 Certificate of Freedom Date: 11 Dec 1875 Comments: General servant (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00-
From the "Convicts associated with Toodyay" database: Shaw, Thomas (1830-1877) #4745; #9966 1858-01-01 Nile CWA: Unm; miner; semi lit Prot; larceny prev conv 6 yrs; York, Fremantle, Toodyay, Beverley; reconvicted 1869; unm; lab; York, Fremantle; gen svt. Ancestry: WA Convict records: Receipts and discharges book (1855-1859): p. 579: 1859 June 25: 4 prisoners transferred to the Avon Road Party: 4745 Thomas Shaw. T Cem BD: Was married; farmer; two children. BDWA: Shaw, Thomas, b. 1830, d. 13.3 .1877 (expiree), arr. 1.1.1858 per Nile. m. (WA). Chd. Eliza d. 1890, Thomas James b. & d. 1875 (Greenough). This man Greenough farmer. Employed 12 T/L men on occasions 1862-1871 at the Flats and the Mines (https://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/). --0--
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: SHAW, Thomas; inmate #4745, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Alias: BARKER John Date of Birth: 1830 Date of Death: 13 Mar 1877 Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Miner Literacy: Semiliterate Sentence Place: Northallerton, Yorkshire, England Crime: Larceny Sentence Period: 6 years penal servitude Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket of Leave Date: 5 Jan 1860 Comments: Labourer, general servant. Reconvicted in Western Australia (https://fremantleprison.com.au/) --0--
10 September, 1857: Sent from Chatham to board the NILE for transportation to WA; convict #16/1110. Behaviour on voyage "good" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department; Registers; Convicts Transported Per Nile (R32)). --00--
22 May, 1857: Admitted to CHATHAM prison in Kent; behaviour "good" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). Chatham, Portland, Portsmouth 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--
12 September, 1856: Admitted to WAKEFIELD prison in north Yorkshire -- served 8 months 13 days in solitary confinement; attempted to escape from this prison; behaviour "very bad". “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--
JAILS: 1856: Held at NORTHALLERTON, Yorkshire for 5 months 7 days (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --0--
TICKET-OF-LEAVE (in 1856): Licence number 4936: Thomas Shaw alias John Barker. Caption order and prison record. Reference: PCOM 3/45/4936 Description: Licence number 4936: Thomas Shaw alias John Barker. Caption order and prison record from when he was convicted of Burglary and stealing wearing apparel, jewellery and silver spoons at the Assizes at York, Yorkshire 11 December 1852. Then aged 21 years and by trade a Collier. Sentence: 7 years' transportation. Licence granted 08 February 1856, for early release from Portland prison. Date: 1856 February 8 Held by: The National Archives, Kew (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10341192). --0--
NEWSPAPER report of his trial: "THOMAS SHAW, alias JOHN BARKER (27), was charged with having, on the 24th March last, at Whitwell, stolen two slops and a pair of overalls, the property of John Duffitt. Mr. Simpson prosecuted. The prosecutor is a butcher at Whitwell, near Malton [about 18 miles n-e of York]. On the evening of the 24th March last, the articles named in the indictment were hung upon the prosecutor's hedge but on the following morning they were gone. To connect the prisoner with the robbery, it was proved by Thomas Webb (an accomplice, who has already been convicted of this felony), that he met Shaw, near York, when the latter proposed that they should go to Whitwell, and there break into a house. The two agreed to attempt the exploit, and about midnight on the 23rd of March, they endeavoured to burglariously enter a house in that village. Something, however, occurred to alarm the would-be burglars, and they had to content themselves with carrying off the articles which the prosecutor's wife had left out on the hedge all night. The evidence of the accomplice was confirmed in material particulars by other witnesses, and also by the fact that on the prisoner's apprehension he had one of the stolen slops in his possession. — Guilty. The prisoner (who is a ticket-of-leave man) was proved to have been convicted of a burglary, at the Winter Gaol Delivery, in 1852, when he was sentenced to be transported for seven years. The house he had attempted to enter on the 24th March last, was the same as that he had broken into in 1852. Six years' penal servitude." (York Herald, 5 July, 1856, p10 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/) --0--