Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Henry Sheppard was transported on the St Vincent, departing 28th Dec 1852 and arriving 26th May 1853 with 214 passengers.
St Vincent (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 92, Class and Piece Number HO11/17, Page Number 631 (318). --00-- Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/ --00-- England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Henry Sheppard; England; Worcestershire; 1847 |
| 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
FOOTNOTE: WHAT BECAME OF WILLIAM CARTER — HIS CO-ACCUSED? William Carter was among the first shipment of male convicts to be transported to WA, arriving there in 1850 per Scindian. See his bio at https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/carter/william/40309. —00—
OTHER: 9 June, 1857: He was granted a Conditional Pardon. For more details of his convict life, see (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p174. --00—
VDL: 26 May, 1853: On arrival in VDL, Henry SHEPPARD, “proper name Henry BURROWS”, convict #28018, was listed as a coachman; transported for 15 years for horse stealing; 27 years old, 5’5¼” tall with light brown hair, grey eyes and a ruddy complexion. He was single, Protestant and literate. Native place: Bath. He said he had been transported for “buying two stolen horses”. Gibraltar report “very good” (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-115$init=CON33-1-115p174). Family: Father William; mother Christiana; brothers George, James, Thomas, William; sisters Ann, Susan – at his native place (http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/ai56999). --0--
3 February, 1853: He was sent aboard the St Vincent for transportation to VDL (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --00--
On Gibraltar, HENRY SHEPHERD was described as 22 years old when convicted, sentenced to 15 years for “horse stealing – 2 charges; “each sentence to commence at the expiration of the former sentence”; “first conviction”; born in Writhlington, Radstock, Somerset; Church of England; brown hair, grey eyes and a ruddy complexion, 5’5¾” tall; literate; groom and jockey; single; relatives/family – living in Writhlington (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
On Gibraltar, as “convicts worked together with free men on the dockyards, lines between them became blurred. Convicts, like seamen, were ‘easily recognised’ by ‘their swarthy, weather beaten complexions…[and] muscular well-knit frames’. The discipline on the penal settlement was also influenced by the naval department, who superintended part of the works. In the 1840s, for example, convicts were provided ‘a half gill of rum’ at 11am and 5pm, which they drank from a trough. This mirrored the daily allowance of diluted rum, known as grog, to Royal Naval seamen in the Victorian era. Convicts were also allowed to use part of their earnings, to buy goods, usually tobacco, which they were allowed to smoke in the evening in the barracks. Though official correspondence cited health reasons for grog allowance, it seems likely that the convict authorities feared insubordination if they were banned from drinking and smoking, which were provided to the sappers and dockyard workers whom they worked alongside… In 1854, the acting overseer stated that “half of the offences were committed when the men were excited by rum”. For more serious offences, convicts were flogged with a ‘cat o’nine tails’ whip against the ‘flogging mast’, and during an investigation Dr William Baly concluded that the whip which was used was an old naval cat, which was ‘much heavier than any now used in the government prison and hulks at home, or in the army.’” (Roscoe, Katy (2018), “Convicts and the Sea: the naval influence on Gibraltar Convict Establishment” at https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/). —
TO GIBRALTAR: 4 March, 1851: Henry SHEPHERD [sic], #1604, arrived on Gibraltar from England per Cornwall. He was held on the Europa hulk (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; 1810-1822 [mislabelled]). --
NEWSPAPER REPORT OF THE TRIAL: 21 October, 1847: “Horse Stealing. —Henry Sheppard, 22, groom, and William Carter, 22, butcher, were charged upon two indictments with stealing a horse, value £10, the property of Thomas Burge, and a gelding, value £20, the property of W. Parsons, at Halesowen [south of Oldbury]. Mr. Huddleston prosecuted; the prisoners were defended by Mr. Streeten. The first case entered upon was that of Mr. Burge. The prosecutor deposed that he lived at Chilcompton, in Somersetshire, and that the 13th of July he sent his horse to his brother to put into a field, it was missing from its enclosure next day… The prosecutor’s brother proved that he left the horse safe in his brother’s field on the 13th of July. William Turvey, of Oldbury [100 miles north of Chilcompton], deposed that on the 16th July the prisoners applied for leave to place two horses in his field for a couple of days, as they wanted to take them to Fazeley fair [north-east of Oldbury]. Suspecting that all was not right, he went to Birmingham [east of Oldbury], for the purpose of examining the ‘Hue and Cry’, and finding these horses advertised in that publication, he gave the prisoners into custody on his return. The prisoners wanted… for the two horses; they were offered £40, but refused…” (Worcester Journal, p2, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/). -- Note: To put the route travelled with the first horse into perspective, Chilcompton to Halesowen is 95 miles in a northerly direction. From Halesowen, where the second horse was taken, it’s 5 miles to the north to Oldbury. William Turvey’s trip, from Oldbury to Birmingham, was 6 miles to the east, one way. Fazeley, the site of the fair, is about 18 miles n-east of Oldbury. --00--
TRIAL: 18 October, 1847: Henry Sheppard and William Carter, both 22 and semi-literate, were convicted of horse stealing – two convictions each – and each was sentenced to 15 years’ transportation after 1 month’s imprisonment (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for Henry Sheppard; England; Worcestershire; 1847). --0--