Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
James Stewart 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 255 (130). --0-- https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/. --0-- UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1866-1868. |
| 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
No one has claimed James Stewart yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for James Stewart.
Convict Notes
DEATH RECORD: Stewart James, male, aged 57, died in Perth Prison in 1885; registration #13309; registered 1885 (https://www.wa.gov.au/). --00--
From his FREMANTLE jail record: STEWART, James, inmate #9885 arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1826 Date of Death: 28 Jul 1885 Place of Death: Perth, gaol, natural causes Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Shoe maker Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Ayr Crime: Murder Sentence Period: 15 years Previous Convictions: Yes Ticket Leave Date: 17 Sep 1873 Certificate of Freedom Date: 14 May 1883 Comments: Boot closer, shoe maker (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
ABOUT THAT BRAND: Branded with a “D”: Until 1829, any soldier could be branded but after that it was reserved for deserters. In “Branded with a ‘D’”, Phillip Hilton (2010, p140) says “deserters were… ‘branded’ with a D on their left sides as a means of humiliating offenders” (https://eprints.utas.edu.au/17678/2/Hilton_Thesis.pdf), but he doesn’t say how the branding happened and there are conflicting versions among writers. For example, Peter FitzSimons (2019, “The Catalpa Rescue”) refers to barbaric fire brandings, while others describe painful tattooing using India ink (Keith Amos, 1987) and gunpowder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_branding). A post on the Irish Garrison Towns website (http://irishgarrisontowns.com/d-for-deserter/) says both practices were used – hot iron/fire branding being the preferred method until around the mid-19th century when it was replaced by tattooing: “A new device was created to mark the soldiers’ skin with ink, or even gunpowder… The large, blunt points [on the branding tool] hint at the pain it caused as a spring mechanism forced these points into the skin. Regimental doctors described the practice as ‘cupping’.” Simon Barnard’s (2016, p55) book, “Convict tattoos: Marked men and women of Australia”, has several shots of one of these spring loaded, brass “branding instruments” manufactured by John Weiss & Sons of The Strand, London. Barnard says they were used by medical officers to tattoo army deserters. The head of the “Weiss’ Invention” model has 47 needle points arranged in the shape of a “D”, all clearly capable of puncturing human skin. So, too, the points of the brass instrument featured on the Science Museum of London’s website (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk). Made by Savigny & Co of London, its adjustable points “still bear traces of ink” and were pushed through the skin by a spring-powered mechanism. Savigny & Co was “better known as a major manufacturer of surgical instruments in the 1700s and early 1800s”. The Museum says branding was abolished in 1829, except for army deserters who were tattooed. “The British Mutiny Act of 1858 provided that the court-martial might, in addition to any other penalty, order deserters to be marked on the left side, 2 inches (5.1 cm) below the armpit, with the letter D, such letter to be not less than an inch long.” In 1879, the practice was abandoned altogether. So the presence of the letter "D" on James Stewart's body, according to his WA convict record, indicates that he was a convicted army/military deserter at some stage prior to his conviction for murdering his wife. —00—
IN WA: January, 1868: On arrival in WA, James Stewart, prisoner #9885, was listed as a shoemaker, single with no children; 5'6½" tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes, sallow complexion and stout build. Marks -- letter "D" left side and stab mark right shoulder (http://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa42.html). --00--
1867, late September: He was sent from Chatham jail to board the convict ship Hougoumont for transportation: “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. 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). —0—
12 August, 1867: James Stewart was sent from Portsmouth to Chatham Prison, east of London at St Mary’s Island in Kent. Chatham, a public works prison for male convicts, was notorious for riots in the 1860s (https://www.prisonhistory.org). --0--
24 July, 1867: He was sent from Perth to Portsmouth Prison, Hampshire -- listed as inmate #1095, with no other details given presumably because Portsmouth was merely "a stop-over". He was there for less than 3 weeks (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for James Stewart; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1866-1868). --0--
JAILS: Post trial: James Stewart was held for some time at Perth Prison, Perthshire. The prison "was at the centre of Perth’s community, located next to the railway line which was built shortly after the remodelling of the prison which took place in 1840-42" (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/our-records-brief-history-perth-prison). --0--
NEWSPAPER REPORT of the trial: "THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1806... — Aberdeen Journal, Charge of Murder. — At the Ayr Circuit Court on Tuesday, before Lords Ardmillan and Neaves, James Stewart was arraigned for the murder of his wife at Saltcoats on the 1st of March last, by beating her so savagely that she died a few days afterwards. The prisoner at first pleaded not guilty, but after the examination of a number of witnesses, he, by the advice of his counsel, withdrew that plea, and substituted one of Guilty of culpable homicide, which plea was accepted, and he was sentenced to fifteen years’ penal servitude." (Thursday 13 September 1866, Edinburgh Evening Courant, p2) --00--
TRIAL: JC26/1866 High Court of Justiciary processes 1866 Country code GB Repository code 234 Repository National Records of Scotland Reference JC26/1866/99 Title: Trial papers relating to James Stewart for the crime of murder at Windmill Street, Saltcoats, Ardrossan, Ayr. Tried at High Court, Ayr. Dates 11 Sep 1866 Accused: James Stewart, Verdict: Guilty, Verdict Comments: Guilty in terms of own confession - culpable homicide, Sentence: Penal servitude - 15 years. Note: Pannel [accused] had initially pleaded not guilty. Victim: Susan Stewart, wife of James Stewart, Windmill Street, Saltcoats, Ardrossan, Ayr (https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/). --00--