Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Transportation
William Swindler 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 235 (119). --00--Chipulina, Neville (2013). “1842 - The 'Gib' Convicts - Skipper Figallo and the Fandangillo”, available at https://gibraltar-intro.blogspot.com/2013/08/1842-gib-convicts-figallo-and.html. --00--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 |
Claims
No one has claimed William Swindler yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for William Swindler.
Convict Notes
IN WA: From his Fremantle jail record: SWINDLER, William; inmate #4700, arrived 1 Jan 1858 per Nile Alias: SINCLAIR Date of Birth: 1830 Date of Death: 1 Jan 1890 Place of Death: Pauper Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Gas fitter Literacy: Illiterate [at odds with various English jail records] Sentence Place: Hereford, Hereford, England Crime: Burglary with violence Sentence Period: Life, commuted Ticket of Leave Date: 18 Mar 1858 Conditional Pardon Date: 15 Jul 1865 Comments: Self-employed as farmer (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
8 September, 1857: Sent from Portsmouth, #15/4176, to board the Nile for transportation to WA. Behaviour on the voyage "good" (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; Character Book for Nos 4508-5585 (R8)). --00--
4 July, 1857: Returned to England per the Hamilla Mitchell and admitted to Portsmouth prison, Cumberland Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire. Listed as inmate #4176, 20 years old when convicted, single, able to read only, labourer; behaviour "good" (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Wm Swindler; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--
4 March, 1851: Sent from England to the large Gibraltar work station. The penal servitude system used Gibraltar as an outlying branch of Millbank — “the terrible base prison” in London on whose site the Tate Gallery now stands. “It never promised more remission than one year in four, and sentences were high” (Chipulina 2013). Between 1842 and 1875, Gibraltar, along with Bermuda, was regarded as the second stage in the penal process (along with Portsmouth, Portland and Chatham in England and Spike Island in Ireland) “whereby convicts spent one to three years on public works, after which they would be sent on to Australia” (Chipulina 2013). 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 2018, p40). 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 11 AM 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, 2018). William Swindler was listed as Swindlar, alias Singlar, aged 20 when convicted. He was held aboard the Europa hulk -- inmate #1537. According to this record, this was his first conviction (which tallies with another jail document that says he was found not guilty of stealing copper some time before 1849). Described as 5'3½" tall, brown hair, hazel eyes, fresh complexion, compact build; able to read and write; labourer, Church of England. Family living at Pipleton [sic, should be Peopleton], Worcestershire; born Pipleton [sic] (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Wm Swindler; Misc.; Register of Prisoners; labelled 1810-1822). --0--
1 May, 1850: Admitted to Portland prison, Grove Road, Dorset; behaviour "bad". 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--
23 October, 1849: Admitted to Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London -- inmate #2631. He served 6 months 7 days in separate confinement; behaviour "good". Listed as 10 stone on admission, single, able to read and write well, a general labourer; next of kin -- David Swindler, farm labourer, Peopleton, Worcestershire. Note: The 1841 England Census lists David Swinler [sic] aged 45, an agricultural labourer, and Ann Swinler (35), along with their six children including William (10) at Lower Sapey; Registration District: Bromyard; Sub-registration District: Brockhampton, Worcestershire. --0--
JAILS: 20 March, 1849: Held at Hereford City jail, Gaol Street, Hereford -- served 7 months in separate confinement; behaviour "good". “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). Millbank, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails such as Hereford. --0--
NEWSPAPER reports of the trial: 24 March, 1849, Hereford Times, p8: "Hereford Lent Assizes... Collington.—Burglary and Assault. Swindler, alias Singlar, was indicted for having, between the hours of 2 and 3 the morning on the 20th of April last, at Collington [about 3.5 miles north of Bromyard], burglariously entered the dwelling house of John Williams, and violently assaulted him by striking him upon the head, and stolen the sum of 12s. 6d., his property. The prisoner pleaded guilty, as he also did to previous conviction..." -- 28 March, 1849, Hereford Journal, p5: "HEREFORDSHIRE LENT ASSIZES... Burglary and Assault.— William Swindler, alias Singlar, 19, labourer, was indicted for having in the night-time the 19th April last, burglariously entered the dwelling-house of John Williams at Collington, and violently assaulted him by striking him upon the head, and stolen therein the sum of 12s. his property..." (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/). --0--
TRIAL: 22 March, 1849: Convicted at the County Assizes, Hereford, of burglary with violence, and a previous conviction for felony [see below re accuracy of this]; sentenced to death, commuted to transportation for life (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for William Swindler; England; Herefordshire; 1849). --0--
COMMITTAL: 28 August, 1848: At Bromyard, he was committed to stand trial. Held at Bromyard County Lock Up House, police station, Bromyard, Herefordshire (noted in UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Wm Swindler; Portsmouth Prison; Registers of Prisoners; 1855-1858). --0--