Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Thomas Wilson 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, p242. --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. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783779. --0-- https://fremantleprison.com.au |
| 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
TICKET OF LEAVE: 1855, 14 April: Licence number 2860: Thomas Wilson alias Thomas Wilton. “Convicted of [not known] at the [not known] at Knutsford, Cheshire, 21 August 1848. Then aged [not known] years and by trade a [not known]. Sentence: 15 years' Transportation. Licence granted: 14 April 1855, for early release from Portsmouth prison. Comments: Received from Bermuda ex ‘Sir George Seymour’. Wanting. Date: 1855, April 14; Reference: PCOM 3/28/2860” (National Archives, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10168783 --00-- TRIAL in 1865: 1865, 22 May: Thomas Wilson was convicted at the General Sessions of the Peace, at Salford, Lancashire [begun as the General Sessions of the Peace at Preston on 17 May]. He was sentenced to 7 years’ penal servitude for “larceny and previous convictions”. Five previous convictions for felony (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Taylor; England; Lancashire; 1865; image 21). --00--
1855, 16 March: The “Sir George Seymour” arrived at Queenstown, Great Island, Cork Harbour, Ireland, with convicts from Bermuda (Belfast Mercury, Saturday 17 March, 1855, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000784/18550317/039/0002). -- 1855, 18 March: The “Sir George Seymour” sailed for Portsmouth carrying “provisions” (Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 20 March, 1855, p3, at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000876/18550320/065/0003). -- 1855, March quarter: Portsmouth Prison – inmate #2457, Thomas Wilson, 20, convicted Knutsford 21 August, 1848, 15 years; health “good”, behaviour “good” (image 175). The exact date of his admission is not given. --0--
1854, June quarter: Boaz Island Prison, Bermuda – inmate #553, Thomas Wilson; health in previous quarter “healthy”. Behaviour “very good”; previous quarters: 3 very good, 10 good [13 quarters, not counting June 1854]. Here he served around nine months (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1854; June; image 300). On Boaz Island, he was probably held in the Clarence Barracks. “Boaz Island, formerly known as Gate's Island or Yates Island, is one of the six main islands of Bermuda. It is part of a chain of islands in the west of the country that make up Sandys Parish, lying between the larger Ireland Island and Watford Island, with which it has been joined by a man-made isthmus... The Clarence Barracks were built on Boaz in the middle of the 19th century to house convict labourers who had formerly been accommodated aboard Prison hulks [e.g. Coromandel, Dromedary, Medway, etc]. A hospital and other connected facilities were built on neighboring Watford Island. When the Convict Establishment was withdrawn in the 1860s, both islands were transferred to the British Army...” 1855, March quarter: Boaz Island Prison, Bermuda – inmate #553, Thomas Wilson, behaviour in previous quarters: 5 very good, 11 good [16 quarters]. By this time, he had served around nine months on Boaz Island, and was subsequently “discharged for passage to England” per “Sir George Seymour” (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1855; March; image 306). --0--
1854, ... January: Admitted to the Medway Prison hulk, Bermuda – inmate #2176 (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1854; March; [Medway] image 261). -- 1854, 31 January: Transferred from the Medway hulk to Boaz Island Prison, Bermuda. His behaviour on the Medway hulk for the March quarter was “good”; previous quarters 2 very good, 10 good (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1854; March; [Medway] image 261). --0--
1850, 27 November: Sent from Warrior hulk and embarked at Liverpool for Bermuda per “Sir Robert Seppings” (image 145). -- 1851, March quarter: Admitted to the Dromedary Prison hulk, Bermuda – inmate #2434, Thomas Wilson, 20, convicted at Knutsford, 21 August, 1848, 15 years for breaking and entering a dwelling house and previous conviction; “healthy”, behaviour “good” (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1851; March; [Dromedary] image 173). -- 1851 – September, 1853: As above (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1853; September; [Dromedary] image 274). -- 1853, December quarter: Dromedary Prison hulk, Bermuda – inmate #2434; as above (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Thomas Wilson; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Hulks and Convict Prisons; 1853; December; [Dromedary] image 289). --0--
1849, 7 August: Admitted to the Justitia Prison Hulk, moored at Woolwich – inmate #204, 20 years old [when convicted]; 15 years’ transportation ( image 105). -- 1849, 27 December: Admitted to the Warrior hulk at Woolwich – inmate #4589, 20 years old, 15 years for breaking and entering a dwelling house and previous conviction (image 164). -- 1850, March quarter: As above (image 164). -- 1850, June quarter: As above (image 167). -- 1850, September quarter: As above (image 163). --0--
PRISON & TRANSPORTATION POST-CONVICTION IN 1848: 1848 - 8 January 1849: Held at Knutsford Gaol following his conviction – most likely serving some/all of that time in separate confinement. -- 1849, 9 January: Admitted to Millbank Prison, London – inmate #16249, Thomas Wilson alias Wilton, 20 years old [when convicted in 1848], literate, labourer; 15 years’ transportation (UK, Criminal Records, 1780-1871; Prison Registers and Statistical Returns; 1848-1850; HO 24/4; Millbank; image 105). --0--
PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS, including: 1840, August Sessions Manchester, stealing bread – 14 days; 1842, October Sessions, Salford, stealing money – 4 months; 1843, October Sessions, Knutsford, stealing money – 7 years’ transportation; 1848, 21 August Sessions, Knutsford, housebreaking and prev conv – 15 years’ transportation. --0--