Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
John Whittaker 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 243 (124). --0-- UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners, 1866-1867. --0-- England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892; England; Lancashire; 1866. |
| 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 John Whittaker yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for John Whittaker.
Convict Notes
FOOTNOTE 2: His date of birth has been updated according to military and family history researchers' records located on Ancestry.com.
FOOTNOTE: DESERTION -- 1863, 24 April: Name John Whittaker Age 28 Birth Year Abt 1835 Birth Place Glasson, Lancashire Desertion Date 24 April 1863 Desertion Place Lancaster Publication Date 17 July 1863 Regimental Number 5408 Military Corps 1st Lancashire Note: “The 1st Lancashire Artillery Volunteers (1st LAV), popularly known as 'Brown's Corps', was an auxiliary unit of the British Army raised in Liverpool in 1859... An invasion scare in 1859 led to the emergence of the Volunteer Movement and huge enthusiasm for joining local Volunteer Corps. The 1st Administrative Brigade, Lancashire Artillery Volunteers, was established in February 1860 to bring together a number of small artillery volunteer corps (AVCs) that had sprung up in the Liverpool area of Lancashire: • 1st (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 16 November 1859, as two batteries. • 2nd (Crosby) Lancashire AVC – 12 December 1859; struck off 1864. • 6th (Windsor Iron Works) Lancashire AVC – 20 December 1859; struck off 1864. • 7th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC (Liverpool) – 21 December 1859; struck off 1869. • 13th (Everton) Lancashire AVC – 28 February 1860; struck off 1863. • 14th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 28 February 1860; absorbed by 1st as No 3 Battery in 1861. • 20th (Liverpool) Lancashire AVC – 8 August 1860; absorbed by 6th in 1861” (Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Lancashire_Artillery_Volunteers). --000--
BURIAL: Name John Whittaker Gender Male Birth Date 1840 [see note below] Death Date 15 June, 1868 Death Place Perth, City of Perth, Western Australia, Australia Cemetery East Perth Cemeteries; Plot -- Location not known Burial or Cremation Place Perth, City of Perth, Western Australia, Australia Has Bio? Yes URL https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/219136132/john-whittaker --000--
DEATH: 1868, 15 June: John Whittaker died at Perth Colonial Hospital from typhoid (Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930; Convict Department, Registers; General Register for Nos 9599-10128 cont. (R16)). From the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Name: Whittaker, John Sex: Male Age: 28 Died at: Perth Year of death: 1868 Reg. No.: 3921 Year registered: 1868 (https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice/online-index-search-tool) --000--
DEATH RECORD: Whittaker, John; male, 28 years; died at Perth in 1868; registration #3921; registered 1868 (Western Australian Online Index at https://www.wa.gov.au/). Cause of death -- typhoid fever [see Fremantle jail record]. --00--
From his FREMANTLE jail record: WHITTAKER, John; inmate #9909, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Date of Birth: 1838 Date of Death: 15 Jun 1868 Place of Death: Perth, colonial hospital, typhoid fever Marital Status: Married, 3 children Occupation: Cotton spinner Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Manchester Crime: Shooting with intent [to murder] Sentence Period: 20 years Previous Convictions: Yes (https://fremantleprison.com.au/). --00--
ABOUT THOSE BRANDS: 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 in 1879. As for the "B" also reported on John Whittaker's record, "[n]otoriously bad soldiers were also branded with BC (bad character)." So the description in Whittaker's record could be incomplete; however, there are references to the letter "B" alone denoting "bad" behaviour (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_branding). —00—
IN WA: January, 1868: On arrival in WA, John Whittaker was listed as prisoner #9909, 28 when convicted, cotton spinner, married with three children; 5'7¼" tall, brown hair and eyes, dark complexion and middling stout build. Marks -- branded "D" and "B" left side; trophy of war left arm; 2 flags, crown, cross flags and swords right arm; cut over right eyebrow (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--
16 April, 1867: Less than a month later, John Whittaker was sent from Millbank 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--