Thomas Whittle

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

4 March, 1851: He was sent per the Hamilton Mitchell to Gibraltar, where he laboured on public works for 6 years 4 months. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

26 December, 1850: He was admitted to the Stirling Castle hulk, moored at Devonport, Portsmouth. He was held there for 2 months 5 days. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

Correction: He was held at Liverpool, from 11 January 1850, in association with other prisoners and in separate confinement and for 11 months 13 days. “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). Wakefield, Millbank, Pentonville and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

JAILS: 1850: Held at Liverpool Gaol. 1853/1854: He was transported 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). After around 3 years, Thomas WHITTLE was back in England. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

TRIAL: 21 March, 1850: Liverpool Assizes, Lancashire Charges: 1st. At Haydock, THOMAS WHITTLE (25), along with John Walklet (34), "having burglariously broken and entered the dwelling house of Henry Wallington and stolen... one sovereign, one half-sovereign, six silver spoons, and one pair of sugar tongs" belonging to Henry Wallington. 2nd. THOMAS WHITTLE also charged with burglary in the house of John Marsh, at Rivington, in company with Jonathan Taylor (26) and John Nuttall alias John Pearce (34), and stealing 70 sovereigns, 48 crowns, one watch, one snuff box, one hat, one pair of spectacles and other articles belonging to John Marsh. And also 200 sovereigns, 17 guineas, 50 half-crowns, 50 shillings, one silver tankard, one brooch, one snuff box and 6 silver spoons belonging to Martha Eatock. Outcomes: THOMAS WHITTLE -- 20 years' transportation John Walklet -- 2 years' jail Jonathan Taylor -- 20 years' transportation John Nuttall -- no bill (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Liverpool Gaol; Calendar of Trials to 1874). Note: Ages given are those that appear on the Liverpool Gaol record. --00--

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Dianne Jones on 26th January 2022

COMMITTALS: 1st charge: 2 March, 1850 -- Committed to stand trial by J Green Esq. 2nd charge: 2 February, 1850 -- Committed to stand trial by Rev JS Birley (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Liverpool Gaol; Calendar of Trials to 1874). --0--