Convict query

Hi there,

What an interesting query!

Here are a couple of interesting links for you. Perhaps you have already seen them? http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/passengerlists/index.htm and http://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/ship-and-passenger-records

While these links will give you information about court 'petty sessions' in Ireland at that time: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-petty-sessions.html and http://www.findmypast.ie/search-records/Courts-and-legal (fee paying website)

Transportation from Ireland,for crimes committed in Ireland, lasted from 1791 to 1853, ending 15 years earlier than transporation from England. The records of the Chief Secretary's Office, which had responsibility for the Penal system, are the major Irish source of information on transportees. Not all of the rlevant records have survived, particularly for the period before 1836, but what does exist can provide a wealth of information. The records were formerly housed in the State Paper Office in Dublin Castle, which is now part of the National Archives of Ireland (NAI). The principal classes of relevant records are as follows:

Prisoners' Petitions and Cases, 1788-1836: these consist of petitions to the Lord Lieutenant for commutation or remission of sentece, and record the crime, tiral, sentence, place of origin and family circumstances.

State Prisoners' Petitions: these specifically concern those arrested for participation in the 1798 rebellion, and record the same information as the main series of petitions.

Convict Reference Files, from 1836: these continue the earlier petitions series and can include a wide range of additional material.

Transportation Registers, from 1836: these record all the names of those sentenced to death or transportation, giving the name of the transport ship or the place of detention, are sometimes given as well.

Male Convict Register, 1842-1847: in addition to the information supplied by the Transportation Registers, this volume also gives physical descriptions of the convicts.

Register of Convicts on Convict Ships, 1851-1853: this gives the names, dates and counties of trial of those trnasported to Van Dieman's land and Western Australia for the period covered.

Free Settlers' Papers, 1828-1852: after serving a minimum of four years, male convicts had the right to request a free passage for their wife and family to join them. The Papers contain lists of those making such a request, along with transportation details and the names and addresses of the wives. A number of petitions from husbands and wives, and prisoners' letters, are also included.

These records were microfilmed and a database was presented to the Australian government and can now be found in many State archives. The NAI retains copies and the database, in particular, can save a great deal of time and effort. www.nationalarchives.ie Early convict arrivals records, making up some of the gaps in the NAI material, are also online at www.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/convicts.htm (Irish Convicts to Australia 1791-1815).

Have you checked the immigration records in Australia? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more.

It is also worth checking newspapers from that period to see if names from trials were listed. It could also provide other useful information for you.

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38): Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.

The Tithe Applotment List might be of use to you, or at least interesting for you. These lists constitute the only nationwide survey for the period, and are valuable because the heaviest burden of the tithes to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. The information in the Tithes is quite basic, typically consisting of townland name, landholder's name, area of land and tithes payable. Many Books also record the landlord's name and an assessment of the economic productivity of the land. The tax payable was based on the average price of wheat and oats over the seven years up to 1823, and was levied at a different rate depending on the quality of land. For Parishes where the registers do not begin until after 1850, this information can be useful, as they are often the only surviving early records. They can provide valuable circumstantial evidence, especially where a holding passed from father to son in the period between the Tithe survey and Griffith's Valuation.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)