The transportation of convicts to America was first authorised as an alternative to the death penalty in 1615 but only for cases of lesser felony, therefore excluding rape, murder, witchcraft and violent burglary.
This ceased following the War of Independence in 1776 and the subsequent over-crowding of prisons led the government to experiment with other ‘destinations’ including the West Coast of Africa and Honduras. No real solution was found until 1787, however, when the First Fleet of 586 male and 192 female convicts plus voluntary emigrants set sail to Sydney Cove, New South Wales.
Accounts of John Payne keeper of Cambridge Borough Gaol, 1821-39 including his expenses for removing two male convicts to the hulks at Gosport.
The first prison hulks were brought into use in 1776 when, to ease pressure on the overcrowded gaols, dis-used war ships were moored in the Thames at Woolwich to house prisoners destined for transportation. Hulks were later introduced to a number of south coast ports including Plymouth, Sheerness and Chatham. Female convicts were spared this ordeal and usually taken straight from gaol to the port where they were to embark for Australia.
|
Order to transport Eleanor Hall and Elizabeth Wade from Ely gaol to the convict ship 'Speke', 1808.
|
The two convicts above were found guilty of grand larceny (the theft of goods of the value of 1 shilling or more, without any aggravating circumstances such as assault, breaking and entering etc.) at the Ely Quarter Sessions. They were sentenced to 7 years transportation. It would be interesting to know how they fared; whether they even survived the arduous journey, and if so what sort of new life they were able to make for themselves.
Transportation to Australia finally ceased in 1868.
Source:
The original document is held at the County Record Office, Cambridge, one of a series of such orders, 1792-1822 surviving among records of the solicitors firm, Evans of Ely [283/]