[TASMANIA] Convict record of John Jones, sentenced at the Lancaster Quarter Session in July 1837 to transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Land; arrived on the Neptune, January 1838; remained in penal servitude until April 1844.

Single parchment sheet, 330 x 200 mm; manuscript in ink, densely written on 1 page, the entries covering the period January 1838 to April 1844, written in several different hands and in different locations in Van Diemen’s Land; the prisoner’s physical description and background are entered in the upper margin recto; light staining and rubbing in sections, but for the most part legible; three original horizontal folds, the outer side annotated with the file name 1060 John Jones.

The official convict record of John Jones, a cabinetmaker from Manchester who was given a life sentence for stealing a cow. 

Jones was aged 21 at the time of his transportation to VDL. He was convicted at the Lancaster Quarter Session on 3 July 1837 (this document records the year 1836, in error). He arrived in VDL per transport Neptune, on 19 January 1838.

The following incidents are extracted from his convict record:

July 1838. For “taking improper liberties with his master’s female child”: to be employed on probation at Green Ponds for 12 months.

5 September 1838. “Absent from his station all night and making away with a pair of slop shoes issued to him on the 19th inst.”: 25 lashes and 7 days solitary confinement on bread and water.

18 September 1838. Absconding: 12 months hard labour in chains, Perth chain gang; conduct to be reported.

13 November 1838. Perth chain gang. Disobedience of orders: 7 days solitary confinement

5 December 1838. Perth chain gang. “Misconduct in having a blanket on his person concealed, property of Govt.”: 10 days solitary confinement.

21 January 1839. Perth chain gang. Disobedience of orders: 25 lashes

4 May 1839. Perth chain gang. “Discovered making away with [?]…”: 3 months hard labour in chains in exterior.

5 June 1840. “Bell foundry. Hard labour on the T. Wheel” [treadwheel].

2 March 1841. Bell foundry. Misconduct: Cell 10 nights, doing his work by day.

2 December 1841. Bell foundry. Being in a Public House & telling a falsehood: 14 days hard labour.

January 1844. Absconding: 10 days hard labour on the Treadwheel.

April 12 1844. “1 Class” [i.e. Conditional Pardon, 1st Class]

 

Provenance: Maggs Bros., London (c. 1978)