Basics on convicts to NSW

• Background
• Trial records
• Convict Indents
• Assignment
• Tickets of Leave
• Tickets of Exemption from Government Labour
• Certificates of Freedom
• Pardons
• Other sources

Background

Convicts transported to Australia were very heavily documented by the British and colonial governments in order to manage them. Many of the records have survived to the present time. The result is that this slice of the population is probably better documented than any such group, anywhere.

The records created or received by Government in relation to convicts cover an incredible range of subjects, dealing with the full range - matters of life and death, to matters that by any measure are mere trivia. They therefore offer a descendant or other family historian the prospect of fleshing out a family history in ways not possible for many other ancestors.

The main repository for convict records in NSW is State Records. See their Archives in Brief on Convict Records as a starting point.

Trial records

Many of the records relating to English and Welsh trials of convicts transported to Australia have survived. The Australian Joint Copying Project sought to capture the bulk of those on microfilm for the benefit of researchers in Australia.

In order to access the details of a convict's crime and trial it is necessary to first establish the place and date of trial. The convict indents usually provide this information, but not always accurately.

Records relating to trials by Quarter Sessions court are now held by the relevant British county record office. Records of trials by an Assizes court are held by The National Archives (UK) (TNA) at Kew, London which has a handy leaflet on the subject. The TNA also holds records of those death sentences given to convicts which were subsequently commuted to transportation.

Few records have survived relating to trials in Ireland of convicts transported to Australia.

• For an overview of UK records relating to prisoners transported to Australia, check the TNA's leaflet on 19th century criminals and transportation above.
• For detail on the transportation system, see Wilfred Oldham's Britain's Convicts to the Colonies (SAG ref: A3/23/24)
• For confirmation of the typical range of crimes of transported convicts, see John Cobley's The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts (SAG ref: B3/23/4)

Convict Indents

The starting point for all convict research is the convict indent. The convicts on any particular ship transporting them to Australia were listed in an "indent". Early indents provide name, date and place of trial, and sentence. Physical description, native place, age and crime were added to later indents.

Not all listed in an indent may have arrived in Australia - annotations will indicate those who died en route; others were taken from the ship before departing Britain. Annotations in the years after arrival often indicate the granting of a Ticket of Leave, Pardon or Certificate of Freedom, or the details of colonial crimes.

An index to the 1788-1842 indents is available on CD or fiche at SAG.

Assignment

Convicts were were put to work on arrival in NSW, either providing labour for public works such as roadmaking, or through "assignment" to an individual for whom they would work. Both free settlers and emancipists were commonly assigned convicts as servants, farm labourers, etc.

Few records of such assignments have survived at State Records, and only for the period 1821-1834. However, the 1828 census and various musters that have survived generally make clear the assigned status and employer of an assigned convict.

Tickets of Leave

A Ticket of Leave was evidence that a convict was allowed to work outside the "assignment" system. Conditions applied - the convict was confined to a named area, had to report regularly to authorities, and was supposed to attend divine worship each Sunday.

Minor offences could see a Ticket revoked by the magistrates and the holder returned to Government service. Penalties for greater offences were heavier than those for free persons. Ticket holders were not allowed to own land, and until 1843 were allowed to neither own personal property, nor sue (e.g. for wages).

The butts of Tickets issued between 1810 and 1875 have survived. Potentially, each ticket butt gives the following information: prisoner's number, name, ship arrived on, master of ship, year of arrival, native place, trade or calling, offence, place of trial, date of trial, sentence, year of birth, complexion, height, colour of hair, colour of eyes, general remarks, the district prisoner was allocated to, the Bench who recommended him, and the date of issue of ticket. The butts also often annotated with changes of district, conditional pardons, etc.

SAG councillor, Perry McIntyre has indexed the surviving Tickets of Leave, 1810-75. We're grateful to Perry for allowing us to place her index on-line, not only making some fields such as "District" and "Trade or Calling" searchable online for the first time, but also enabling online ordering of copies from the relevant films.

Tickets of Exemption from Government Labour

Such tickets allowed the holder to reside with a named person, but, unlike Tickets of Leave, not to acquire property or become self-employed. Tickets of Exemption were frequently used as a form of assignment to relatives. Tickets required renewing each calendar year.

The surviving butts of tickets issued 1827-1832 are a valuable resource and State Records has a searchable online index.

Certificates of Freedom

A Certificate of Freedom was available to convicts who had completed a fixed term of sentence, such as 7 or 14 years. A convict serving a life sentence was ineligible.

NSW State Records has an online index compiled from about 40,000 certificate butts covering the years 1823-1869. The amount of detail shown by the certificates varied over time, but generally included at least date, name, ship and year of arrival, when tried and sentence. Later years also gave native place, calling, place tried, year of birth and physical description.

Pardons

A convict granted a Conditional Pardon was treated as a free person, subject to remaining in the colony. Only an Absolute Pardon gave the full rights of a free person, in and out of the colony.

Details of pardons have been well recorded at State Records - see their leaflet.

Other sources

There are many other sources for convict research - from marriage and death records, correspondence, bank account records and the journals of the surgeons' who administered to convicts during their voyage to the colonies. SAG has many of these records in microform. Check the State Records' Archives In Brief for further details of these records and then check with us to see if we hold the relevant material, which you can consult on your next visit or use our research service!