It seemed appropriate to cover Tasmanian ancestors this week, as I have relocated to Tasmania for the foreseeable future to care for a close family member. Many Australians with long roots (by white settlement standards) in the country have a line or two leading back to Tasmania. Many others, like myself, find Tasmanian ancestors in collateral lines. As one of the major early convict colonies, Van Diemen’s Land is rich with history.
Tasmania is also a goldmine of easily accessible records, especially for the early days. One of my absolute favourites is the Tasmanian Names Index on the Libraries Tasmania site. Here you will find many birth, death and marriage certificates, immigration/emigration records, wills, convict records, divorces, bankruptcy records and surviving censuses. Not only is access free but there are usually images of the original documents as well. Go take a look and see what you can find!
As I am here in a caring capacity at the moment, I am not really walking in anyone’s footsteps right now. However, I would like to share the story of my son’s paternal ancestor, George Beard and a visit we took to a significant site in his life story on a past visit to this beautiful island.
George Beard – transported on ‘John Barry’, 1834
George Beard was from ‘The Stanleys’, neighbouring villages in rural Gloucestershire just outside Stroud. He was born in Leonard Stanley and baptised there as the son of Richard and Sarah (nee Clissold) Beard on October 1st 1809. By the time he reached adulthood, he was living in King’s Stanley just a few hundred yards away. He appears to have been well-raised. His conduct record states ‘connexions good’ and he was able to both read and write.
George goes off the rails!
George’s first known brush with the law took place in 1831. As recorded at the Lent Assizes of 1832, he was brought in on October 1st charged with stealing twelve yards of woollen cloth belonging to John Figgins Marling. Marling was one of three brothers involved in the woollen trade around the area, and at that time managed the local Ebley Mill. George, a clothworker, may well have been employed at this mill as it was located only two miles from Kings Stanley.
George was tried at the Michaelmas Sessions on October 18th 1831, found guilty of the first indictment but not guilty of the second and sentenced to 18 calendar months in a penitentiary. It is unclear what the second indictment was. Only one charge is mentioned on any of the surviving documents and newspaper reports. An extensive physical description was provided and his behaviour was deemed to be orderly. Presuming he served his full sentence he would have been released from prison in about April 1833.
Sadly, he was not to remain free for long. According to the records of the Summer Assizes 1833, on July 22nd he was placed in custody charged with theft of a timepiece belonging to a Richard Vines, another local clothworker. As a repeat offender, whose behaviour was now judged to be ‘bad’, his outcome was harsher than before. He was tried on August 10th 1833, found guilty and sentenced to be transported for seven years.
Prior to his transportation, he was held on the prison hulk ‘Justitia’ on the river Thames at Woolwich. The Quarterly Returns of Prisoners have him listed for three consecutive quarters as he awaited assignment to a transport ship. His behaviour was consistently noted as good once more – perhaps he was now more resigned to his fate. The final quarterly return contained the remark “V.D.L. 20 Mar 1834” indicating he had now commenced his transportation.
George became one of 320 male convicts to take the 129-day voyage to Van Diemen’s Land aboard the ‘John Barry’, which arrived in Hobart on August 11th 1834. It was almost a year to the day since George was sentenced. He did not attract the medical attention of the Surgeon Superintendent John Osborne, so presumably arrived in good health.
Life in Australia
As Police Number 2102, George was ordered by the Secretary of State to be allocated to the 2nd Class Chain Gang rather than be assigned as labour to free settlers. The chain gang was usually reserved for the worst prisoners and this placement appears at odds with the good behaviour reports prior to leaving England. However, the Conduct Record states that the Gaol Report says he has a ‘bad character in every respect’. Was a mistake made that led him to be given harsher punishment than he perhaps deserved? The same Conduct Record says that both the Hulk Report and Surgeon’s Report state his behaviour was orderly. This is not a case of mistaken identity, as the physical description provided on the Description List matches that from his first conviction in England, right down to the scar on his left wrist.
It is known that his temper could be roused, however. In April 1835, he was placed in solitary confinement on bread and water for 6 days after ‘threatening to stick a pick in George Fountain’s head’, though note was made of his former good conduct. According to the 1835 Muster Roll George was assigned to ‘Public Works’ which is consistent with having progressed from being on a chain gang due to subsequent good behaviour. He may have been building roads, bridges, buildings or wharves in the fledgling colony in this capacity.
By 1838 he was assigned to ‘Cox’, though clearly without much enthusiasm for his work. In February, he received 25 lashes for neglect of duty and in August he was confined to a cell for 7 days, again for neglect of duty, this time combined with ‘general sullenness’. The magistrate who sentenced him to these punishments was Robert Wales, who worked for the Morven Police District around Evandale. Therefore ‘Cox’ was almost certainly James Cox, a prominent local pastoralist whose estate at Evandale was known as ‘Clarendon’. The mansion here was completed in 1838, so George may well have been involved in its construction.
Freedom
George’s Ticket of Leave was granted on January 4th, 1839, five years into his sentence. This at least gave him the opportunity to choose his workplace, however, it is unknown where he worked after this time.
The following year he became eligible to apply for his Certificate of Freedom (Number 603, 1840) when his seven-year sentence expired. The 1841 Muster Roll shows he must indeed have successfully applied for the certificate as he is listed as ‘free by servitude’. Neither his Ticket of Leave nor his Certificate of Freedom appear to have survived and cannot be located.
Perhaps seeking a fresh start, George departed Van Diemen’s Land on the schooner ‘Essington’, bound for Portland Bay in the Port Philip District in November 1842. He settled around Belfast (later Port Fairy), marrying Mary Harris, a free settler also from Gloucestershire in 1848. He managed to avoid any further notoriety, living a quiet life with no mentions in the newspapers either locally or further afield during the course of his life. By the time he died on New Year’s Eve 1891 in Warrnambool, he had become a father to nine children and many grandchildren. A late starter to family life, he more than made up for it.
Visiting Clarendon
My son and I visited Clarendon House during our Christmas visit to Tasmania in 2017. Now run by the National Trust it remains a beautiful and stately homestead. Most interestingly, the convict quarters remain standing. It was eerie to walk inside them and wonder which room George would have lived in while he worked on building the house. It is a place worth visiting even if you don’t have any Tasmanian ancestors.
I really recommend having a dig around Tasmanian records if you too have Tasmanian ancestors, as they are an absolute treasure trove. There will be an upcoming blog on Tasmanian convict records…I have at least two convicts amongst my collateral ancestors to finish researching, and will do a ‘how to’ in more depth then!