Showing posts with label Eliza II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eliza II. Show all posts

Prisoners on Eliza II [1832]

Francis MacNamara was transported on the prison ship Eliza II. He was one of 196 prisoners as shown below. In the Rebel column you can see he must have had plenty of opportunity to get to know some of the 43 Whiteboys on board! The Whiteboys (Irish: Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organization in 18th-century Ireland which used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks the members wore in their nightly raids. See Wikipedia

In his poem 'A Dialogue between two Hibernians in Botany Bay' MacNamara mentions the rebels:

But how did this lagging of yours come to pass,
I'm inclined to think you neglected the mass
And robbed your poor soul of felicity's joys,
By joining yourself to the cursed White Boys.


This data below was compiled from searches at Irish Convicts to New South Wales

If you use the scroll bars you can see it records McNamara, Francis aged 21, Birth 1811, 7 year Sentence, Marital Status single, Employment Miner.






THE  SYDNEY  HERALD
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1832

                                         From Cork, same day, having sailed from thence
                                         on the 10th of May, the ship Eliza, 538 tons, Cap-
                                         tain Groves, with 198 Male Prisoners, under the
                                         Superintendence of Dr. Bell, R.N. The Guard
                                         comprises 29 rank and file of the 4th, 17th, and
                                         63rd Regiments, under the command of Lieute-
                                         nant Hewson, and Ensign Nicholson of the 4th
                                         Regiment.

Francis MacNamara's Convict Record


MacNamara's hand written Tasmanian record reads:

2558 McNamara Francis Eliza (2) and Waterlily 29 Oct 1842

Extracts from Sydney Records Arrived 8 Sept 1832 was tried at Killkenny 15 February 1832 for Stealing Sentd. 7 Years 24 June 1833 50 Lashes absconding from duty 1 July 1833 1 month TreadWheels disgraceful conduct August 1833 12 months Irons absconding 2 times 1 February 1834 23 Lashes for having stolen shirt 3 March 1834 75 Lashes Insubordinate Conduct January 26 1835 3 days of Cells absent from duty 18 February 1835 25 Lashes disobedience of orders 9 March 1835 100 Lashes obscene Language 15 April 1835 12 Months Irons assaulting a Constable May 16 1835 36 Lashes refusing to work & insolence 8 June 1835 50 Lashes Threatening language 8 August 1835 70 Lashes destroying Govt property 31 Oct 1835 36 Lashes destroying a Govt Cart 14 Dec 1835 50 Lashes refusing to work 26 March 1836 25 Lashes neglect of work 15 August 1836 10 days Cells found drunk 4 January 1840 50 Lashes Mutinous Conduct was again tried at the Assizes of Sydney on the 8 July 1842 for being at large with fire arms on his person and sentenced to be transported for Life Single Roman Catholic 25 Sept 1843 pwl Disobedce of Orders 7 days solitary confinement

[ Original online - Archives Office of Tasmania – digitised record Item: CON31-1-32 ]

Notes
The floggings carefully recorded above show that in his first ten years in New South Wales MacNamara received a total of 590 lashes in 12 separate floggings.

Joseph Lycett : Hyde Park Barracks (Frank the Poet 'did time' here)
Courtesy National Library of Australia

On receiving sentence in Kilkenny MacNamara responded with an epigram

I dread not the dangers by land or by sea
That I'll meet on my voyage to Botany Bay
My labours are over, my vocation is past
And 'tis I'll rest easy, and happy at last

He certainly didn't envisage what was in store for him for the next decade! He was originally transported for seven years for stealing a piece of plaid, ten years later, having suffered from the brutal treatment enumerated above he was then transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. This second sentence was commuted to ten years then to seven and, after he gained his freedom (1849) he left Launceston for Portland.