Nature of Source
Introduction
Convict transportation records provide a valuable insight to the lives of ancestors who were sentenced to transportation. The records, which include a significant number of women, document individuals whose death sentences were commuted to transportation and sentenced to transportation to America, Australia, and other colonies. Bear in mind that not all transported individuals were hardened criminals, many were political prisoners, vagrants, or debtors.
Key Research Records
Transportation Records
These records contain details of convicts sentenced to transportation or those whose death sentences were commuted to transportation. They show when and where the convicts were sent and circumstances of their trials and sentences.
Prison Hulk Records
Prior to transportation many convicts were held in prison hulks, decommissioned ships used as floating prisons, whilst awaiting deportation. These prison hulks were in use until 1857.
Petitions and Pardons
Consult petitions for clemency or pardons made on behalf of the convict. The records can show why a sentence was commuted and provide personal details about the convict.
Penal Colony Records
Research the state archives of the country to which the convict was sent with penal colony censuses of particular interest. Lists of transported convicts may show their occupations and other personal details. Later records such as indentures, muster rolls, land grants and newspaper reports help track the convicts new life.
Timeline of Transportation
To America: Convict transportation began in 1615 and continued until 1776. The scale of transportation rose sharply following the 1718 Transportation Act which established a formal and structured process. Under the Act, courts could sentence convicts to seven years transportation to America and authorised payments to merchants for shipping them. Between 1615 and 1699, approximately 2,300 convicts were sent to America, mainly to Virginia and Maryland. These transports generally involved small groups sent by merchants or the courts. Following the Act an estimated 52,000-54,500 convicts were transported to the American colonies with the majority sent to Maryland and Virginia. The American Revolutionary War which began 19 April 1775, disrupted the transportation of British convicts as tensions grew between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain. On 4 July 1776 the Colonies formally rejected the authority of the British Crown and declared their independence which made it impossible for Britain to continue sending convicts. As a result, convicts were held in overcrowded prisons and on derelict ships (hulks) leading to the establishment of penal colonies in Australia.
To Australia: Following the American War of Independence (1775-1783), Australia became the established destination for transported convicts. Before 1776, Britain transported convicts mainly to the American colonies. Transportation to Australia began in 1787. The First Fleet, consisting of 11 ships with 736 convicts, left Portsmouth in May 1787 and arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. Various penal colonies were established including in New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Norfolk Island and Western Australia. The level of criminal transportation to Australia declined towards the mid-19th century and ceased completely by 1868. The Australasian Anti-Transportation League, formed in 1850, campaigned for an end to penal transportation which had already declined towards the mid-19th century in the eastern colonies. Transportation as a punishment was officially abolished in 1868, with the last convict ship, Hougoumont, arriving in Western Australia in January 1868.
The Newgate Calendar
The Newgate Calendar is an essential resource for criminal research in London. It originated as a monthly bulletin of executions produced by the Keeper of Newgate Prison but later evolved into a series of biographical accounts of notorious criminals. The collected editions began in in mid-18th century with a standard five-volume edition in 1774. Further editions were subsequently released throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Many cases featured in the Newgate Calendar were tried at the Old Bailey, providing details of sentences, imprisonment, transportation or execution.
A digitised version of the 1795 edition is available at the Public Domain Review. Additionally, various editions can be found online at the Ex-Classics, The Internet Archive, the HathiTrust and Google Books.
Additional Resources
The following GenGuide sources could assist in researching transported convict ancestors:
- Assize Records
- Australia
- Calendars of Prisoners
- Criminal Petitions
- Criminal Registers
- General Eyre
- License Registers/’tickets of leave’
- Petty Sessions
- Quarter Session Records
- Prison/Hulk/Gaol Registers
- Registers of Habitual Criminals
Where Found
- Series HO 10, Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania including convict censuses, 1787-1859.
- Series HO 11, Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers, 1787-1870.
- Series HO 12, Home Office: Criminal Department: Old Criminal Papers,
1849-1871.
Records within series HO 10 and HO11 are available to download free of charge as part of the Digital Microfilm Records.
Transcripts of the HO 11 registers can be accessed online via the State Library of Queensland.
- Series C 66, patent rolls, 1201-2012.
- Series SP 35-77, state papers, domestic.
- Series ASSI 24, Western assize transportation order books, 1610-1932.
- Series TS 18, Treasury Solicitor: General Series Papers including some records concerning the transportation of convicts, 1578-1958.
- Series PC 1, Privy Council and Privy Council Office: Subjects dealt with include prisoners and convicts, 1481-1946.
- Series CO 386, Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, 1833-1894.
- Series MT 32, Surgeon Superintendents’ Journals of Convict Ships, 1858-1867.
- Series ADM 101, Medical Journals, 1785-1963. The journals contain an account of the treatment of medical and surgical cases, and usually a copy of the daily sick list, statistical abstracts of the incidence of diseases, and general comments on the health and activities of the ship’s company.
The name index covering series ADM 101 is available at the TNA Discovery catalogue. First click on ‘Advanced search’ and enter the name being searched. Then in the search box ‘Search for or within references’ enter ‘ADM 101’.A selection of records from ADM 101 are available to download free of charge as part of the Digital Microfilm Records.
County Record Offices
Local archives hold various convict transportation related records but may vary significantly between different county archives. Transportation resources include:
- Quarter Sessions records which contain details of trials and sentences.
- Assize court records for more serious crimes.
- Calendars of Prisoners which often include those awaiting transportation
- Compiled lists of transported convicts from local court records.
- Petitions and pardons from prisoners or their families pleading for reduced sentences.
- Prison Admission and discharge registers.
- Transportation Bonds and Agents’ Papers.
- Prison Hulk Records.
British Library
Law and Legal Studies. Historical and current resources for the study of law, legislation and society. The Library has a wealth of material to support research on law including legislation, cases and traditional legal commentary.
State Archives of New South Wales
Convict records archive. The archives holds an array of records related to convict transportation including convict indents, certificates of freedom, tickets of leave, lists of convict ships and pardons.
ScotlandsPeople Centre
The ScotlandsPeople Centre is the official government resource for family history research. Resources include registers of local prisons and sheriff court records and copies of TNA transportation registers 1787-1870.
Also consult the national and local archives of the country where the convict was transported to.
Period Covered
1615 – 1867
Genealogical Value
- Name, address, occupation and age of person ordered to be transported.
- Name of ship and destination.
- Date and place of trial with sentence.
- Family relationships might be mentioned.
Further References
Transported Related
- Bateson, Charles. The Convict Ships, 1787-1868: Brown, Son & Ferguson, 1985
- Beddoe, Deirdre Welsh Convict Women: A Study of Women Transported from Wales to Australia, 1787-1852: S.Williams, 1979
- Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1614-1775: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2010
- Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2010
- For other Peter Coldham titles, some out of print, see www.genealogical.com
- Griffin, Ken. Transported Beyond the Seas: An Alphabetical Listing of Criminals Prosecuted in Hertfordshire who Received Transportation Sentences to Australia 1784-1866: Hertfordshire Family History Society, 2006
- Hawkings, David. Bound for Australia: A Guide to the Records of Transported Convicts and Early Settlers: The History Press, 2012
- Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore: History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787-1868: Vintage, 2003
- Num, Cora. Convict Records in Australia: C. Num, 2003
- Vaver, Anthony. Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America: Pickpocket Publishing, 2011
Crime General
- Bard, Robert. Tyburn: The Story of London’s Gallows: Amberley Publishing, 2012
- Bard, Robert. Death in London: Places of Execution, Then and Now: Historical Publications, 2007
- Bevan, Amanda. Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives: The National Archives, 2006
- Brandon, David & Brooke. Alan. London West End 1800-1850 Murders And Misdemeanours: Amberley Publishing, 2009
- Brandon, David & Brooke. Alan. Olde London Punishments: The History Press (30 April 2010
- Cale, Michelle. Law and Society: An introduction to sources for criminal and legal history from 1800: PRO Publications, 1996
- Campbell, Charles. The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement 1776-1857 Fenestra Books, 2001
- Cockburn, James Swanton. Calendar of Assize Records (Volumes cover the Home Circuit as well as the Kent, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Essex, Surrey and Somerset circuits. Preview of the Kent Indictments available from Google Books. Other digitised Assize records can be found at the Internet Archive)
- Decharne, Max. Capital Crimes : Seven Centuries of London Life and Murder: Arrow Books, 2013
- Eatwell, Alison. Crime, Clemency and Consequence in Britain 1821-1839: A Slice of Criminal Life: Pen & Sword History, 2017
- Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England: 1750-1900: Routledge, 2010
- Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in Twentieth Century England: Routledge, 2011
- Gilfillan, Ross. Crime and Punishment in Victorian London: A Street-Level View of the City’s Underworld: Pen & Sword Books, 2014
- Gray, Adrian. Crime and Criminals of Victorian England: The History Press, 2011
- Hall, Malcolm. Gloucestershire Murders and Misdemeanours 1820-1829: Amberley Publishing, 2008
- Hawkings, David. Criminal Ancestors: A Guide to Historical Criminal Records in England & Wales: The History Press, 2009
- Hawkings, David. Bound for Australia: A Guide to the Records of Transported Convicts and Early Settlers: The History Press, 2012
- Herber, Mark. Criminal London: A Pictorial History from Medieval Times to 1939: Phillimore & Co, 2002
- Higgs, Michelle. Prison Life in Victorian England: The History Press, 2007
- Hitchcock, Tim & Shoemaker, Bob. Tales from the Hanging Court: Hodder Arnold, 2006
- Howse, Geoffrey. A History of London’s Prisons: Wharncliffe True Crime, 2012
- Jack, Elizabeth. A Victorian Prisoners of Gloucester Gaol: A Rogues’ Gallery: The History Press, 2009
- Jeaffreson, John Cordy (ed). Middlesex County Records. 4 Vols: Greater London Council, 1972 (1886) (Volumes available to download and view at the Internet Archive or at British History Online)
- Knapp, Andrew & Baldwin, William. The Newgate Calendar: London, 1828 (Available from: Google Books)
- Marson, Edward. Prison: Five Hundred Years of Life Behind Bars: The National Archives, 2009
- May, Trevor. Victorian and Edwardian Prisons: Shire, 2008
- Oates, Dr Jonathan. Tracing Villains and Their Victims: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen and Sword Books, 2017
- Paley, Ruth & Fowler, Simon. Family Skeletons: Exploring The Lives of our Disreputable Ancestors: The National Archives, 2005
- Reake, Janet. How to Trace Your Convict Ancestors: Their Lives, Times and Records: Hale & Iremonger, 1999
- Stevens, Mark. Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum: Pen and Sword Books, 2013
- Storey, Neil. The Victorian Criminal: Shire Publications, 2011
- Wade, Stephen. Tracing Your Criminal Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2009
- Wade, Stephen. Tyranny and the Lash : Prisoners & Punishment in British History: Robert Hale Publishers, 2011
- Watson, Katherine. Poisoned Lives: English Poisoners and their Victims: Hambledon Continuum, 2006
- Woolf, Alex. Past In Pictures : A Photographic View of Crime and Punishment: Wayland Publishers, 2013
Websites
Transportation Resources
The National Archives Guide
How to look for records of Criminal transportation. This guide will help you find records of people sentenced to transportation.
Our Criminal Ancestors
Source Guide for Tracing your Transported Convict Ancestors, by Dr David J. Cox.
The Digital Panopticon
The Introduction of Transportation to Australia.
Scottish Archive Network
My ancestor was transported.
Family Tree
Top 3 websites for tracing convict ancestors transported to Australia.
Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
Convict records: Where to find them. Was your ancestor transported to Australia as a convict? Find out how to uncover their story with these online records, by Jonathan Scott.
Migration Museum
Were your ancestors transported to Australia as convicts?
Australian Research
Convicts to Australia
A Guide to Researching Your Convict Ancestors. The site is intended to guide, inform and entertain those just starting the hunt as well as the more experienced researcher.
CoraWeb
Convicts to Australia. A Guide to Researching Your Convict Ancestors.
Libraries Tasmania
Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania. Explore resources on transportation, convict life, and freedom.
New South Wales State
Archives and Records. Convicts Guide. Find out where to start and how to dig further into the records, including: trial and transportation records, penal settlements, emancipation, and families of convicts.
National Library of Australia
Research Guide: Convicts. Guide and links to tracing a convict ancestor.
State Records Office of Western Australia
Convicts. The State Records Office holds comprehensive sets of records relating to convicts transported to Western Australia between 1850 and 1868.
Who Do You Think You Are?
Australian ancestry: How to find your Australian ancestors.
State Library of Queensland
Family History Research Guides. Convict Records.
Australian National Maritime Museum
Research Guide: Convict Ships. These resources in the museum library and elsewhere will help you research convict ships and convicts
Explore Genealogy
Tracing Ancestors Transported to the Colonies as Criminals.
National Archives of Ireland
Australian Transportation Records. Irish archives are a major source for Australians researching Irish convict ancestors. Penal transportation to Australia, and later to Bermuda and Gibraltar, covered the years 1791 until 1853, when the sentence of penal transportation was commuted to a prison sentence in Ireland.
General Crime Resources
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of prisoners and convicts. This guide will help you to search for records of prisoners serving sentences in England and Wales.
Our Criminal Ancestors
Our Criminal Ancestors is a public engagement project, led by the University of Hull in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University, that encourages and supports to explore the criminal past of their own families, communities, towns and regions. Source guides include researching prison ancestors and tracing transported criminals.
Society of Genealogists Guide
Finding Criminal Ancestors
London Lives
Researching Crime. London Lives allows users to link together the records of several different courts to trace individual criminal careers, or at least an individual’s repeated encounters with the law, over a number of years.
London Picture Archive
Search over 250,000 photographs, prints and drawings as well as over 1,000 maps of London from the collections at The London Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery. Search for people or places or browse subject areas such as ‘Law & Crime’.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey
Crime, Justice and Punishment: The Historical Background to the Proceedings of the Old Bailey including a glossary of judicial terms, explanations of types and categories of indictable offences, trial procedures, verdicts, punishments and other topics.
Guildhall Library
Tracing London criminals. The Library has many sources for tracing London Criminals, including an extensive collection of Old Bailey Sessions Papers. The history and the changing nature of the information found in these is described in some detail with notes on London criminal courts, transportation, indictments and guidance on further research.
The London Archives Research Guide
Law and Crime. Our records on law and crime cover obvious things like criminal cases and prison records, as well as topics which can reveal much about family history like the records of the Court of Orphans and Coroner Inquests.
Register of Qualified Genealogists
Researching Criminal Ancestors.
Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
The 14 best websites for tracing prisoners in your family history, by Jonathan Scott.
Family Tree
Researching “Black Sheep” Ancestors with Criminal Records, by David A. Fryxell.
Family Tree
5 ways to find your criminal ancestors, by Emma Maxwell.
Family Tree Resources
Tracing Your Criminal Ancestors.
Findmypast Blog
How to find criminal ancestors in the newspaper archives, by Alex Cox.
Digital Panopticon
A Guide to Researching Family History. Learn about crime and criminal justice with research guides covering the historical background to crime and punishment and the courts.
The Victorian Web
Crime in Victorian England. Explore crime related essays covering Victorian England.
Capital Punishment U.K.
The resource site for the history of death penalty in Britain. History of the death penalty in Britain.
Victorians
Victorian Crime and Punishment.
National Records of Scotland
Research Guide: Crime and Criminals. The archives holds many records relating to crime and criminals. Information about crime and criminals can be found in the records of criminal courts, criminal investigations and prisons.
ScotlandsPeople Guide
Prison registers. Read how to search prison registers and understand their contents.
Bodleian Libraries
Broadside Ballads Online. The site features a digital collection of 30,000 English printed ballad-sheets from between the 16th and 20th centuries with links to other resources for the study of the English ballad tradition
National Library of Scotland
Digital Gallery: The Word On The Street: Online collection of nearly 1,800 Scottish broadsides between 1650 and 1910.
Harvard Law School Library
English Crime and Execution Broadsides. Explore This collection of nearly 600 broadsides highlighting crime and capital punishment, primarily in England, as seen through the popular press in the 18th and 19th century.
Online Databases
Ancestry
Australian Convict Collection
Datasets include:
- England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 (Free Index).
- First, Second and Third Fleet Registers, 1787-1791.
- New South Wales and Tasmania, Convict Pardons and Tickets of Leave, 1834-1859.
- New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom, 1810-1814, 1827-1867.
- New South Wales, Australia, Tickets of Leave, 1824-1867.
- New South Wales, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896.
- Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930.
- Australian Convict Transportation Registers.
Ancestry
Middlesex, England, Convict Transportation Contracts, 1682-1787: This is a collection of Middlesex Quarter Sessions Court orders for convicts to be transferred to British Colonies. Specifically the convicts were transferred to America, the Caribbean, or, in later years, Australia. Provided in association with The London Archives)
Ancestry
Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775. Records of more than 50,000 English men, women, and children who were sentenced to be deported to the American colonies. The names are extracted from Peter Coldham’s The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage in 1988 and its Supplement in 1992.
Ancestry
Dorset Records: Transportation Records, 1724-1791. This database contains indentures, court orders, and other documents relating to convicts from the county of Dorset sentenced to transportation.
Findmypast
Transportation in Travel & migration in Australia & New Zealand.
Datasets include:
- Australia Convict Ships 1786-1849.
- New South Wales and Tasmania: Settlers and Convicts, 1787-1859.
- Convict Transportation Registers, 1787-1870.
- South Australia Convicts.
- Victoria Convict Register, 1842-1854.
To view all the convict transportation records collections, click on ‘Browse Record Set’ in the Transportation in Travel & migration start page.
Findmypast
Institutions & organisations in Australia & New Zealand.
Datasets include:
- Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1791-1867.
- New South Wales Registers Of Convicts’ Applications To Marry 1825-1851.
- New South Wales, Butts Of Convicts’ Certificates Of Freedom 1827-1867.
To view all the convict transportation records collections, click on ‘Browse Record Set’ in the Institutions & organisations start page.
Findmypast
New South Wales Convict Arrivals, 1788-1842.
MyHeritage
United Kingdom, Convict Transportation Registers. This collection contains British transportation registers which cover the full period of convict transportation to Australian territories from 1787 to 1867. Records typically include the name of the prisoner, date of transportation, the ship’s name, and the date and place of conviction if available.
The Genealogist
Convict Transportation Registers, 1787-1867. Includes details of convicts transported to Australia during the 18th and 19th centuries. The records mainly include those convicted in England, Wales and Scotland, but also include a small number of Irish convicts, and soldiers who had been court-martialed and sentenced to transportation.
Digital Panopticon
Digital Humanities Institute Sheffield. The site offers a comprehensive resource which provides access to both full-text and summary data of historical criminal justice records the late 18th to early 20th centuries. The site hosts approximately fifty datasets covering the lives of around 90,000 convicts from Britain and Australia. The project collaborates with public and commercial organisations to share data on the site.
Datasets include:
Trial Records
- Old Bailey Proceedings 1740-1913
- England and Wales Criminal Registers 1791-1892
Post-Trial and Sentencing Records
- Home Office Criminal Entry Books 1782-1876
- Petitions for Pardon 1797-1858
Transportation Records
- Middlesex Convicts Delivered For Transportation 1785-1792
- British Transportation Registers 1787-1867
Colony Records
- New South Wales Convict Indexes 1788-1873
- Van Diemen’s Land Founders and Survivors Convicts 1802-1853
- Western Australia Convict Probation Records 1850-1868
Imprisonment Records
- Hulks Registers 1801-1879
- Prison Registers 1770-1951
- Newgate Calendars of Prisoners 1855-1931
- Metropolitan Police Register of Habitual Criminals 1881-1925
- Prisoner Photograph Albums 1871-1873
Migration to New Worlds
New South Wales Convict Database. Search and browse a fully transcribed list of convicts and former convicts sent to New South Wales between 1780-1819. This database allows you to examine male and female convicts, their trial court, sentence, transportation ship, occupation and eventual settlement in Australia.
New South Wales State Archives
- Convict Indexes include:
- Convict assignments index 1821-1825.
- Convict exiles index 1849-1850.
- Convict indents (digitised) index 1788-1801.
- Convicts applications to marry 1825-1851.
- Convicts index 1791-1873.
National Archives of Ireland
Ireland-Australia Transportation Database: Search records of convict transportations from Ireland to Australia covering the period 1788 to 1868 including transportation registers, registers of convict ships and petitions.
Ulster Historical Foundation
The Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded in 1956, dedicated to those researching the history and genealogy of Ulster and its families. The site offers access to over 2 million searchable records including: Ireland to Australia Transportation Records, 1780-1867. This database covers the full span of Ireland’s contribution to the Australian penal colony system.
Old Scottish
Records of transported convicts. Search 8,500 Scottish convicts transported to Australia between 1787 to 1867. The dataset links the transportation registers (HO11 series, held at the National Archives in London) to the records of the High Court of Justiciary/Circuit Courts in Scotland.
State Library of Queensland
British Convict Transportation Registers Database, 1787-1867. Search over 123,000 convicts transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries including prisoners sent to New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Moreton Bay (Brisbane), Western Australia and Norfolk Island.
Libraries Tasmania
Convict Life: Online access to databases providing details of about 76,000 convicts transported by the British Government to Tasmania between 1804 and 1853.
Society of Australian Genealogists
NSW Convict Tickets of Leave Butts, 1827-1867. Name index to the NSW Convict Tickets of Leave Butts 1827-1867.
Price Genealogy
Immigrant Servants Database. Details of individuals who travelled to colonial America between 1607 and 1820 as indentured servants, redemptioners (a person who worked as a servant to pay for the cost of the voyage) and transported convicts.
CD Roms
Genealogical Publishing Company
Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776 and British Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1788 as well as other titles by Peter Wilson Coldham.
Sussex Family History Group
Sussex Convicts Transported to Australia 1789-1867.
