Comments | little_details: Commutation of Death Sentances in 1777

the_methotaku in little_details

Commutation of Death Sentances in 1777

Mar 01, 2006 13:23

Obviously, after 1776, the British couldn't exile people to America, so what happened to people whose death sentences were commuted to transportation? In particular, if someone’s death sentence was commuted to transportation in 1777, where would he have been sent ( Read more... )

uk: government: law enforcement, uk: history (misc), 1770-1779

Comments 12

vivian_shaw March 1 2006, 21:05:19 UTC

Australia.

cat_mcdougall March 1 2006, 21:11:00 UTC

That wasn't until 1786.

"In 1786, Prome Minister William Pitt (the Younger) decided to establish a convict colony at Botany Bay, halfway around the world in Australia."

--to quote the article I linked to below.

atropos_lee March 1 2006, 21:16:04 UTC

Not before 1787, which was the date of the First Fleet.

cat_mcdougall March 1 2006, 21:07:27 UTC

According to this article they were kept in hulks on the Thames and worked the docks by day. If you google "British Transportation of criminals" it might give me more.

blacknarcissus2 March 1 2006, 21:11:54 UTC

They were sent to Penal Colonies in Australia. Either New South Wales or Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania).

I don't have the link, but I was actually looking up this same subject a couple of weeks ago. There's a Wikipedia entry, I'm sure.

:D

(The comment has been removed)

oh_meow March 8 2006, 10:30:50 UTC

If you have read Great Expectations, that was the kind of prison the convict escapes from. In the local museum at Rochester there is a recreation of on of the prison hulks with an exhibition of the elaborate crafts made by French prisoners of war from the Napoleonic wars.

kvschwartz March 1 2006, 22:43:04 UTC

Why would 1776 be the critical year? I mean, yes, the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, but the British didn't recognize it.

kvschwartz March 1 2006, 22:47:58 UTC

BTW, I am not saying 1776 WASN'T the year. I am just asking WHY.

kvschwartz March 2 2006, 04:20:13 UTC

Well, if you were fighting or about to fight a bunch of rebels somewhere, would you ship a bunch of convicts there? Even if it weren't a land where the rebel propoganda was all "liberty!" I think you might be making more problems for yourself.

kvschwartz March 2 2006, 06:26:05 UTC

Except the war didn't begin in 1776.

Thread 5

(The comment has been removed)

denial_girl March 2 2006, 18:31:43 UTC

I found this good site about the hulks and transportation in the 1780s as well: http://www.southernlife.org.uk/convict_crime.htm