George White was just 18 year's old when, on 10 April 1835, the ship he was travelling on hit a rock and started to take on water. Along with the other convicts on board, George was confined to the hold when the accident occurred. What led him to this point was a wagon ride and a parcel of buttons.
The ship, the George III, had left Woolwich in England about 4 months earlier on 14 December 1834[1][2]; a prison ship with the task of transporting convicts to the Australian penal colony at Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania)[3]. The ship was under the command of William Hall Moxey and, upon leaving England, was carrying 308 people: 220 male convicts; guards and their families; and the ship’s crew[4].
George White, Convict 75246
George was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England on 26 August 1816 and baptised in the parish of St Martin, Birmingham on 14 November 1821 at the age of 5; the son of Ann [Wallis] and George White, a Jeweller of Bromsgrove Street in Birmingham[5][6].
I know little of George’s early life but, as the son of a Jeweller, it was presumably a reasonably comfortable one?
Sometime in early 1834, when George was 17, he was riding on the Birmingham to London wagon when a parcel containing a quantity of buttons went missing somewhere near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. George was apprehended not long after and found to be in possession of twelve dozen buttons[7]. A newspaper article on 15 March 1834[8] suggests that George was apprehended by the wagoner at Dunstable. However, on 5 March 1834, George was taken from Newgate prison in London to Bedford County Gaol to await trial which suggests he may have been apprehended in London?[9] In the gaol records he is described as 17 years old, five foot five and a half inches tall with dark hair and a pale complexion[10].George was convicted of larceny the following day, 6 March 1834, in the Bedford Assizes and sentenced to 7 years transportation[11]. It was his first offence[12]. He was discharged from Bedford County Gaol on 19 March 1834 and delivered to the Ganymede Hulk at Woolwich to await transportation[13]. There he stayed until six months later when, on 14 December, the George III set sail for Hobart, Van Diemen's Land.
Wrecking of the George III
At about 9:15pm, on 10 April 1835, on its approach to Hobart but still some distance away, the George III carefully passed the Actaeon Reef and continued on its journey towards Hobart. A little under an hour later, the ship hit an unchartered reef and foundered on a rock at the south-eastern entrance to the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a body of water between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania:
Map from Mapcarta - https://mapcarta.com/16683760 |
Even though the water in the hold was rising, the Convicts were initially kept in the hold while other passengers were taken off the ship. Some convicts who were confined to their sick-beds were drowned. The guards fired shots to keep the convicts in the hold while others got off the ship. It was alleged that, as a result, one or two convicts were shot. An inquiry rejected the contention that any convict had been shot despite witness testimony to support it[15]. Several vessels came to the aid of the ship and, eventually the convicts were able to leave the hold and get off the wrecked ship[16].
George was lucky to have survived. Of the 133 people who lost their lives, 128 of them were convicts; their survival having been a secondary consideration of the rescue attempt.
Newspaper accounts relating to the wreck of the George III can be found via the Trove website[17]
Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
Convict Records - CON18-1-8 - Accessed 16 March 2022 from Libraries Tasmania Online Collection |
On his arrival, George, who became police number 1903, was assigned for work to a settler with the surname 'Friend' in Launceston[20][21]. George is listed in earlier convict documents as a labourer from Birmingham[22][23] and in later records as a brickmaker[24]. It is very likely that he learned his trade as a brickmaker during his years as a Convict. Brickmaking was one of the key activities undertaken by Convicts at Port Arthur.
Convict Records - Extract from CON14-2-4 Image 54 On arrival in Tasmania Accessed 16 March 2022 from Libraries Tasmania Online Collection |
George had been in Launceston working for the settler, Friend, for only about a month when, on 11 May 1835, he was reprimanded for being out after hours. He doesn’t appear to show up in the records again until 25 April 1839 when he was granted a Ticket of Leave. From there things seemed to go downhill for George. He didn’t seem to be able to keep himself out of trouble. On 26 June 1839, while still on a Ticket of Leave, he was again found to be out after hours and reprimanded. On 11 November 1839 his misconduct was discharged. Then more seriously on 6 October 1840, George was accused of feloniously receiving and committed to trial. He was tried in Launceston on 15 October 1840 and sentenced to 7 years, thereby extending his original sentence by a further 5 years. It was less than a month later, on 9 November 1840, that George refused to work and was punished with 48 hours in solitary confinement. On 25 May 1841, George was absent from his place of work without leave and received 4 days of solitary confinement. When again on 10 July 1841 he was absent from work without leave, George was given 6 weeks hard labour in chains at Port Arthur. On 23 May 1842, George received a further 3 weeks hard labour in chains at Port Arthur for misconduct[25][26].
During 1840, after it was argued that the assignment system was an unfair lottery, the focus of convict administration changed from assignment to probation. Under the new system, arriving convicts served a period ‘on probation’ with stages of punishment. They were imprisoned at a penal settlement, worked in gangs or were sent to probation stations, and, depending on their behaviour, restrictions on them reduced as they moved towards ‘Ticket of Leave’ status[27].Settling Down
It is uncertain when George and Elizabeth met. She too was a convict. What we do know is that on 22 March 1845, George and Elizabeth sought official permission to marry and this was approved by the Colonial Secretary[28]. George and Elizabeth were still convicts when they married at St John’s Church, New Town, Hobart, Tasmania on 28 April 1845[29].
Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office Tasmania Marriages 1803-1899 via FindMyPast |
George White 28 Bachelor Brickmaker - Elizabeth White 23 Spinster (her X mark) - Minister: Thos J. Ewing - Witnesses: Henry Carpenter, Ann Carpenter.
You can read more about Elizabeth in my post 10 Years - The Price of a Shawl ...In Search of Greener Pastures
Sometime after Elizabeth was granted her conditional pardon, George and Elizabeth moved with their family to Auckland, New Zealand. This was probably during 1850 and certainly before February 1851 when their son, Alfred, was born, in Auckland, on 21 February 1851[38].Auckland had been founded just 10 years earlier in 1840 and was officially declared the capital city of New Zealand in 1841, a status it later lost in 1865[39]. George and his family arrived in Auckland in uncertain times during the period of the New Zealand Wars (1845 to 1872). The New Zealand Wars were a series of campaigns between some Māori tribes and government forces (which included British and colonial troops) and their Māori allies. The two major periods of conflict were the mid-1840s and the 1860s. In 1850 when George and his family arrived there was an uneasy peace[40][41]. The southern frontier of the Auckland settlement was protected by the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corp, members of which had been recruited as military settlers from England in 1847[42].
Back to New Zealand
George and Elizabeth returned to New Zealand with their family sometime about 1862[52]; this time settling in Dunedin, Otago. Their move to Dunedin, like their move to Victoria, coincided with a growth in population and economy following the discovery of gold. The Otago gold rushes from July 1861 transformed Dunedin. Its population increased to nearly 15,000 by the end of the 1860s, and nearly tripled between then and 1881. For several years, it was New Zealand’s largest and most prosperous city[53][54]On 30 January 1869, just 7 years later, Elizabeth died at the age of 46. At the time of her death, George is recorded as being a brickmaker[55]. George was 52 and their children ranged in age from 7 years old to 22 years old.
By January 1883, George was living in Taranaki as George Allen White. He may have travelled there either with, or in order to join, his oldest son Joseph. Joseph and his wife and family were living in Taranaki at the same time[56]
On 3 January 1883, George was tried at Patea on a charge of obscene language for which he served 3 month’s labour in the gaol at New Plymouth. George is listed as George Allen White and is described as having white hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion[57]. He would have been about 66 ½ years old in January 1883.
Return or Prisoners Reported as Discharged, etc. Archives New Zealand; Wellington, New Zealand New Zealand Police Gazettes, 1875-1945; Item: IE25691437; Roll: R15423652 via Ancestry.com |
In the 1890’s, sources of public relief for those without means was most commonly provided as ‘outdoor relief’ with food, clothing and money given to them to enable them to be able to stay in their own homes. For the elderly poor, and those unable to live on their own, there was ‘indoor relief’ in the Benevolent Institution itself located at Caversham in Dunedin. The Otago Benevolent Institution was started in 1862 and was funded partly through public support in the form of local subscriptions and partly by Government funds. The addition of ‘indoor relief’ within the institution itself in Caversham began in 1866. Initially, the institution took in both children and the elderly. Children were the majority of the residents until the 1870's but their numbers diminished as other alternatives were provided. After 1896 only the occasional child stayed short term at the Benevolent Institution, which became a home for the elderly alone[61][62][63].
To date, I have been unable to find reference to where exactly the Caversham Benevolent Institute was located. My assumption is that it was in Alexandra Street given that George appears in Electoral Rolls between 1893-1902, initially as George Allen White (1893) and later as George Allan White (1894, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1902), brickmaker living in Alexandra Street, Caversham[64]. It can be seen that it wasn’t until 1894 that ‘Allen’ changed to ‘Allan’. By this time, George was 78 years old and information was likely being reported on his behalf rather than by him.Postscript
George White’s arrest, conviction, transportation and early life in Tasmania was the inspiration for a fictional work Seven Seasons of Wrath written by his Great Grandson, Douglas Coop[67]. Seven Seasons of Wrath (2015)[68] appears to be a revised version of Douglas Coop’s earlier fictional work The Price of Freedom (2005)[69].Related Post
Notes
[2] State Library of Queensland; South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 90, Class and Piece Number HO11/9, Page Number 487 (245) Transcript via Ancestry.com Web: Australia, Convict Records Index, 1787-1867 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2018 Lehi, UT, USA. Accessed 28 Feb 2022
[3] Van Diemen's Land was the original name of the island of Tasmania. In 1803, the island was settled by the British as a penal colony and became part of the British colony of New South Wales. In 1824, Van Diemen's Land became an independent colony and in 1856 was renamed by the British to Tasmania - Van Diemen’s Land - Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Jan. 2022 [Website] Accessed 28 February 2022.
[4] Australasian Underwater Cultural Database via Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment [Website] Accessed 1 March 2022. See also: Convict Records - CON13-1-7 – Image 53 Assignment List for 200 male convicts embarked in the ship George the Third for Van Diemen’s Land via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 19 March 2022.
[6] There appear to be a number of George White’s born in Birmingham at about this time. Evidence suggests this is the right record for our George White. George named some of his children: Joseph, George, Ann, Elizabeth, Alfred, Alfred Wallis, Emma Amelia … In addition to George, George and Ann [Wallis] White’s children were Joseph, Amelia, Ann and Alfred. Joseph and Amelia were baptised at the same time as George on 14 November 1821 (Joseph born 10 Feb 1818; Amelia born 26 October 1819] – See Note 5.
[7] Details from newspaper articles after his trial. Unfortunately, I have been unable to track down these articles to view them first hand. They are referred to by the profile owner of George White on the WikiTree website - Accessed 4 March 2022 - as follows:
- Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 14 March 1834, p.4 reported: "George White, was indicted for stealing 12 dozen buttons from Birmingham to London Wagon. out of the Birmingham waggon at Dunstable, 12 dozen of buttons, the property of Joseph Alexander and others. Verdict, guilty - 7 years' transportation”;
- Northampton Mercury, 15 March 1834, p.1 reported: "George White was charged with robbing the Birmingham wagon on its way to London, of a parcel containing a quantity of buttons. The prisoner had rode in the wagon when the parcel was lost, he was shortly after apprehended by the wagoner at Dunstable, in this county, and twelve dozen of the buttons found upon him - verdict, Guilty. The prisoner was sentenced to seven years' transportation"
[9] Unless it was usual for those arrested in Bedfordshire to be remanded to Newgate?
[10] Bedfordshire Gaol Register via Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council [Website] Bedfordshire Archives and Record Service. Accessed 3 March 2022.
[11] Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England Image via Ancestry.com. Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Accessed 2 March 2020.
[12] Convict Records - CON31-1-47 Image 96 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[13] Bedfordshire Gaol Register via Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council [Website] Bedfordshire Archives and Record Service. Accessed 3 March 2022.
[14] Australasian Underwater Cultural Database via Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment [Website] Accessed 1 March 2022.
[16] Australasian Underwater Cultural Database via Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment [Website] Accessed 1 March 2022.
[17] Newspaper reports include:
- Dreadful Occurrence - Colonial Times, 14 April 1835, page 7 via Trove [Website] Accessed 11 March 2022
- Shipwreck - The Hobart Town Courier, 24 April 1835, page 4 via Trove [Website] Accessed 11 March 2022
- Wreck of George III - The Mercury, 12 April 1928, page 5 via Trove [Website] Accessed 11 March 2022
[19] Convict Administration - The Assignment Period 1803-1839 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[20] Convict Records - CON31-1-47 - Image 96 via Libraries Tasmania [Website]Accessed 16 March 2022.
[21] Convict Records - CON34-1-5 - Image 497 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[22] Convict Records - CON18-1-8 - Image 205 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[23] Convict Records - CON 14-2-4 - Image 54 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022. See also Image 55 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[25] Convict Records - CON34-1-5 - Image 497 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[26] Convict Records - CON31-1-47 - Image 96 via Libraries Tasmania [Website]Accessed 16 March 2022.
[27] Convict Administration - The Probation Period 1840-1853 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[28] Permission to Marry – CON 52/1/2 page 389 RGD37/4:1845/1710 Request sent to Secretary 22 March 1845. Approved. Permission date: 28 March 1845 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 19 March 2022:
[29] Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office Tasmania Marriages 1803-1899 Image via FindMyPast [Website]. Accessed 13 March 2022.
[30] Registers of Birth in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts (RGD33) – RGD33-1-2 Image 168 – Entry 1715 - Male registered 8 June 1846 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[31] Registers of Birth in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts (RGD33) – RGD 33-1-3 Image 17 Entry 165 - Male registered 12 August 1847 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[32] Registers of Birth in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts (RGD33) – RGD 33-1-3 Image 91 Entry 904 – Female registered 23 August 1848 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[33] Registers of Birth in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts (RGD33) – RGD 33-1-3 Image 180 Entry 1790 – Female registered 26 September 2022 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[34] Convict Records - CON34-1-5 - Image 497 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] Accessed 16 March 2022.
[35] Convict Records - CON40/1/2 Image 29 via Libraries Tasmania [Website] - . Accessed 16 March 2022.
[36] Registers of Birth in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts (RGD33)via Libraries Tasmania [Website] - See Notes 30-33.
[37] This can be gleaned from the detail in the registrations of later children, particularly in light of the information in the 1860 registration for their daughter Alice Ann - Registration 26, 1860 District of Great Western in the Colony of Victoria - Information compiled by PK Bain, Dunedin from the records and kindly shared with me by Don Stevens.
[38] Birth Registration Number: 1851/1312 Births, Deaths & Marriages Online, [Digital Index] via New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs [Website]. Accessed 14 March 2022.
[39] History of Auckland via Wikipedia [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022
[40] New Zealand's 19th-century wars via New Zealand History [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022
[41] Story: New Zealand Wars via Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand [Website] Accessed 14 March 2022.
[42] The Corps consisted of discharged British soldiers, veterans of war, who were enrolled in England in 1847 as military settlers for a period of 7 years, although many became permanent settlers. They and their wives and families received free passage. On arrival in the colony each Fencible was given a two-roomed cottage and an acre of land, already partly cleared and made ready for cultivation and an advance for furniture and stock. They were paid 1s 3d a day in addition to any pension they had earned with previous service. See: The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume 1 (1845-64) The Royal New Zealand Fencibles via New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC), Victoria University of Wellington [Website] [Cowan, James F.R.G.S The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I: 1845–1864 R. E. Owen, 1955, Wellington]
[43] Victoria Deaths 1836-1985 - Death Registration 3320 Transcript via FindMyPast [Website]. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[44] Victoria Deaths 1836-1985 - Death Registration 884 Transcript via FindMyPast [Website]. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[45] Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013 Transcript via Ancestry.com. Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[46] Pioneer Index, Victoria 1836-1888 Transcript via Ancestry.com. Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Registration 1270. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[47] Registration 1270, 1855 District of Prahan, Victoria, Australia - Information compiled by PK Bain, Dunedin from the records and kindly shared with me by Don Stevens.
[49] Registration 84, 1858 District of Pleasant Creek in the Colony of Victoria - Information compiled by PK Bain, Dunedin from the records and kindly shared with me by Don Stevens.
[50] Registration 26, 1860 District of Great Western in the Colony of Victoria - Information compiled by PK Bain, Dunedin from the records and kindly shared with me by Don Stevens.
[51] Registration 12, 1861 District of Ararat, in the Colony of Victoria - Information compiled by PK Bain, Dunedin from the records and kindly shared with me by Don Stevens.
[52] When George died in December 1902, his death entry indicates that, at the time of his death, he had lived in New Zealand for 40 years (that is, since 1862). When Elizabeth died in January 1869, cemetery records indicate she had been in Otago for 7 years (that is, from 1862).
[55] New Zealand Society of Genealogists Incorporated; Auckland, New Zealand; New Zealand Cemetery Records Image via Ancestry.com New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[57] Archives New Zealand; Wellington, New Zealand New Zealand Police Gazettes, 1875-1945; Item: IE25691437; Roll: R15423652 Image via Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Police Gazettes, 1878-1945 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. Accessed 16 March 2020
[58] 1887, 1890 Waitotara Electoral Rolls - New Zealand Electoral Rolls, 1853–1981. Auckland, New Zealand: BAB microfilming. Microfiche publication, 4032 fiche via Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Accessed 17 March 2022.
[59] 1893 Patea Electoral Roll - New Zealand Electoral Rolls, 1853–1981. Auckland, New Zealand: BAB microfilming. Microfiche publication, 4032 fiche via Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Accessed 17 March 2022.
[60] The Inmates Book is held at the Hocken Library, Dunedin. I have not personally sighted this information. It was compiled by P.K. Bain of Dunedin and shared with me by Don Stevens.
[61] Otago Benevolent Institution, Caversham via Care Leavers in Australia & New Zealand CLAN [Website] Accessed 17 March 2022.
[62] The Caversham Project, University of Otago via History Department, University of Otago 2003 [Website] Accessed 17 March 2022.
[63] See also: Otago Benevolent Institution via New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC), Victoria University of Wellington [Website] Accessed 17 March 2002 [Torrance, J. A. (1890) Picturesque Dunedin: Or Dunedin and its neighbourhood in 1890 Mills, Dick & Co. 1890, p.183]
[64] 1893, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1902 Electoral Rolls - New Zealand Electoral Rolls, 1853–1981. Auckland, New Zealand: BAB microfilming. Microfiche publication, 4032 fiche via Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Accessed 17 March 2022.
[65] Registration Number: 1903/1876 Births, Deaths & Marriages Online [Digital Index] via New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs [Website]. Accessed 17 March 2022. Certified copy of death entry sighted by Author.
[66] Cemetery New Zealand Society of Genealogists Incorporated; Auckland, New Zealand; New Zealand Cemetery Records Image via Ancestry.com New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Accessed 16 March 2022.
[68] Coop, Douglas (2015) Seven Seasons of Wrath AUK Authors; Standard ed. edition (January 12, 2015) Accessed 2 March 2022.
[69] Coop, Douglas [2005] The Price of Freedom Trafford Publishing (August 9, 2005) Accessed 2 March 2022.
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