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| A ticket-of-leave from the Society of Australian Genealogist's index |
Tracing your smuggling ancestors
Descendants of smugglers transported for their
crimes -- and their relatives in Britain -- frequently contact me for
advice about tracing their ancestors. I cannot provide any specific information,
but the following guide is a useful starting point for research.
The National Archives
Based at Kew in West London, Britain's national archives
has 9.5 million accessible documents, including the conviction and sentencing
records of many transported smugglers. Most are held in paper or microfilm
form, and access is time-consuming: you can order only three documents
at a time, and may have to wait 40 minutes for them to be delivered.
These two web pages introduce the topic of transportation,
and provide useful pointers to tracing convicts through the National Archives:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/rdleaflet.asp?sLeafletID=347
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/guide/ancestorslaw/prisoners.htm
You'll also find here details of published sources on transported
convicts.
Internet resources
The following pages are specific to convicts transported
from the British mainland.
Convicts to Australia
This comprehensive "guide to researching your convict
ancestors" is probably the best place to start. It has a useful list
of online resources.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/list.html
The Old Bailey
This site from Britain's central and historic criminal court
has a brief introduction to transportation:
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/history/crime/punishment.html#transportation
Of more interest to those seeking their smuggling ancestors is a searchable
database of 100,000 criminal trials:
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/search/
Smuggling is not listed as a specific offence (it instead appears under
"tax offences") but a keyword search details 225 trials in which
smuggling is mentioned.
Convicts and British colonies in Australia
Focusing on convict life and the penal colonies, this site
from the Australian government's culture and recreation portal also has
a list of useful links.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/convicts/
Australian Convict Index 1788-1868
This searchable database from Ancestry.com lists 48,000 names
– nearly a third of all those transported. Registration required,
though searching is free.
http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5517
Ticket of Leave index
Convicts who behaved themselves qualified for a "ticket
of leave" which enabled them to buy land and to work freely before
their sentence had expired.
The Society of Australian Genealogists provides free searches
of ticket of leave butts from 1810-1875. There is a charge for a copy
of the original butt, which in addition to a prisoner's name, trade, date
and place of birth, sometimes also lists trial and conviction details,
transport ship and date of arrival, and physical features.
http://web.ecorner.com.au/epages/sag.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/sag/Categories/Databases/Ticket_of_leave_197&PageSize=60
Tasmanian Name Indexes
The Archives office of Tasmania maintains indexes of all
convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land, and their applications to marry.
http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/nameindexes
New South Wales Convicts
Indexes from the NSW Archives and Records Management Authority
list Certificates of Freedom; convicts' bank accounts; pardons; exemptions
from labours and other documents.
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/convicts_3689.asp
Australian mailing lists
http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Ejfuller/gen_mail_country-aus.html