Conduct Book Entry

[Parkrox]

Hi All

I have found the Conduct Book entry for my ancestor, but I am unable to make sense of the content. In some places it is the terminology, others the writing style.

Is there somewhere where these can be transcribed?

Thanks

[Parkrox]

So far I have....

SPRATLEY, Jacob
Enchantress 31 July 1833
Southampton Ass 25 Feb 1832 - Life

Transport for House Breaking.
Gaol Report - Orderly
Hulk Report - Good
Stated this offence - HouseBreaking once XXX for Praching
Married
4 Children
Wife Jane at Eversley
Surgeons Report Orderly
======================================

August 12 1833 PW / xxxx xxxx Wheel P days / P I
April 5 1834 David
Neglect of duty, Adm XXX / Leake /
June 4 1835 Hill / Suspicion of making away with 16 Bushels of lime the property of his Master - Case dismissed / JW
June 11th 1836 Hill Larceny, commit for trial /FF / 6 month xxxx xxxx Fxxxx R
July after Mxxxx axxxx gang Vide xxx Gxxxx Decis (Decision?) 21 July 1836
June 5th 1837 / see 21 Sept / stealing one sheep the property of a person unknown. Commit for trial / 7 years hard labour Port Arthur Ch Gang vide Lieut Gov't decision on 26th June 1837.
Dec 11 1839 Gross neglect of duty - 5 days solitary confinement on xxxxxxx
Aug 4 1840 XXX improper conduct - 5 days of confinement xxx xxx / P W
8 July 1841 for misconduct in having potatoes improperly on his person under suspicious circumstances. Existing sentence to hard labour in XXX XXX of his XXX XXX sentence in the Town Surveyors Gang Vide XXX of XXX
14 Feb 1844 - 2844 - XXXX
TL (Ticket of Leave 7/1/45)
Recon for a Conditional Pardon July 7 1847
XXXXX 5/10/47

[Megan Roberts]

As far as I am aware none of the Tasmanian records have been transcribed, so its really a case of you trying to make what it says. From a quick look it appears that Jacob Spratley left Portsmouth 13 April 1833 aboard Enchrantress having been tried at Southampton Assizes 25 Feb 1832 having been sentence to be transported for Life for housebreaking. Top right box is very feint but seems to be the gaol report that probably came from the UK and the prison hulks saying that he had been well behaved, had a history of poaching and left a wife and 4 children behind?
The main part at the bottom is what he got up to in VDL which was constant run ins with the authorities and lots of sanctions, before being pardoned in 1847.

[Pam Downes]

Is the document available to view online?
With the best will in the world it's difficult to clearly make out much more than

SPRATLEY, Jacob
Enchantress 31 July 1833
Southampton Ass 25 Feb 1832 - Life

Pam

[helachau]

https://search.archives.tas.gov.au/Im...40,262,13,F,60

Tab down to 3rd entry

Hope the link works.

I started by googling "Tasmanian conduct records" and followed the trail ('twasn't easy!)

[Megan Roberts]

Hampshire Lent Assizes, held in Winchester on 25 Feb 1832 charged with housebreaking and found guilty and sentenced to death which was then commuted to transportation for life on 25 April 1832. At that time he was being held in the castle at Winchester. On 1 May 1832 he was ordered to the prison hulk Leviathan to await transportation, and arrived there on 7 May.

Reported in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal 27 February 1832 – charged in conjunction with a George White, who suffered the same fate. The paper does not list what they stole.

His prison number of the Leviathan was 11342, and this says that he was 29, and during his time there he was said to be healthy and well behaved. He transported to VDL on 30 March 1833, together with George White. The Leviathan was moored in Portsmouth harbour. The prison record simply describes him as “orderly in prison”.

All the above are available on-line from Ancestry and FindmyPast.

[helachau]

The same newspaper, 5 Mar 1832, reported they stole " ... a quantity of bacon"

[Lesley Robertson]

This is the first time that I have come across Conduct Books. Am I right in assuming (from what’s been said) that they only relate to convicts sent to Australia?

[Megan Roberts]

These are the records for convicts sent to VDL or Tasmania and are available free on line from the Tasmanian State Archives. See helachau's post above