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The
Conditional Pardon for William Robertson, 1831
Manuscript Collection, MS 9603
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Patricia
Stone examines the text of an important convict document, recently added
to the National Library’s Manuscript Collection
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Seal
possibly used on convict pardons
etc. c.1800
wax seal; diam. 11 cm. approx.
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an7880637
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A ‘Conditional
Pardon for a Transported Convict’, dated June 25 1831, has been acquired
by the Library. It is printed on vellum, with manuscript insertions, and
is signed twice by Governor Darling, bearing a near perfect impression
of his seal, which is damaged and presently being restored.
Not many
pardons were issued—this one is numbered 54—so it can be regarded as a
rare historical document. It provides a conditional pardon to William
Robertson, a clerk from Edinburgh, convicted of housebreaking at Edinburgh
Court of Justice in 1821 and sentenced to transportation for life to New
South Wales.
William
Robertson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, had a ruddy complexion, brown
hair and grey eyes. It was noted that he had a scar on his right breast.
His date of birth is unclear; in the pardon it is given as 1802, but the
declaration below says that he was 16 in 1821, which would probably make
his birthdate some time in 1805.
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Pardon itself is couched in lawyer’s careful terms |
| WHEREAS
HIS LATE MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY KING GEORGE THE THIRD
by a Commission under the GREAT SEAL of GREAT BRITAIN,
bearing Date the Eighth Day of November, in the Thirty-first
Year of His Majesty’s Reign was Graciously Pleased to
Give and Grant full Power and Authority to the Governor
(or in Case of his Death or Absence the Lieutenant Governor)
for the Time-being of His Majesty’s Territory of the Eastern
Coast of New South Wales and the Islands thereunto adjacent,
by an Instrument or Instruments in Writing, under the
Seal of the Government of the said Territory, or as HE
or THEY respectively should think fit and convenient for
His Majesty’s Service, to REMIT either ABSOLUTELY or CONDITIONALLY
the Whole or any Part of the term, or Time for which Persons
convicted of Felony, Misdemeanor, or other Offences, amenable
to the Laws of Great Britain, should have been, or should
thereafter be respectively Conveyed or transported to
New South Wales or the Islands thereunto adjacent.
BY
VIRTUE of such Power and Authority so vested as
aforesaid, Lieutenant-General RALPH DARLING, Captain
General and Governor in Chief of His Majesty’s said
Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies and
Vice-Admiral of the same, taking into Consideration
the good Conduct of William Robertson who arrived in
this Colony in the Ship ‘Guildford’ 5, Johnson Master,
in the Year One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two
under Sentence of Transportation for Life and whose
description is in the margin
DO
hereby CONDITIONALLY REMIT the Remainder
of the Term or Time which is yet to come and unexpired
of the original Sentence or Order of Transportation
passed on the aforesaid William Robertson at Edinburgh
Court of Justice on the … Day of July One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-one.
PROVIDED
ALWAYS, and on Condition, that the said William
Robertson continue to reside within the Limits of this
Government for and during the Space of his original
Sentence or Order of Transportation:—Otherwise, the
said William Robertson shall be subject to all the Pains
and Penalties of Re-appearing in Great Britain and Ireland
for and during the Term of his original Sentence of
Order of Transportation or, as if this Remission had
never been granted.
GIVEN
under my Hand and The Seal of the Territory, at Government
House, Sydney in NEW SOUTH WALES, this twenty-fifth
Day of June, in the Year of Our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and thirty one.
R.A.
DARLING.
[signed
at Government House, Sydney]
REGISTERED
IN THE COLONIAL SECRETARY’s OFFICE
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A letter
from W.J. Stevenson, Clerk of Justicuary at the High Court in Edinburgh,
to Stevenson Gilchrist, reveals more about the convict Robertson:
From a
Judicial Declaration emitted to the Sheriff at Edinburgh, Robertson
states that, at the date thereof, 23 February, 1821, he was sixteen
years of age and at one time apprenticed to a grocer, that his Master,
failing about two and a half years ago, he went to the service of a
Wharfinger in Leith, but after remaining there for nine months left
the place because there was no further use for him, and that he had
ever since been out of employment. He also admitted to having been sent
three times to Bridewell (a House of Correction in London for Juvenile
Offenders) by the Police Courts, on charges of theft.
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William
Romaine Govett (1807–1848)
[Port Jackson, Fort Macquarie and Part of Sydney
Cove] 1836
watercolour; 14.6 x 20.4 cm
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an3365061
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The Application
for the Pardon can be found in historical records:
From Sir
George Murray to Governor Darling
Despatch
No. 70, per Ship Florentia, acknowledged by Governor Darling, 7th April,
1831.
Downing
Street, 9 August, 1830.
Sir,
Application having been made to His Majesty’s Government by the Lord
Justice Clerk in favour of William Robertson who was tried at the High
Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, in the month of July, 1821, and was
transported to New South Wales for life in the Ship Guildford, I am
to desire that you will grant the said William Robertson a Pardon on
condition of his residing within the Colony, provided the Prisoner’s
conduct has been such as to throw no impediment in the way of granting
that Pardon.
I am, etc.
G. Murray.
![A hand coloured print showing the death of a convict in bed on the Hulk Justitia [ 183-?] by George Cruikshank](images/p20i02.jpg) |
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George
Cruikshank (1792–1878)
Death of a Convict on the Hulk Justitia [183-?]
engraving print, hand col.; 21.5 x 32.7 cm
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an8891819
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Charles
Bateson in his book The Convict Ships 1787–1868 (Sydney: Reed,
1974, pp. 231–233) revealed that the Guildford had made a record-making
voyage to Port Jackson in 1822, leaving London on 7 April, on her fifth
voyage under the command of Magnus Johnson. She called in at Teneriffe
and made it into Port Jackson in 99 days with William Robertson on board.
She was one of the best-known convict ships and in eight voyages conveyed
over 1500 male prisoners to Australia, only losing about 12 in all. Her
last voyage as a convict ship was from Dublin, arriving in Port Jackson
on 4 November 1829. The following year she sailed from Hobart
with a detachment of troops for India and arrived at Bombay on 14 April,
1830. Nothing was ever heard from her again after she sailed for England
from Singapore.
In William
Robertson: Victorian Pioneer, Stevenson McGilchrist searched for his
ancestor, another William Robertson, and writes:
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Artist
unknown
A Convict Hulk with Adjacent Shipping in Port
c.1830
watercolour; 14.7 x 19.8 cm
Pictures Collection, nla.pic-an10670870
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I felt
that I must get more knowledge regarding the William Robertson who was
a convict. I wrote to the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, Scotland,
and after waiting for three months the following reply came to hand:
‘From the Records of the High court of Justiciary for the 12 July, 1821,
it appears that a prisoner named William Robertson was charged along
with two other men (named James McLachlan and John Lawson) with having,
“on the evening of the 23 January, 1821, broken open the window of a
shop in West Register Street, occupied by a James O’Donnell, Jeweller
and Watchmaker, and theftuously carrying away therefrom a watch with
silver cases, and that he was by habit and repute a thief, he having
been previously convicted of theft, and after trial by Jury was found
guilty and libelled”. The Public Officer, having restricted the pains
of law, i.e. punishment to an arbitary one, the Court sentenced Robertson,
and also the other two men, to be transported beyond the seas, to such
place as His Majesty with the advice of his Privy Council should declare
and appoint. In the case of Robertson and McLachlan, the period of transportation
was during all the days of their lives … “and that should any of them
return after being transported, and found in any part of Great Britain
and Ireland without some lawful cause and be thereof lawfully convicted,
then they should suffer death as felons”.’
Nothing
is known of James McLachlan and John Lawson and little is known of William
Robertson’s life in the colony. It is important to note that conditional
pardons released a convict from custody and hard work but were different
from absolute pardons because the former prisoner could not return home.
PATRICIA
STONE is a Canberra-based freelance writer.
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