Isaac Parkhouse transported!

During August 2003 I did some searching of the newspaper indexes on Paul Mansfield's web site and located a couple of references to an Isaac Parkhouse which I subsequently followed up:

• The Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury dated 16 April 1832 stated that, together with H. Bartlett, Isaac Parkhouse had been sentenced to death for assaulting Isaac Goldstone and Joseph Hill.

• The Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury dated 21 May 1832 stated "This morning, at four o'clock, the following transports were removed from Ilchester Gaol to the 'Captivity' hulk at Devonport, preparatory to their embarkation for New South Wales, for life, viz: ...." amongst whom was Isaac Parkhouse.

[ NOTE 12 November 2007 : references also appeared in Paul Mansfield's newspaper index of the Bridgwater Advertiser 1832, which have not been followed up. I presume the information will be no different.]

A search of the Ilchester Gaol Register at http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ confirmed that a 19 year old prisoner named Isaac Parkhouse was there on 28 January 1832 and later on 9 April 1832. His last abode was St James' Place, Bath, Somerset.

A web search located the Launceston Assessment Roll 1856 at http://www.rootsweb.com/~austas/Lton6.htm which listed an Isaac Parkhouse in 1856 as a ratepayer at premises in Launceston.

If this was the same man then he survived the journey and was at some point free.

So far, I have discovered the following:

Who was Isaac Parkhouse?

I have concluded that Isaac Parkhouse was the son of Daniel and Mary Parkhouse and was christened 10 March 1811 at Twerton, Bath, Somerset.

He may have had a sister, Ellen, since the 1851 census records an unmarried Ellen Parkhouse living as a house servant, aged 38, in The Parsonage, Tiverton, who was born in Bath.

Daniel Parkhouse, his father, was christened 21 May 1780 in Upottery Devon, the son of Jacob and Betty Parkhouse. Daniel was the brother of my 3xgreat grandfather, James Parkhouse.

Transported to Van Dieman's Land

Isaac Parkhouse's Conduct Record, CON 31/35, and Description List, CON 18/3, were obtained from the Archives Office of Tasmania, and provide further information.

According to Isaac Parkhouse's Conduct Record CON 31/35, he was sentenced at Somerset Assizes on the 29 March 1832 to "Life" for "Robbery". This differs from the newspaper reports. More research is required, perhaps in the Bath newspaper(s) of the time, to establish exactly what he did do.

However, after at least months in Ilchester, Somerset, prison, and nearly a year on a hulk in Plymouth Sound, on the 30 April 1833, together with 200 other male convicts, Isaac Parkhouse was transported aboard the Atlas to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). The voyage lasted 116 days and they arrived at Hobart, in the south of the island, on 24 August 1833. There were no deaths during the voyage.

On arrival at that date, before 1841, the well-behaved convicts would have been assigned immediately to private settlers. How they were treated depended a great deal on the disposition of their masters. His convict number was P951 - formed from the initial of his surname and the number of convicts with that initial.

Isaac Parkhouse was assigned first to a Mr John Knight (Convict Muster 1833 HO 10/49 no 951) and to the same person again two years later (Convict Muster 1835 HO 10/50 no 951) and, according to his Conduct Record, was still with Knight on 31 July 1837.

If he had not behaved, he would have run the risk of flogging, assigned to a road gang, or being sent to Port Arthur, the penal colony on a peninsular south of Hobart, established in September 1830, where the regime was severe.

However, Isaac appears to have been disciplined for only minor misdemeanours - e.g. "being in a Public House" for which he was sentenced to 6 hours in the stocks (31 July 1837) - and by 1841 ( 29 July 1841) he had obtained his “ticket of leave” (Convict Muster 1841 HO 10/51 no 951, and also Conduct Record CON 31/35). This was a permit to work for wages, and to muster when required, so that the district constable could confirm that the convict had not absconded.

At some point after he received his ticket of leave he would have received a conditional pardon, despite having committed a "Breach of Police Act" (whatever that might have been) and fined 20/- on 30 June 1842.

On 1 June 1848, at the age of 35, he married Mary Smith, aged 26, who was also a convict, at York Street Chapel, Launceston. His trade at that time was a carter.

A search of the Tasmanian "Index to Convict Applications For Permissions to Marry" yielded the following:

[url: http://resources.archives.tas.gov.au/archmarriage/SearchResults.asp]

[Joan Proud advises that the Garland Grove made two voyages to Van Dieman's Land, from London arriving Hobart 10 October 1841, and Woolwich arriving Hobart 20 January 1843. There was a convict named Mary Smith on both voyages, so it's not clear which is the correct one]

The Launceston Assessment Roll of 1856 lists Isaac Parkhouse as a ratepayer at premises in Charles Street, Launceston.

In 1866, Isaac Parkhouse was described in a directory of the Residents of Launceston as living in Charles Street, Launceston, with an occupation of horse dealer.

In 1887, Mary Parkhouse, his wife, died in Launceston, aged 66 years.

Isaac Parkhouse died 16 May 1896, aged 85, in Launceston leaving a Will (AD960/23, page 7, Will Number 4949). His occupation at that time was livery stable keeper. 

From Isaac's Will, it can be supposed that they had no children other than the mentioned adopted daughter, Ellen Mary, who married a butcher, Joseph Griffiths, in 1866 in Launceston. Isaac had prospered sufficiently to have already paid his mother's adopted daughter, Mrs Mary Ann Wyatt, the sum of £100. He left instructions for his real and personal estate to be sold and the proceeds to be shared equally between Isaac's nephew, Henry James Wyatt, and his three brothers, James, Charles, and Isaac, back in Bath, Somerset. [The 1841 census of Bath has a Mary Parkhouse, aged 65, living with a Henry Wyatt and his family at 8 St.Marys Buildings, Wells Road].

The John Knight, to whom Isaac Parkhouse was assigned, appears to have been the John Knight of Carr Villa, a 320 acre grant acquired by John Knight on the outskirts of Launceston. He published a newspaper called the Teetotal Advocate the first issue of which appeared 3 April 1843.

Carr Villa is now a War Cemetery and Launceston Garden of Remembrance.
 

Sources.: http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/,  Joan Proud, Maurice Knight