Parkhurst apprentices explained

The Parkhurst apprentices, juveniles from a reformatory attached to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, were sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas" and transported to Australia and New Zealand between 1842 and 1852. Either before leaving England[1] or on arrival at their destination,[2] they were pardoned on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the term of their sentence. In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Parkhurst Prison.

Parkhurst apprentices in Western Australia

Early in 1839, Governor of Western Australia John Hutt received from the Colonial Office a circular asking if the colony would be prepared to accept juvenile prisoners who had first been reformed in "penitentiaries especially adapted for the purpose of their education and reformation". After seeking comment from the Western Australian Agricultural Society, Hutt responded that "The Majority of the Community would not object to boys not above 15 years of age...." but that the labour market could not support more than 30 boys per year.

Between 1842 and 1849, Western Australia accepted 234 Parkhurst apprentices, all males aged between 10 and 21 years. As Western Australia was not then a penal colony, contemporary documents scrupulously avoided referring to the youths as "convicts", and most historians have maintained the distinction. An opposing view, held for example by Gill (2004), is that the Parkhurst apprentices were convicts, and that their apprenticeship constituted convict assignment.[3]

John Schoales jun. (c. 1810 – 10 April 1847), son of John Schoales QC of Dublin.[4] was appointed Guardian of the apprentices. He determined the allowance they were paid, holding it in trust until their 5-year indenture period was over. The Parkhurst Visitors insisted that names of the boys not be published in the Government Gazette, in order that they were not discriminated against. Schoales was succeeded as Guardian by Frederick Dirck Wittenoom (c. 1821–1863).[5]

Parkhurst apprentices were employed by a broad cross-section of Western Australia's businessmen and officials, including many of the colony's ruling class. Among the long list of Parkhurst apprentice employers were Governor Andrew Clarke, Frederick Irwin, George Fletcher Moore, Anthony O'Grady Lefroy, William Locke Brockman, Thomas Brown, George Walpole Leake, Walter Padbury, Stephen Stanley Parker, Rosendo Salvado Thomas Peel JR and George Shenton Sr.

The assimilation of Parkhurst apprentices played an important role in the later acceptance of convicts in Western Australia.

New Zealand

One hundred and twenty three Parkhurst apprentices were sent to the Colony of New Zealand in 1842 and 1843. These had not been invited to the convict-free colony, and were a great surprise when the first ship arrived. After the second ship, the colony successfully petitioned that no more would be sent.[6]

South Australia

The Colony of South Australia was also asked to accept Parkhurst Boys, but resisted[7] and none was sent there.[8]

List of ships

List of ships that brought Parkhurst apprentices to Australia and New Zealand

width=30% ShipArrivalParkhurst
apprentices		Colony
Simon TaylorAugust 1842align=center 18Western Australia
St GeorgeNovember 1842align=center 92New Zealand
ShepherdOctober 1843align=center 28Western Australia
MandarinOctober 1843align=center 51Tasmania
MandarinNovember 1843align=center 31New Zealand
HalifaxDecember 1844align=center 18Western Australia
StrathedinDecember 1845align=center 74Tasmania
January 1846align=center 16Western Australia
MaitlandOctober 1846align=center 70Victoria
Thomas ArbuthnotMay 1847align=center 89Victoria[9]
Joseph SomesSeptember 1847align=center 84Victoria
MarionJanuary 1848align=center 125Victoria
OrientMarch 1848align=center 51Western Australia
EdenFebruary 1849align=center 62Victoria
AmeerFebruary 1849align=center 50Western Australia
abt July 1849align=center 29Tasmania
RandolphAugust 1849align=center 85Victoria
MaryOctober 1849align=center 53Western Australia
AdelaideNovember 1849align=center 30Tasmania
BlenheimJuly 1850align=center 85Tasmania
Maria SomesAugust 1850align=center 30Tasmania
NileOctober 1850align=center 30Tasmania
RodneyNovember 1850align=center 40Tasmania
MermaidMay 1851align=center 43Western Australia
May 1851Tasmania and Norfolk Island
PyreneesJune 1851align=center 29Western Australia
MindenOctober 1851align=center 30Western Australia
AboukirDecember 1851Tasmania
FairlieMarch 1852align=center 30Tasmania
EquestrianAugust 1852Tasmania
Oriental QueenOctober 1852Tasmania
DudbrookFebruary 1853align=center 1Western Australia
LincellesJanuary 1862align=center 1Western Australia

References

  1. Gill (2004), page 1: "Once in the colony, they were pardoned on two conditions..."
  2. Statham (1981), page 6" "... these boys had received conditional pardons prior to leaving England..."
  3. Robbins, W.M. review of Gill's (2004) Convict Assignment at Web site: | Book Review | Labour History, 88 | the History Cooperative . 2010-09-22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120929191336/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lab/88/br_1.html . 29 September 2012 . dmy-all . (vol 88. May 2005) 'In short, Gill argues that convict transportation to WA arrived in a disguised form and at an earlier time than is commonly thought. Between 1842 and 1852 Gill finds that 243 young British juvenile offenders were transported to WA even though officially they were described as 'apprentices' '
  4. News: Advertising . . 350 . Western Australia . 14 April 1847 . 6 April 2019 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  5. Web site: Papers in Labour History No.6 . . 3 . 6 April 2019.
  6. Web site: CONVICTS SENT TO NEW ZEALAND! The Boys from Parkhurst Prison . Anthony G. Flude . 2003 . 9 February 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160129084454/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/parkhurstboys/convicts4.html . 29 January 2016 . dead .
  7. News: Memorial by the Colonists of South Australia against the Introduction of Convicts . . VIII . 600 . South Australia . 14 February 1845 . 15 November 2016 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  8. Book: Inequality, Poverty, Education: A Political Economy of School Exclusion . Francesca Ashurst . Couze Venn . 95–96 . 978-1137347015 . 9 February 2016. 7 February 2014 . Springer .
  9. Web site: 2003 . Parkhurst Boys – Thomas Arbuthnot 1847 . Convicts to Australia . Perth Dead Persons' Society . 18 December 2006.

Further reading

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