When 19 years old William Kingsley left England in June 1827 as one of 180 unwanted people on the convict ship “Prince Regent”, he could not have envisaged the evolution of his “family” or perhaps even consider the idea of having one. The records for his temporary home, the prison hulk “Justitia”, indicate that William was of “bad character and disorderly”. England was rapidly heading into the industrial revolution and the military was downsizing after the Napoleonic wars so times were turbulent, especially for the working class. The English political class could not develop adequate policies to handle the overflowing prisons and so a “Pacific Solution” was decided upon.
William came from the Pirton area of Hertfordshire, England and was part of a large family struggling to earn a rural living. He was removed from his “detention centre” hulk and after 108 uneventful days at sea the “Prince Regent” arrived at the Sydney processing centre. After a short period at Hyde Park Barracks, William was despatched to the Goulburn area to serve his 14 year sentence. Out of sight and never to see England again.
The “Prince Regent I” left from Deal in Kent and whilst we will not go there during this trip in 2011, we plan to stay a few days in the area where William was raised, particularly Pirton, to check out how things have progressed since he left. The area is not far from London and our research says that it is now a commuter feeder area for London workers with any number of “created” decentralised towns around. The accommodation options for us are not all that great it seems; typical old fashioned English pubs with cheap 1960's accommodation, over-priced and underachieving hotels catering for English travelling salesmen and cheaper wedding parties or outdated hotels with lazy staff for travellers using Luton or Stansted airports. Maybe our William was lucky to be taken out when he was.
William's Australian soul-mate, Eliza Sandford, came from County Cavan or County Meath, Ireland. She was convicted for vagrancy in 1834. The 1815 overthrow of Napoleon removed any possibility of France supporting the Catholic Irish and so this underclass of Ireland, including Eliza Sandford, had a particularly tough time in those days.
After several years in Cork prison Eliza was one of 192 women convicts despatched to the Sydney processing centre on the “Roslin Castle”. She arrived in Sydney in February 1836 and put to work in the female factory at Parramatta. We know very little else about Eliza's Irish background but we hope to learn something about her and the conditions she endured when we visit County Cork in June.
