Convicts
Convicts transported to Austraila
Some soldiers committed crimes so they would be transported to Australia, according to Emma Roberts who was in India 1828-1832. She wrote: "A few [soldiers], driven to despair by the melancholy prospect of interminable exile, unable to await the slow approach of their recall, and allured by the flowery descriptions of Australia, plunge into crime for the purpose of exchanging honourable servitude in India for a felon's lot in a climate resembling that of England. It is no very unusual circumstance for a soldier to attempt the life of his officer or his comrade, in the hope of being transported to a country possessing so many features akin to the land of his birth; and even the punishment of death is to some less terrible than the prospect of eternal banishment from "the home they left with little pain."" [1]
External Links
- Convicts Transported to Australia from India - Perth DPS project. For Military Convicts from Bengal, you can probably obtain a summary of the Court Martial proceedings in the General Orders by C-in-C Bengal in the L/MIL/17/2 series at the British Library, and similarly for the other Presidencies. (Unfortunately, these have not been microfilmed)
- British Convict Transportation Registers Database includes European Soldiers sentenced in India.
- NSW State Archives Major sources held by NSW State Records that relate to trade and migration between India and New South Wales and includes a section on convicts.
- Tasmanian Archives Convicts Guide.This document may be searched for ”India”
- Sydney Journal Part of the Dictionary of Sydney. Some British military prisoners were sent first to Mauritius, and then to Sydney.
Historical books online
- Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan by Emma Roberts on Google Books. This edition is Volume 2, 1837. Page 122
Convicts transported to Penang
Some convicts were sent to Penang from India.
Historical books online
- Edinburgh medical and surgical journal, Volume 36 Google Books, (bottom of page), published in 1831.
References
- ↑ 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan' Volume 2, Page 122 by Emma Roberts. Published 1837