Quick CONVICT RESEARCH CHECKLIST
© Lesley Uebel 2003


TRANSPORT

• Name of convict
  
• Which transport and voyage number
  
• Date of departure and date of arrival
  
• Obtain a copy of the ships Indent. It may contain some or all of the following information
  
• From port sailed
  
• Tons
  
• Master
  
• Surgeon
  
• Where tried and type of court  i.e. Assizes / Quarter Session etc
  
• When tried
  
• Sentence received
  
• Offence
  
• Age
  
• Native Place
  
• Calling
  
• Remarks
  
• Physical Description  eg hair colour, eye colour, complexion,  height, scars, tattoos etc
  
• Marital Status
  
• Number of children
  
• Education  eg could read &/or write
  
• Religion
  
• Number of previous convictions
  
• Ticket of Leave, Conditional Pardon : Absolute Pardon; Certificate of Freedom
  
• Assigned to, on arrival
  

• Were other convicts tried at the same court on the same day for the same crime
  
• Did he/she spend time on a Hulk before embarkation?
  
• Are there Prison Hulk Records available?
  
• Is there a drawing or photograph of the court available?
  
• Are the prison records available?
  
• Obtain the Trial Records
  
• Did the convict Petition for clemency?
  

• On arrival
  
• To Government or private employer?
  
• If Government - how long, which department?
  
• If Private - to whom assigned? for how long?  -  What type of work did he/she perform?
  
• Other assignments - same as above
  

• Ticket of Leave. How many? For which districts?
  
• Obtain copy of the Butt
  
• Any interesting notations on these Butts?
  
• Did they lose the indulgence of a TOL? Why?
  

• Were they issued with a Passport to move temporarily to another district?
  
• Why and for what reason
  
• Obtain copy of the Butt
  

• When obtained?
  
• Was it on completion of sentence or for some special assignment for the government?
  
• Obtain copy of the Butt
  

• Date?  With whom were they allowed to reside?
  
• What was the relationship to the person they were allowed to reside?
  
• Obtain Butt of Certificate of Exemption
  

• Date received
  
• Why received?
  
• Recommended by ?
  

• Date of recommendation? Date of receipt?
  
• Recommended by ?
  
• Did he/she petition the Governor for a Pardon?
  

• Any mentions? Why? What for? Obtain copies
  

• Follow through with each one available and if listed, and check under every spelling variation possible.
  
• Are the children also listed? 
  
• Were they listed as being On/Off Stores? 
  
• Are they listed as having property? Stock? Grain?  Number of cattle etc
  

• Any colonial crimes? For what? When? Where sent? Any newspaper reports?
  
• Any punishments received eg lash, solitary, death by hanging.
  
• Were they sent to another settlement eg Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay, Norfolk Island, VDL?
  
• Did they achieve anything remarkable? Any newspaper reports? Any citation from the Governor?
  
• Did they become Constables or join the Loyal Association or military?
  

• Is native place mentioned on Indent, TOL or any Pardon received
  
• Country and County
  
• Birth certificate
  
• Parents names
  
• Siblings names
  
• Did parents, siblings or cousins arrive as convicts
  
• Did parents or siblings arrive as free settlers
  
• Did the convict or parents or siblings petition to travel to NSW
  
• What religion were they
  

• Prior marriage at home. Did that spouse join him/her?
  
• Marriage in Australia. Did he/she obtain permission?
  
• Was it by Banns or Licence? When, When and by whom married.
  
• Who acted as witness?
  
• If both still under Bond, were they both employed by the same Master?
  
• If living in a de facto relationship, why? For how long ?
  
• Did the convict have multiple partners?
  
• Did the husband or wife leave the marriage for any reason?
  
• Petition for family to join convict?
  

• Did they have children before they were transported?  What happened to them?
  
• Children born in Australia. Name, date of birth, where born, Baptism record
  
• Were they all born to the same partner?
  
• Were they educated ?  at home ? at school ? Sent back to the UK or elsewhere for their education?
  
• Who did the children marry
  
• Did the children marry someone within the same community or perhaps a child of a fellow convict ?
  
• Were the children sent to an orphanage at any stage?
  

• Did they purchase or obtain their land through a free grant or lease ? Where, when, how?
  
• Were they squatters? Where? When? Why?
  

• Did they own a house? From what was is made eg stone, timber, wattle and daub, mud?
  
• Location of residence / Farm
  
• Does it still exist?
  
• When did they live there from - to?
  
• Did they move around? Why?
  
• Did they own a farm? What did it produce?  Who did they sell their produce to?
  
• Any major setbacks?  Eg. floods, drought?
  

• Did they arrive with money that was deposited on arrival? How much? For how long?
  
• Did they acquire a bank account when free?
  
• Were they declared bankrupt?
  
• Were they wealthy or poor?  Why?
  

• When tried
  
• When living in Australia
  
• Did they have any  professional training ?
  
• Did they work in a trade or any specialised field ?
  
• What do the various musters and census state
  

• When?  Where? Why? Obtain death certificate if possible.
  
• Are they recorded in the Convict Death Index?
  
• Where buried? With whom? Anyone else in the grave?
  
• Was there a headstone? Does it still exist?
  
• Did they leave a Will? How was the property distributed & to whom
  
• Is there an Obituary available
  
• Did the children or parents die from any particular disease prevalent at the time?
  

• Any photographs available of person? Children? House? Grave/Headstone?
  

• Follow through - say each 5 or 10 years of the life of the convict
  
• What was going on in the colony during each of these time  periods?
  
• How did the different Governors affect their lives?
  
• How did other things eg weather, impact on their lives?