Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 99
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Chapter 9: Families of Convicts
9.1
Background to the records
Children of convicts
Wives and families of convicts sometimes accompanied their convict
relations or came out later. (Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies, p.89).
Children were placed on board the convict transports with their
parent(s) often with no official record of their voyage or arrival being
recorded on the indents. The children were supported and fed at
government expense and orphan homes were established to
accommodate those separated from, or deserted by, their parents.
Young children were permitted to stay with their mothers in the Female
Factory until they reached the age of four when they were sent to the
Orphan Schools and could be returned to their mother when she left the
Factory.
Marriage in the
colony
Until the 1820s marriages, regardless of the faith of the individuals
involved, were conducted only by the Church of England and involved
the issuing of a licence or the proclamation of banns on three successive
Sundays before the ceremony. The licence fees amounted to £4/4/0 and
only the more affluent could afford to proceed by this means.
Convicts’
applications to
marry
Approval in the case of convicts had to be given by the Governor and
applications were initially directed to his private secretary, later to the
Colonial Secretary, and from 1828 to the Principal Superintendent of
Convicts. State Records holds Registers of Convicts' applications to
marry, 20 Dec 1825-26 Feb 1851, (NRS 12212) and Returns of persons
applying for the publication of banns, 1824-41, (NRS 897 905 and 906).
Returns of the applications for the publication of banns were sent by the
local clergyman to the Colonial Secretary and remain in his
correspondence.
Incentives for
convicts to marry
Governors encouraged marriage and family life believing that it served
moral ends and brought stability to society. Various inducements such
as tickets of leave, pardons and assistance with establishing households
were offered. Following the opening of the Convict Barracks married
men were given Fridays and Saturdays to support their families and
were allowed to sleep with their wives. Regulations dated 1 March 1817
allowed for wives and families of convicts to be brought to the colony at
government expense. (NRS 898, Special Bundles, 1794-1825 [SZ756
p.383] Reel 6039). In approved cases convicts were granted exemption
from government labour so that they could reside with their families.
Records of tickets of exemption are available for the period 1827-32.
Remarriage in the
colony
It was not uncommon in the early years for convicts to marry again in
the colony even though they had already been married prior to
transportation. Some acted in the belief that their spouse was dead,
others either thought they would never see their spouse again or
believed incorrectly that transportation annulled marriage. There are
letters in the Colonial Secretary's Correspondence concerning instances
of bigamy being bought to official notice. Divorce was not possible in
New South Wales until 1873.
Despite the encouragements for convicts to marry, the presence of far
more men than women meant many found marriage was not an option.
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State Records Authority of New South Wales