Convict Ship Marquis of Huntley - 1835
Voyage: 100 days
Deaths: 1
Surgeon's Journal: yes
Previous vessel: Lady Nugent arrived 9 April 1835
Next vessel: Westmoreland arrived 15 July 1835
Captain Molison
Surgeon Alick Osborne R.N.
Prisoners and passengers of the Marquis of Huntley identified in the Hunter Valley
The Marquis of Huntley was built in Aberdeen in 1804.[1] Convicts were transported to New South Wales on the Marquis of Huntley in 1826, 1828, 1830 and 1835.
The Convicts
Some of the prisoners on board had been tried and convicted at the Old Bailey. Select here to find out what it may have been like to be tried at the Old Bailey and imprisoned in Newgate in 1835.Surgeon Alick Osborne
Alick Osborne kept a Medical Journal from 25 February to 27 July 1835.....He remarked in his journal that during the voyage all the prisoners were generally very healthy, with one exception, that of John Desmond. This patient was old and infirm and sank under accumulation, misery and misfortune.
A prisoner who had been sentenced to 7 years transportation was placed on the Marquis of Huntley for a few weeks before being removed to the Fortitude Hulk. In a report to the Select Committee, he described a different picture of the situation on the Marquis of Huntley........When he was placed in the vessel there were 150 men of either side on the deck with sleeping berths, five men in a berth; it was scarcely possible to describe the horrid language commonly made use of, and the dirt and filth of the deck; he thinks he could not have lived long in such a place, and was truly thankful when he found himself on board the Fortitude.
Departure
The Marquis of Huntley departed the Downs 27th March 1835.Passengers
Passengers included F. Fisher, Mrs. Osborne and Misses Ann Jane Mary and Isabella Osborne; andMilitary Guard
Lieutenants Becham and Irving 28th regt., and 29 rank and file of the 28th regiment formed the GuardPort Jackson
The Marquis of Huntley arrived in Port Jackson on 5 July 1835Notes and Links
1). Convict Llewellyn Powell who arrived on the Marquis of Huntley was found guilty of murder and executed at Sydney on 29 November 1839.2). Alick Osborne was employed as Surgeon Superintendent on eight convicts ship voyages to New South Wales between the years 1825 - 1838:
Lonach in 1825
Speke in 1826
Sophia in 1829
Sarah in 1829
Planter in 1832
Fairlie in 1834
Marquis of Huntley in 1835
Elphinstone in 1838.
3). Prisoners and passengers of the Marquis of Huntley identified in the Hunter Valley
4). Edward Carpenter arrived as a convict on the Marquis of Huntley. He was born in Gloucester c. 1811 and convicted of sheep stealing at Hereford assizes in October 1834. Ten years after arrival in 1846, he absconded from service. In 1848 he was assigned to Edmund Kennedy's ill-fated expedition. He caused trouble early in the expedition when he absconded with food and they spent two days searching for him and bringing him back
The circumstances of his death are written of in 'The Kennedy Expedition'...... William Carron with Wall, Taylor, Carpenter, Mitchell, Douglas, Niblett, and Goddard, camped beside a commanding hill near the mouth of the Pascoe River in Weymouth Bay with fresh water within reach. They had 281bs. of flour, half a pound of tea, and two worn out horses which were to be killed for food. Kennedy told them to make their supplies last them six weeks, but three weeks after Kennedy left, these eight men were face to face with starvation. It was then December 4th. Death stalked that lonely strand during the last days of 1848. Douglas died on 16th November; Taylor died on the 20th; Carpenter died on the 26th. On the 19th, a mob of blacks appeared and threw spears at the white men. They were driven off by musket fire. On 1st December, the sails of H.M.S. 'Bramble' were sighted. She was sailing southward. Carron re- corded: '.. . I went up the hill, just in time to see the ship passing the bay. I cannot describe the feeling of despair and desolation, which I, in common with the others, experienced as we gazed on the vessel as she fast faded from our view. On the very brink of starvation and death . . . our hearts sank within us in deep despondency. The Kennedy Expedition [By GLENVILLE PIKE, F.R.G.S.A.] (Read 22nd April 1954, at the meeting of The Historical Society of Queensland) p. 963
5). Convict Ships to NSW in 1835
6). The following report written by Henry Wynter to John Henry Capper in July (after the Marquis of Huntley departed England)....
John Henry Capper, Esq
Fortitude Convict Hulk, 8 January 1836.
Sir,
The Convicts have demeaned themselves for the last six months with their usual propriety and decorum, nor has the plan adopted of sending them out of the country to a larger extent than usual had the effects which might have been anticipated of making them less submissive and orderly. My intercourse with them more especially in the Hospital, enables me to form an opinion of the effects of their confinement both in a moral and religious view, and my impression is that in several cases a real change has taken place, and that in other instances a foundation is laid for moral improvement; but in such cases much must depend on circumstances favourable to their development. There are some here on whom their confinement has no good effect, and though they may yield a reluctant submission to the Rules of the Establishment, yet it is evident that their minds are not under any salutary influence; but it is doubtful to my mind whether any human means can be instrumental in effecting a moral change to any considerable extent when the means pursued here prove nugatory. I remain, Sir, your's very faithfully, . HENRY WYNTER, Chaplain.
7). Other convict ships bringing detachments of the 28th regiment included the Recovery, Charles Kerr, Westmoreland, Norfolk, Backwell, England, John Barry, Susan, Waterloo, Moffatt, Strathfieldsaye, Portsea and Lady McNaughten
References
[1] Bateson, Charles Library of Australian History (1983). The convict ships, 1787-1868 (Australian ed). Library of Australian History, Sydney : pp.352-353, 389[2] Medical Journal of Alick Osborne on the voyage of the Marquis of Huntley in 1835. Ancestry.com. UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857. The National Archives. Kew, Richmond, Surrey.
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