William Eaton (c1818) transported for Life

[Mick Loney]

I have come across the disturbing case of the husband of a distant cousin, after she sought Parish relief because he, William Eaton, had been transported.
I discovered that In 1838 aged 20 he was sentenced to 2 years in 1838 for 'Unnatural Misdemeaner', which Newgate prison records show this as ‘b———y with a Mare’.

Then In October 1851 at the Old Bailey he was sentenced to transportation for Life for rape upon Sophia Eaton, aged 10 years. Newgate Prison records this offence as "Feloniously Ravishing and carnally knowing Sophia Eaton". What both failed to say was that she was his daughter!

It would seem that courts in those days didn’t want to sensationalise such offences, so tended to keep details to a minimum, and didn’t publish detailed trial transcripts of such cases

I searched convictrecords.com.au, which lists 89% of convict arrivals, but he is not yet on their website

Is there a UK recordset that lists the outgoing convicts and where and when they arrived in Oz, and on what ship? This occured around 1851

Knowing how pedophiles are regarded today, I wondered if he actually survived the long journey, or was he ‘sorted out’ by other prisoners.

ADDENDUM
Courtesy of google, I found a book "Convicts in the Colonies: Transportation Tales from Britain to Australia" By Lucy Williams and she mentions William and the fact it was 10 years before he was actually transported, and he arrived in Western Australia on 29 May 1863 aboard the Clyde

[meekhcs]

Mick

I found details of my convict on Ancestry and FMP. I also found Trove extremely useful.
My chap ended up in Tasmania and The Archives of Tasmania had loads of info too

[meekhcs]

Have checked Ancestry and there are several documents for him. If you don't have a sub let me know and I will send doccs.

[Mick Loney]

Thanks Sally,
I found most of my info on Ancestry but my subscription to FMP is currently on hold.
I’m not aware of Trove, have you got a URL for it.
I also found the Convict Records of Australia website (https://convictrecords.com.au/) useful, but it did lack detailed info on William.
He ended up in Fremantle, so I’ll start digging for WA sites tomorrow.

[meekhcs]

https://trove.nla.gov.au/

I will look at FMP for you