On the first of March 1852, my third great grandfather George Brand was sentenced by the Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, Scotland to 14 years transportation for theft. George lived in Larbert, Scotland with his wife Isabella and their four children. Life in rural Scotland would not have been easy, however, the opening of the Glasgow to Perth railway line in…
The convict ship “Stag” departed England, bound for Fremantle, on the 27 January 1855. George Brand was one of 85 convicts onboard. George was 33 years old and did not consider himself a handsome man. He had scraggly brown hair that was lightly balding, a sallow complexion with grey eyes and whilst quite tall at 5’ 8” he was a…
Over the past week, I have released the story of George Brand: A Convict Success Story. If you missed this series, you can read about him at the following links. For those of you who have already read them, I really hope you enjoyed hearing about George and the Australia convict system that he became a part of. If you…
Freedom or Something Like It On 3 April 1856 George received his Ticket of Leave, after only 11 months in the Swan Settlement, and he went to work for Charles Crowther in the Greenough area.1,2,3,4 The below register shows the money that came to George on his release to start the next stage of his life as a ticket of…
A Western Australian Convict On 2 February 1855 George departed for Western Australia with 224 other convicts onboard the “Stag”, which sailed from London with Surgeon Superintendent Caldwell on board.1,2,,3,4 They arrived in Fremantle on 23 May 1855, the fourteenth convict ship to arrive on its shores.1,,2,,3 The Swan River Settlement in Western Australia was founded by free settlers on…
George Brand in Prison The first records of imprisonment that can be found are of George being sent from Edinburgh Prison, Scotland to Millbank Prison, Middlesex, England on the 13 September 1852.1,2 Millbank Prison was opened in 1816 as the national penitentiary but the design was so poor that even the guards would get lost.3,4 Due to this, the decision…
George Brand and His Crimes In 1851 George again found himself before the courts for theft. A total of seven charges were put to him of numerous thefts from goods trains and trucks.1 At the time of these charges his occupation was listed as a potato dealer so it would seem that he used his prior knowledge from working for…
Introducing George Brand Australia was built on the backbone of convicts and the stories of these men and women are as vast and varied as the lives they left behind. Whilst some of these people failed to ever get out of the system, many others went on to establish a successful life in Australia. One such convict is George Brand…
Today I decided to veer away from the “Stories Under the Tree” that I have posted over the past week to tell you about my convict ancestor, George Brand. During the Diploma of Family History I have undertaken there has been two Units on convicts – Convict Ancestors and Convicts in Context. The first unit lets you choose a convict…
We are very lucky that some of the best records kept in history are in regards to people who broke the law. Many records survive today and give us a wealth of information about our lawless ancestor. Here are some websites that will help you to find them. Australia Australian Convict Sites – a listing…