The Comptroller General of Convicts was the head of the

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

establishment in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The office existed from 1850, when Western Australia first became a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

, until 1872, four years after

penal transportation Penal transportation (or simply transportation) was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies bec ...

to Western Australia had ceased.

History

Western Australia's first Comptroller General of Convicts,

Edmund Henderson Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson (19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army who was Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia from 1850 to 1863, Home Office Surveyor-General of Pr ...

, arrived in the colony with the first convicts on board the ''

Scindian ''Scindian'' is widely considered the first convict ship to transport convicts to Western Australia. She was launched in 1844 and sank in 1880. Career ''Scindian'' was constructed at Sunderland, England, in 1844 and named after the Indian Scindi ...

'' in June 1850. He was described as "a kindly and just man, moderate and understanding, opposed to the harsher forms of discipline." Respected by both colonists and convicts, Henderson administered Western Australia's convict establishment for thirteen years; Battye writes that "its success was no doubt due to his wisdom and tact." After Henderson's resignation in 1863, William Newland was appointed his successor. Newland's arrival closely followed the arrival of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

John Hampton John Stephen Hampton (c. 1806 – 1 December 1869) was Governor of Western Australia from 1862 to 1868. Early life Little is known of John Hampton's early life. His death certificate states that he was born in 1810, but other evidence sugge ...

. Hampton had previously been Comptroller General of Convicts in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

, and assumed far more direct control of Western Australia's convict establishment than had his predecessors. Newland and Hampton constantly disagreed with each other, and Hampton complained to the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

that Newland was incompetent. Newland was eventually removed in 1866. While awaiting a successor to the position, Governor Hampton appointed his son,

George Hampton George Essex Hampton (1876) was an unpopular public official in colonial Western Australia. The son of Governor of Western Australia John Hampton, George Hampton arrived in the colony with his father in February 1862 on board ''Stathallen''. ...

, to act in the position. George Hampton had no particular qualifications for the position, and already held a number of salaried posts. This "unusually blatant act of nepotism" was extremely unpopular within the colony, both Hamptons thereafter being figures of public hostility and ridicule. Governor Hampton lobbied for his son to be confirmed in the position, but was unsuccessful. Under George Hampton, convict discipline became extremely strict.

Solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

was re-introduced, and convicts were

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on a ...

for serious offences. Escape attempts increased markedly, and there were even attempts by convicts to kill George Hampton. Henry Wakeford was appointed Comptroller General of Convicts in 1867, and the following year Governor Hampton's term ended. Wakeford reduced the size of the

chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was nota ...

s and the number of floggings, and the system returned to what it had been under Henderson. Transportation to Western Australia ceased in 1868. In the following years, the number of convicts slowly diminished, and the convict establishment was gradually wound up. In 1872 the office of Comptroller General of Convicts was abolished, and Wakeford was transferred to the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

History

List of comptrollers general of convicts in WA

See also

References

Sources

Further reading