Joseph Wakefield, (23 March 1793 – 17 May 1840)
Born 23 March 1793 son of William & Elizabeth (Swift) Wakefield in Minworth, Warwickshire United Kingdom.
Purchased rank of Cornet in the 13th Light Dragoons July 1814, received Waterloo 1815 medal, gained rank of Lieutenant without purchase 29 August 1815. Transferred to the 19th Lancers without paying the difference June 1816, Captain by purchase 29 July 1819, placed of half pay with disbandment of the corps and transferred to the 39th Regiment November 1822.
6 December 1825 Captain Wakefield sailed onboard the convict transport Woodman. Delivery of the 146 male prisoners occurred at Hobart town (Tasmania) April 1826, then on to Sydney June the same year.
Soldier and penal administrator, of the
39th Regiment was the acting commandant of the second
convict settlement
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 t ...
at
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...
, from February 1829 to 27 May 1829.
By this time there were about 200
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 ...
s on the island. Several buildings had been constructed of locally produced timber, stone, shingles and lime, including a prisoners' barracks, three-storey barracks for troops, quarters for civil officers and a military hospital. The remains of some of these buildings can still be seen at
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
. Wakefield was soon replaced by the man who had sought the commandant's position since 1825,
James Morisset.
Wakefield remained at Norfolk Island as supervisor of works possibly beyond November 1829.
In July 1832 Wakefield sailed with other detachments from the
39th Regiment in New South Wales to India.
References
*
Hazzard, Margaret, ''Punishment Short of Death: a history of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island'', Melbourne, Hyland, 1984. ()
External links
Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877 State Library of Queensland
State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...
- includes digitised letters written by Wakefield to the
Colonial Secretary of New South Wales
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French colonial architecture
* Spanish colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Col ...
regarding Norfolk Island
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, Joseph
Norfolk Island penal colony administrators
39th Regiment of Foot officers
1793 births
1840 deaths