Parkhurst Apprentices
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The Parkhurst apprentices, juveniles from a
reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...
attached to
Parkhurst Prison HM Prison Parkhurst is a Category B men's prison located in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, and is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Parkhurst prison is one of two former separate prisons that today make up HMP Isle of Wight, the othe ...
on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, were sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas" and
transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she ...
to Australia and New Zealand between 1842 and 1852. Either before leaving England or on arrival at their destination, they were pardoned on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the term of their sentence. In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Parkhurst Prison.


Parkhurst apprentices in Western Australia

Early in 1839,
Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch, King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional, ceremonial and commun ...
John Hutt John Hutt (24 July 1795 – 9 April 1880) was Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846. Life Born in London on 24 July 1795, John Hutt was the fourth of 13 children of Richard Hutt of Appley Towers, Ryde, Isle of Wight. He was educate ...
received from the Colonial Office a circular asking if the colony would be prepared to accept juvenile prisoners who had first been reformed in "penitentiaries especially adapted for the purpose of their education and reformation". After seeking comment from the Western Australian Agricultural Society, Hutt responded that "The Majority of the Community would not object to boys not above 15 years of age...." but that the labour market could not support more than 30 boys per year. Between 1842 and 1849, Western Australia accepted 234 Parkhurst apprentices, all males aged between 10 and 21 years. As Western Australia was not then 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 ...
, contemporary documents scrupulously avoided referring to the youths as "
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", and most historians have maintained the distinction. An opposing view, held for example by Gill (2004), is that the Parkhurst apprentices were convicts, and that their apprenticeship constituted
convict assignment Convict assignment was the practice used in many penal colonies of assigning convicts to work for private individuals. Contemporary abolitionists characterised the practice as virtual slavery, and some, but by no means all, latter-day historians h ...
. John Schoales jun. (c. 1810 – 10 April 1847), son of John Schoales QC of Dublin. was appointed Guardian of the apprentices. He determined the allowance they were paid, holding it in
trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...
until their 5-year indenture period was over. The Parkhurst Visitors insisted that names of the boys not be published in the
Government Gazette A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establish ...
, in order that they were not discriminated against. Schoales was succeeded as Guardian by
Frederick Dirck Wittenoom Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from ...
(c. 1821–1863). Parkhurst apprentices were employed by a broad cross-section of Western Australia's businessmen and officials, including many of the colony's ruling class. Among the long list of Parkhurst apprentice employers were
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 ...
Andrew Clarke,
Frederick Irwin Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Chidley Irwin, KH (22 March 1794 – 31 March 1860) was acting Governor of Western Australia from 1847 to 1848. Born in 1794 in Drogheda, Ireland, Frederick Chidley Irwin was the son of Reverend James Irwin. Som ...
,
George Fletcher Moore George Fletcher Moore (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one fthe key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite" (Cameron, 2000). He conducted a number of exploring ...
, Anthony O'Grady Lefroy, William Locke Brockman, Thomas Brown,
George Walpole Leake George Walpole Leake (3 December 1825 – 3 October 1895) was a Western Australian barrister and magistrate and nephew of George Leake (1786–1849). For short periods of time he was also Attorney-General of Western Australia. Leake held the ...
,
Walter Padbury Walter Padbury (22 December 1817 – 18 April 1907) was a British-born Australian pioneer, politician and philanthropist. Early life Padbury was born in Fawler in the English county of Oxfordshire on 22 December 1817 and baptised on 11 Ja ...
,
Stephen Stanley Parker Stephen Stanley Parker (1817–1904) was an early settler and pioneer of Western Australia and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Biography Early life Parker was born on 24 May 1817 in Lyminge, Kent. He came to the Swan Ri ...
,
Rosendo Salvado Rosendo Salvado Rotea OSB (1 March 1814 – 29 December 1900) was a Spanish Benedictine monk, missionary, bishop, pianist, composer, author, founder and first abbot of the Territorial Abbey of New Norcia in Western Australia. Salvado introduced ...
Thomas Peel JR and George Shenton Sr. The assimilation of Parkhurst apprentices played an important role in the later acceptance of convicts in Western Australia.


New Zealand

One hundred and twenty three Parkhurst apprentices were sent to the
Colony of New Zealand The Colony of New Zealand was a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom from 1841 to 1907. British authority was vested in a List of governors-general of New Zealand, governor. The colony had Capital of New Zea ...
in 1842 and 1843. These had not been invited to the convict-free colony, and were a great surprise when the first ship arrived. After the second ship, the colony successfully petitioned that no more would be sent.


South Australia

The
Colony of South Australia A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
was also asked to accept Parkhurst Boys, but resisted and none was sent there.


List of ships

List of ships that brought Parkhurst apprentices to Australia and New Zealand


References


Further reading

*Gill, Andrew (1997) ''Forced labour for the west : Parkhurst convicts 'apprenticed' in Western Australia 1842–1851'' Maylands, W.A. : Blatellae Books, *Gill, Andrew (2004). ''Convict assignment in Western Australia: The Parkhurst 'Apprentices' 1842–1851''. Blatellae Books, Maylands, Western Australia. . *(revised edition) *Statham, Pamela (1981). ''Why Convicts I: An economic analysis of colonial attitudes to the introduction of convicts'' in Stannage, C. T. (ed) (1981), ''Studies in Western Australian History IV: Convictism in Western Australia'', University of Western Australia. *{{cite web , year = 2003 , url = http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/park.html , title = Parkhurst Boys 1842–1862 , work = Convicts to Australia , publisher = Perth Dead Persons' Society , accessdate = 18 December 2006 Convictism in Western Australia Colony of New Zealand History of the Isle of Wight English prisoners and detainees Juvenile prisons in England English children Convictism in New South Wales Convictism in Tasmania