Movement of the 40th Regiment as guard detachments on convict transports 1823-1824.

The 40th Regiment was formed as Philipp's Regiment in Canada in 1717. It had became the 40th Regiment in 1751 and the 2nd Somersetshire Regiment in 1782. The 40th served mainly in North America and the West Indies with occasional tours of duty in Britain and Europe. It was in the first and last battles of the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. It spent a period in the occupation force in France and then served in Scotland and Ireland until in March 1823 the regiment was ordered for service in the Colony of NSW.

Part I--The First Detachment

The 40th Regiment served in Australia twice--1823 to 1829 and 1852 to 1860. This part deals only with the movement of the first detachment of the 40th to New South Wales in 1823.

Crossing from Dublin to Liverpool the regiment marched across England, two companies to Deptford, four to Chatham, both stations on the south side of the Thames and the remaining two companies being stationed at Harwich in Essex and at Landguard Fort waiting call forward.

On 25 April 1823, four days after the arrival of the companies of the 40th at Deptford, the first detachment for guard duty on a convict transport, in full marching order, moved from the barracks to the naval dockyard on the Thames. There the three-masted, square rigged ship, the Albion, 479 tons, Bristol built in 1813 and captained by W R Best, had been fitted out under Admiralty supervision to the standard configuration for a convict transport and victualled for the voyage to Van Diemens Land with a shipment of male convicts. This was the Albion's first voyage to Australia as a convict transport, so the Navy Board agent had inspected the ship to ensure that the owners had met the charter conditions for security, ventilation, cleanliness and fumigation, the provision of beds and bedding space, and a hospital. The agent was also responsible, before the guard embarked, for the supervision of the stowing of provisions and water for both convicts and guards during the voyage.

The Surgeon Superintendent, James A Mercer, joined the ship at the same time as the guard. Mercer, a half-pay Royal Navy surgeon, was making his second voyage aboard a convict transport. Post 1815 the system of control on convict transports had been vastly improved by employing half-pay RN surgeons as the surgeon superintendents. An examination of the surgeons' logs in the period will show that they were responsible and competent to deal with the health problems encountered in a large body of men on a long voyage with few, possibility no intermediate ports of call before reaching NSW. The surgeon's responsibilities were defined in instructions issued by the Admiralty in the early 1820s for Surgeon Superintendents on board convict ships to New South Wales or Van Diemens Land. He was required to ensure that the ship's master fully complied with the conditions of the charter, including a prohibition on shipping private goods for sale in the colony. The Surgeon Superintendent had absolute responsibility for the management of the convicts, their well-being, imprisonment, their punishment aboard ship and their medical treatment, including hospitalisation. Neither the ship's master nor the officer in charge of the guard could order punishment of any prisoner, only the surgeon could do that. He could not interfere in the navigation of the ship and was required to provide a medical service for both crew and the military guard. (1)

Lieutenant Nathaniel Low commanded the guard detachment. He had been appointed an ensign in the regiment, by purchase, in May 1815, and promoted to lieutenant, without purchase, in November 1821. Although not an overly experienced officer he had with him two sergeants who would provide adequate support in managing the rank and file of the detachment: Sergeants John Baker and William Vile had both served in the Peninsular War, Baker from 1813 to 1814, while Vile had been there with the regiment from 1808 to 1814, taking part in twelve engagements. Both had been at Waterloo, as had six other soldiers of the detachment. These six may also have served in the Peninsular as, after the battle of Toulouse in 1814, the regiment had been shipped directly from France to New Orleans and on return in 1815 had disembarked at Ostend without landing in England. Unlike Baker and Vile they may have not survived to 1847 to be awarded the Military General Service Medal 1793 to 1814, certain confirmation of Peninsular service.

Low was fortunate that the men of his detachment were all from his own regiment as it was common practice, before and after the movement of the 40th, for guard detachments to be made up from small drafts of reinforcements, often raw recruits, joining their regiments in New South Wales or going on to India to join regiments serving there. The officers commanding these mixed detachments were frequently from unrelated regiments and, if young and inexperienced, unable to control the all too often ill-disciplined and riotous behaviour of their troops and, as often, of their wives.

One of the best known of the soldiers who reached New South Wales in a mixed detachment was Private Charles Fraser who arrived in Sydney in the guard detachment on the Guildford in April 1816 as a reinforcement for the 56th Regiment in India. After waiting seven months for an onward passage to join his regiment, Fraser wisely transferred to the 46th Regiment, at that time the garrison regiment in New South Wales, instead of continuing his voyage to India where there was a fair chance of succumbing to one of the tropical infections which beset the British soldier in that country. Coming to the attention of fellow Scot, Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Fraser ultimately became the colonial botanist and was responsible for the establishment of the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. (2)

The detachment on the Albion was accompanied by five wives and eight children. For service in New South Wales twelve wives and their children were allowed to accompany each 100 men of the regiment. Again, in the absence of any supporting records it is likely that only the senior and long-serving members of the detachment would probably be married; there is evidence from records on their arrival in New South Wales that Sergeant Vile was accompanied by his family. (3)

When the veteran soldiers in the detachment, those who had voyaged to Florida in 1814, boarded the Albion they would have recognised the similarity between the transports on which they had sailed then and the convict ship, as apart from the security features fitted to control the convicts, the layout of the convict ship and the troop transports was very similar. The ship was required to carry three boats. In the hold beneath the lower deck the provisions for the voyage were stowed, barrels of flesh water, salt beef and salt pork, and bags of biscuit, fresh vegetables while they lasted, lime juice and cocoa, and rum for the soldiers and crew. Aft, under the lower deck, the ammunition was stored, access being provided to this storage only through the after hatch. The lower deck provided accommodation for convicts, crew and the other rank members of the guard detachment, and it was on this deck that the main measures to secure the convicts were fitted. Athwartships at the mainmast a heavy, nail-studded timber barricade with a single small steel door was built to divide the convict from the guard and crew quarters. In the convict section, just aft of the main hatch on the starboard side a section was partitioned off as a hospital, and opposite, on the larboard or port side, was a similar section for boys under sixteen years of age to segregate them from the older prisoners. Along both sides of the vessel, in the convict compartment, a double tier of open bunks, each six feet by six feet, to accommodate four convicts in each, were built. Each convict was allowed a bed, a pillow and one blanket.

The crew and guard quarters were two partitioned-off areas, similarly fitted with four-man bunks with the necessary number of beds, pillows and blankets. The crew occupied the starboard quarters and the troops the port side with married men, their wives and families accommodated in the stem section, their only privacy being afforded by scraps of canvas or cloth hung to create individual family areas. It is little wonder that in a voyage of up to six months' duration feelings between women could reach boiling point and that such domestic disagreements could cause great discomfort for the officer in charge of the guards.

On the main deck, under the poop at the stem, were cabins for the captain and the surgeon, each cabin about ten feet square, while along each side was a row of small cabins six feet by eight feet (1.8 x 2.4 metres) for single officers, their wives and for any passengers. Lieutenant Low was single but there were passengers for Sydney on the Albion, Mr Edward and Mrs Sarah Sweetman and their young daughters, Emma, Frances and Georgiana all travelling, no doubt, with the requisite authority from the Admiralty and the Colonial Office as Mrs Sweetman had been appointed Matron to the Female Orphan School at Parramatta and Sweetman, a postmaster at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, as Secretary to the Male and Female Orphan Institutions and the Native Institution. Between the cabins in the poop was an open area known as the cuddy; here a long table was fitted through which the mizzen mast passed. This was the dining and social centre for the officers and passengers. (4)

On the main deck between a barricade, similar to the ones on the lower deck, and the poop was the quarter deck; here members of the guard, their wives and families and the crew relaxed in fine weather. The captain, the surgeon superintendent and the officer in charge of the guard promenaded on the poop deck which was shared by the members of the watch not on sentry duty. On the main deck forward of the barricade, the crew worked the ship. Two `cabooses' for the preparation of food were sighted forward of the fore mast, one for the convicts, the other for crew and guard. Mid-ships was the main hatch and forward of that, almost up to the foremast, the fore hatch was located. Both hatches gave access to the lower deck and the hold. Between decks strong nail-studded wooden stanchions surrounded the hatchways with a small, steel, triple-locked door opening into the convict quarters on the lower deck. The ship's longboat frequently occupied the space between the two hatches on the main deck. If the vessel carried any armament this probably consisted of two small calibre guns mounted on the quarter deck, to sweep the main deck, in the event of a mutiny by the convicts.

Lieutenant Low's first responsibility after settling his detachment into their quarters was to brief his men on the duties they were to perform on the voyage. Although the 1822 General Regulations and Orders for the Army provided detailed instructions for troops sailing on military transports or on East India Company ships the instructions issued for the management for troops embarked to do duty as a guard on convict transports were minimal. These instructions said:

   When detachments are embarked as Guards on board of convict Ships for New
   South Wales, they are to assist the Civil Officers, to whom the Care of the
   Convicts is entrusted:In addition, therefore, to the foregoing Orders, it
   is the Duty of Officers in Command of these Detachments to afford every Aid
   to the Superintendents of Convicts, by furnishing such Sentinels, and
   adopting such measures, as they may deem necessary, for the Security of the
   Prisoners intrusted to their Charge. (5)

In March 1819, Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in a despatch to Earl Bathurst, Secretary for War and the Colonies, had requested that instructions be issued, not so much relating to the administration of the guard detachments, but to define the respective responsibilities of the ships' captain, the surgeon superintendent and the guard commander. If regulations were issued to surgeon superintendents in early 1820 it seems safe to assume that similar instructions had been issued to guard commanders for their guidance. Certainly detailed instructions were issued by the Commissioners for the Admiralty to the Surgeon Superintendents by May 1835, and to commanders of guard detachments as `Regulations to be observed by Detachments of Troops embarked on board CONVICT SHIPS' in King's Orders and Regulations for the Army 1837.'

Although these regulations were promulgated relatively late in the period of transportation to New South Wales and Van Diemens Land, it is inconceivable, with the experience gained through 45 years of transportation of convicts to the new colonies and, before that, to North America and the West Indies, that some perhaps less formalised instructions had not been produced to guide officers undertaking this role for the first time in their careers. Consequently it is assumed that the regulations published in 1837 would have embodied any previous informal instructions and can be applied to describe the responsibilities of the guard detachment on the Albion in 1823.

The strength of the guard detachment--two senior NCOs and 30 Rank and File--had been arrived at by the need to provide three watches, each eight men strong, including a corporal as watch commander, a cook, who was only a member of the detachment, with perhaps no culinary qualifications or experience - the British Army did not provide trained cooks at that time, an officer's servant, and a small reserve to provide cover for any members of the detachment becoming unfit for duty through illness on the voyage. With one man absent from the four man bunks during a watch period, some greater degree of comfort was awarded to the remaining three compared to the convicts who remained four to a bunk for the duration of the voyage. There may have been an even greater easing of sleeping accommodation due to the segregation of the married personnel. The soldiers hung their accoutrements on pegs in the wall partitioning off the crews' quarters. Their packs, shakos, and red coats were stored in wooden boxes brought aboard by each man for that purpose and stored in the hold. The boxes also contained the white duck trousers and white canvas jackets to be exchanged for the cloth trousers and watchcoats (greatcoats) when the ship reached wanner latitudes. The muskets of the men not on watch were placed in an arms rack at the fore part of the soldiers' quarters. Lieutenant Low occupied one of the six feet by eight feet cabins off the cuddy on the quarter deck, where he had the option of asking for the installation of a fixed bunk or that a hammock should be slung.

With his men settled into their quarters, Lieutenant Low had then to organise them into the three watches and acquaint them with the duty hours in five watches of four hours each and two of two hours which would ensure a rotation of watch times. Each watch provided three sentries who were relieved every hour; during the day one sentry was sited at the windward gangway and was responsible for guarding the doors through the barricade from the main to the quarter deck, the other two were positioned one at each side of the front of the poop deck to observe the behaviour of the convicts allowed on the main deck. The remainder of the guard were stationed on the poop with their loaded muskets in a rack at the front of the poop.

At night the stations of the sentries changed; although one remained at the windward gangway, the other two were located one down each of the two main deck hatchways, separated from the prisoners by the cage-like structure. These two sentries were armed with pistols and cutlasses, supplied for the purpose by the ship's charterers who also supplied similar arms for the crew, to be used in the event of a convict mutiny. The sentries in the hatchways were to observe the prisoners, to prevent them making a noise and also to observe any unusual activity which was to be reported immediately through the guard NCO to the Surgeon Superintendent. At no time, day or night, were members of the guard to speak to the prisoners. This was a punishable offence. If approached by a convict the soldier was to call the guard NCO who would acquaint the Surgeon Superintendent of the occurrence for any necessary action. The sentries, in turn, were to call `All is well' each time the ship's bell struck the half-hour.

The Guard NCO was in charge of the keys to the prison--the convict quarters on the lower deck--and carried out any instructions from the Surgeon Superintendent relating to the prisoners. The NCO posted the sentries, organised their hourly reliefs and supervised their duties, mainly to see that the sentries posted in the hatches did not go to sleep. The most common crime committed by the men of the detachments, particularly when on duty in the hatches, was to engage in conversation with the convicts. These breaches of discipline were usually punished by stoppage of grog. One of the sergeants was designated NCO of the Day and attended to the administration of the detachment, its messing, and as a representative for checking the issue of rations. He was also responsible for the cleanliness of the barracks.

Orders to the troops laid down the procedures to be followed should there be an alarm during the night. The guard on duty was to endeavour to prevent the convicts reaching the main deck through the hatchways; the next relief was to man the barricade and the third relief occupied the poop to act as reserve. The crew, armed with cutlasses were required to assist in defending the hatchways or the barricade and quarter deck. The final positions to be taken up by crew and guard were on the poop and within the cuddy where they could fire through the windows. A different drill was to be adopted for a day-time mutiny. In that case the watch on duty, reinforced by the next watch, would defend the barricade and the quarter deck and, if the quarter deck was carried, the watch on duty was to retire to the cuddy and the next relief to join the reserve on the poop. Troops were warned not to be diverted by the cry of `Man overboard'. In the case of such an alarm the detachment was to take up its posts as for a mutiny. Should it become necessary for a convict to be flogged, a punishment which could only be imposed by the Surgeon Superintendent, and inflicted by the ship's bosun, a guard was to parade under arms on the poop. Low had sufficient time between settling his soldiers into the Albion and the embarkation of the prisoners to practice the guard in the drills to be followed in the event of a mutiny. In reality the drills would be carried out under the watchful eyes of the sergeants unless Low was a particularly conscientious young officer.

The loading of stores, the guard and the passengers completed, the Albion was towed down the Thames to the Nore and set sail for Portsmouth, where, on 8 May, 200 male prisoners, in shackles, were embarked from the prison hulks Leviathan and York (the latter pictured here). The hulks were decommissioned three and four decker ships of the line laid up as floating prisons to overcome the shortage of accommodation in conventional prisons. (they had also been used to hold POWs during the Napoleonic wars). Hulks were moored in the Thames, and at Portsmouth, Plymouth and Cork. The prisoners for the Albion were mainly labourers and semiskilled artisans sentenced to transportation by the proceedings of County Assizes. Either these two hulks were very clean prisons or the prisoners had not been held there very long as, according to the medical log of Surgeon Superintendent Mercer, they did not bring with them the two most serious diseases endemic to the convict transports--typhus, spread by rat fleas and lice, and typhoid spread in food contaminated, usually in its handling, by carriers involved in its preparation aboard ship or in the hulks. It is obvious from his log that Mercer ran a `tight ship'. He was `unwilling to take any sickness to sea' and at Portsmouth on 19 May transferred to the local military hospital Private John Walsh, one of the guard detachment, who had been ill for some time but who had delayed reporting sick fearful of being separated from his brother, Charles, `to whom he was very much attached'.

On 20 May 1823 the Albion sailed from Spithead and `after beating about in the Channel against unfavourable winds for four days was forced to bear up for Spithead again'. Private Walsh returned to the ship on 26 May, `his complaint was subdued but he was in a very debilitated state and it was many weeks before he was able to mount guard'. Walsh was the only member of the guard to report sick during the whole voyage. Even for the convicts the voyage was a particularly healthy one with nothing more serious than 24 cases of `fluxes' (diarrhoea), a common occurrence when the prisoners were put onto an extended diet of salt meats. After a few days at sea Mercer had the shackles struck off and for the whole of the voyage the prisoners were allowed on deck from eight in the morning to eight at night, weather permitting, although the regulations stated that only half should be allowed on deck at any one time. (6)

On 27 May 1823, as the Albion found fair winds and sailed slowly southward on the first leg of the voyage to New South Wales the guard detachment fell into the daily routine followed for the next six months. At 8 am the 4am to 8am watch stood down, discharging their muskets as they did so, usually at any bird flying close to the ship; the weapons were then reloaded and placed in a rack at the front of the poop where the members of the incoming watch not on sentry duty took up their position during the day, moving to the quarter deck at night. At 8am breakfast consisting of biscuit or porridge with cocoa, the same meal provided for the convicts, was served. After breakfast the off-duty members of the detachment, wives and children came up onto the quarter deck bringing with them their bedding for airing in fine weather. They shared the quarter deck with the crew and a variety of livestock--poultry, sheep, pigs and goats, in pens--carried to provide fresh meat for the officers and passengers. Duty men, under the supervision of one of the sergeants, cleaned the sleeping quarters, usually referred to as the barracks. Dinner, usually boiled salt beef, less frequently salt pork, pudding and peas, prepared by the detachment cook, was served in the detachment's quarters at 12 o'clock. That was the final meal for the day. One ounce of lime juice with sugar was served after dinner and soldiers, their wives and children over the age of twelve years received two noggins of rum mixed with three parts of water.

By 8 June the Albion was passing the latitude of Madeira; with the advent of warmer weather greatcoats and heavy clothing were stored away in the soldiers' boxes and duck jackets and trousers became the dress of the day, while off duty men were allowed to go bare-footed, an unusual experience for new recruits but not so for veterans like Sergeant Vile who was one of those who had marched out of his boots in the 1811 advance of the 40th from the Lines of Torres Vedras to the Spanish frontier. It is probable, although no evidence has been found during the records of this voyage to support the theory, that literate members of the detachment might try to teach their less lettered comrades and the children to read and write. Their major aid for this purpose would be the Bible which the more religious soldiers would have brought aboard in their baggage. Not all members of the British Army at this time were `scum of the earth, enlisted for drink'; in New South Wales garrison soldiers had already taken an active part in the establishment of the Wesleyan Church.

In the evenings the monotony of the voyage was relieved by singing and dancing by the soldiers, wives and crew, particularly if a fiddle or tin whistle player could be found amongst the detachment, the crew or even the convicts. On some of the transports as the vessel crossed the Equator the traditional line-crossing ceremony would be held, with the oldest seaman in the crew playing the part of Neptune. As this activity called for space on the main deck for the performance of barbering, and the ducking tub, it was necessary to restrict the convicts to the prison deck for the duration of the ceremony. It seems unlikely that Surgeon Superintendent Mercer would have been prepared to deny the freedom of his well-behaved charges to allow the crew to indulge in this frivolity.

Shipboard life for Lieutenant Nathaniel Low, as befitted his rank, was more comfortable than that of his men. His cabin gave him the privacy of his own bed or hammock and limited space in which to store his clothes and the items needed for his daily life, but little more. He could, however, stow other belongings in the hold beneath the after hatchway, accessible should he require them during the voyage. Low took his meals, cooked by the ship's cook and served by the captain's steward, at the long table in the cuddy with the ship's officers and the Sweetmans and their daughters. There, too, he could play at cards, chess and the ever popular backgammon with his fellow members of the cuddy. In common with other young officers Low undoubtedly prepared for the long voyage by bringing aboard a small library and, like many of his contemporaries, he may even have brought a dog on board. He was attended by his servant, numbered as one of the detachment but whose main duty was to attend to the needs and comfort of the young officer. The servant would arrange for Low's clothes to be washed by one of the soldier's wives who for the sum of one halfpenny per week also washed the clothes of the soldiers in the detachment. Low's military responsibilities on board ship were minimal. He made a daily inspection of the barracks and periodic inspections of the men and their muskets but, with two experienced sergeants, it is unlikely that he had to check that the night sentries were awake and not conversing with the convicts through the barricades. When more than one officer accompanied a guard detachment it always became the unenviable duty of the junior officer to prise himself from his bunk in the middle of the night to check the sentries. It nevertheless was Low's responsibility to hand out punishment to offenders, normally by stoppage of grog but persistent miscreants could be confined in the `box', a narrow coffin-like structure, forward on the main deck, in which convicts or soldiers could be confined standing upright for several hours.

Low took his exercise walking on the poop deck, the preserve of the ship's officers and the duty watch. There he could try his hand at shooting sea-birds flying over or near the ship; those unlucky enough to be hit and to fall on deck would be seized by the crew or guard and added to the pot as a variation from the daily diet of salt meat. Any fish caught by line or harpooned, usually shark, were similarly disposed of, although on a later transport, a sergeant expressed some distaste for further shark meat after he witnessed a school of sharks attacking the corpse of a convict, thrown unceremoniously from the ship. One less attractive recreation, by to-day's standards, was catching sea-birds, `mollymawks', usually shearwaters, with a baited fishing line.

A less enjoyable duty for Low, one which would become more frequent late in the voyage when bad weather confined the off-duty members of the detachment to the barracks, was the need to settle disputes between the wives of his soldiers. Although numbering only five, closely confined on the last long leg from Cape Town to Van Diemens Land, it is inevitable that disputes should have arisen amongst women who may have walked across Portugal and Spain and accompanied their men to New Orleans and Waterloo, as tough and as hard as the veterans themselves, jealous of their rights and privileges and mindful of the welfare of their off-spring. As the Albion passed the islands of Tristan da Cunha, in a last long reach across the South Atlantic towards Cape Town, one of the wives was delivered of a child, who, contrary to the usual, arrived in Hobart, according to Mercer, `alive in health and thriving'. There is no mention of the birth in Mercer's medical log so it must be assumed that he, a naval surgeon, more practised in dealing with male patients, had no part in the delivery and that one of the other wives acted as mid-wife, a role at that time quite familiar to the women who followed the drum.

The Albion called at Cape Town to take on fresh water, vegetables and oranges to replace the already exhausted lime juice. Low would have taken the opportunity to call at the messes of the Cape garrison but it is unlikely that any members of the guard detachment were allowed ashore, there was always the risk of desertion. At Cape Town two more prisoners were added to Mercer's roll and it was with pride that he recorded in his final report that the ship arrived in Hobart `without so much as a jammed finger on board', certainly with no loss of life. The final leg of the voyage from

Cape Town to Van Diemens Land had not been so comfortable as the first part as the Albion rode the winds of the Roaring Forties eastward to Hobart Town. `From the Bank of Agulhas to the entrance to D'Entrecasteaux Channel in Van Diemens Land there was nothing but gales and hurricanes and consequently wet decks.' (7) Consequently, too, the convicts and off-duty soldiers spent this part of the voyage below deck in the prison and the barracks. Although Mercer mentions D'Entrecastreaux Channel in his report, it is not clear whether Captain Best chose this shorter but dangerous passage to Hobart. It was in this channel in April 1835 that the transport George III struck the rock, now named after the ship, where 132 lives were lost.

The Albion, however, arrived safely to anchor in Sullivans Cove on 21 October 1823. After disembarking the 202 convicts and while still anchored in Sullivan's Cove the afterhold of the ship was broken into and the box belonging to Sergeant Vile forced open. From the box he lost 26 Spanish dollars but the loss was not formally reported by Lieutenant Low until the Albion reached Sydney where the occurrence was referred to D'Arcy Wentworth, Superintendent of Police, for investigation. Wentworth pointed out that the incident should have been investigated at Hobart and that there were no grounds on which the Board of Magistrates could investigate the matter in Sydney. This was no compensation to Sergeant Vile who had to become reconciled to the loss of his money, a considerable sum for a sergeant with a family to support. (8)

Sergeant Vile's nest egg begs some questioning; could it have been the residual of his 1817 prize money for Waterloo? It appears unlikely that the 19-4-4 [pounds sterling] awarded in 1817 would have lasted so long,; could it have been loot from Badajoz, long salted away? On the other hand could Vile have purchased the dollars in London or Cape Town hoping to make a profit on their value in the colony? If so, it indicates an awareness by a veteran infantry sergeant, of the precarious monetary situation in the colony. It could throw light on how well informed troops were at that rank when warned for service in the colony. Obviously it was Vile's carefully hoarded contingency money. There are, however, no answer to these questions.

The Albion sailed on to Sydney with the first detachment of the 40th Regiment, to reach its final destination on Saturday 15 November 1823. Lieutenant Low and his detachment embarked shortly afterwards (the date of disembarkation is not shown in the Monthly Return), and marched to its quarters in the George Street barracks. The Sweetman family also landed in Sydney, Mrs Sweetman to take up the position of matron of the Female Orphan School and her husband, Edward, the office of secretary to the Female and Male Orphan Schools and the Native

Institution. Within sixteen months both husband and wife resigned from their positions on the grounds of ill-health, a genuine reason, it appears, as Sarah Sweetman died and was buried at Liverpool on 6 July 1825, to be followed by her husband two months later. The daughters, Francis, aged seventeen years, Georgiana, aged ten, and Emma, aged four years, were left orphans, isolated in a strange land, but all survived to marry, Francis three times, and to raise families. (9)

The Albion was followed by fourteen more transports bringing officers, guard detachments and families of the 40th to New South Wales up to January 1825 and reinforcements were to make up guards on subsequently arriving transports throughout the period the regiment was to garrison Australia. Details of the fifteen detachments that arrived in 1823 to 1825 are shown below.

Part II--1823 - 1825

Not all the voyages of the guard detachments of the 40th to New South Wales went as smoothly and as without incident as that on the Albion. On the arrival of the Isabella in Sydney on 17 December 1823, Surgeon Superintendent William Rae reported that `a dangerous mutiny which was on the verge of breaking out amongst the prisoners' at the time the vessel was in latitude five or six degrees (Rae did not specify whether north or south) had been thwarted through `the courage of one man' a convict Francis Keefe, who reported the existence of `the horrid plot' to Rae. The Surgeon Superintendent immediately replaced the shackles on most of the prisoners, restricting the liberty and kind treatment previously allowed them. Bateson, in his book The Convict Ships has discounted the seriousness of the plot as a tale by the informer but Rae, an experienced surgeon superintendent, from the tone of his report, which was countersigned by the ship's captain and Captain Millar [sic], the guard detachment commander, was convinced of the seriousness of the threat. He listed in his report the names of the seven ring-leaders, recommending that they should receive harsher treatment than the remaining convicts after landing. (10)

The next convict transport of interest to arrive was the Sir Godfrey Webster; interesting because it had amongst its passengers the diarist G T W B Boyes, a member of the Commissariat Department taking up the appointment of Deputy Assistant Commissary General in New South Wales after languishing on half-pay from 1815, hoping to carve out a career for himself in the colony. A keen, if somewhat acerbic observer, Boyes recorded some colourful vignettes of his fellow passengers and their activities. Captain George Hibbert, the officer commanding the detachment of the 40th, which had embarked at Deptford on 18 July 1823, was described by Boyes as `a little gentlemanlike, good humoured creature, fond of all kinds of fun and also the promoting of it--Sings Glees, reads plays with effect--plays a shocking game of whist and annoys no one with the disciplining of his men....' His subaltern, Ensign William Williams, was `a highly educated young Irishman of gentlemanlike manners and correct conduct, with sufficient wit to be agreeable without the least disposition to offend -- has seen a little service; was by his father when killed at Salamanca and received a commission at the age of twelve'. Williams had indeed gone out to Spain at the age of twelve to join his father, also William Williams, a Cornet (Second Lieutenant) in the 11th Light Dragoons, in the hope of obtaining a commission, but William senior suffered an appalling wound on 18 July in the manoeuvring before the battle of Salamanca and died in the arms of his son at Salamanca on 12 August 1812. The circumstances of Williams' wounding are vividly describe in William Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula. Young William was awarded a commission, without purchase, as a cornet in the 11th Light Dragoons on 16 September 1812 but being too young for active service he was sent home on half-pay. He transferred to the 40th as an ensign on 10 August 1822. (11)

Sharing the cuddy of the Sir Godfrey Webster with Boyes were fellow commissaries James Goodsir, accompanied by his wife and family, `kind hearted Scots', and the newly-married Charles Howard and his wife; their amorous activities causing the collapse of their single bunks, overheard by their fellow passengers and, no doubt, dutifully reported for the amusement of the guard detachment by Mrs Howard's servant for the voyage, Mrs Radford, wife of Private George Radford. Also travelling with Boyes was William Sorell, son of Lieutenant Governor William Sorell, returning to rejoin his father whom he had not seen since the age of seven.

After embarking its cargo of convicts in London, the Sir Godfrey Webster dropped down to Sheerness, then to the Downs on 9 August but it was not until 2 September that the vessel cleared Lands End and began its southern voyage. Boyes recorded the detachment's part in prayers on the first Sunday at sea `The convicts were gathered around the Companion. The sailors behind and the soldiers under arms with bayonets fixed upon the poop'. On balmy evenings, as the ship sailed into wanner latitudes, Boyes wrote in his diary that the passengers relaxed on deck listening to the songs of the soldiers and sailors, lying stretched on deck near the mainmast where they `were opposing in friendly emulation the battles of Trafalger [sic] and the Nile to the Glories of the Peninsular and of the field of Waterloo'. On 20 September the Sir Godfrey Webster reached Santa Cruz, in the island of Tenerife, at the same time as the Guildford which had sailed from Portsmouth on 28 August. The passengers and the military and ships' officers from both vessels dined together ashore but on leaving dinner `found all the men drunk and a terrible riot immediately commenced--soldiers, sailors, officers and men were all fighting together--their shouts and oaths were echoed, or ought to have been, from the neighbouring Mountains--the business continued at this height for about an hour--many an awkward thump was given and received that evening and many a powerful body laid low'. Obviously the ready availability of an unlimited supply of Spanish wine after three weeks on the ships' grog ration had inflamed the sensibilities of the detachments of the 40th and the ships' crews. In retrospect they probably concluded that a good time had been had by all. (12)

Both ships got under way by 23 September, their routes separating. Two weeks later the Sir Godfrey Webster experienced a heavy rain squall which contributed to the ship's supply of fresh water and allowed soldiers and sailors to `cavort' under the heavy showers while the ship's livestock, four-footed and feathered, joined in the tumult. According to Boyes the noise was deafening. The ship was now approaching the Equator but the captain allowed no line crossing ceremony. As homeward bound ships were passed the opportunity was taken to send letters home. The Sir Godfrey Webster sailed well south to clear the Cape of Good Hope and then rode the winds of the Roaring Forties towards Van Diemens Land; Christmas was celebrated in the cuddy in style with a fine dinner; the crew got drunk but the `soldiers kept themselves quite sober and of course behaved properly'. The ship tied up at Hobart on 27 December 1823 and 139 convicts were disembarked; one had died from a fall en route. After a nine day stay in Hobart the Sir Godfrey Webster sailed on to Sydney, reaching there on 17 January 1824 when Captain Hibbert, Ensign Williams, one sergeant and 32 Rank and File disembarked to join the three previously arrived detachments of the 40th. Boyes wrote to his wife, Mary, on 31 January and mentioned that the Guildford which had left Tenerife at the same time as the Sir Godfrey Webster had still not arrived in Sydney.

The Guildford had a more eventful voyage than the Sir Godfrey Webster as well as having a minor diarist on board. It had as passengers Sir Francis Forbes, appointed to the post of chief judge of the Supreme Court in New South Wales, accompanied by his wife, the Lady Amelia Sophia, who kept a brief diary, with two house servants and a butler. Fellow passengers in the cuddy were Mr Glennie, the two Messrs Dalhunty and Lieutenant Richard Thornhill, commanding a detachment of one sergeant and 32 Rank and File of the 40th Regiment. Lady Forbes recorded her alarm on hearing the clanking of shackles and learning that the Guildford also carried 160 less willing passengers, male convicts `bound for Botany Bay'. This revelation was probably not as alarming as the news that while crossing the Bay of Biscay the ship had sprung a leak. When the Guildford put into Tenerife, to join the Sir Godfrey Webester it was assessed that there was less danger in making for Rio de Janiero for repairs than to lay up in Tenerife. At Tenerife the activities of Spanish privateers, bringing in French prizes to the island during the hostilities between France and Spain over the restoration of the Bourbon King Fernando VII to absolute power in Spain, was daily expected to precipitate an attack by a French fleet.

The Guildford sailed from Tenerife on 22 September, heading for Rio. On the voyage the leak worsened considerably so that the combined efforts of the crew and the prisoners were required to man the pumps, the convicts working under a guard with loaded muskets. The leaking vessel arrive at Rio on 28 October, where the Brazilian government made available a hulk on which the convicts and their guard were quartered until repairs were completed. The ship sailed for Sydney on 26 December 1823, finally reaching its destination on 5 March 1824. Its arrival was reported in the Sydney Gazette of 11 March `... to the joy of the whole Colony, alarming apprehensions being entertained of her safety'. Lieutenant Thornhill and his detachment disembarked the day after their arrival, well pleased to be ashore after their 190 day voyage. (13)

The Phoenix transport, bringing Lieutenant James Butler, Ensign Richard Floyer, three sergeants, two drummers and 51 Rank and File, after disembarking 202 prisoners in Hobart, made an even more spectacular entrance to Port Jackson. Entering the harbour, under the control of the pilot, the 589 ton vessel ran aground on the Sow and Pigs, the rocks and reef which split the entry channel to Port Jackson between Camp Cove and Georges Head. The detachment disembarked on 6 August 1824, the ship was lightened, and, with the help of the boats of HMS Tamar and the Prince Regent, both in the harbour, was dragged off the reef. The Phoenix was damaged beyond economical repair, `getting opened and breaking her back'. The vessel was purchased by Governor Brisbane for 1000 [pounds sterling] and spent the remainder of its life as a convict hulk at various anchorages around Sydney Harbour, holding retaken bushrangers until they could be transported to places of secondary punishment. (14)

It was not until 14 June 1824 that the Commanding Officer of the 40th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Thornton, embarked for New South Wales on the Mangles, with Lieutenant Molineaux Dalrymple, the Regimental Surgeon, William Jones, the Regimental Sergeant Major, Patrick Walsh, three other sergeants, two drummers and 50 Rank and File. This detachment, according to the regimental history comprised the headquarters of the regiment. Two months after embarking, on 19 August, Lieutenant Dalrymple submitted to his commanding officer a long report concerning a mutiny being planned by the prisoners, who had, it was believed, involved members of the crew in a plot to seize the ship. Again, Bateson has dismissed the purported plot as a play on the susceptibilities of young inexperienced recruits by some of the old lags and by the reports of an informer amongst them. Nevertheless action was taken by Thornton to meet the perceived threat. He ordered the sentinels to be increased from four to six and for the men's' loaded muskets to be placed in a specially constructed rack on the poop. In spite of Bateson's dismissal of the plot, there appears to be sufficient evidence in Dalrymple's report to give some credence that a mutiny was being planned however ineffectively. Nothing more was heard before the ship reached Sydney where the Regimental Headquarters disembarked on 27 October 1824. (15)

While some of the detachment commanders, surgeon superintendents and ships' captains had grappled with turnouts of attempted mutiny, and possible ship wreck during the voyages of the 40th to New South Wales, the surgeon superintendent of the Minerva was faced with a different challenge - an outbreak of typhoid. Embarking 172 male prisoners in London and sailing in mid-July 1824, after a month at sea Surgeon Superintendent Alexander Nisbit found that he had to contend with typhoid amongst both prisoners and members of the guard detachment. Nisbit, by prompt action kept the outbreak under control but by the time that the vessel reached Sydney he had treated 67 patients for `continued fevers', hospitalising ten, losing only two convicts and one soldier to the infection.

Nisbit was of the opinion that the infection was carried by the ship, which had a history of previous outbreaks, but the likelihood of the infection lurking in the woodwork of the ship between convict charter voyages is improbable; it is more likely that the typhoid virus had been brought aboard by a carrier embarked from the Thames hulks where the prisoners had been held waiting transportation. There were no cases amongst the boy prisoners whom Nisbit kept segregated from the adults. Nisbit treated nine soldiers of the detachment who displayed symptoms of the disease. The fatality, a twenty year old recruit, Private John Hore, was treated and placed off-duty when the symptoms became apparent but, against Nisbit's advice, Hore returned to duty too soon' as his fellow soldiers accused him of skulking'.

It is inconceivable, by present day standards of military man-management in the Australian Army, that a junior and inexperienced member of a detachment could have been treated with such neglect and derision, leading to his death. It is unrealistic to expect that either military officer on the Minerva, Major Kirkwood or Quartermaster Hales, would be aware of the state of health of each soldier in the guard detachment, but it comprised three sergeants, one, Joshua Baby, a Peninsular and Waterloo veteran, and two corporals, one of whom had been at Waterloo. Obviously the physical well-being of one of the junior soldiers did not warrant their attention or, perhaps, sympathy. Nevertheless the circumstances of Hore's death was sufficiently noteworthy for Alexander Nisbit to have recorded it in his Log. (16)

The arrival of the Ann & Amelia in Sydney on 2 January 1825 saw the last of the main detachments join the regiment in New South Wales. Reinforcements, as recruits joined the regiment in Britain, continued to arrive during the 40th's service in the colony as part of guard detachments on convict transports. Almost as soon as the first detachments of the 40th had disembarked they were despatched to various country stations in New South Wales and later, in Van Diemens Land. This aspect of service in Australia, the employment of troops in small isolated garrisons, was not conducive to the maintenance of discipline or the regimental spirit, and drew later criticism. In spite of this experience, the Inspecting Officer of the first division of the 40th Regiment to reach India in 1829 reported:

   The disadvantages the regiment has laboured under in being separated in
   various small detachments for nearly eight years, does not appear to have
   produced any alteration in the discipline and the interior economy of this
   division, which fully supports (from what I have observed) the excellent
   character they brought with them from Van Diemen's Land. (17)
Movement of the 40th Regiment as Guard Detachments on Convict
Transports 1823-1824

    Date
     of
Embarkation       Ship       Location    Date of Sailing

23 Apr 1823      Albion      Deptford      27 May 1823

 5 Jul 1823       Asia       Deptford       9 Sep 1823

10 Jul 1823     Isabella     Deptford           ?

18 Jul 1823    Sir Godfrey   Deptford       1 Sep 1823
                 Webster

28 Jul 1823     Guilford     Deptford      28 Aug 1823

31 Jul 1823      Medina      Deptford       9 Sep 1823

 5 Aug 1823      Castle      Deptford      28 Sep 1823
                 Forbes

20 Dec 1823      Prince      Deptford      13 Feb 1824
                 Regent

25 Feb 1824    Countess of   Deptford      23 Mar 1823
                Harcourt

Not in Regtl     Phoenix     Deptford?    3 April 1824
   Record

 5 Feb 1824      Chapman     Deptford       6 Apr 1824

14 June 1824     Mangles     Deptford      14 Jul 1824

Not in Regtl     Minerva     Deptford?     14 Jul 1824
   Record

14 Jun 1824     Princess     Deptford      16 Jul 1824
                Charlotte

Not in Regt       Ann &      Deptford?      8 Sep 1824
   Record        Amelia

    Date
     of                                   Ports en
Embarkation       Ship          From        Route

23 Apr 1823      Albion       Spithead    Cape Town

 5 Jul 1823       Asia       The Downs    Cape Town
                                            Hobart

10 Jul 1823     Isabella        Cork          ?

18 Jul 1823    Sir Godfrey     London     Tenerife
                 Webster                   Hobart

28 Jul 1823     Guilford     Portsmouth   Tenerife
                                             Rio
                                          Cape Town

31 Jul 1823      Medina         Cork       Direct

 5 Aug 1823      Castle         Cork       Direct
                 Forbes

20 Dec 1823      Prince         Cork         Rio
                 Regent

25 Feb 1824    Countess of   The Downs     Hobart
                Harcourt

Not in Regtl     Phoenix     Portsmouth   Tenerife
   Record                                  Hobart

 5 Feb 1824      Chapman     Portsmouth    St Jago
                                           Hobart

14 June 1824     Mangles     Portsmouth   Tenerife

Not in Regtl     Minerva       London     Cape Town
   Record

14 Jun 1824     Princess      Falmouth       Rio
                Charlotte                  Hobart

Not in Regt       Ann &         Cork       Direct
   Record        Amelia

    Date
     of                      Disembarkation      Details of
Embarkation       Ship           Sydney          Detachment

23 Apr 1823      Albion       15 Nov 1823         Lt N Low
                                                   2 Sgt
                                                  34 R & F

 5 Jul 1823       Asia         6 Feb 1824      Capt P Bishop
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  32 R & F

10 Jul 1823     Isabella      17 Dec 1823       Lt H Millar
                                               31 R & F (one
                                              died en route?)

18 Jul 1823    Sir Godfrey    17 Jan 1824      Capt G Hibbert
                 Webster                       Ens W Williams
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  32 R & F

28 Jul 1823     Guilford       6 Mar 1824      Lt R Thornhill
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  32 R & F

31 Jul 1823      Medina       31 Dec 1823      Lt F C Ganning
                                                Ens J Curtin
                                                Asst Surg P
                                                  Coleman
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  33 R & F

 5 Aug 1823      Castle       16 Jan 1824     Lt Col W Balfour
                 Forbes                       Lt J Richardson
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  34 R & F

20 Dec 1823      Prince       15 Jul 1824     Capt R P Stewart
                 Regent                       Lt W Sergeantson
                                                   2 Sgts
                                                  2 Dmrs,
                                                  52 R & F

25 Feb 1824    Countess of    14 Jul 1824       Capt R Morow
                Harcourt                      EnsJ A Robertson
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  32 R & F

Not in Regtl     Phoenix       6 Aug 1824       Lt J Butler
   Record                                       Ens R Floyer
                                                   3 Sgts
                                                  2 Dmrs,
                                                  51 R & F

 5 Feb 1824      Chapman      18 Aug 1824       Capt R Jebb
                                                Ens G Moore
                                                   1 Sgt
                                                  32 R & F

14 June 1824     Mangles      27 Oct 1824         Lt Col H
                                                  Thornton
                                               Lt M Dalrymple
                                                Surg W Jones
                                                   4 Sgts
                                                  2 Dmrs,
                                                  50 R & F

Not in Regtl     Minerva      20 Nov 1824      Maj T Kirkwood
   Record                                        QM F Hales
                                                   3 Sgts
                                                  4 Dmrs,
                                                  36 R & F
                                               Pte John Hore
                                                died at sea

14 Jun 1824     Princess       1 Dec 1824       Lt & Adjt W
                Charlotte                         Neilley
                                                   2 Sgts
                                                  35 R & F

Not in Regt       Ann &        2 Jan 1825      Capt R Turton
   Record        Amelia                        Pmstr R Moore
                                                   2 Sgts
                                                  26 R & F

The above table has been compiled from the following sources:

* Date of embarkation and ship--Historical Records of the 40th (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment, p 216. Three ships, Phoenix, Minerva, Ann & Amelia, are not identified by name in the Regimental Records but appear in the Monthly Returns.

* Date of sailing--Log of Logs, and is the date of departure from the last British port.

* Ports visited during voyage--Log of Logs.

* Date of disembarkation in Sydney--Monthly Returns, NSW, WO17/2307-2309.

* Detachment details--Monthly Returns, WO17 series and Regimental Records.

The following sources in addition to the sources mentioned in the references, have been used to provide background details for the experiences of guard detachments:

* Eric R Dibbs, Captain Charles Hamilton Smith of the 28th Foot, Journal RAHS, Vol ??. pp 131-135.

* George Mason, The Journal of Captain George Mason of the 4th (or King's Own) Regiment of Foot, Lancaster, c 1981.

* John Robinson, Diary (manuscript) 1837-1838, NLA, MS 1845.

* Nancy M Taylor, (ed), The Journal of Ensign Best, 1837-1843, Wellington, 1966.

* Ian Nicholson, Log of Logs, Nambour, nd.

(1) Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships, Sydney, 1983, p 51.

(2) Clem Sargent, The Colonial Garrison 1817 to 1824, Canberra, 1996, pp 34-35.

(3) General Regulations and Orders for the Army, 1822, p 329.

(4) AONSW CSO 4/5783, pp 472-473.

(5) General Regulations and Orders for the Army, 1822, p 325.

(6) Surgeon's Log -- Convict Ship Albion, Surgeon James A Mercer, 3 April-17 November 1823, PRO, ADM 101, AJCP Reel 3187.

(7) Ibid.

(8) Lt Low to Maj Goulburn, 1 Dec 1823, AONSW Col Sec's Comp, 4/1773, f 94.

(9) I am indebted to Mrs Janet Robinson of Wahroonga, for research on the Sweetman family in the records of the Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, on my behalf.

(10) William Rae to Gov. Brisbane, 17 Dec 1823, AONSW Col Sec's Comp, 4/1765, p 227; Surgeon Superintendent William Rae, Log 14 July-24 November 1823, PRO ADM 101/36.

(11) Peter Chapman (ed), The Diaries And Letters of GTWB Boyes, Melbourne, 1985, p 124; W F P Napier KCB, History Of The War In The Peninsula, London, 1850, Vol IV, p 254; The Peninsula Roll Call (Challis Index), mfm NLA, Reel G7310; Returns of Officers' Services, WO 25/749. f 354.

(12) Chapman, pp 132, 137.

(13) Lady Amelia Sophia Forbes, Sydney Society in Crown Colony Days, ML, MSS 943, ff 9-15.

(14) Sydney Gazette, 12 August 1824; HRA I, 11, p 553.

(15) Lieutenant Dalrymple to Lieutenant Colonel Thornton, 19 August 1824, AONSW Col Sec's Corresp, 4/1782, ff 10-11.

(16) Minerva, Surgeon's Log, 21 June - 20 November 1824, Adm 101/54, AJCP Reel 3205, NLA; WO 12/5336, 25 March - 24 June 1824.

(17) Historical Records of the 40th Regimen, p 231.