19th C Prisoners transported by narrowboat

[King Learie]

I heard a strange story yesterday about a narrowboat that took prisoners from Leicester (and possibly elsewhere along the route) and took them down to London where they were put onto ships bound for Australia. The specifics of the tale was that a local magistate held court in a old coaching inn called the Talbot in Belgrave, near Leicester and those found guilty were hooded and led through a tunnel to the adjacent navigation and put on a boat They were kept hooded until they entered the Bay of Biscay! The chap who told this tale to my friend appeared quite sure of his facts although I know the history of the area quite well and have never heard mention of this barbaric treatment of folk anywhere.

 

Now I do remember that soldiers were moved by canal from London to Liverpool on their way to Ireland but prisoners?

 

 

King Learie

[carlt]

Now I do remember that soldiers were moved by canal from London to Liverpool on their way to Ireland but prisoners?

King Learie

New one on me too, though it was the quickest way to travel.

 

Regarding soldiers, weedon barracks had its own arm

[NB Alnwick]

I haven't heard this one but it is extremely likely - especially before railways. I do know that the Edinburgh courts sent prisoners in horse drawn carts to the port of Leith from where they were taken down the east coast by sailing barge often as far as London or the Medway before they were transferred to sailing ships for transportation.

[Guest st170dw]

In the C19'patients' (as we now call them) were delivered to the St Bernards Mental Hospital by canal so the rest of the local inhabitants didn't see them. There is an arch on the wall beside the Hanwell flight of the Grand Union where the entrance to the dock was.

 

The building besides the arch was the brewery for the hospital!

[fender]

Some of the canal companies had penalites for interferring with their property, and one of these was transportation. I think the Waterways Museum has one of these orginal signs which were sited at numerous locations alongside the canals.

 

Transportation was more common than we think, and every which way was used to get any miscreants off to Oz!

[carlt]

Some of the canal companies had penalites for interferring with their property, and one of these was transportation. I think the Waterways Museum has one of these orginal signs which were sited at numerous locations alongside the canals.

 

Transportation was more common than we think, and every which way was used to get any miscreants off to Oz!

That would be this one:-

 

[King Learie]

Well, that story doesn't seem so improbable after all and as it has been said on this topic it was the quickest way to travel in the 1800’s.

 

Who were the historic version of G4 Security ?– small owners- ready to take on whatever was on offer? – ‘blindfolded prisoners in chains to London, just need a bucket, water and simple food for 5-6 days’. You could get 25 -30 humans in a hold and they wouldn’t weigh that much and the practice of transporting cattle by narrow boat on this canal had also been tried out – along with fast passenger boats between cities with teams of horses on other canals. The introduction of railways would have rendered all of this redundant very quickly and as the railways were new, brash and exciting, so stuff like this topic would have been very quickly forgotten….

 

Australia was a big place and needed colonising and consumed a large amount of souls before it became a stable economic environment producing wealth for the British Empire.

 

Might not have been regular work for boaters/companies but not much recorded traffic of this nature survives and, of course, no photographs either…..

 

But I would have thought that something about this matter must have survived the 180 years since….

 

Sitting blindfolded, chained up for days, in an old damp wooden boat under tar coated cloths would have certainly acclimatised them to the horrors of an old leaky warship, on a one way trip, battling the seas and climate all the way to the Antipodes.

 

Just imagine it! - Poor folk

 

King Learie

[Heartland]

Has anything further been discovered on this question?

 

Canals have been recorded as moving soldiers and emigrants, but convicts are something that needs further thought. Transportation was once a common practice and the method of getting prisoners to the ship bound for Australia is one deserving discussion or debate. Every assize would have those who had been sentenced to transportation, The use of a coach or wagon seems appropriate and transfer to the point where the ships sailed from. Yet the concept of using a canal boat would seem to create problems to ensure the safe delivery of prisoners to the ship and prevention of the opportunity for escape, in view of the slow progress, and passage through locks. From Leicester, the route would have been along several waterways and a duration of days even by a fly boat.  

[Waterway2go]

In Glasgow prisoners being transported to Australia were held in Maryhill Barracks before being put on barges heading west to the Clyde to board larger ships.  The place where they joined the barges is still known as "the Butney", a corruption of Botany Bay.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Waterway2go
typos

[matty40s]

The Talbot Inn was an 18th century public house but also served as the local court. 

An extract from a local historical website.."

Prisoners would have their last meal here before their meeting with the hangman. To the right is the mortuary where supposedly criminals were brought after their execution at nearby Red Hill Gallows.  It was rumoured that their bodies would be used for medical experiment and research. No wonder that claims of it being haunted surface from time to time.  Reputedly the original Talbot dates from the 16th century, the Talbot dog being part of the Belgrave family crest.

The Talbot was part of Belgrave Parish until circa 1896"

 

Sold to Ansells Brewery in 1952

[Heartland]

Ah Ansells, that closed down Aston Brewery. The squirrel logo came from Holts, a brewery near the canal in Birmingham when the company merged

It is interesting to see barges in Scotland being used for prisoners and there also I gather river side hulks on the Thames fir that purpose.