AUS-Tasmania-L Archives

From: Julie Skellern <>
Subject: [AUS-Tas] PRO Records
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 23:42:56 +1200

This information comes from the PRO web site. Has any other lister had any
experience in searching the clemency pleas?
Jools


3. Finding Out More About the Convict

At this stage most people think they want to look at the trial record. Be
warned: trial records are very formal; they do not normally contain either
transcripts of evidence or any information about age and family
relationships. In addition, the information given about occupation and
residence is rarely accurate. If you really want good quality personal
information about a convict, then you would be better advised to look for an
application for clemency. Remember that people asking for clemency or a
pardon wanted to prove that they were worthy of mercy - so they often
included a lot of information designed to establish how respectable they
were and that this would include just the kind of details about personal
circumstances and family background that family historians want to know.

Petitions for clemency are in HO 17 (1819-1839) and HO 18 (1839-1854). They
are arranged in coded bundles so you will need to use the registers in HO 19
to identify the right one. The registers are arranged by the date of receipt
of the petition. They date back to 1797 and include information about the
response to the petition, so you can sometimes find out something useful
about a convict even if the petition itself does not survive.

There are also petitions in HO 48, HO 49, HO 54 and HO 56, but they are not
indexed.

Reports and returns from the judges are also very informative. They
sometimes include an unofficial transcript of evidence (together with
comments on the characters of both witnesses and juries) as well as
memorials and petitions from friends and relatives of the accused. The
judges' reports are in HO 47 (1784-1829) and their circuit letters are in HO
6 (1816-1840).

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• [AUS-Tas] PRO Records by Julie Skellern <>