Over two million Britons are related to convicts sent to Australia from the late 18th Century, a new online database has revealed.
For the first time, Ancestry.co.uk has launched the most comprehensive collection of convict transportation records online The Convict Transportation Registers: 1788-1868, which include most of the 163,021 convicts transported to Australia during the 18th and 19th Centuries. There is a one in 30 chance of Brits having a convict ancestor listed among the records.
The collection, of which the originals are held at The National Archives, includes the four transportation registers spanning the 80 years of convict transportation, and also the New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Pardons and Tickets of Leave, 1834-1859, Convict Musters, 1806-1849 and Settler and Convict Lists,1787-1834.
Information includes name, date and place of conviction, term of sentence, name of ship, departure date and colony to which convicts were sent. Also included can be occupation, marital status, religion and the date on which freedom was finally granted.
"These records are of significance not only to the one in four Australians who are of convict descent, but also to the estimated two million Brits, many of whom are unaware of their links to the other side of the globe and who can now claim Australian convicts amongst their ancestors."
Convict deportation reached a peak in 1833 when 36 ships transported nearly 7,000 convicts to the colonial outpost. The journey to Australia took eight months, six spent at sea and two in ports for supplies and repairs.
83 per cent of convicts were male aged between 15 and 30 years and 75 per cent worked in unskilled professions. Although a small number were convicted of serious crimes such as murder or assault (two per cent), many people were deported for minor crimes including stealing fish from a pond or river, embezzling naval stores, receiving or buying stolen goods, setting fire to underwood and petty theft.
Ancestry.co.uk spokesman Josh Hanna said: "These records are of significance not only to the one in four Australians who are of convict descent, but also to the estimated two million Brits, many of whom are unaware of their links to the other side of the globe and who can now claim Australian convicts amongst their ancestors."
