Transportation and Penal Servitude - the case of Henry Catlin.

A case study for Key Stage 3, Britain 1750 – 1900 and GCSE History

This case study shows us the childhood experiences, offences, punishment and later life of a boy born in 1828, who was transported to Australia in 1842 . Henry Catlin lived on there until 1918, having become the father of nine children and a respected craftsman.

It deals with major issues in the history of crime and punishment in the 19^th century:

-         the circumstances that led young people to offend in the 19^th century

-         the transportation of a fourteen year old boy – what does that show about 19^th century attitudes to young offenders?

-         the experience of transportation and its impact on the lives of the convicts.

The background

In 1842, when he was 14 years old, Henry Catlin was sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen's Land ( Tasmania ) for 14 years. He had stolen 3/6d (17½ pence). 

His father, John Catlin, who had stolen 2/6d (12½  pence) in a separate offence, was  sentenced to transportation for 7 years.  He was sent out on the same ship, but is presumed to have died on board during the voyage of 118 days.  There is no record of his arrival in Australia .

Henry arrived with the other 185 surviving prisoners on 23^rd September 1843 .  He stayed on in Australia after he had served his sentence, and died in Victoria in 1918.

There are good records about Henry Catlin, both in Bedford and in Australia .

We are going to look at several questions about him.

1.      What kind of childhood did Henry have before he was transported?  Did his childhood experiences make him commit the offences?

2.      Why was such a young person sentenced to such a long term of transportation?

3.      What was it like to be transported to Van Diemen's Land ?

4.      What happened to Henry Catlin as a result of the transportation?

1.      What kind of childhood did Henry have before he was transported? (see video)

What was his family background?  Find out about Henry's father:

Search for John Catlin in the Bedford prison records.

·         What kinds of offences had he committed from 1828 onwards? 

·         What does this tell you about the example he set young Henry?

Look at the Catlin family tree. . (click HERE to see the family tree)

·         How many children did Mrs Catlin have to look after in 1824?   Why was Henry not one of them?  How many had already died?

From the video

·         According to the witnesses, how did John Catlin treat his wife?

·         Was this a common event, or did it only happen once? 

From the family tree: (click HERE to see the family tree)

·         What happened to Mrs Catlin when Henry was 4 years old?  Who would look after him from then on?  How many of the family were still young enough to have to stay with their father?

From the Workhouse Admission Register:  . (link to be provided)

·         How many of John Catlin's children were still with him in 1836? Why might John find it hard to work at his trade of shoemaking?

·         What happened to Maria, Henry's sister?  What did that mean for Henry?

From the Quarter Session Minutes, Michaelmas Sessions 1837. . (Click HERE to open in a new browser window or HERE to download as an MS Word file)

• What offence had Henry committed?
• How did the Court want to treat him? Why was that not possible?  What happened instead?
• What does this trial show about the changing attitudes to young offenders in the 1830s?

Now sum up what you have learned:

Use the evidence to write a defence of Henry Catlin at his trial in 1837, when he was 9,  for theft.

(click HERE to download the writing frame for the defence of Henry Catlin as a Word document)

2.       Why was such a young person sentenced to such a long term of transportation?

Search for Henry Catlin in the Bedford prison records, and find out what kind of young person he was:

·         What kinds of offences had he committed? 

·         How old was he when he was first charged? 

·         What were the sentences that he served?  Did the punishments seem to have helped him to turn away from crime?

·         Why did the offence he had committed when he was 9 in 1837  give the court little choice but to transport him for 14 years in 1842?

3.      What was it like to be transported to Van Diemen's Land ?

• Look at the section of the video that deals with Henry’s transportation and arrival in Australia .  How long did the voyage take?  What evidence is there that it was a terrible experience?
• The best records of the experience on arrival in the penal colonies come from another colony: go to the Freemantle Prison site and explore the  “buildings” section.  Who were the labourers who built the prison?  In which ways was it like the prisons in England ?

4.      What happened to Henry Catlin as a result of the transportation?

• Look at the final part of Henry Catlin’s video, then at his family tree.  How do we know that he behaved well in prison?  What happened to him when he had finished his sentence?
• Henry Catlin became a shoemaker: why do you think he might have chosen that trade?

• Was Henry Catlin typical? Look again at the Freemantle Prison site, this time concentrating on the “people” section.  Browse through several of the convicts.  Were they in prison for all of their time in Australia ?  What happened to most of them after they had finished their sentences?  Which of the ones that you looked at were better off in Australia than they had been in Britain ?
• Why might the prisoners have had chances to make good in Australia when they had been in so much trouble in Britain ?

Now that you have worked your way through the evidence, look at the video again, and discuss:

  Henry Catlin presents his own reminiscences on this - do you agree with him?  Or is he presenting a rosy picture of his character and actions? 

Using the evidence you have gathered and also the article “Henry Catlin 1842-1918”, write an obituary of Catlin, for the local newspaper in Bendigo , Victoria , in August 1918, providing a balanced view in consideration of the evidence.

(Click HERE to download the writing frame for an obituary of Henry Catlin as a Word document)

(Click HERE to download this document as an MSWord file)