Richard Clancy: Convict

One of the aspects we have been exploring whilst in Tasmania was our historical family connections to Tasmania, or Van Diemen’s Land as it was originally known. Michelle’s family story turned out to be the most interesting, and unknown to us and her family, until recently. This is the story of the Irish convict Richard Clancy.

Richard Clancy was Michelle's Great, Great, Great, Great Grand Father.  Or, putting that another way, her maternal Grandmother's Great Grandfather. 

Richard was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland in 1792 and was christened at nearby Tallow Waterford.  At some point before 1835 (records from this time area bit patchy) he married Ally Quinlan and his first daughter was born.  In this time he was a butcher - a trade that his family carried on for the next 3 generations and over the next few years they had many children, at least 8, maybe 9.

The church that Richard and Ally were married in.

In December 1840, things started to go astray.  He was charged and found guilty of receiving stolen goods (namely one sheep) and was sentenced to 7 years transportation to Van Diemen's Land.

Report from the Limerick Chronicle, 7 November, 1840.

Strangely, his partner in crime, who actually stole the sheep, was only imprisoned for 12 months. Why Richard was treated more harshly, and was ‘more guilty’ is not clear, there must be a story there somewhere but I guess it’s lost to time now.

He arrived in Hobart (where we have been living for the last few months) on the ship "British Sovereign" in March 1841, after a voyage of 3 months, with 180 other Irish male convicts. 

This is his entry in the Convict Description book.

I assume these descriptions were recorded so as to be able to identify the convict if they were to escape. (Way too early for fingerprints!)

Upon arrival it appears he was sent off to build the Flinders Bay Probation Station - essentially a work farm for convicts, not far from the infamous Port Arthur.  This was wild virgin territory and the convicts had to start by clearing the land.  In the meantime they lived in bark huts they had to build themselves.  They worked in gangs to construct all of the stations buildings from the local materials.  This must have been incredibly hard work for Richard who was nearly 50 years old at the time.  According to the records, after all their efforts, the station was abandoned about 2 years later when a bushfire destroyed the settlement and all of the good timber in the area.  All that happened, not far from where we were living. We drove for some miles down some bush tracks looking for the remains of the station….but alas we were stopped by a locked gate on private property.

It would appear that he was a well behaved convict.  He was granted a 'ticket of leave' in October 1844 and a conditional pardon in August 1845, well before the expiry of his 7 year sentence.  A Ticket of Leave allowed Richard to work freely on his own behalf but he could not carry a firearm or leave the colony.

Richard’s entry in the official Pardon Record Book.

It’s a little hard to read, but as best I can tell, the comments in the “Cause of Indulgence” column on the right states:

“Having since their arrival adopted one(?) uniform course of good conduct and not one third remaining unexpired of their terms of transportation”

For some years he then lived in Launceston Tasmania (about 200km north of Hobart), plying his trade in the butchery business.  He was allocated a convict to assist him, who subsequently absconded from Richard, and was arrested and then sentenced to 6 months hard labour.  Richard was also a victim of burglary, which seemed quite common in those days.  Going by the list of things stolen, it would seem that the butchery business was going well.

Launceston Examiner Saturday 25 August 1849, page 5

In June 1848, 3 years after he was pardoned, and 8 years since he was transported from Ireland, he then took the unusual step of applying for his wife and children to join him in Tasmania rather than return to Ireland himself.  This seems like a long delay, but presumably he had to fund this transport himself, plus also, it took 3-6 months for letters to be delivered from one side of the world to the other.  Imagine trying to organise your wife and 8 children to find a sailing ship and travel to the far end of the world, when 3-6 month old letters were your only form of communication. 

Ally and the eight children spent 3 months on the “William Jardine” en route to Australia. The family was reunited on 27th of August 1849. Some of the 'children' were actually adults by then, including James Clancy who was to become Michelle's Great Great Great Grandfather.  He was 19 when he came to Australia with his mother.

For a few years Richard and family farmed and operated a butchery business in Launceston (where our son, Daniel, now lives).  In 1853, he died, only 4 years after his family arrived.  His death certificate states the cause of death to be 'decline' which I guess is some euphemism for old age.  He was 60 years old and certainly much of the last 12 years of his life would have been harsh.

Richard’s Death Certificate

His wife Ally, went on to outlive him by nearly 30 years.  She settled with the children in the town of Westbury Tasmania, not far from Launceston, where her son James ran a butcher's shop, and George (one of her other sons) ran a hotel that still bears his name today.  James' life was also quite eventful but that is a story for another day.

The Clancy Hotel - still standing in Westbury, Tasmania

Richard and Ally were buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Launceston, but sadly it is no longer there, and the grounds have been used for a lawn bowls club.

We found one other link to Richard that still exists today. About halfway along the road from Hobart to Launceston, the town of Campbell Town has a memorial to the convicts from the early ships. In a lengthy line along the footpath in the main street, each convict has a brick with their name engraved and some details of their life included. On a cool afternoon in November, on one of our numerous trips between Hobart and Launceston, we stopped in at Campbell Town and found the brick belonging to Richard.

That’s the story of Richard Clancy. Irishman, butcher, receiver of stolen sheep but also the family man that worked hard to bring his family to a new life in Australia.

Best wishes for the holiday season.

Cheers

David and Michelle. xxx