Convict Ship Marquis of Huntley
1826
Embarked: 200 men
Voyage: 120 days
Deaths: 3
Surgeon's Journal: yes
Previous vessel: Regalia arrived 5 August 1826
Next vessel: England arrived 18 September 1826
Captain William Ascough
Surgeon Superintendent William Rae
The Marquis of Huntley was built in Aberdeen in 1804.[1] Convicts were transported to New South Wales on the Marquis of Huntley in 1826, 1828, 1830 and 1835.
Military Guard
The Guard consisted of a detachment of the 39th regiment under the orders of Major Donald MacPherson.Departure
The Marquis of Huntley departed Sheerness 16 May 1826.Surgeon William Rae
William Rae kept a Medical Journal from 29th March to 21st September 1826. There is an interesting map in the journal tracking the progress of the Marquis of Huntley and showing the weather and illnesses experienced at different points.The first cases William Rae attended were of ophthalmia which members of the Guard brought on board. It spread to the convicts and even the surgeon and one of the convicts who assisted in the hospital suffered with it.... the surgeon remarked - tears in this case will flow from sympathy!! Later in the journal he gave his opinion as to the state of the minds of some of the convicts he had observed.......
The fatal case of typhus was lost by concealment of the malady until it had gained an unconquerable height. It was a bad case in a very bad man and I may here observe that when disease occurs amongst convicts the surgeon has much to do and a difficult part to perform, for, if he wishes to cure bodily disease, he must administer frequently to that of the mind - many of those unfortunate men when cooped up on board a ship and nothing but a wide expanse of sky and sea around them, become totally changed and keenly alive to a sense of their crime and unhappy situation.
Withdrawn from the company and example of their wicked associates on shore and without the means of drowning thought in dissipation, time is allowed for reflection and the once blunted conscience is awakened to a sense of all its horrors. Some promise fair for amendment, but too, too many when once on shore return to their vicious habits again. The generality of them however behaved well on board and I had much less turmoil or disturbance during this voyage than in either of my former ones, indeed by laying down proper rules and regulations for their governance and accepting them on embarkation, and if necessary enforcing the same by an early well timed and efficient punishment, much trouble will probably be spared during the remainder of the voyage.[2]
He noted in the journal that plenty of fish could be procured from outside the harbour's waters of the island of St Paul's which was not more than 12 or 15 miles in circumference and of volcanic origin. He also made reference to the island of Amsterdam and that whales and seals were sporting about in all directions.
Prisoners and soldiers mentioned in the Surgeon's Journal:
George Hooper, aged 60, prisoner;
Samuel Worsley, aged 31, prisoner;
Benjamin Watkins, aged 39, private 39th regiment;
John Sullivan, aged 18, private 39th regiment;
John Harvey, aged 18, prisoner;
William Quirk, aged 24, private 39th regiment;
Robert King, aged 30, prisoner;
James Ryan, aged 20, private 39th regiment;
Philip Hynes, aged 18, private 39th regiment;
Joseph Ambler, aged 30, prisoner;
James Dovey, aged 20, prisoner;
Patrick Cunningham, aged 23, private 39th regiment;
John Ameys, aged 60, prisoner died 19 August 1826 at 1 am.
John Curtain, aged 27, private 39th regiment;
William Weller, aged 19, prisoner;
George Pickering, aged 26, prisoner; [3]
Port Jackson
The Marquis of Huntley arrived in Port Jackson on the evening of 12th September.Convict Muster
The Colonial Secretary accompanied by the Principal Superintendent of Convicts was occupied the whole of Thursday 14th September in mustering the prisoners on board the vessel prior to their landing on the following Tuesday. The indents include the name, age, education, religion, marital status, family, trade, native place, offence, when and where tried, sentence, prior convictions, physical description, to whom assigned on arrival together with some details of Conditional Pardons and colonial crimes and sentences.Convicts of Marquis of Huntley identified in the Hunter Valley -
Ambler, Joseph
Baker, Richard
Barnett, Samuel
Bland, Robert
Blundell, Joseph
Brett, William
Broadhurst, Thomas
Brown, William
Burnett, Richard
Buryman, Charles
Carty, John
Clackett, James
Clayson, William
Collyer, George
Constable, William
Costin, Samuel
Cox, John
Coxhead, George
Culver, Elias
Dell, James
Dolphin, Joseph
Donnochie, William
Faulkner, John
Ferris, Henry
Fitzpatrick, William
Grahma, Lawrence
Greenhalgh, Robert
Griffin, John
Hannaghan, James
Harrison, William
Hollis, Benjamin
Holmes, Thomas
Holt, Thomas
Hooper, George
Hurley, Daniel
Jenner, James
Johnson, Henry
Jones, John
Jones, William
Kean, John
Kitson, John
Landers, Thomas
Lawrence, James
Lee, Joseph
Lewis, James
Love, Peter
Lowe, John
MacFarlane, George
McCarthy, Denis
McGee, Charles
Pape, Henry
Plant, William
Post, John
Reed, James
Relfe, Josiah
Roberts, Samuel
Robinson, James
Rofe, William
Scott, James
Shone, Thomas
Smallbridge, William
Smith, John
Smith, Thomas
Smith, William
Smith, William
Stockwell, John
Sugden, George
Sugden, William
Target, James
Tate, George
Thompson, John
Thornton, Silvester
Tyler, John
Valentine, James
Varney, James
Wallace, William
Waller, John
Wilkinson, Joseph
Williams, John
Williams, Henry
Wilson, Joseph
Notes and Links
1). William Rae was employed as Surgeon Superintendent on the following convict ships:Eliza to NSW in 1822
Isabella to NSW in 1823
Marquis of Huntley to NSW in 1826
Prince Regent to NSW in 1827
Marquis of Hastings to NSW in 1828
2). The following men were convicted in Scotland.......
William Donnachie was tried in Glasgow
John Stockwell tried in Edinburgh.
John Kean or Kane tried in Glasgow. Committed suicide in 1841 at Maitland
Charles McGee tried in Edinburgh.... Charles McGee was, after a long investigation, convicted of theft, committed by means of housebreaking, aggravated by being habit and repute a thief, and previously convicted of theft. He was sentenced to be transported for the whole period of his natural life. The Edinburgh Magazine
3). Find out more about innkeeper Sylvester Thornton who arrived on the Marquis of Huntley
4). Major Donald McPherson was later Commandant at Bathurst
5). Return of Convicts of the Marquis of Huntley assigned between 1st January 1832 and 31st March 1832 (Sydney Gazette 14 June 1832; 21 June 1832) -
6).Convict ships bringing detachments of the 39th regiment included the following -
Regalia departed Dublin 16 March 1826. Lieutenant William Sacheverell Coke
England departed the Downs 6 May 1826. Major George Pitt D'Arcy
Marquis of Huntley departed Sheerness 16 May 1826 - Major Donald MacPherson
Boyne departed Cork 29 June 1826 - Captain Thomas Edward Wright
Speke departed Sheerness 8 August 1826 - Lieutenant Henry Clarence Scarman
Phoenix departed Dublin 27 August 1826 - Lieutenant Charles Cox
Albion departed Plymouth 4 October 1826 - Captain Francis Crotty
Midas departed Plymouth 16 October 1826 - Lieutenant George Meares Bowen
Mariner departed Cork 14 January 1827 - Captain Charles Sturt
Countess of Harcourt departed Dublin 14 February 1827 - Lieut. George Sleeman; Ensign Spencer
Guildford departed Plymouth 31 March 1827 - Captain John Douglas Forbes
Manlius departed Downs 17 April 1827 - Quarter-master Benjamin Lloyd
Cambridge departed Dublin 2 June 1827 - Colonel Patrick Lindesay
Champion departed London 3 June 1827 - Ensign Reid
Bussorah Merchant departed London 27 March 1828 - Ensign W. Kennedy Child
Sophia departed Dublin 15 September 1828 - Major Thomas Poole
References
[1] Bateson, Charles, Library of Australian History (1983). The convict ships, 1787-1868 (Australian ed). Library of Australian History, Sydney : pp.346-347[2] Ancestry.com. UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857. Medical Journal of William Rae on the voyage of the Marquis of Huntly in 1826. The National Archives. Kew, Richmond, Surrey.
[3] National Archives - Reference: ADM 101/50/7 Description: Medical and surgical journal of the Marquis of Huntley male convict ship for 29 March 1824 to 21 September 1826 by William Rae, surgeon and superintendent, during which time the said ship was employed in a voyage to Port Jackson New South Wales.