New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842

For “Arrival” 9 JUL 1834 of Constance Couronne

Record for Constance

Image: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 - Constance Couronne

For “Born” 17 NOV 1814 of Benjamin Saville

Benjn Saville | age 19 | 23 Jul. 1832 Chelmsford | Andromeda (2) | Sydney Cove 11 Mar. 1833

The indexed entry for the indent image cited on his arrival. Age 19 on arrival in March 1833 puts his birth between March 1813 and March 1814; the conditional-pardon register independently gives his age as 34 in 1848, which puts it in 1813-14 as well. Both sit just outside the 17 November 1814 that Find a Grave and WikiTree carry, by a matter of months, which is normal for a convict's self-reported age. The recorded date is left alone: two estimates from ages do not outweigh a stated date, but the moderator should know they pull slightly earlier.

For “Immigrated” 27 JAN 1815 of John Barber

Name John Barber | Age 26 | Date of Conviction 16 Feb. 1814 | Place of Conviction Cambridge | Estimated Birth Year abt 1788 | Vessel Marquis of Wellington | Port of Arrival Sydney | Date of Arrival 27 Jan. 1815

Index row of the bound convict indent, read in Chrome; source citation "State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 12188; Item: [4/4005]; Microfiche: 635". It confirms the conviction date, place, ship and arrival independently of everything else on this person. Its AGE is the problem: 26 in January 1815 gives a birth about 1788, whereas the 1828 census makes him 37 or 38 (born about 1790) and his death registration reads "AGE 49" in 1841 (born about 1792, the value on this record). Three sources, three years, four years apart end to end — unremarkable for a convict whose age was never documented, and no reason to move a date. The index carries no native place, trade or description; the indent IMAGE would, and is the outstanding request.

For “Immigrated” 27 JAN 1815 of John Barber

John Barber | Cambridge, Isle of Ely | 16th February 1814 | Fourteen Years | Suffolk | Stable boy | 26 | 5/5½ | fa. ruddy | sandy | blue

The bound indent itself, read from the uploaded image (media 424) at full resolution — manuscript page 28 of Bound Indentures 1814-1818, State Archives NSW NRS 12188 item [4/4005]. Column headings in order: Names | Where Convicted | When | Term | Native place | Calling | Age | height | Complexion | hair | eyes | T.L. | C.P. | A.P. His T.L., C.P. and A.P. columns (ticket of leave, conditional pardon, absolute pardon) are blank, consistent with a man who simply served his fourteen years to their expiry and took a certificate of freedom in April 1828. "Cambridge, Isle of Ely" is written once for a bracket shared with the next row, John Bentick, butcher, aged 23 — the same John Bentick who was capitally convicted for stealing six lambs at the same assizes and reprieved alongside him, per the Cambridge Chronicle of 25 February 1814. THE DECISIVE FIELD IS NATIVE PLACE: SUFFOLK, which settles where to look for his baptism and shows that the Criminal Registers' "Cambridgeshire" was the county of trial. Height 5 feet 5½ inches; complexion fair and ruddy; sandy hair; blue eyes.

For “Occupation” 1814 of John Barber

John Barber | Cambridge, Isle of Ely | 16th February 1814 | Fourteen Years | Suffolk | Stable boy | 26 | 5/5½ | fa. ruddy | sandy | blue

Cited for the Calling column alone: "Stable boy". A compiled family history had already said he "had been a Stable Hand when Sentenced to death for stealing a horse"; this is the record behind that statement, and it explains the later occupation event on this person — farrier at Parramatta, South Creek, Windsor and Richmond in the 1830s, horse farrier and then horse doctor at Goulburn from 1837.

For “Description” 1815 of John Barber

26 | 5/5½ | fa. ruddy | sandy | blue

The age, height, complexion, hair and eye columns of his indent row, quoted as they stand; "5/5½" is five feet five and a half inches, "fa. ruddy" fair and ruddy. This is the only physical description of him that exists, and it makes a small point about his son: Joseph Rambler Barber was advertised in 1842 as "sallow complexion ... 5 feet 9 inches", four inches taller than his father and darker — the colonial-born generation.

For Constance Couronne (1824–1891)

Record for Constance

Image: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 - Constance Couronne

For John Barber (1792–1841)

John Barber | Cambridge, Isle of Ely | 16th February 1814 | Fourteen Years | Suffolk | Stable boy | 26 | 5/5½ | fa. ruddy | sandy | blue

Placed on the person as well as on the arrival event because its value here is his ORIGIN and his AGE, neither of which is a fact about the voyage. NATIVE PLACE SUFFOLK is the first record read in three rounds of work on this line to state where he came from; his birthplace field is left empty in this proposal only because I cannot confirm from here whether a county-level "Suffolk, England" row already exists (search_places caps at 25 rows and a county row sorts past the cap under S, which is the documented trap) — it is listed for the orchestrator to wire up. On the AGE: 26 in January 1815 gives a birth about 1788-89. The 1828 census makes him 37 or 38 (about 1790) and his death registration 1283/1841 reads AGE 49 (about 1792, the value carried on this record). Three sources, three years, drifting three years across twenty-six — unremarkable for a man whose age was never documented at birth, and no basis for preferring one over the others, so nothing is changed. What the indent DOES settle is that the compiled claim "born about 1792 in Suffolk" had the county right.