Apart from the First and Second Fleet convicts mentioned on that page, I have numerous other English ancestors and my GG Grandfather Jonathan Whiting has always been a source of interest. His convict notes after arrival in Hobart Town, Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) on 2 January 1824 reveal a young man who perhaps considered he had been "banged up" or "framed" for the charge of Highway Robbery for which he was convicted to transportation for life.
There are numerous mentions of insolence, absent without his master's approval, being found in an ale house with various women and theft of food. These breached his terms of confinement of course and for many of these matters Jonathan was punished with either 50 lashes or sent to join the chain gangs or both. This riotous behaviour continued even after he was sent to the new Port Arthur Penal Settlement (above) where he worked as a shoemaker and bootmaker. After a period of almost fifteen years of trouble and strife, he was conditionally pardoned in 1838 and in that year married Ellen Bradshaw.
This marriage had an immediate effect on him as there are no further mentions of any crimes or misdemeanours. Ellen Bradshaw was the daughter of Thomas Bradshaw, a former weaver and British Army man who had commuted his army pension (like the Chelsea Pensioners) by the time of his arrival in Hobart.
Descendants of Jonathan Whiting