People Australia

George Jolly, tailor and convict, was born in 1817 at Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England, the son of George Jolly, tailor. While making his way through the crowds at the annual Lord Mayor’s Day parade on 9 November 1840, he was accused of stealing a reticule from Parthenia Pool and later a purse from Fanny Greensmith.[1] After being admitted to Newgate Prison, he and his co-accused, John Calladine (also a tailor), were tried for two counts of pickpocketing at the Old Bailey on 23 November 1840.[2] Their cases were heard without legal representation, although Jolly received a ‘good character’.[3] The victims and police gave evidence of the incidents, and Jolly and Calladine were found guilty and sentenced to transportation for ten years and fifteen years respectively.[4]

Jolly was transferred to the prison hulk Fortitude, moored at Chatham on 12 December 1840.[5] After a short time on the hulk, he boarded the transport ship, Layton, on 31 March 1841.[6] After the ship’s surgeon, Alex McKechnie, conducted health assessments of the convicts as they embarked, the Layton departed London on 6 April 1841 carrying 250 male convicts for the long journey to Van Diemen’s Land.[7] The surgeon’s journal notes that there were six deaths on board during the trip: five convicts and one soldier.[8] The record for the journey shows 110 cases of illness, 103 of whom were discharged to duty, one sent to hospital on arrival in Van Diemen’s Land, and six deaths.[9]

Arriving in Van Diemen’s Land on 1 September 1841, Jolly was assigned to Rocky Hills probation station as a third-class convict to serve his fifteen-month probation period.[10] He was appointed a police constable on 28 December 1842 after displaying mostly good behaviour during this period.[11] However, he did spend seven days in solitary for ‘reporting a falsehood to the superintendent regarding the storekeeper’ and fourteen days for ‘being under the influence of liquor’.[12] The 1846 muster shows that he was at Rocky Hills Penal Station, now a second-class convict.[13] He was granted a ticket-of-leave on 22 December 1846 and a conditional pardon on 26 September 1848.[14][15] His record noted that he had been ‘a constable for 4 and a half years and the only offences recorded are one or two of a minor nature’.[16] The 1849 muster indicated that he had received a conditional pardon but did not provide details of where he lived or worked.[17]

On 27 December 1847, Jolly married Eliza Bannister at the District Church of Kensington according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. She was eighteen years old and the daughter of a convict.[18] He was a watchhouse keeper at Bridgewater Convict Station when their first child, George, was born on 4 November 1848.[19] A daughter, Caroline, was born on 17 May 1850.[20] Ten years after being convicted, he was granted his certificate of freedom on 4 December that year.[21] He made subsequent return voyages from Launceston to Melbourne, which were more comfortable than his first voyage.[22] He died in unfortunate circumstances, passing away a pauper at Brickfields Invalid Depot on 1 June 1862. His cause of death was noted as ‘serious apoplexy’, that is, a stroke or cerebral haemorrhage.[23]

[1] Trial of George Jolly, John Calladine (t18401123-32), November 1840, Old Bailey Proceedings Online version 9.0, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18401123-32?text=Jolly, accessed 19 June 2024.

[2] Sessions paper (t18401123), November 1840, Old Bailey Proceedings Online version 9.0, available at: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18401123, accessed 21 June 2024.

[3] Trial of George Jolly, John Calladine (t18401123-32).

[4] Trial of George Jolly, John Calladine (t18401123-33).

[5] Entry for George Jolly, received 12 December 1840, Fortitude, Prison Hulk Registers & Letter Books 1802–1849, Ancestry.com, accessed 27 May 2024.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Layton, Convict Records.

[8] Entry for Layton, 1841, UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals 1817–1856, Ancestry.com, accessed 19 June 2024.

[9] Layton, Royal Navy Medical Journals.

[10] George Jolly, Layton, 1840, Conduct record, Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Assignment System, Tasmanian Archives, CON33-1-10.

[11] George Jolly, Conduct record.

[12] George Jolly, Conduct record.

[13] Entry for George Jolly, 1846, New South Wales & Tasmania, Australian Convict Musters 1806–1849, Ancestry.com, accessed 27 May 2024.

[14] ‘Advertising’, Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston), 26 December 1846, 1008.

[15] ‘Convict Department’, Launceston Examiner, 17 July 1847, 8.

[16] George Jolly, Conduct record.

[17] Entry for George Jolly, 1849, New South Wales & Tasmania.

[18] Marriage entry for George Jolly, 27 December 1847, New Norfolk District, Tasmania Marriages 1803–1899, Tasmania Archive & Heritage Office, no. 947, Findmypast, accessed 27 May 2024.

[19] Birth entry for George Jolly, born 4 November 1848, Hobart District, Tasmania Births 1803–1933, Tasmania Archive & Heritage Office, no. 1160, Findmypast, accessed 17 June 2024.

[20] Birth entry for Caroline Jolly, born 17 May 1850, Hobart District, Tasmania Births 1803–1933, Tasmania Archive & Heritage Office, no. 1160, Findmypast, accessed 17 June 2024.

[21] George Jolly, Conduct record.

[22] Passenger list entry for George Jolly, Yarra Yarra, leaving Launceston, Tasmania, 1 May 1853, Tasmania Departures 1817–1863, Australia Inward, Outward & Coastal Passenger Lists 1826–1972, Findmypast, accessed 27 May 2024.

[23] Death register entry for George Jolly, died 1 June 1862, Hobart District, Tasmania Deaths 1803–1933, Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office, no. 3392, Findmypast, accessed 27 May 2024.