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Convicts permissions to marry in Port Jackson.
Convicts arrived into PJ for 61 years and during that time different Governors, Kings/Queen, Prime Ministers and Secretaries of State, all had a hand in changing the rules and regulations that applied to our convicts. The following is not intended to give you all the different regulations regarding marriage, nor does it cover the complete topic of marriage, throughout those 61 years but is merely an overview and as understood by me.
For convicts permissions to marry before 1826.
The NSW State Government Records on-line Colonial Secretary's Index, lists many convicts who obtained permission to marry from the governor. This record will only note that a particular convict applied for permission to marry and will not record on that individuals record, the name of the other party. If the name of the other party is known, then one can confirm by checking that name in the Col. Sec. Index and both should show the same reference numbers. If the name is unknown, then a quick check of the BDMs will (may) give you this information, provided they did get married. The Colonial Secretary's Index will, in many instances, give you the name of the transport on which both convicts arrived, or if one party arrived free or was free by servitude. The first permissions to be recorded in this Index appear to be from about 1810 during Governor Macquarie's governorship. Marriage documents may also indicate that one or both parties had obtained the Governors consent.
I have transcribed these records and whilst doing so found that many errors - the main error was the incorrect transport ship being noted.
The convicts' permissions and refusals to marry from 1826 to 1851 have also been transcribed by me. From 1826 the convicts permissions & refusals to marry were recorded in a separate register. This separate register was probably the result of Governor Darling's more efficient record keeping, the tightening of regulations, and increase in the numbers of convicts arriving.
Marriage was something that the early governors and clergy urged of all convicts for its 'presumed reformatory and moral advantages'. As an added inducement land grants were offered to married convicts with additional land granted for every child born.
Permission to Marry petitions were forwarded by the clergy, along with a references from the employer (master), the clergy and at times also the local Magistrate to the Superintendent of Convicts, then to the Colonial Secretary and then to the Governor for either permission or refusal.
If the records did show that a convict, on arrival, had declared that they were married, then permission was usually not granted. Most of the early Indents did not contain this information, (just the bare facts such as place and date of trial and sentence) therefore it was not known if there was a previous marriage, whereas later, more information was recorded about each convict to arrive.
It was not uncommon in the early years of the settlement for convicts to marry again in the colony when they had already married prior to conviction. Various reasons accounted for this; as there were no records of previous marriages the authorities had to take the word of the convicts; the mistaken belief that their spouse had died; or the attitude that they would never see them again, whilst others believed that transportation annulled a marriage and moreover, bigamy at 7 years separation was not a crime. On checking all the records the 7 year ruling was not applied by all governors.
Marriage was open to all single and widowed female convicts regardless of sentence. The sooner these (troublesome) females were off the public purse the better, thought some! Many convicts, who had declared, on arrival, that they were married, had to wait until they had received a Certificate of Freedom as the Governors did not usually interfere with marriages between 'free' or those free by servitude. Marriage was of vital importance to many females as it helped them attain a 'respectable status', employment opportunities for female in receipt of a TOL were sparse, and marriage would immediately change their condition as, on marriage, they would be assigned to their husbands and could lead a life of, in the main, a free married women, on the condition that they behaved themselves. Husbands did, on many occasions, send their wives back to the factory, and these men were then charged for their keep should they not collect them after the term of 'temporary' punishment at the factory had concluded. Marriage also provided them with protection from severe or cruel masters and also from sexual abuse in the male dominated colony.
Although regulations changed over time, and some governors were more lenient than others, marriage between two serving convicts (i.e. without TOL's) was not generally allowed - although this was not the case for our veryearly arrivals. There are a number of cases on the Permissions to Marry CD (part of the Port Jackson Convicts Anthology CD) that show both parties have the status of bonded servants and in these cases a petition was usually obtained from one of the convicts assigned masters stating that he/she would have both assigned to them, in order for them to live together.
The decision on 'who' to marry for many female convicts must have been a fairly dispassionate one as can be proved by the fact of the many men who presented themselves at the Female Factory at Parramatta to select a wife. The females, after 'a little grooming', would all stand in a line and agree to marry virtual strangers…if selected. Many of these marriages were very successful, ('till death did they part') whilst others survived only a short time before they absconded from their husbands. From what I have read to date, it would appear that in not all cases was it the fault of the female, but of the expectation of husbands of a subservient wife and in many cases the husbands violent treatment of his wife. On the death of a husband, a female convict 'could' be taken to the female factory and her children sent to the Orphanage, or if of age, the children could be apprenticed out.
Marriage was by either Banns or Licence. Most convict marriages were by the publication of Banns (i.e. publication of the banns on 3 successive Sundays), as marriage by license was comparatively expensive and only the more affluent members of the colony.
A few points to note:
Not all convicts who obtained permission actually did marry. On my CD a few convicts applied to marry up to 5 or 6 times and although they were approved by the Governor these marriages did not take place. Others may be listed more than once due to the death of a spouse, and, because they were still convicts serving their term they had to reapply.
A few convicts (especially females) were refused permission because they stated on arrival they were already married so they used a fictitious name to apply, and some used the name of a person who they knew to be single and who arrived on the same transport. Others may be difficult to find as they used an alias or had been married previously in the colony and some just fibbed to their hearts content.
Copyright Lesley Uebel
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