Thomas Reid | |
---|---|
Born | 1791 |
Died | 21 August 1825 Pentonville, London |
Nationality | Irish |
Occupation | Royal Navy surgeon |
Thomas Reid (1791–1825), was an Irish-born naval surgeon in the Royal Navy. Educated near Dungannon, County Tyrone, he joined the Navy in around 1811 and passed the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 1813.
On 10 January 1814 he was appointed as a naval surgeon. In the role as a surgeon superintendent he made two trips on prison ships, one in the convict ship Neptune carrying male prisoners departed 16 December 1817 [1] and arrived om 5 May 1818 at Sydney and on Morley, which departed London carrying female prisoners on 22 May 1820 and arrived on 29 August 1820 at Hobart with further travel to leave prisoners at Sydney.
Reid was a close associate [2] of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry and it was at the suggestion of Fry that Reid had taken on the role of surgeon superintendent for these journeys. [3] It was to Fry that Reid dedicated his book, Two voyages to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.
On his return to London he subsequently revisited Ireland on a long tour in 1822, the record of which he documented in a book, Travels in Ireland in the year 1822, exhibiting a brief sketches of the Moral, Physical and Political state of the Country published in London in 1823.
Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts.
Bain Hugh Clapperton was a Scottish naval officer and explorer of West and Central Africa.
John Thomas Bigge was an English judge and royal commissioner. He is mostly known for his inquiry into the British colony of New South Wales published in the early 1820s. His reports favoured a return to the harsh treatment of convicts and the utilisation of them as cheap agricultural labour for wealthy sheep-farming colonists. Bigge's reports also resulted in the resignation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie whose policies promoted the advancement of ex-convicts back into society.
Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was a British painter. Unlike earlier artists who worked outside Europe and were employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons, Earle was able to operate quite independently – able to combine his lust for travel with an ability to earn a living through art. The body of work he produced during his travels comprises a significant documentary record of the effects of European contact and colonisation during the early nineteenth century.
Between 1788 and 1868, about 162,000 convicts were transported from Great Britain and Ireland to various penal colonies in Australia.
Surry, also known as Surrey, was a square-rigged transport ship, which had an especially long career transporting convicts to Australia. In 11 voyages, the most of any convict transport, she brought 2,177 convicts, male and female, and so became one of the best-known of the vessels that visited Australia. In all, she lost 51 men and one woman during her various passages, 46 of the men dying during her first and most notorious voyage in 1814 when she was under the command of James Patterson. The high death toll on her first voyage led to a Board of Enquiry, which blamed neglect by the Master and Surgeon.
Andromeda was built in Sunderland, England in 1819. Initially she made one voyage to India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company. She then started sailing to Australia, carrying voluntary and involuntary migrants. She made four voyages transporting convicts: one voyage to Van Diemen's Land and three to New South Wales. She continue to trade, primarily to Australia. Her last voyage was to Ichaboe Island. She was last listed in 1847.
Hadlow was a merchant sailing ship built in 1814 at Quebec, British North America. She made two voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. She plied between England, India, and Sierra Leone before being lost with all hands in 1823.
Norfolk was built at Littlehampton, England in 1814. She was originally a West Indiaman, and then sailed to India and Quebec. She made four voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia, one voyage from Ireland to Australia and one from Madras and Mauritius to Australia. She was wrecked on 7 July 1837.
Royal George was a 486-ton merchant ship built at Hull, England in 1820. Between 1823-4, she undertook one voyage for the British East India Company. Later, she made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia.
Chapman was a two-deck merchant ship built at Whitby in 1777. She made three voyages to India or China for the British East India Company (EIC), during the first of which she was present at the battle of Porto Praya. During the French Revolutionary Wars she served as a hired armed ship, primarily escorting convoys but also seeing some action. Later, she undertook one voyage to Mauritius transporting troops, one voyage carrying settlers to South Africa, and three voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. She was last listed in 1853.
Castle Forbes was a merchant ship built by Robert Gibbon & Sons at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1818. She was the first vessel built at Aberdeen for the trade with India. She then made several voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. She sustained damage in 1826 on a voyage to India and was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope. However, she was repaired. She was last listed in 1832, and in 1838 in Lloyd's Register (LR).
Earl St. Vincent was a merchant ship built at Topsham, England in 1800. Between 1818 and 1823 she made three voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia.
Eliza was a merchant ship built in British India, probably in 1804. Between 1819 and 1831 she made five voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. In between, she also made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). Her crew abandoned her at sea in 1836 as she was leaking uncontrollably.
Hooghly was a full-rigged merchant ship built on the Thames, England, and launched in 1819. She made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), four voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia, as well as voyages transporting emigrants to South Australia between 1839 and 1856. Around 1858 she was re-rigged as a barque. She sank off Algiers in 1863.
Henry was a sailing ship built in 1819 at Quebec, Canada. She initially sailed between London and Quebec, but then she made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia. She was wrecked in the Torres Strait in 1825.
Hebe, built in Hull in 1810, made two notable voyages, one voyage as an extra ship for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. In between, an American privateer captured Hebe, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. Hebe was wrecked in 1833.
Adrian was launched in 1819 at Newcastle upon Tyne. She initially sailed between London and Canada but then in 1822 she started sailing east of the Cape of Good Hope under a license from the British East India Company. She made voyages to Bengal and Batavia. In between, she transported convicts to New South Wales. She foundered in 1833.
Robert Espie was an Irish convict ship surgeon-superintendent born in 1791. He served for the Royal Navy and was appointed surgeon on 21 May 1811. He was a surgeon on eight convict ships throughout the early 1800s. Out of all of the voyages, only eight patients died under his care. Many of his medical journals did not survive but the ones that did provide insight to his life and experiences as a surgeon on the ships. He died on 2 October 1870.
Caroline was launched at Philadelphia in 1800. She was taken in prize. New owners retained her name and she appeared in British records from 1813. From 1820 on she was based at Hobart in Van Diemen's Land. From there she sailed to and from Port Jackson and on seal hunting voyages to Macquarie Island. She departed on a sealing voyage in November 1824 and wrecked at Macquarie Island on 17 March 1825; her crew were rescued some five months later.