PRISONERS WHO DIED IN CUSTODY
1873—1890
Compiled by Laurie Moody
According to the Campbell Street Gaol gate-book, a total of 47 prisoners died in custody between 1873–90. Some had their deaths recorded simply as cause unknown. No doubt quite a few, although not specified, were obviously suicides whilst five prisoners were executed for murder. A high percentage of prisoners were ageing convicts who had been transferred to Campbell Street upon the closure of Port Arthur in 1877. The average age of all the prisoners who died was 58.4 years. The youngest was 18 and the oldest was 89.
If one likes statistics the following table might prove of interest: -
Age Group
| 18–20 - 4 | 31–40 - 2 | 51–60 - 6 | 71–80 - 10 |
| 21–30 - 3 | 41–50 - 3 | 61–70 - 16 | 81–90 - 3 |
Abbreviations:
To save space the use of ‘aka’ indicates ‘also known as’, Van Diemen’s Land will appear as VDL, New South Wales as NSW, Ticket of Leave as TOL, Campbell Street Gaol as CSG, Hobart Supreme Court as HSC and Launceston Supreme Court as LSC. All other court appearances were made at the Police Office Hobart unless otherwise indicated.
Free: Most prisoners in the gate-book are shown as being free where in fact, the majority were transported convicts unless they are shown as native-born.
Web design and hosted by Linda Mckenzie
© All Rights Reserved