Tasmanian Jim proud of convict ancestry

PEOPLE talk about courts often imposing soft penalties, but that certainly was not the case in the early 1800s.

I have just heard from Jim Ritchie, a resident of Tasmania, Australia, whose great grandfather, Alexander Ritchie, paid dearly for a crime.

Alexander was caught having stolen clothes from a boarding house in Taylor"s Close, Greenock, in 1843.

The 17-year-old was sentenced to seven years transportation to Van Dieman"s Land, now Tasmania.

He had been arrested in the company of James McGlashen, who assisted in the crime, in Glasgow, after being seen wearing the stolen clothes.

Alexander spent a period detained in prison hulks on the Thames before being transported to Tasmania on the Lord Petre, which arrived on 15 October, 1843.

His great grandson Jim told me: 'After serving his sentence, as was the case with most transportees of that era, he did not have the necessary means to return to his homeland.

'He eventually was given his freedom, married, had children who in turn had children and eventually I came into existence.

'Thus to a large degree, the Australian nation was born, established by people who in the main, were not convicts as we know them today, but unfortunate souls ripped from their homeland for petty crimes.

'I am in the process of tracing my family history and like many others today, I am very proud of my convict ancestry.

'In days gone this was not the case, however in these enlightened times, people now understand most convicts were transported to Australia for petty felonies.'

Alexander"s convict record listed him as a chimney sweep who was a native of Glasgow, but there are no details of his mother and father or whether he had brothers and sisters.

Jim said: 'The purpose of contacting the Telegraph is to learn if anyone in the area may know of, or have a connection with, Alexander.

'Is it possible while his descendants have thrived in Australia, another line of the same family still exists in Scotland?'

Jim can be contacted via PO Box 1216, Devonport, Tasmania, Australia 7310, or by email to: jayaah@ozemail,com.au