The Exiles to Victoria did indeed receive Royal Pardons. Copies of the Royal Assent papers are in the Collection of Public Record Office Victoria. There is also material with more information relating to the individuals. When I am at home I will send you further details regarding this man from the PROV papers, copies of which I have in my collection. The Pardons did not originally have any restrictions preventing return to England but following the arrival of the second (of 9) ships to go to the Port Phillip Districts the colonial Government did impose the restriction that the Exiles could not return to the United Kingdom until the expiration of their original sentence. This has been a specific area of research for me for five years now and, if you are in Melbourne, I am giving a talk about the Exiles at the Sussex Neighbourhood House Family History Open Day on 6 September. This is a free event being run as part of Adult Education week. Details can be found at http://historyaustralia.org.au Scott Brown On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:45:30 +1000, "Carol Wood" <nanawood@bigpond.com> wrote: > Hi, > > This is what the Qld State Library Convict database has to say about him, > most of which information you already have. > > Title: Cook, George > Description: George Cook, one of 190 convicts transported on the Anna > Maria, > 06 March 1848 > Sentence Details: Convicted at Berkshire. Abingdon Quarter Sessions for a > term of 7 years on 29 June 1846. Conditional Pardon. > Vessel: Anna Maria (Ship) > > Date of Departure: 06 March 1848 > > Place of Arrival: Van Diemen's Land or Port Phillip > Alias(es): Smith, George (Alias) > Subject(s): Convicts - Australia - Registers > Australia - Genealogy > Source: Australian Joint Copying Project Microfilm Roll 92, Class and > Piece > Number HO11/15, Page Number 265 (134) > Creator: Great Britain. Home Office > Publisher: State Library of Queensland > Digital ID: ctr-011077 > Rights: Licensed under the Creative Commons > Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2. 5 Australia License > Is Part Of: Convict Transportation Register. > > > You will see it says Conditional Pardon. I had not heard that the exiles > received Royal Pardons before they left England. If they had received a > Royal Pardon they would have been able to return to England as free men. > I > have doubts about this piece of information. Do you have a copy of the > Conditional Pardon? You should also look up the Convict Indent for the > Anna > Maria. The Indent is just another name for the passenger list, and see > what > that has to say about him. Most large libraries should hold this Indent. > > All I know about the Exile scheme is that Australia was refusing to take > convicts by this time so England had to revise its methods of sending > convicts. Some exiles ships came to Brisbane because NSW refused to let > them land in Sydney. > > To find out more about his trial you could probably contact the Public > Records Office in Berkshire and see if the trial papers have survived. > Try > the Genuki site for Berkshire and also Free BMD site for his birth. > > As for proving whether or not he is your George, I assume you have worked > backwards from yourself and found that you have a g grandfather named > George > Cook. Was he single or married when he arrived? You will have to compare > ages and get marriage certificates and death certificates which list the > names of his children. Hope he didn't marry under the name of George > Smith > or you might have a problem (grin). > > Cheers, > > Carol > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message