Good evening Listers, The following was posted on the Rootsweb Clare (Ireland) list that I subscribe to. I have the permission of the sender to post it to the Tassie list in the hope of finding an answer for him. I'll forward any replies to the original questioner. Regards, Marg Watson. I'd like to ask whether anyone on the List knows anything about the extradition of Crown witnesses from Ireland in the 19th century. I raised this subject last year and a number of listers helped with URLs but none of the cited websites had anything on Crown witnesses. I've tried searching in convict databases but can't find any references to extradited informers or Crown witnesses who were not convicts. A County Clare man who is versed in local history and whose information on other matters has been accurate told me about this witness protection procedure when I was looking for record(s) of a family called Ryan which was deported to Van Diemen's Land from Moyrhee in the townland of Shanballysallagh in Co.Clare in the 19th century for its own safety. The story was that the father was suspected of having informed on someone and, for a time, the constabulary had a man living in a little hut next to the Ryan house to protect the family. After a while the authorities decided it would be simpler to remove them from the community. The father was deported with a son and a daughter. It seems that this practice was fairly common. Paddy.

G'day, with respect, I think "deported" is the wrong concept. Witnesses removed, or their own protection, would have consented, and may even have been given some cash incentive, or a promise of employment, etc. Their status would not necessarily have been different to other emigrants. Whether or not their status as "assisted emnigrants" was recorded will only be revealed by further research. Quite a few political radicals were transported from England & Scotland to VDL & PJ in the period 1817~1820. The government spies who informed on them were assisted to migrate to the Cape Colony, in what we now call South Africa. Peter THOMAS Darwin, AUSTRALIA <pmthomas@bigpond.com> -----Original Message----- From: Margaret Watson [mailto:margwatson@aapt.net.au] Sent: Thursday, 7 July 2005 7:23 PM To: AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Crown witnesses Good evening Listers, The following was posted on the Rootsweb Clare (Ireland) list that I subscribe to. I have the permission of the sender to post it to the Tassie list in the hope of finding an answer for him. I'll forward any replies to the original questioner. Regards, Marg Watson. I'd like to ask whether anyone on the List knows anything about the extradition of Crown witnesses from Ireland in the 19th century. I raised this subject last year and a number of listers helped with URLs but none of the cited websites had anything on Crown witnesses. I've tried searching in convict databases but can't find any references to extradited informers or Crown witnesses who were not convicts. A County Clare man who is versed in local history and whose information on other matters has been accurate told me about this witness protection procedure when I was looking for record(s) of a family called Ryan which was deported to Van Diemen's Land from Moyrhee in the townland of Shanballysallagh in Co.Clare in the 19th century for its own safety. The story was that the father was suspected of having informed on someone and, for a time, the constabulary had a man living in a little hut next to the Ryan house to protect the family. After a while the authorities decided it would be simpler to remove them from the community. The father was deported with a son and a daughter. It seems that this practice was fairly common. Paddy.

Thank you for your reply Peter. I've forwarded it on to Paddy. The idea of the person being lumped in with "assisted emmigrants" makes sense and probably explains why he can't be found in some sort of special category, such as Crown Witnesses. Thanks again, Marg Watson. ----- Original Message ----- From: Peter Thomas <pmthomas@bigpond.com> To: <AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2005 4:30 PM Subject: [TAS-CON] RE: Crown witnesses