Hi Joan Don’t know about inclusion in Censuses, but it should be easy to check if you go through all the Portsmouth returns in the Census (on ancestry.com). As far as convicts being sent out to work is concerned, this was certainly the case, as one of my ancestors, Thomas Dunn, was a prisoner only the hulk Fortunée in Langstone Harbour Portsmouth , was sent out to work every day building the nearby Fort Cumberland, “health and weather permitting”. (Source Treasury Board Papers, Hulk Returns 1783-1803, Fortunée and Hospital Hulks, Langstone Harbour, 21 June 1796 – 32 December 1798). The Fort was part of an ill-conceived scheme to fortify the south coast, a scheme that was ultimately abandoned, prompting the historian Edward Gibbon to comment after a visit that: To raise this bulwark at enormous price The head of folly used the hand of vice. A visitor to Portsmouth in 1807 confirmed this (see Margaret J Hoad, Portsmouth – As Others Have Seen It. Part II 1790-1900. Portsmouth, Portsmouth City Council, 1973. Portsmouth Papers, 20. Pp.9-10.) “A number of convicts from the hulks with lie in the harbour, were at work, in chains; they were making a shew of pulling a cable: but the progression of their labour was very imperceptible; and indeed it is a matter of wonder how they can be brought to work at all; since I was informed, though I think the guide must be mistaken, that there are neither any indulgences for labour, nor any punishments for indolence. Others of them came about the party begging, or selling small wares manufactured from bone. The guide warned us to take care of our pockets; and said that the last week one of them stole a purse from a lady: and upon being challenged with theft, boldly demanded that he be searched; but the guide, pushing him back, removed his foot from its place, and disclosed the property, which he had covered with it. There is here a very old convict who has been twice transported for fourteen years, exclusive of his present term in the hulks, if which he has only four years to run.” Finally, John Webb, in The Spirit of Portsmouth: a history (Chichester, 1989, pp. 50-51) writes that the Dockyard authorities in Portsmouth used convicts from the hulks in the 1830s to work in the Yard. Regards Neville Potter Canberra, Australia > From: jojo.col@virgin.net> To: ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT@rootsweb.com> Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 22:38:22 +0100> Subject: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] Convict hulks and 1841C> > Hello. I've recd conflicting answers to the question "Were convict hulks included in the 1841C?" - particularly in Portsmouth. My rellie was on the LEVIATHAN in February 1838, having been committed and sentenced in Suffolk. I had assumed he would be sent out soon afterwards but have since learned that prisoners were often kept on hulks for several years. I've also been told that sometimes prisoners were sent to work outside the prison ships if they had special skills. Is that a possibility? If anyone can help I would be most grateful. Thnak you. Joan in Surrey UK > > -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail is giving away Zunes. Enter for your chance to win. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/ZuneADay/?locale=en-US&ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Mobile_Zune_V3