Jackie: Not sure if this applies to all of the UK, but I have an ancestor in prison in 1861 and was told there are no records available for the prison until 1910! This was in County Durham - Northern England. It might be worth emailing the Hampshire Record office though, just in case. Linda. JACQUELINE JORDAN <jackiejordan@btinternet.com> wrote: Hello all, I have recently found my great uncle, the proverbial black sheep, on the 1881 census. He is a convict in H M Convict Prison Portsmouth. His occupation is given as Commercial Clerk. His family 'persuaded' him to go to America two years later, where incidentally, he did very well for himself indeed, in Insurance and then Banking. That makes me wonder if his crime was something like fraud or swindling, or am I being too melodramatic. Can someone please tell me if it is possible to check the prison records to find out just what his crime and sentence were. Regards Jackie ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx

The National Archives site at http://www.a2a.org.uk/ shows the Assizes Records and Calendars of Prisoners available in the archives. Put keywords such as <prisoners> and select an area of the country to search and the records will be listed. Kate Haushalter Toronto Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: "LINDA MARTIN" <lmmartin@rogers.com> To: <ENG-HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2005 5:15 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-HANTS] Prison Records > Jackie: > > Not sure if this applies to all of the UK, but I have an ancestor in > prison in 1861 and was told there are no records available for the prison > until 1910! This was in County Durham - Northern England. > > It might be worth emailing the Hampshire Record office though, just in > case. > > Linda. > > JACQUELINE JORDAN <jackiejordan@btinternet.com> wrote: > Hello all, > I have recently found my great uncle, the proverbial black sheep, on the > 1881 census. > He is a convict in H M Convict Prison Portsmouth. His occupation is given > as Commercial Clerk. > > His family 'persuaded' him to go to America two years later, where > incidentally, he did very well for himself indeed, in Insurance and then > Banking. That makes me wonder if his crime was something like fraud or > swindling, or am I being too melodramatic. > Can someone please tell me if it is possible to check the prison records > to find out just what his crime and sentence were. > Regards > Jackie > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > > >