Yes, for some (a very few) transportation was the key to forging a new life through hard work, and for a few of them, that new life could lead on to financial and social success. To return from transportation was officially punishable by death but that was not always enforced. There was one case in Co Durham in the mid-19th century where a man had been caught and found guilty of stealing hay from a field. The judge said that he had thought at first of sentencing him to transportation. However, as the prisoner had already been transported twice, and had returned each time, he thought that would not be effective and therefore he imposed a prison sentence instead. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: John Lynch via <northumbria@rootsweb.com> To: 'Rosemary Ackroyd' <missy00717@hotmail.com>; 'Northumberland Mailing List' <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:44 Subject: Re: [NMB] Execution Records Well, I can certainly tell you that the brother of an ancestor of mine from Bedfordshire who was sentenced to transportation to Australia for seven years served his time, stayed on and sent for other members of his family. Their descendants are there still :-) John Lynch -----Original Message----- From: Rosemary Ackroyd [mailto:missy00717@hotmail.com] Sent: 14 September 2014 11:57 To: John Lynch; Northumberland Mailing List Subject: Re: [NMB] Execution Records I've certainly read (true or not, I'm not sure) that in some instances people committed crimes in the hope of being transported to Australia. Perhaps to follow a spouse. Seems a high risk strategy! Rosemary Ackroyd .. Please quote the minimum necessary to put your reply on context. Please introduce yourself at the top of every post. The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message