New South Wales, Australia, Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1788-1870

This database contains records of pardons granted to convicts in New South Wales, Australia.

Historical background:

New South Wales was first settled in 1788 as a penal colony. As a result, a large percentage of the population in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was comprised of convicts and ex-convicts.

A person could be emancipated by receiving a certificate of freedom, a ticket of leave, or by being granted a pardon.

Pardons were generally given to convicts with life sentences and shortened the sentence by granting freedom. There were two types of pardons – conditional and absolute. Conditional pardons required that freed convicts remain in the colony. Absolute pardons allowed freed convicts to return to the U.K.

About this Collection:

This data collection contains the following registers of conditional and absolute pardons.

• Copies of returns of absolute and conditional pardons granted, 1810–29, 1836, 1838–41
• Registers of conditional pardons, 1791–1825, 1835–45, 1847–70
• Register of convicts recommended for conditional pardons, 1826–56
• Alphabetical registers of pardons, 1828–62
• Registers of absolute pardons, 1791–1843
• Registers of recommendations for absolute pardons, 1826–46
• Registers of absolute and conditional pardons, 1788–1834, 1837–67

These registers provide details about the convicts, such as:

• Name
• Ship of arrival
• Date of arrival
• Conviction place
• Conviction date
• Birthplace and date
• Pardon date
• Whether conditional or absolute
• Place and date of trial
• Offence
• Physical description
• General remarks

Later registers tend to provide more details than earlier ones.