I am looking for any help to find additional information about two possible relatives, John Robbins and William Robbins, who were convicted at Galway on 29 May 1847 of the crimes of Robbery and being Armed By Night. Four other men were convicted of the same crimes on the same date: Francis McDonough, Patrick Gallaghy, Daniel Reddan, and Thomas Hanrahan. They were sentenced to 14 years of transportation, transferred to Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, and then shipped aboard the HMS Medway to Bermuda on 15 Nov 1847. John and William were held offshore of Bermuda in the Convict Hulk Dromedary, where they both died; John in 1848, and William in 1853. I know the physical descriptions, ages, occupations, religion, and marital status of each of the men from their convict records that I found on FindMyPast, but I have not worked with convict records very much and I was hoping someone could give me direction to find out more about their families, birthplaces, background, and crimes.
I believe that the two men, John Robbins and William Robbins, were likely brothers or first cousins, due to the fact that they are the only Robbins convicts from Galway and were convicted on the same day. I have found Parish records in Ballinakill, East Galway for a William Robbins who I believe to be the brother of my great-great-great-grandfather, Patrick Robbins (born in Ballynakill Parish abt. 1820), and the convict William Robbins also fits this profile. The Ballynakill William was born bef. 1820, and was married to Catherine Ryan and had three children who appear in Parish baptisms: Honora b. 1840, Honora b. 1841, and Patrick b. 1845. The convict William was born in 1815, and was listed as married when he was sentenced in 1847, which would match the timeline of the Ballynakill William, and explain why there were no other children recorded for the couple after 1845. John Robbins was born in 1820 and was listed as single. Their physical descriptions are similar to a physical description of my ancestor, Patrick Robbins, but all of the descriptions in the prison register are fairly uniform (grey eyes, brown hair, etc.). I am hoping to verify whether these men are in fact siblings to my ancestor.
Additionally the presence of Francis McDonough as a possible coconspirator in the records may provide evidence of a relationship between my Robbins ancestors and Nicholas Robbins who married a Mary McDonough in Tynagh Parish in 1827 and settled in Mullagh Parish. At the time of Nicholas and Mary’s marriage, most of the McDonough’s in Tynagh Parish were clustered around the townlands of Knockauneevin and Ballywatten which is about 10km from Ballynakill.
Any assistance from anyone acquainted with convict research would be very much appreciated.
BradyLRobbins
Wednesday 6th Jun 2018, 03:01AMMessage Board Replies
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Dear Brady: Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out. You have done some great research with your ancestry and particularly with the convict records. My advice would be to look through the newspapers for information about the convicts and their trials, crimes, etc which may have been reported at the time. I note that the time frame was during the Famine so there may be numerous reports about their case. The Irish Newspaper Archives are very good and the British Newspaper Archives may also be of benefit. The British Newspaper Archives are available through FindMyPast if you have a subscription. The Irish Newspaper Archives are available by subscription.
I hope that this is of some assistance.
Jane Halloran Ryan
Wednesday 6th Jun 2018, 10:58AM -
Jane and DalenSue, thank you for the suggestions and information. I've been checking out the newspapers for 1847 and have been able to find court records for both John and William. The information that was recorded on FindMyPast was somewhat incorrect, and it appears that John Robbins and the others were tried and convicted on the 20th, and William was tried seperately on the 26th. A Mr. Daniel testified as an accomplice in both cases and links the two together. He stated that he was involved with a gang of robbers that included John and William Robbins who were involved in six robberies during December of 1846. John was identified along with Francis McDonough, Patrick Callaghy, Daniel Reddan, and Thomas Hanrahan during the robbery of John Cain of Ballinakill on December 2nd. John Egan, Patt Moran, and James Doogan were indicted but found not guilty because the Cain family were not able to identify them as having been involved. William Robbins was convicted due to being identified during a December 22nd robbery on the home of Thomas and Mary Moran in Dring/Trim (name of the townland differs depending on the newspaper, but was possibly Drim in Ballynakill parish). William's two accomplices were not identified by the Morans or named in the article, but may have been some of those that were indicted in John's case.
The information seems to corroborate my suspicions that John and William Robbins were closely related since it appears that they were both members of this gang of robbers. The information also provides some excellent evidence that they were in fact related to my ancestor. The locations of the townlands where the two robberies took place were between 4-5km from the townland where my 4th great-grandfather, James Robbins, was holding land during the Tithe Applotment survey, and individuals matching the names of the four additional robbery victims are also found nearby. An Egan and a Kean/Cain appear as sponsors for the children of William Robbins that I found in parish records, and a Daniel is a sponsor for the daughter of Margaret Robbins Conway, who I believe is a sister of the William Robbins in the parish records. My 4th great-grandmother, the wife of James Robbins and the potential mother of John and William Robbins, was Anne Moran, and I found it especially interesting that a Moran was also accused of being involved with the robbers, and one of the victims was also a Moran. I thought it was odd that if John and William Robbins were related to the Morans, they would rob another Moran, but during John Daniels testimony when asked who he had robbed he stated he had robbed a Mrs. Martin, his "misses."
"You lived with Mrs. Martin five years, and you robbed her after?"
"I did, sure!"
It appears that there truly wasn't loyalty among thieves, especially in the middle of the Great Famine.
BradyLRobbins
Thursday 7th Jun 2018, 09:36PM