Irish Convict Marriage in New South Wales, 1788-1850

Abstract

<p>The importance of marriage in the lives of convicts and in the development of early New South Wales has been neglected in Australian historiography. Marriage in penal New South Wales was an important social institution that colonial authorities (the State) and Christian Churches believed enhanced the moral fibre of society. This thesis specifically examines the characteristics of marriage pertaining to the Irish community, which comprised mainly convicts and emancipists in the decades before 1840. Different attitudes held by Roman Catholic (Catholic) Church officials and its adherents are examined, along with impediments and inducements for marriage. This analysis includes marriages contracted by convicts in Ireland before their criminal transportation to penal New South Wales and newly contracted marriages in the colony involving at least one Irish-born transportee. Colonial convict unions included clandestine, bigamous, and mixed marriages, as well as couples privately consenting to marry. </p><p>This thesis — which makes considerable use of rare primary sources held in State repositories — situates Irish convict marriage within two competing frameworks: English marriage law and the traditions of the official colonial religion (Church of England), and the ecclesiastical marriage policies of the Catholic Church that were implemented in the early colony by official clergy. Asa result of these different perspectives, frequent clashes occurred in terms of mixed and bigamous marriages. </p><p>The wide-ranging marriage experiences of Irish community members in early colonial New South Wales is documented through case studies. Irish marriage patterns in penal New South Wales offers both similarities and discontinuities with late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Ireland. Several features of colonial marriage reflected an inherited Irish culture and the novel circumstances of being transported to a penal colony. The traditional Irish ‘match’ </p><p>process — parents and local friends striking marriage ‘settlements’ between families — was virtually absent amongst the convict community settlement but resurfaced amongst the children of Irish emancipists. As a result, Irish convict marriage in New South Wales took on unique characteristics, including high rates of irregular marriage. From 1826 the State rejected many Irish convict marriage applications made by Catholic clergy, who believed that that the State should not control when and who convicts married.</p><p>Marriage failure is another core theme of this thesis. The expedient nature of convict marriage often produced discord, and in an era of no divorce, convicts and emancipists separated permanently in what may be termed ‘self-divorce’. Financial issues bedevilled many families long after a relative’s death, including inheritance claims from widows and relatives living in Ireland. Fr John Therry, executor to hundreds of Irish estates, often exacerbated these disputes. </p><p>Finally, mixed marriages represented between one quarter and one half of Catholic rite marriages between 1788 and 1850, in addition to high levels of Irish female convicts marrying in Protestant traditions. Despite anti-Catholicism at official levels, mixed marriages contributed to unifying early New South Wales. </p>