John King (1807 - aft. 1836)

Born 1807 in De Goree, Robertson, Cape Province, South Africa

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• Africans convicted and transported from Great Britain to Australia

Biography

John King was a convict after the Third Fleet transported to Van Diemen's Land

John King was born in 1807 in "Goree" in Africa" ^[1] and he was a convict after the 3rd fleet to Van Diemen's Land. ^[1]

On 14th January 1829, John can be found in Nottingham, England where he was on trial for "Offences against Property" , the offence details being listed as:
"Picking the Pocket of a Gentleman in Open Court"
for which John was found guilty and handed down a sentence of 7 years transportation to the colony of Van Diemen's Land ^[1]

John was subsequently transported on the convict ship Surrey (1829) which sailed from the port of London on 13th July 1829 and arrived at its destination 5 months later on 14th December that same year. John was age 22 at the time of his arrival. ^{[2] [3][4]}

John's conduct on the journey from comments by the ship's Surgeon describe John as being "stubborn" and the hulk report says that he was "bad". The prison report on John as a convict has a quote which reads

"Bad, I prison twice before" ^[1]

The use of the personal pronoun "I" implies this was a statement made by John about himself.

On notes kept about John he is described as "a black man" . Other details include the following observations:

• Occupation: Servant
• Age: 22
• Height: 5 foot 1 3/4
• Eye colour: Dark Hazel
• Hair colour: Black
• Marks: a black man

John was given his Certificate of Freedom on 14th January 1836, and he passed away after that date.

The Full Records kept about John King that includes digitally transcribed records of the original handwritten convict notes about him are available at Libraries Tasmania ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} The Digital Panopticon John King , Life Archive ID fasai40318 (https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/life?id=fasai40318). Version 1.2.1, consulted 2nd April 2022.
2. ↑ Convict Records, John King [1]
3. ↑ Convict Ship, Surrey (1829) [2]
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Libraries Tasmania, John King [3]