Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed Michael Hummerston
- Researcher (Harry Hummerston)
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Biographies
My great-great-great-grandfather George Hummerston was born in Epping, Essex, England, in 1795. He was a shoemaker by trade and married Mary Pindan, who was five years his junior. Unfortunately, the date of their marriage is not known.
On January 1, 1828, on a winter’s day, Mary gave birth to my great-great-grandfather, Michael Hummerston, in the same town where his father was born.
Michael was likely an only child, but there's a family myth that he emigrated from England to Australia to escape his twenty-four siblings, which there is no evidence of.
He was apprenticed to his father and became a shoemaker-cordwainer, like father, like son.
By 1845, the family had moved to White Hart Street, Kennington, London, where Michael got himself into some trouble, not for the first time. In March 1845, at the age of seventeen, he appeared at the Middlesex Court of Sessions charged with stealing a bundle of clothes (two Gowns) belonging to Marina Gregory from a beer shop in Hackney.
He was duly found guilty and sentenced to seven years with transportation to Australia, he served fifteen months in the notorious Millbank Prison while awaiting transportation to Australia.
Meanwhile, his father George was organising a petition to have his son Michael’s sentence quashed, pleading first offence, previous good character, led astray by others, signed by Marina Gregory, the prosecutrix, and twenty-three inhabitants of Somers Town and district. Michael's previous larceny trial led to the petition's dismissal.
On June 22, 1846, Michael and 289 other inmates of Millbank Prison boarded the convict ship Maitland and sailed to Australia. The trip took four months and five days and docked at Williamstown, Port Phillip, in the then colony of New South Wales on October 27, 1846. The colony of Victoria was not declared until 1851.
On arrival, the prisoners were given a pardon with conditions, including not attempting to return to Britain until their sentence was served. They were referred to as exiles rather than convicts because mainland Australia could no longer accept convicts by law.
There was little provision for the convicts/exiles when they arrived, they had to either accept employment as a shepherd or night hut’s-man working for rural landowners or fend for themselves in Melbourne town. Michael decided to fend for himself with little money, clothing and no lodgings.
In 1849, he teamed up with William Jones, an exile from Pentonville prison; together, they held up a Bailiff of the Court at knife point, stealing money and documents from him. Both were arrested and tried for highway robbery in company, then sentenced to five years hard labour working on the roads.
They were both sent to Cockatoo Island Prison in Sydney, arriving on the 29th of May 1849. On the 19th of December that year, Michael was found gambling, and punishment included fourteen days in cells with indulgences stopped. In 1850, he was appointed as an overseer to the other prisoners on the Island. Later that year, he was transferred to Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.
In 1851, he was discharged from Pentridge with a Ticket of Leave, only to be returned to Pentridge in 1853, suspected of being in a house frequented by thieves and gamblers. Four months later, he was once again granted a Ticket of Leave with his occupation listed as a shoemaker. At the time, he was described as 5 ft 9 inches tall. Fresh complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes, large nose, scar on right cheekbone, scar on left shin. Lost one tooth upper jaw, right side.
Michael appears on the records again in 1854 when he married Charlotte Honey, aged nineteen, in St James Church, Melbourne.
He then turned his hand to gold prospecting, and his first child, Clara Ann Maria, was born in 1855 while living in Steiglitz, Victoria. A second child, Rosaline Helena, was born in 1858 but unfortunately died a few months after her birth in 1859. 1859 was also the year of his third child’s birth, Rhoda Louisa,and the year he was
Submitted by Researcher (Harry Hummerston) on 29 May 2025
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Disclaimer: The information has not been verified by Claim a Convict. As this information is contributed, it is the responsibility of those who use the data to verify its accuracy. Research notes
There are currently no research notes attached to this convict. Sources
- The National Archives (TNA) : HO 11/15, p.97
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