IHR Digital History Seminar Special Event Today - Hamish Maxwell-Stewart 'From Cradle to Antipodean Grave: Reconstructing 19th Century Criminal Lives'

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Institute of Historical Research Seminar in Digital History

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (Tasmania) 'From Cradle to Antipodean Grave: Reconstructing 19th Century Criminal Lives'

Time: Tuesday, 8 May, 5:15 pm GMT+1

Venue: S261 (Senate House, second floor) and streamed live on the web at historyspot.org.uk

"From Cradle to Antipodean Grave: Reconstructing 19th Century Criminal
Lives"

Between 1803 and 1853 some 59,000 men and 13,500 women were shipped to the
Australian penal colony of Van Diemen's Land as convicts. Upon landing a
physical description of each prisoner was placed on file together with a
confession of former offences. Thereafter every encounter with a magistrate
or higher court was recorded on the convict's conduct register until they
became free (the minimum transportation sentence was seven years). This
paper will explore the possibilities for forward and back linking these
remarkable records in order to construct a series of life course histories
for these trans-global 19th century forced migrants.

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart is an associate professor at the University of
Tasmania. His books include Closing Hell’s Gates: The Death of a Convict
Station (Allen and Unwin, 2008); American Citizens British Slaves: Yankee
Political Prisoners in an Australian Penal Colony (Melbourne University
Press, 2002) and Chain Letters: Narrating Convict Lives (Melbourne
University Press, 2001). This paper draws on work funded by the Australian
Research Council to explore the long-term impact of convict transportation
on health and well-being.

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The IHR Seminar in digital history is actively engaged in presenting and discussing new methodologies which have been made possible through the development of computational methods for the study of history. Further information can be found on the IHR Seminar page at http://www.history.ac.uk/events/seminars/321. Follow us on twitter @IHRDigHist or join the mailing list for seminar announcements: 

Location
Institute for Historical Research
Senate House
London, WC1E 7HU