Ancestry adds UK Prisoner Records

Two new databases are now online from Ancestry.  

UK, Licences of Parole for Female Convicts, 1853-1871, 1883-1887
Contains documentation surrounding the licences to be at large given to some 4,400 female prisoners. The records can be searched by:

• Year of the licence
• Name
• Estimated birth year
• Court and year of conviction

The database includes images of the records themselves, which make up a file on the convict. Their contents varies but can include next of kin, religion, literacy, physical description, a medical history, marital status, number of children, age, occupation, crime, sentence, dates and places of confinement, reports on behavior while in prison, letters or notes from the convict, and (from 1871 forward) a photograph.

UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849

This collection consists of registers and letter books of prisoners on convict prison hulks in England between 1802-1849. A hulk is a decommissioned ship. The collection contains a letter book relating to the establishment of hulks written from 1847-1849 and the registers of prisoners on 19 different hulks between 1802-1849. The registers contain:

• Name
• Date received
• Age
• Birth year
• Date convicted
• Where convicted

There a brief post on these records at The (UK) National Archives website here.