Parkhurst apprentices

The Parkhurst apprentices, juveniles from a reformatory attached to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, were sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas" and transported to Australia and New Zealand between 1842 and 1852. Either before leaving England[1] or on arrival at their destination,[2] they were pardoned on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the term of their sentence. In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Parkhurst Prison.

  1. ^ Gill (2004), page 1: "Once in the colony, they were pardoned on two conditions..."
  2. ^ Statham (1981), page 6" "... these boys had received conditional pardons prior to leaving England..."