Convict Records: Captain Melville

"Yesterday morning the city was startled by the intelligence that the celebrated Captain Melville had committed self-destruction in the Gaol. An inquest was held in the corridor of the Gaol before Dr. Youl, about midday. Dr. Maund deposed that he had made a post mortem examination of the body...The Coroner then summed up the evidence, and the jury, after a brief deliberation, retuned a verdict of felo de se .

 The following remarkable passage, evidently traced by the unfortunate deceased,. was found written on the walls of his cell in black lead pencil :― 

     'I am to suffer nothing. My name is not T. Smith, but ― Macullum. I intend to defeat their purpose, and to die in my bed, with a smile, by my own hand; and thus by my keenness to defeat their most secret intentions, and these steps are taken to give me an opportunity of doing so, as it is in my power to prove that I am not the man I am taken for.'"

[The Melbourne Age, Thursday 13 August 1847, p 5, 'Suicide of Melville']

CONDUCT RECORD  (CON 34-1-8 Image 160)   Tasmania

(Record Type: Convicts.  Property of: Port Arthur Penal Station.

 Voyage number 152, Minerva (2). Police number 2369. Name index 1415795.

 Sailed 28 May 1838 from Sheerness. Arrived Van Diemen's Land 28 September 1838.)

"2369.  Callum, Mc   Francis   arrived 29 Septr 1838

 Transpd for House breaking. Gaol Rept. Convd before Single State this offence House breaking...

Perth Ct of Justy 3rd Octr 1836     7. 

SG Court 6th July 1841             Life.

Trade - ; Height 5/-; Age 15; Complexion, pale; Head, oval; Hair, reddish brown; Whiskers - ; Visage, oval; Forehead, high; Eyebrows, reddish brown; Eyes, grey; Nose, small; Mouth, medium; Chin, medium.

Native place, Inverness.   Remarks: Small blue mark inside right arm. 3 Scars back right hand.

3 class 26 aug/x 7. Absconded. Appd 28/11/48. Reward £2.0.6 Nov 20/48  .../ Absconding 9 mths, hard labour (M.C.F. x JP) Appd 24/1148. Port Arthur. Petition for R of S refused 20/6/49.

January 11/50 ... / Absconding 12 months hard Labor in Chains/ .../ Feby 2/50 .../ defacing the wall of the ... appartment 9 months hard Labor in Chains to commence at expiration of existing sentence to hard Labor / N.G. /... Barracks 8/2/50.

Absconded 23/4/50 Rd £2.0.0 June 21/50 ... Misconduct ... (TGB) October 25/50 ... / Wilfull breaking his Irons hard labor ... ... extending one month (TGB)

                                                                           29/6/51 ... 3/7/51 ...

                                                                           9/7/51 Geo Woodward Fitzroy

                                                                           ... 14/7/51 ... ... ....

                                                                           ... ..."

The original record was a working document. Different shades of ink, subsequent underlining, liberal use of administrative abbreviations and initials, and other shortcuts, render some sections ineligible or uncertain. What is decipherable is enough to show that Melville/McCallum remained a disobedient prisoner at Port Arthur after his initial term as a juvenile at Point Puer.  

He continued to 'abscond' and on two occasions a reward of 2 Pounds was paid, leading to him being apprehended and returned to captivity in 1848 and 1850. Destructive behaviour also continued with him "defacing the wall of the ... appartment" and "wilfull breaking his Irons", both offences being punished by further periods of "hard Labor in Chains".

CENTRAL REGISTER FOR MALE PRISONERS  (518-1316)  Victoria

(1853-1854.     THOMAS SMITH  3rd  Tried as.    No. 528.  

  Year of Birth, 1823.   Native Place, At Sea.   Trade or Calling, Laborer.  Religion, Presbyn.

  CAPTAIN MELVILLE.  Received at H.M. Penal Hulk 'President', 12th February 1853.)

OFFENCE:  First Charge Highway Robbery

                    Second Charge Highway Robbery

                    Third Charge Highway Robbery

SENTENCE AND DATE OF CONVICTION:

Convicted at Geelong Circuit Court before Mr Justice Barry 3rd February 1853

Sentence. 1st Charge. Twelve years on the Roads. 1st three in Irons.

-same date- Ten years on the Roads, to take effect from expiration of Former Sentence

-same date- Ten years on the Roads. 1st two in Irons, to date from expiration of previous sentence [i.e. to be served consecutively]

PREVIOUS HISTORY: [updated as new information came to hand]

Arrived per 'Troubadour' 1851. "Free".

Ascertained to have been "Bond". "Francis McCullum" per 'Egyptian' ...

Stated to have arrived per 'Royal Sovereign' about 1837 ... sentence of 10 years, was forwarded at once to Point Puer where he remained, was then drafted to the Timber Yard at Hobart Town, from there he took to the bush with a boy named as Staunton. They were apprehended & received 5 years sentence, they were sent to Port Arthur and whilst in the same boat Melville made free with the boy and rec'd 36 lashes. Inf by 382 F. Bradley.

Frances McCullum alias Edward Melville or Melvell. Arrived in V.D.L. 29 Sep 1838. No. 2369. Per 'Minerva' (2) tried at Perth 3 Oct 1836. 7 years Housebrekg. Gaol report convicted before. Single prior convictions for theft.

20/9/40 ... Absent & insolence 20 lashes.

20/6/40 ... Insolence ― 36 stripes, 20/6/40 Ditto 7 days.

22/2/41 Felony. Existing term of transportation extended 2 years, confirmed & to be sent for 12 months probation

6/7/41 Burglary Transported for Life

2.4.42 Disobedience 1 mo'. 

20.4.43 Absent. 1 mo' in chns

8.6.43 Misconduct. 36 stripes

29.5.43  Neglect of Work One Mo'.

29.3.45  Ab' & other offences 9 Mo'

28.11.48  Absconding 9 Months

11.1.50  Do  12 Months

2.2.50 Misconduct 9 Months

23.10.50 Misconduct sentc in chains extened.

An Absconder

'The above received with personal description from the Comp. Gens Office accompanying letter dated 3 December 1856.'

CHARACTER WHILE UNDERGOING SENTENCE

4th March 1853. Alleged insolence to a Warder. 5 days Solitary Confint on half rations

4th June 1853. Assault and insubordination 20 days Solitary Confinement.  V.J.

16 Augst/53. Fighting ― 20 day solitary ― V.J.

26/1/54 Highly insubordinate conduct and inciting fellow prisoners to mutiny. 1 mth soly conf     recomm be placed in heavy Irons. V.J.

20/2/56 Misconduct. Tobacco ― cautioned ― V.J.

HULK "SUCCESS" 15th February 1856

1.4.56 Having Tobacco ― Cautioned

22.10.56 Implicated in rush on this date Committed for trial for murder of Owens & Turner on   23rd Inst. by Coroner Dr Youl.

HM GAOL 10th November 1856

19.11.56 Found guilty of Murder and sentenced to death on the 21st Instant.

4' Decr 1856 The above sentence of Death reversed by the Court

HULK "PRESIDENT" 12 April 1857

To HM GAOL 6' May 1857

Melville strangled himself in his cell at about 12 oclock on the 11th August 1857

An Inquest was held on the body by Dr Youl the City Coroner on the 12th August when the   Jury found a verdict of felo-de-se."

Melville/McCullum continued his campaign of violent defiance in the Colony of Victoria. He might have re-invented himself as a bushranger with manners, but he didn't let up with screwing with the heads of the authorities. The above section 'Previous History' demonstrates his refusal to volunteer information on his true identity. Eventually the paperwork catches up with the former convict, but not before he had been initially charged as Thomas Smith, or thought to have been transported on three different ships. 

Francis McCullum was a career criminal from childhood. Point Puer and Port Arthur only increased his intransigence. He fought against his gaolers both physically and psychologically. He never accepted his incarceration. Still, there may be some truth in the testimony of Dr McCrea to the Jury, who claimed he had a serious talk with the prisoner before his suicide:

     

"On one occasion, after he had refused to eat his food for a few days, witness had a long conversation with him, and pointed out to him forcibly that he had been all his life fighting against the world, with little success on his part, and that it was nearly time to give it up and bear his punishment quietly. At first he was very sulky and would not speak, but afterwards he conversed freely, and seemed impressed with the truth of what the witness had said to him."

Perhaps, after numerous sentences of the lash, solitary confinement, and being put in chains, between 1837 and 1857, (interrupted by a couple of heady years 'on the road'), had finally exhausted the hard man from Inverness. In the end, defeated or not, he chose to exit on his own terms.