My great great great grandfather, James Magee, was a convict transported to Van Diemans Land in 1830. Not much is known about James’ origins. We suspect James was born in 1816 as his third conviction stated he was 14 years old. Therefore, his birthday would be between Jan 1816 – Aug 1817. There was a James Magee baptised in St Nicholas Liverpool, England, on the 18th of September 1816. Listing his Father James, and Mother Mary, whose maiden name was possibly Heppell from the Yorkshire area. But we’re not sure if that was him. It’s also possible that James was born somewhere else, potentially migrating from Ireland, as many people did this in the early 1800s even before the mass migration during the Irish Potato Famine in 1845.

His transportation sentence states that his last address was Toxteth Park in Liverpool. I therefore wrote a book and self-published it to explore James’ past life, to celebrate our convict heritage and in the hope that I can help find out more about what shaped James to be the man he was. To find out where he learnt the skills that helped him to be master of his fate, to be captain of his soul. He didn’t get caught up in anger and regret about being shipped halfway around the world as a convict. He accepted that it had happened and he focused on resuming a happy life. James then helped John Presnell establish the Halfway House hotel in Anthill Ponds, which introduced him to John’s daughter Eleanor, who he married, which led him to establish a happily married life in Tasmania. Which left an amazing legacy for Tasmania. For example, his grand nephew Lewis McGee earn’t a Victorian Cross for Australia as he battled for freedom and honour.

https://au.blurb.com/b/11704215-exiled-to-exalted

I wrote the book to explore where he found these skills because he passed them onto his son, who passed them onto my Pop’s dad, who passed them onto Pop, who passed them onto my mother, who passed them onto me. It’s those same skills I used to recently conquer a complicated case of cancer. They gave me hope that I’d continue a happy life after I conquered cancer and I have resumed a happy life, thanks to those skills that James passed onto me.

It is a celebration of Australias convict heritage because even though we as a nation were established as a prison for convicts, who were exiled for opposing English ideals, they helped establish the world’s most democratic and multicultural nations. We can thank our convict ancestors for helping us establish this mighty country, they saw it as an opportunity to create the country they always wanted to live in.

We have found three convictions for James

1. His convict record states he received on month hard labour in Yorkshire West Riding. This conviction listed him as late of Wakefield.

2. In 1827 he was convicted in West Derby for stealing sugar and a brass pan

3. In 1829 he stole two gowns and a shawl from Mrs Threlfall. This record stated that he was 14years old
   
   

James was sentenced to transportation at the General Quarter Session of Peace Holden at Lancaster, Monday 12th Jan 1829, Order Book 1829, Lancaster Quarter Session and sent to the Euryalis Hulk.

“Whereas James Magee late of the township of Toxteth Park in the said County, labourer hath at this session been convicted of felony and of having before the time of convicting the said felony been convicted of another felony. This court doth therefore order and adjudge that the said James Magee shall be sent and transported to some part beyond the seas for a space of 14 years next, pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided”.

James was transported to Van Dieman’s Land, now Tasmania, Australia on the David Lyon which departed London, England on the 2 May 1830 and arrived in Van Dieman’s Land on the 19 Aug 1830.

His Transportation Record’s ‘Remarks’ section records that James was tattooed. The section is incredibly difficult to read and our best translation is as follows:

J M H M M H pipes glap and anchor on right arm – Diamond ring? Between finger & thumb left hand – G M M M bottle pipes, glap anchor nine dots on left arm – 9 dots between finger and thumb left hand, ring pricked fore finger left hand.

It’s difficult to know exactly what his tattoos represent, but for James to have marked his body with them, they must have been significant and could therefore be clues about where he came from. We employed two ways of deciphering his tattoo. There’s a fantastic book we found that explains the meanings behind convict tattoos: Convict Tattoos: Marked Men and Women of Australia, written by Simon Barnard and published in 2016 by Text Publishing. The book explains the meaning behind some common convict tattoos. We also posted a picture of the tattoo description on Facebook groups that specialise in convict history. The members of the group helped us decipher the writing and the meaning of the tattoos. From these methods we were able to determine a number of factors:

• Letters and names were the most common tattoos found on convicts, they represented family members and lovers left behind. James’ initial letters, ‘J M H M M H’ likely represent family members left behind.
• ‘Diamond ring’ and ‘Ring pricked forefinger left hand’ represent eternal devotion. It’s unlikely James was married but these tattoos may have symbolised a girlfriend or special friendship.
• Dots were the next most popular tattoo and they were often purely decorative, being used like bracelets or wedding rings. Dots could also be criminal insignia. The best-known of these gangs were the Forty Thieves, who had five dots between their thumb and forefinger. Rival gangs then adopted this practice of tattooing dots, but changed the patterns to provide identification of their gang.52 James had ‘9 dots on left arm’ and ‘9 dots between finger and thumb left hand’, which could indicate he was a member of a Liverpool gang – or the dots could have been purely decorative.
• Tattoos of pleasure were also very common. James’ ‘pipes’ are smoking pipes, which represent good times, celebrations, and affluence because only the rich could afford to smoke.
• We’re not entirely sure what ‘glap’ is or means. It’s possibly ‘hlap’, which is a lobster variety. It could also represent an hourglass, which reiterates the value of time and the truth of immortality. This signals to me that James had high hopes he would conquer the tough times he was going through.
• ‘Bottle pipes’ – pipe is an old-fashioned term for a bulk container of alcoholic beverages.
• Naval themes – anchors and mermaids, as well as the sun, moon and stars – were also very popular tattoos. James’ ‘Anchor’ represents hope.

The tattoo is important for a couple of genuinely good reasons. It gives us real insight into who James was when he was transported because all those symbols must have meant so much to him. It also gives us good clues to his heritage via the letters indicating family members because it allows us to evaluate family trees and search for siblings.

Four months after his arrival to Tasmania, James was assigned to Mr. John Presnell at Antill Ponds and at year ending 1830 he was there. In 1837 James applied for permission to marry Eleanor Elizabeth Presnell. Eleanor was the daughter of free settlers, John Presnell and Eleanor Skelton. Approval was granted and they were married on 24 Sep 1838 at Oatlands, Tasmania. He received a conditional pardon on the 30 July 1840 and a free certificate in 1845. James died on 8 February 1899 in the district of Ross, Tasmania. He is buried at the Methodist Cemetery, Ross, Tasmania. The death certificate states his name as James Dedman McGee and that he was 82 years old, if his age was correct he would have been born in 1816. The International Genealogical Index – British Isles, has a James Mc Gee christened on 14 August 1814 at St Nicholas, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

Why was Dedman added to the name? Most of James’ nine children were given the middle name of Dedman. The following generation dropped Dedman from the name and have been known as McGee since. It seems agreed that the name belonged to someone of significance in the life of young James. In early research, a district Constable James Dedman, & Mary Ann Dedman, and also a William Dedman were found in Tasmanian records, but have not since been able to find which district they were in. If it was in the Midlands area, and the date was between 1830 and 1838, it could be the person.