To Hell or to Hobart – The Story of an Irish Convict Couple Transported to Tasmania in the 1840s | Patrick Howard | 1993 [HCDJ]

Patrick Howard's account of his great-grandparents — Stephen Howard and Ellen Lydon — both transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s and united in Hobart Town.

In 1843 Stephen Howard from Limerick was transported for stealing a gun from a landowner — all the evidence suggests a politically motivated act connected to the Whiteboy movement, the secret agrarian society that resisted rack-renting and evictions across rural Ireland.

In 1849 Ellen Lydon of North Galway was transported along with other members of her family for killing a sheep with intent to steal during the Great Famine — one of the most devastating events in Irish history, which drove hundreds of thousands to emigration, desperation and, for some, transportation.

The two met in Hobart Town and married in 1854. The author is their great-grandson, writing the story of his own family's transportation, survival and eventual prosperity in Tasmania from their origins in Famine Ireland.

At 199 indexed pages, this is a detailed family history that also gives a vivid picture of the Irish convict experience in Van Diemen's Land in the late transportation period.

BOOK DETAILS

• Hardcover book with dustjacket
• 199 pages, indexed.
• Published 1993.

CONDITION

Used but generally good condition. Previous owner's name stamped in the front.

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