| ‘The Scottish Radicals were not a
typical group of convicts for, unlike the great majority of those
transported, they were political prisoners, condemned for becoming
involved in an abortive rising. Nor were they a typical group because,
unlike so many English and Irish convicts, all but one of these Scottish
Convicts (Benjamin Moir) were skilled artisans, and literate ‘—- Dr
Hazel King M.A., D.Phil., F.R.A.H.S., formerly Senior Lecturer in
History at the University of Sydney in the Foreword to ‘The Scottish
Radicals. Tried and Transported to Australia for Treason in 1820’ by
Margaret and Alastair MacFarlane (1975).
The nineteen Radicals whose ages ranged
from the youngest, Alexander Johnston (15) to the oldest, Thomas
McFarlane (45), originally sentenced to death, subsequently commuted to
transportation to New South Wales were:
Name | Occupation
| Location | Penalty imposed
John Anderson | Weaver | Camelon | Life
John Barr | Weaver | Condorrat | 14 years
William Clackson or Clarkson | Shoemaker | Glasgow | 14 years
James Clelland | Blacksmith | Glasgow | Life
Andrew Dawson | Nailer | Camelon | Life
Robert Gray | Weaver | Glasgow | Life
Alexander Hart | Cabinet-maker | Glasgow | 14 years
Alexander Johnston | Weaver | Glasgow | 14 years
Alexander Latimer | Weaver | Glasgow | 14 years
Thomas McCulloch | Stocking-Weaver | Glasgow | 14 years
Thomas McFarlane | Weaver | Condorrat | Life
John McMillan | Nailer | Camelon | Life
Benjamin Moir | Labourer | Glasgow | 14 years
Allan Murchie | Blacksmith | Glasgow | Life
Thomas Pike or Pink | Muslin Slinger | Glasgow | 14 years
William Smith | Weaver | Glasgow | 14 years
David Thompson | Weaver | Glasgow | 14 years
Andrew White | Bookbinder | Glasgow | 14 years
James Wright | Tailor | Glasgow | 14 Years
James Clelland was to be executed along
with Baird and Hardie on Friday 8th September, but three days before he
was to die, his sentence was commuted to transportation for life in New
South Wales.
William Crawford, Balfron, was sentenced
with the above but was ‘subsequently released’ according to ‘The
Scottish Radicals. Tried and Transported to Australia for Treason in
1820’. John Anderson Jnr., a printer in Glasgow, was ‘transported’
on 4 August 1820 to a Government job in the East Indies for the price of
his silence. He had prepared the final draft of the 1820 Proclamation
and was probably arrested on Friday 7 April 1820 in order that he could
not divulge the ‘truth’ to the Radicals. |
