- Emancipist
An emancipist was any of the
convict s sentenced and transported under theconvict system toAustralia , who had been given conditional or absolute pardons. The term was also used to refer to those convicts whose sentences had expired, and could also be used of free settlers who supported full civil rights for emancipated convicts. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032499?hook=156208]An emancipist was free to own land and was no longer subject to
penal servitude . An emancipist could be released from his or her sentence for good behaviour, diligent work, or the expiration of his or her sentence. The only main limitation placed upon them was that they were not allowed to leave the Australian colonies.The
Exclusives (who included many free settlers, civil servants and military officers) often shunned the society of the Emancipists and considered them to be little more than criminals. When GovernorLachlan Macquarie invited emancipists to social functions at Government House, for example, many military officers refused to attend.Macquarie (Governor from
1810 to1821 ) insisted emancipated convicts be treated as social equals and, very conscious of the critical shortage of skills in the young colony, appointed emancipists with talent to official positions. Some of these appointments includedFrancis Greenway as colonial architect and DrWilliam Redfern as colonial surgeon. He scandalised settler opinion by appointing another emancipist, Andrew Thompson, as a magistrate.John Hamilton Irving (or Irven, Irwin, or Ervin) was Australia's first emancipist. Irving was a surgeon convicted oflarceny onMarch 6 ,1784 . He was sentenced to "seven years beyond the seas," and was sent on one of theFirst Fleet transport. After exhibiting a willing readiness to assist with his exceptional surgical skills, he was emancipated by GovernorArthur Phillip on28th February 1790 , and worked thereafter as an assistant surgeon. OnJuly 14 ,1792 , Irving's Warrant of Emancipation was received in England and acknowledged by Henry Dundas, the Secretary of State. [http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~rcowan/genealogy/JohnIrving.htm]External links
* [http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/history/aust_hist/chapter10.html A Short History of Australia]
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