Ireland Island, at the western end of the chain of islands forming the Bermudas, was chosen in 1810 as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Squadron of the Royal Navy. Work was started shortly afterwards on the construction of barracks, fortifications, warehouses, and other buildings required at an important naval base. Until their liberation in 1834, slaves were employed for the manual labour under the direction of British overseers. Between 1834 and 1842 very little progress was made, but in the latter year the naval authorities sent out from Great Britain the first group of 300 of a total of 1500 convicts who were to work on the construction of the naval base until 1863. The convicts, who were housed in hulks anchored off Ireland Island and in buildings on Boaz Island nearby, were kept under continual guard and had no association with the civilian population of Bermuda. In all, over 9,000 convicts were employed between 1842 and 1863, of whom over 2,000 died in the Islands. All but one of the convicts were returned to Great Britain for their release, the exception being a certain William Facy, who was allowed to settle in Bermuda, opened a livery stable and was for a number of years after 1842 a contractor for the daily mail carriage from Hamilton to St. Georges.
Presumably, many of the convicts were illiterate, but for those that were not and wished to write home about personal matters, special letter sheets were provided. On the first page of these sheets was printed, in cursive script, the regulations governing the writing of letters by convicts, as follows :
Convict Establishment,
Bermuda,
Convicts are permitted to write one Letter on reception and another at the end of three months. They may also receive one Letter (prepaid) every three months during their stay. Matters of Private importance to a Convict may be communicated at any time by Letter (prepaid) to the Governor or Chaplain, who will inform the Convict thereof, if expedient.
In case of misconduct, the privilege of receiving or writing a Letter may be forfeited for the time.
All Letters of an improper or idle tendency, either to or from Convicts, or containing slang or other objectionable expressions, will be suppressed. The permission to write and receive Letters is given to the Convicts for the purpose of enabling them to keep up a connection with their repectable Friends, and not that they may hear the news of the day.
All Letters are read by the Governor or Chaplain, and rnust be legibly written, and not crossed.
Neither clothes, money, nor any other articles, are allowed to be received at the Prison for the use of Convicts, except through the Governor. Persons attempting otherwise to introduce any article to or for a Convict are liable to fine or imprisonment, and the Convict concerned is liable to be severely punished.
At the top of pages 2 and 3 is printed :
N.B. The Convict's writing to be confined to these two pages. In writing to the Convict, direct to No. .........
The example in my collection, incidentally the only convict's letter from Bermuda known to me, is from No. 3366 F. W. Stewart to Mr. W. Thompson, Inspector of Police, Banbury, Oxfordshire, and concerns a sum of money which Stewart claims his defence counsel is withholding from him. The letter is addressed from the 'Medway' Convict Ship and is dated November 27th, 1858. The date is repeated on the first, printed, page, on which appears also the initials of two persons, presumably the Chaplain and the Governor of the Convict Establishment. The letter was prepaid, '6d' in manuscript in red ink being on the front, together with an impression in red of the Crowned Circle 'PAID AT IRELAND ISLE BERMUDA' and its accompanying datestamp, in black, 'IRELAND ISLE=BERMUDA=' dated December 2nd, 1858. Also on the front is the transit datestamp 'PAID LIVERPOOL BR. PACKET' of December 26th, 1858, in red, and the letter is backstamped in blue 'BANBURY DE 27, 1858'.