Shipped to America, refused entry, then shipped to Australia. End of Convict Transportation to Virginia After April 18, 1775, when fighting broke out between the British and Americans at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, acceptance of convict ships in colonial ports virtually ceased. The last boatload of convicts arrived in the James River in April 1776 and was apparently allowed to land. Over the fifty-eight years since the passage of the Transportation Act of 1718, Virginia had become a temporary home for about 20,000 convicts, most in the area of the Northern Neck. Once the Revolution broke out, Britain could no longer ship its felons to America and in 1786 Parliament passed an act to begin transporting them to Australia instead.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 21:49:45 +0000
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