I never know where I'll come across something that links into my family history. Recently I was watching an episode of the program, Digging for Britain, which I have access to through my Acorn TV subscription. Archeology is one of my many interests. I've always thought that I'd like to be part of an archeological dig, on sunny days preferably. The program deals with the archeology of the British Isles so sunny days might be few and far between.
Each episode takes the viewer to different digs. As I'd just been reading about the Vikings, I was interested in the dig which turned up artefacts related to King Alfred, who had fought the northmen. The next dig segment really caught my attention. It was on Burrow Island, known locally as Rat Island. Through the years there had been rumours that the bodies of prisoners from the hulks in Portsmouth Harbour were buried there.
That perked up my ears. My 3x great grandfather, Thomas Arment, (Armant according to the death register) died on the convict ship Defence in Portsmouth Harbour. I covered the story of how he, his son Thomas and Henry Samuel Chester, were caught and tried for their crime in a continuing story on my blog in 2018. You can see it here: https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/08/adding-to-family-story-london-criminal.html Criminal records are a boon to family history research, there are so many records to find.
The information about the burials on Burrow Island leads me to wonder if that was where Thomas Arment the elder ended up. Perhaps one of the bodies they recovered was his. It would be good to be sure but I wonder if I will ever know.
Sources:
Digging for Britain, Series 6:
Episode 1: Vikings and Gold, coverage of the dig on Burrow Island, known as Rat
Island starts at about 24 minutes in
The mystery of Rat Island’s skeletons https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/07/the-mystery-of-rat-islands-skeletons/#:~:text=Harbour%20tours%20past%20this%20small,there%20in%20the%20Georgian%20era.
Image:
The forbidding form of the beached convict ship, Discovery, at Deptford. Launched as a 10 gun sloop at Rotherhithe, in 1789, the ship served as a convict hulk from 18-18-34. Date 19th century By Unknown - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery_at_Deptford.jpg Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10050203
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