Chapter 8: Health, Disability, and Death

This chapter will explore the ill-health and disability of pauper-emancipists at key points throughout their lives, ending with their deaths. In a similar manner to Turner and Blackie (2018) in his book on disability history during the industrial revolution, we will examine the lives and experiences of men and women who were scarred, mutilated, and impaired before and during the criminal justice system but still worked and contributed to their own upkeep as well as colonial society. This information has been gathered from varied sources: their ill-health on transport was recorded by the surgeon-superintendent; the descriptions of their disabilities and impairments were recorded in the Conduct Records (often under the section “Marks” included for their identification); and the details of their deaths were recorded in the Deaths in District Records and the Register of Burials. Together, these records allow an added layer to our understanding of the experiences of these men and women as they navigated their colonial upheaval. This is because it allows us to consider the toll the convict system took on their bodies and highlight their absence from the records when they were released from servitude until they were re-institutionalized. It will be demonstrated that these men and women had few options. Many arrived with disabilities and injuries but were still put to work. Others became injured and were worn out by the conditions of forced labor and punishment under service. Still others were simply unable to prepare for old age due to their time within the convict system. To begin with, we will explore aging in the colony more broadly and engage with discussions around disability and life expectancy.