discretion of the court: it established that in the case of offenders convicted of an
offence for which they ‘shall be entitled to the benefit of clergy, and liable only to
the penalties of burning in the hand or whipping... it shall and may be lawful
for the court... if they think fit’ to order them to be transported for seven years.^34
That flexibility was put to use within a few years as it became clear that not every
petty offender deserved to be punished with the full severity the law allowed. It
also became clear to local authorities that a mandatory penalty of transportation
was not in their interests, since they might have to support the shattered families
remaining behind when fathers or mothers with large numbers of dependants
were removed from England for a term of seven years. There was also the pos-
sibility that Jonathan Forward, the contractor, would have preferred not to take
every offender to America, despite the government’s subsidy.
Those pressures, and possibly others—the crowding in Newgate, for ex-
ample—resulted in a ruling by Thomson in 1720 or 1721 that confirmed the court’s
438 William Thomson and Transportation
(^344) Geo. I, c. 11 , s. 1.
Table9.2.Sentences of those who pleaded guilty or were found guilty of
non-capital offences, 1714 – 1750
Clergy Transportation Whipping Hard Total known
labour sentences
Non-clergyable
Men 15 187 31 4 237
% 6.3 74.0 16.2 2.1 100.1
Women 23 103 13 4 143
% 16.1 72.0 9.1 2.8 100.0
Grand Larceny
Men 39 277 63 0 379
% 10.3 73.1 16.6 100.0
Women 9 152 46 0 207
% 4.4 73.4 22.2 100.0
Petty Larceny
Men 0 29 4 0 33
% 87.9 12.1 100
Women 0 2 1 0 3
% 66.6 33.3 99.9
Total
Men 54 493 98 4 649
% 8.3 76.0 15.1 0.6 100.0
Women 32 257 60 4 353
% 9.1 72.8 17.0 1.1 100.0
Grand Total 86 750 158 8 1,002
% 8.6 74.9 15.8 0.8 100.1
Source: Sample