Book one · companion

Young & Condemned

A boy in the record. A life beyond the sentence.

Cover of Young & Condemned

Allen Griffiths & Alice Elizabeth Keys

Allen was a child when a Nottingham court sentenced him to seven years’ transportation for stealing potted beef. The records follow him through Millbank, Parkhurst and Port Phillip. The novel follows the life that sentence could not contain.

This companion makes the underlying record visible. It offers a source list and individual profiles of people who appear in the story. Dates and sources are given where the records support them; the novel’s private scenes remain imaginative reconstruction.

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Characters

People beyond Allen

These people were real. The novel reconstructs some of their interactions; the records do not preserve every conversation or motive.

Mother

Cecelia Blyghton

Allen’s mother, recorded with him in the 1841 Nottingham census.

Fellow offender

Joseph Brown

Convicted alongside Allen in the 1843 potted beef theft.

Fellow offender

Samuel Cobb

A Nottingham boy connected to Allen’s earlier larceny case.

Sister

Elizabeth Griffiths

Allen’s younger sister, living with him in 1841; her later life is uncertain.

Father

William Griffiths

Allen’s father, known chiefly through marriage and family records.

Fellow offender

Robert Hayband

Sentenced with Allen, then transported to Van Diemen’s Land.

Receiver of stolen goods

Lydia Leeson

Convicted of receiving stolen goods in a case where Allen gave evidence.

Family photographs

The family after the story

See photographs of Allen and Alice’s family, beginning with Alice in Coburg in the early 1920s.

View the family photo gallery
Historical record

Sources behind the book

Records and publications used to reconstruct Allen Griffiths’s life and family, grouped by source type. The citations are listed without a timeline of the novel’s events.

Family and vital records 24 references
  • England, Marriages, 1538–1973, FamilySearch, FHL film nos. 504529–504531.
  • Nottinghamshire Archives, St Mary’s, Nottingham, burial register, 1835.
  • Nottinghamshire Archives, St Mary’s, Nottingham, burial register, 1838.
  • The National Archives (UK), RG 4/139.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Annie Elizabeth Griffiths, 1893, no. 928.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Elizabeth Cecilia Griffiths, 1861, no. 23385.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Gordon Griffiths Sharpe, 1918, no. 6170.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Hannah Louisa Griffiths, 1866, no. 10327.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Harriet Griffiths, 1868, no. 21674.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Mary Ann Griffiths, 1877, no. 13296.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Ruby Lavinia Griffiths, 1889, no. 18732.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Sarah Griffiths, 1870, no. 21433.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Thomas Joseph Griffiths, 1880, no. 572.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registration of Thomas Newman, 1886, no. 30345.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, birth registrations of William Thomas Griffiths and John Edward Griffiths, 1875, including no. 21361.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registration of Alice Elizabeth Griffiths, 1928, no. 1205.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registration of Allen Griffiths, 1917, no. 12052.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registration of Charlotte Griffiths, 1897, no. 6492.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registration of John Leslie Griffiths, 1897, no. 7551.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registration of Joseph Andrew Newman, 1892, no. 9138.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, death registrations of William Thomas Griffiths and John Edward Griffiths, 1876, nos. 4426 and 4427.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, marriage registration of Allan Griffiths and Charlotte Eliza Seaman, 1886, no. 6822.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, marriage registration of Allen Griffiths and Alice Elizabeth Keys, 1857, entry no. 62.
  • Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, marriage registration of David John Ah Pack and Jane Cecelia Maud Griffiths, 1897, no. 2952.
Census and electoral records 2 references
  • Australian Electoral Commission, Electoral Roll, 1915, Prahran, Fawkner, Victoria.
  • The National Archives (UK), 1841 Census, HO 107/870, Book 10, fol. 31, p. 15, schedule 2990.
Prison, court and service records 15 references
  • National Archives of Australia, B2455, GRIFFITHS T J, item 4703513, AIF attestation paper, 9 February 1916.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 1 July 1890.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 26 July 1892.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 27 December 1878.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 29 October and 5 November 1880.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 30 June 1880.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Benalla Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 30 September 1892.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, Schnapper Point Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 9 June 1860.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, St Kilda Court of Petty Sessions, Register of Convictions, Orders and Other Proceedings, 14 June 1907.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 14, Thomas Arbuthnot arrival and disposal records, 1 June 1847.
  • Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 89/P0000, Notifications of Pardon of Exiles; The National Archives (UK), HO 11/15.
  • The National Archives (UK), HO 27/70, p. 413.
  • The National Archives (UK), HO 27/70, p. 419; Nottingham Review, 20 October 1843, p. 3.
  • The National Archives (UK), Millbank Prison Register, Allen Griffiths, received 12 December 1843.
  • The National Archives (UK), Parkhurst Prison Register, Griffiths Allan, received 20 January 1844.
Land records and government gazettes 4 references
  • Victoria Government Gazette, 1875, p. 604, licence no. 711 Bo; Parish of Moorngag survey plan, Allotment 48B.
  • Victoria Government Gazette, 2 April 1879, p. 779; Victoria Government Gazette, 1879, p. 1206.
  • Victoria Government Gazette, 22 June 1883, p. 1495, licence no. 16570 Be.
  • Victoria Government Gazette, no. 50, 16 July 1875, p. 1368, licence no. 711 Bo.
Benalla historical rate books 12 references
Newspapers 12 references
  • Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle, 20 October 1894, p. 3, “Mining Notices”.
  • Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle, 31 July 1897, p. 4, “Bairnsdale Petty Sessions”.
  • Benalla Standard, 22 July 1889, p. 3, “Court Proceedings”.
  • North Eastern Ensign, 10 February 1885, p. 3, “Destructive Bush Fires Near Benalla”.
  • North Eastern Ensign, 19 May 1889, p. 2, “Benalla Court of Petty Sessions”.
  • North Eastern Ensign, 4 November 1892, p. 3, “A Benefit Concert”.
  • Nottingham Mercury, 17 March 1843, p. 6, “Receiving Stolen Property at Sneinton”.
  • Nottingham Review, 15 December 1843, p. 4.
  • Ovens and Murray Advertiser, 5 December 1867, p. 4, “Beechworth Police Court”.
  • Port Phillip Gazette and Settler’s Journal, 20 October 1847; Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser, 20 October 1847.
  • The Age, 19 December 1917, death notice for Allen Griffiths.
  • The Argus, 8 July 1898, p. 4, “New Insolvents”.
“The record tells me what happened. The novel asks what it meant.”

What can we know?

The documents establish dates, places, proceedings and family relationships, sometimes imperfectly. Dialogue, private thoughts and connecting scenes are reconstructed. Where sources disagree, the uncertainty belongs in the story of the research too.

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