| Description | Contracts for the transportation to America of felons sentenced at the Crownmote Court or General Sessions of the Peace is prefaced by a copy of the court order, empowering two Justices of the Peace to contract for the transportation. All the sentences are for transportation 'to some of His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America.' The original contracts are signed by the Justices of the Peace and the merchants who undertook the transportation and the contract included an order to the keeper of the Northgate gaol to convey the transportees to the port of embarkation, Bristol or Liverpool. However, as in most cases the merchants of Bristol signed the contract on the same day as the justices, and it would seem likely that the merchants collected their passengers at Chester.
The records comprise contracts; draft contracts; and a draft court order. |