Convict shirt scrap, ‘B.A.’
1819–1848
Found by archaeologists beneath the floorboards of one of the sleeping wards of Hyde Park Barracks, this square scrap of striped convict shirt is curiously stamped with the letters ‘B’ and ‘A’.
In 1819 Governor Lachlan Macquarie outlined the rules for the new Prisoner’s Barracks, declaring that the convict’s clothing was to be marked with their initials, to be sure that they were returned to the rightful owners after washing, and also, to prevent convicts from stealing them. Records of the convicts who spent time at Hyde Park Barracks reveal that there were surprisingly few convicts with the initials B.A. Two of the three that we know of were both named Benjamin Abbott. One arrived in 1822 on Asia (2) and the other arrived in 1837 on Charles Kerr, and both also died in the Rum Hospital, next to Hyde Park Barracks. Perhaps that’s why one of them left his shirt behind, and it was torn up into scraps like this one, which another convict might have intended to recycle for another purpose.
The linens belonging to each Man are to be marked with the Initials of his Name.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Government and General Orders, Sydney Gazette, 8 May 1819.1
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