Sentenced to Hell

• ISBN: 9781845241759
• Author: J. Richard Williams
• Publication June 2011
• Format: Paperback, 182x124 mm

Between 1730 and 1878 men and women from Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Denbigh and Flint, many of whom had committed ŸcrimesŸ because they were desperately poor and hungry, were sentenced to hell - that is, they were sentenced to be transported from their native land to Australia or America. How did they get there? How old were they? What had they done to deserve their fate?

Author Biography:
J. Richard Williams is a retired headmaster who lives on Anglesey. His main interests are the history of Anglesey and tracing his own family history. He contributed many articles to Y Glorian, the local Welsh paper, and is the author of Deugain Mlynedd o Droedio’r Byrddau (the history of the local theatre at Llangefni); a guidebook to St Cyngar Church, Llangefni; Cwrs y Cefnfor (a children’s book about the seafaring history of Anglesey and Wales); O Fôn i Van Diemen’s Land, Melinau Môn and Mynydd Parys, in the series ‘Llyfrau Llafar Gwlad’.

Further Information:
William R. Lewis says: The story of the transportees is a tragic and moving tale which, unfortunately, has been largely overlooked by modern Welsh historians. Richard Williams, by recounting their plight, has made a significant contribution to our understanding of life in nineteenth-century north Wales. His thoroughly-researched work is a fitting memorial to the banished and, until the publication of this book, the forgotten.