Charles Gibson a early inmate of Dunedin’s first gaol.

 

Charles Gibson was a very early inmate of the first gaol in Dunedin. Previously Dunedin’s wrong doers were held in a tent borrowed from a local lawyer or chained to lamp posts.

Little is known about him. He was first mentioned as arriving at 5pm on the 6^th September 1851 being drunk and disorderly. Monson, the gaoler, states that he was a young man of a weak mind and very stubborn will. There is no mention of how long a sentence he received. Often the sentence was 24 hours, or at least until the person had sobered up.

The next mention is 30 January 1852 where he was brought in after stealing sundry articles of clothing from an unnamed French man. He was sentenced to six months hard labour. The following day fellow inmates accused him of masturbation in his cell and although he denied the charge he was put on bread and water for three days and threatened with a flogging if he did it again. Monson said he was sullen and very disobedient during this time.

On the 16^th April he was involved in a scuffle with one of the police on duty. He was placed in the dark cell as punishment.

16^th June he was accused of stealing money from one of the policemen. Monson who expanded his description to still being of weak mind but now ‘very treacherous and unscrupulous to the highest degree’, tried to force a confession out of him by locking him in his cell for 18 hours, to no avail. The money was found in a flax bush, and it was assumed that Charles hid it for when he was allowed out to work.

Hard labour was usually undertaken outside the prison, as it was very small and there was little that the inmates could do inside the walls. Most of the men sentenced to hard labour were tasked with working on roads (forming or cleaning) cutting firewood for the gaol or the hospital or other public works. Gibson however, perhaps given his ‘weak mind’ had been used by the police as a servant. He cleaned their shoes and clothes, tidied their rooms and even cooked for them. He also cleaned the rooms of government officials. Gibson was also tasked with cleaning the courthouse for church services (it was given to the Anglican and methodists for Sunday services). he was, therefore, possibly outside of the prison more than other inmates.

After yet another run in with Corporal McKain, from whom he had stolen money, Gibson refused to do anymore tasks, stating he was ill used by the police. He was becoming quite a handful.

He also was costing Monson money. In this early period funding for items such as tools for the prisoners to use, items for the building (such as hinges for the doors) and clothes for the prisoners was hard to obtain and often Monson had to pay for these items himself and hope (sometimes in vain) that he would be reimbursed. Gibson entered gaol with only one pair of trousers and during the time he was in prison Monson had to supply him with 5 shirts (one was brand new) a coat, a blue shirt and shoes (and one assumes more trousers). Other hard labour men often could not go outside to work as their clothes had fallen apart, so although Gibson wasn’t given any special treatment as he was one of the longer sentenced men, he required more clothes than normal.

 

Charles Gibson does not reappear in Monson’s records after his release. What happened to him? Did he remain in Dunedin, or maybe he found a job outside of town. When did he arrive and from where? Did he come alone or was he part of a family?

Another question is how ‘weak minded' was he really? The people administering the selection of immigrants to Otago would be unlikely to accept someone who was unable to be a useful member of society, so one assumes that if he did come as a single man he really wasn’t as impaired as Monson insists.

We may never really know Charles Gibson. The details we do have come from the diary of Henry Monson, held by the Hocken Collections, Dunedin (and forms the content of Elsie Locke’s book ‘The Gaoler’). Monson does not record, details such as age, place of birth or occupation, which are recorded in later police gazettes, so its impossible to find him in other records.  

The newspaper of the time, the Otago Witness is also mute on court proceedings and sentencing, so Charles’ background and remaining life remains a mystery.