INTRODUCTION
The forth decade (1821 to 1830) of British Convict Transportation to New South Wales resulted in a further 2,728
female felons being dispatched to the colony, bringing the total transported up to this point in time to 7,472.
This fourth decade corresponds with the governorships of Sir Thomas Brisbane and Sir Ralph Darling both
military men. Yet another Scotsman Major-General Brisbane, veteran of Wellington's Peninsular Campaign, was
aged 48 years old when arrived aboard 'Royal George' on the 7th November 1821 to become the colony's sixth
governor. Brisbane arrived accompanied by his wife Ann Maria Hay nee Makdougall and family. He was recalled
by the Colonial Office and departed the colony four years later on the 1st December 1825 aboard 'Mary Hope' and
died in 1860 a Baronet and General and reputedly the oldest officer in the British Army. Anglo-Irishman
Lieutenant-General Darling was aged 50 years old when he arrived aboard 'Catherine Stewart Forbes' on the 17th
December 1825 to become the colony's seventh governor. Darling arrived accompanied by his wife Elizabeth nee
Dumaresq and family. He was recalled by the Colonial Office and departed the colony almost six years later on the
22nd October 1831 aboard 'Hooghley' and died in 1858 a General.
During this decade the women were transported in 27 ships, an average of 2.7 per annum, with five ships arriving
in 1827 but only one in 1821 and 1826. The greatest number of arrivals per year being 509 in 1827 and the least, with
just 80, in 1821. In the first five years of the decade, six of the eleven ships disembarked exactly half of their cargo of
women in Hobart Town (315) before proceeding to Sydney Cove (315). (Bateson claims that the "Grenada" 1825
disembarked all her convicts in Hobart but this is not true in fact none were)(Bateson claims that the "Midas" 1825
disembarked 58 women in Hobart and 50 in Sydney whereas Nicholson claims the opposite). All the women
disembarked in Hobart Town are neither counted nor considered in this work which confines itself to the colony New
South Wales. There were to be no more mixed disembarkments after 1825.
Table 1. - Female Convict Ships
Arrival Date Ship Code
----------------------------------------18 Dec 1821 John Bull 21JB
7 Jan 1822 Providence 22PR
20 May 1822 Mary Anne 22MA
27 Feb 1823 Lord Sidmouth 23LS
25 Jun 1823 Woodman 23WO
18 Oct 1823 Mary 23MY
7 May 1824 Brothers 24BR
29 Aug 1824 Almorah 24AL
23 Jan 1825 Grenada 25GR
10 Jul 1825 Mariner 25MR
17 Dec 1825 Midas 25MI
17 May 1826 Lady Rowena 26LR
23 Jan 1827 Grenada 27G2
2 Feb 1827 Brothers 27B2
6 Aug 1827 Princess Charlotte 27PC
27 Sep 1827 Harmony 27HA
3 Dec 1827 Louisa 27LO
12 Jan 1828 Elizabeth 28EL
10 Oct 1828 Competitor 28CR
12 Nov 1828 City of Edinburgh 28CE
26 Apr 1829 Edward 29ED
9 May 1829 Princess Royal 29PR
3 Aug 1829 Sovereign 29SO
29 Nov 1829 Lucy Davidson 29LD
13 Jan 1830 Asia 30AS
29 Jun 1830 Roslin Castle 30RC
12 Oct 1830 Forth 2 30FO
Of the 2,728 women dispatched, 25 died during the voyage and 8 were relanded before sailing leaving just 2,695 to
arrive in the colony. The basis for these figures comes from Charles Bateson's book "The Convict Ships, 1787 to
1868". However there are discrepancies with the actual ships indents held on microfiche at the National Library in
Canberra; the indent for "Lord Sidmouth" 1823 does not record the woman who died at sea neither does the indent for
"Elizabeth" 1828 record it's two women who died at sea, similarly the indent for "Mary" 1823 does not record the
name of the woman disembarked before sailing. The "Almorah" 1824 indent lists one more name than Bateson, the
"Brothers" 1827 one less, resulting in this database listing 2,724 names in total.
Movement within the colony was strictly controlled and monitored by the colonial authorities and even more so
when the movement was between colonies. Eleven convicts are recorded as being permitted to travel from
Hobart Town to Sydney: Ann Jackson in 1826 via "Albion" permitted to come to Sydney for reasons unknown; Ellen
Partridge in 1827 via "Governor Ready" permitted to come to Sydney, mostly for reasons unknown; Jane Jefferson in
1828 via "Eliza" suffered to come from Hobart Town to accompany Mr W O Kelman; Elizabeth Griffiths in 1825
to accompany the family of Andrew Allan Esq. to Sydney; seven other women - Sarah Fenton, Elizabeth Gatten, Mary
Hayes, Sarah Haynes, Ellen Shreeves, Mary Ann Smith & Elizabeth Worrall - all on ships unknown and all permitted
to come to Sydney for reasons unknown. No doubt there were others whose records have not been discovered.
There were at least nine recorded movements in the opposite direction, the only two with a recorded reasons were
Abby Murphy (per "City of Edinburgh" 1828) who was allowed to proceed to Hobart to join her husband and
Caroline Knight (per "Roslyn Castle" 1830) who was allowed to proceed to Hobart with her husband James Heath.
In this work the information on each convict transport is divided into three sections: first the ship's details, second the
convict indent and third a colonial chronology presenting the fate of each women after landing.
Ship Details
This section details the dates of sailing for, arrival at and departure from Sydney Town as well as the route
sailed, the length of the voyage and the place and date of building the ship. With regard to the crew, the Ship's Master
and Surgeon Superintendent are normally always listed but apart from a few notable exceptions where the names of
the whole crew have been recorded, other individual crew member's names are usually only listed when they have
appeared in colonial documents for whatever reason. Finally any free voyagers are listed, including cabin passengers,
other free arrivals (often the wives and children of male convicts already in the colony) and finally any children
who might have been allowed to accompany their convict mothers sentenced to transportation (when these were
recorded on the indent).
The Route Sailed
Sixteen ships sailed from English ports and eleven from Irish ports. All ships came from the United Kingdom via the
Cape of Good Hope, none via Cape Horn. Ports of call along the way included; Tenereiffe, St Jago, Rio de
Janeiro and Hobart (interestingly in this decade no ship called at Cape Town) although it must be pointed out that 16
ships made a direct voyage to Sydney Cove with no ports of call. The longest voyage (208 days) was that of the
"Providence" in 1822 and the shortest (101 days) was that of the "Louisa" in 1827.
Age and Size
The oldest ship was the "Princess Royal" built in 1794, meaning by the time she arrived in 1829 she was thirty five
years old. The newest ship was the "Forth" built in 1826, but was four years old when she arrived in the colony in
1830 whereas the "Lady Rowena" build in 1825 was only one years old when she arrived in 1826.
The smallest transport, at 320 tons, was the "Lady Rowena" 1826 and the largest, at 536 tons, was the "Asia" 1830. A
rough estimation of just how crowded and cramped these poor women convicts were on the transports can be made
by dividing the tonnage by the number of women on board. Using this calculation the "Edward" 1829 was the most
cramped with just 2.3 tons per woman and the "John Bull" 1821 the least cramped with more than double that
number at 5.8 tons per woman. This of course does not take into consideration the crew, free passengers and the
convicts' children!
Free Arrivals
The female convict transports appear to have been favoured for free people, women in particular, wishing to travel
to the colony. Almost every ship seems to have carried some wives and children of male convicts already in the
colony (some attempt has been made to identify the husbands). Nicholson records for some but by no means all
transports, the number of free persons carried and the number of children allowed to accompany their convict
mothers. Regrettably for most of the children accompanying their convict mothers their Christian names are not
recorded (the ship's indent only listing the number and sometimes the sex of any children), often only being
discovered from other colonial records, most frequently from church registers for daughters who subsequently
married in the colony. Where Nicholson has recorded the number of children of convicts on board, the figures
frequently differ from what the indent records, which in this decade amounted to 357 children.
The sources for this section were: Charles Bateson "The Convict Ships, 1787-1868" and Ian Nicholson
"Shipping Arrivals and Departures Sydney, 1788-1825". The crew and free passengers' details derive mainly
from the Society of Australian Genealogists' "Free Passengers to NSW 1788-1825" and "Free Passengers to NSW
1826-1837".
Convict Indent
This section presents information from the original ship's indent of the convicts onboard. Details listed include: Indent
Number, Surname and any aliases, Christian Name, Age, Literacy, Religion, Marital Status, Native Place, Trade or
Calling, Offence, Date Tried, Where Tried, Sentence and Remarks. Details found in the originals but not reproduced
here include: Standing Number of Convict, Number of Children, Number of Former Convictions, Description
(height, complexion, hair colour, eye colour) & Distinguishing Marks or Scars. Readers interested in these
details are referred to the originals held on microfiche at the National Library in Canberra and elsewhere.
Unfortunately not all ship's indents included this full suite of data: No ship before the arrival of "Almorah" in 1824
recorded the Indent Number; neither "Providence" 1822 nor "Mary Anne" recorded Age; "Providence" did not
record Calling or Date Tried; "Mary Anne" did not record Native Place; no ship before the arrival of "Lady Rowena"
in 1826 recorded Literacy, Religion, Marital Status or Offence; The interesting thing is that the indents of those ships which disembarked a part of their female consignment in
Hobart did record all this data for their Hobart disembarkments, with the exception of "Lord Sidmouth" 1823 and "Mary" 1823 where the opposite was true.
How the women were divided into Hobart Town and Sydney Cove disembarkments cannot be determined from
available records but everything points to it being entirely random.
The provenance of each indent is mixed. It would appear to have been a multi-staged process. Name and Conviction
details seem to have been collected and recorded by the British authorities before the ship sailed, whereas all other
details seem to have been collected at Sydney Cove by colonial authorities before the convicts disembarked.
For instance those relanded or dieing at sea or being too sick to remain onboard often only have their names and
sentencing details recorded but no other information.
Indent Number
This number commences at "one" and runs to the total number of convicts embarked. It is of great assistance in
locating any particular convict on the indent because the indents are ordered; alphabetically, not by name but by
county of trial (more or less), although Scottish counties always followed the English ones, then chronologically
by date of sentencing (more or less). There always seems to be a couple of "last minute" additions on the end of the
indent indicated by the miscellaneous order of county names. The Old Bailey in London is listed under the letter "M"
for Middlesex.
In this decade indent numbers were not recorded until the arrival of the "Almorah" in 1824, however it is a relatively
simply matter to generate them. Unfortunately the indent numbers for the "Midas" 1825 are virtually unreadable and
have been recreated de novo.
Surname and any Aliases
In this decade there were no women whose surname was not recorded. These women tended to be women of colour,
convicted outside of the United Kingdom.
Aliases present a real problem for the married convicts, because the "alias" is obviously the maiden/married name of
the woman but it is never entirely clear which is the former and which the latter. Sometimes the "remarks"
column clarifies the matter by naming the husband but mostly this is not the case. Additionally there seems to be no
consistency in approach; on the one indent sometimes the first surname listed is the maiden name and at other times
vice versa.
Christian Name
Christian names tended to be "Christian" in nature, but a few interesting examples occurred, for example - Sapy
Lovell (per "Louisa" 1827) did not have a Christian name because she was a Gypsey, Sydney Keans (per "Asia" 1830)
did not have a particularly Christian name nor for that matter did Venus Newman (per "Louisa" 1827).Age on Arrival
Recorded ages ranged from 10 to 80. The vast majority of women were in their twenties. The youngest was Catherine
Shae (per "Brothers" 1827) who was recorded as being 10 years old (although one year later she gave her age as 14 to
the 1828 Census). There were thirteen year olds on board "Almorah" 1824, "Midas" 1825, "Competitor" 1828 & "Asia"
1830 and fourteen year olds aboard "Elizabeth" 1828 & "City of Edinburgh" 1828. Poor Catherine Flinn was
transported at the age of 80 (per "Lady Rowena" 1826) possibly the oldest women ever transported to the colony. What
use an eighty year old women would be to the colony is hard to fathom especially since she died just six months
later in the Female Factory Parramatta.
For those ships where the age is not recorded ("Providence" 1822 "Mary Ann" 1822), the age at arrival is calculated from the age given for the 1828 Census.
Literacy
In this decade literacy was not recorded until 1826 with the arrival of the "Lady Rowena". Surprisingly only 33% (one
third) of women were illiterate, 42% could read and 24% could both read and write, although it must be stated
that there was a vast difference between the English and Irish convicts. For instance 56% of the women on the
"Competitor" 1828 & 52% on the "Elizabeth" 1828 both Irish ships, were illiterate. Whereas only 4% of the
women on the "Harmony" 1827 & 10% on the "Louisa" 1827 both English ships, were illiterate and many of these
illiterate women were born in Ireland.
Religion
In this decade religion was not recorded until 1826 with the arrival of the "Lady Rowena". Protestant and Catholic, were
the only religions recorded, although occasionally Jewish convicts were recorded. In total 51% were Catholics and
49% Protestants. Rachael Aaron (per "Mary" 1823), Mary Jones (per 'Grenada" 1825), Hannah Fox (per "Princess
Charlotte" 1827), Sarah Smith (per "Sovereign" 1829) & Julia Dias (per "Roslyn Castle" 1830) were all Jewish, plus
Catherine Walker (per "Almorah" 1824) was a Quaker and Sapy Lovell (per "Louisa" 1827) was a Gypsey.
For those ships arriving before 1826, the religion of the woman has been determined from the 1828 Census, when
recorded.
Marital Status
In this decade marital status was not recorded until 1826 with the arrival of the "Lady Rowena". Over half (57%) of
the women were single, thus fulfilling the hopes of the British government to help populate the new colony by
marrying there, 24% were married and 16% widowed although the percentages on individual ships of course varied.
The "Louisa" 1827 had 42% married women but the "Brothers" 1827 only 18%, the "Roslyn Castle" 1830 had 20%
widowed women but the "Lucy Davidson" 1829 only 7%.
One can't help but wonder if some degree of "coaching" took place on the ships, since it no doubt became known that
a women could be assigned to her husband in the colony, thus avoiding the vagaries of the assignment system,
making stating that one was "married" on the indent a source of future difficulties in the colony. Is it not strange that
widowed women were two thirds as common as married women?
Native Place
The "Mary Anne" 1822 was the only ship not to record Native Place. The origins of the convict women were as follows:
English 37%, Welsh 1%, Scottish 3%, Irish 57%, Non UK native places 1%. There were 24 women in this last
category, mainly from western European countries including; Holland, Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar then north
American countries including; the United States, Canada, Nova Scotia, then the West Indies, Cape of Good Hope, India,
Ceylon and the East Indies as well as six who were "born at sea".
No doubt Left leaning readers will claim this latter group of non UK natives to promote their multicultural agenda
in interpreting Australian history in order to diminish the pivotal and primary role of the United Kingdom in
founding and settling Australia. But at just 1% this is a statistical nonsense. Added to the fact that in all probability
the six born at sea had British heritage as well as those from North America, India and Ceylon as their names amply
suggest, reducing the percentage even more.
Trade or Calling
The "Providence" 1822 was the only ship not to record Trade or Calling this decade. A servant of one sort or another,
farm (dairymaid) or domestic (ladysmaid, housemaid, chambermaid, kitchenmaid, scullarymaid, laundrymaid,
nursemaid, monthlymaid?) was the calling of most of the women.
But some of the women had interesting callings; Mary Day (per "Lucy Davidson" 1829) as a publican and there were
five shopkeepers.Perhaps the more "refined" of the convict women were the two former governesses; Ellen Hampshire (per "Forth"
1830) and Jane Wheatley (per "Brothers" 1824) and the three schoolmistresses; Lester Corcoran (per "Woodman"
1823), Frances O'Connell (per "Mariner" 1825), Mary Sykes (per "Sovereign" 1829). In all probability the wealthier
families in the colony would have been keen to engage their services, provided of course they did not mind having
convicted thieves in their homes!
Mary Ann Crossley (per "Sovereign" 1829), gave no details about her occupation but did supply genealogically
useful information that she was the daughter of Lord Dundas.
As noted poor eighty year old Catherine Finn (per "Lady Rowena" 1826) was incapable of work and three women
were described as "unserviceable"; Ellen Kelly & Anne Murphy both (per "Elizabeth" 1828), Sarah Piper (per Princess
Royal" 1829). Finally, sadly but honestly and no doubt with some degree of resignation, 704 of the women described
their trade simply as "all work".
Offence
In this decade the offence was not recorded until 1825 with the arrival of the "Mariner", the next ship that year "Midas"
did not but all subsequent ships did. The vast majority of the female felons were convicted of what today would
be considered "minor" theft. The biggest categories of stolen items being money, food and clothing.
Other interesting offences included: Mary Ann Crossley and Hannah Goodman both (per "Sovereign" 1829) were
convicted of bigamy, Mary Gray and Catherine Larkins both (per "Brothers" 1827) were convicted of breach of trust,
Mary Dunlevie and Margaret Quinn both (per "Mariner" 1825) for sacrilege, Catherine Saunders (per "Elizabeth"
1828) for arson, Mary Gray (per "Elizabeth" 1828) for kidnapping. Elizabeth Mill (per "Princess Charlotte" 1827) for
stealing a child. Eight women were sentenced for perjury. Only three women were found to have been convicted of
the proverbial "stealing a loaf of bread".Particularly unpleasant crimes, especially for females to commit, were the two women (per "Asia" 1830) ; Catherine
Goodwin and Catherine McCormick, sentenced for accessory to rape and the three women; Eleanor Doughy (per
"Edward" 1829), Mary Malone & Jane Roberts both (per "Forth" 1830) sentenced for assisting at a rape.
People are often surprised and indeed shocked at the minor nature of the crimes for which the convicts were
transported but it must be remembered that if one committed a "major" crime the sentence was not transportation but
death by hanging! There were six females convicted of murder in this decade and there were ten for manslaughter and one on
suspicion of murder. But even here, without the benefit of actually reviewing the trial transcripts, most of these
would have been for infanticide, indeed Alicia Mulcahy (per "Asia" 1830) was recorded as committing
infanticide.
Then again objects can change in value over time. For instance an eighteenth century a handkerchief was often a
work of considerable craftsmanship and artistic endeavour, most unlike the plain piece of cloth of today, perhaps more
akin to our modern iphones in value.
Nowhere is the word prostitution mentioned in the description of their offences however the pseudonym of vagrancy
appears 15 times.When Tried
The "John Bull" 1821 was the only ship not to record When Tried. Most female felons were transported within a
few months of being convicted, they did not have to linger in goal for too long. Even so
there were three women who had served five years by the time of their arrival; Charlotte Scott (per "Lord Sidmouth:
1823, Ellen Dunn (per "Almorah" 1824) and Bridget Fitzpatrick (per "Edward" 1829), the latter two having less than
two years left to serve in the colony of their seven year sentences (Charlotte had a fourteen year sentence).
Where Tried
The women were tried in all four countries of the Kingdom; England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and from
virtually every county of those countries, as well as Guernsey, the Isle of Mann and the Isle of Wight. It has
sometimes been assumed that most convicts were the refuse of the Kingdom's major metropolises (London,
Edinburgh, Dublin) but in fact only a third (35% only) were convicted in those three cities.
Sentence
Sentencing policies followed the established pattern of seven years, fourteen years or life. The vast majority of
sentences were for seven years (76%) followed by fourteen years (11%) and life sentences (12%). Ann
McKenny (per "Roslyn Castle" 1830) received a 21 year sentence, the only example of its kind. The "Lucy Davidson"
of 1820 had the highest number of life sentences (30) but most ships had much less.
It must be said that there seemed to be very little consistency in sentencing. All the murderesses were given life
sentences. The authorities seemed to take a particularly dim view of counterfeiting money ("bad notes", "base coin",
"coining") with most offenders (but not all) receiving a life sentence for this crime. Also "receiving stolen goods"
was considered worse than actual stealing with most receiving a life sentence.
Relanded
For a 'lucky' eight women, they were relanded before the transport sailed. One woman at least, Anne Byrne per "Lady
Rowena" 1826, was 'unlucky' in that she was re-embarked per "Brothers" 1827, it is also possible that Ellen Molloy per
"Asia" 1830" was re-embarked per "Forth" 1830 some months later. This represents 0.3% of women slated for
transportation. The indent for "Mary" 1823 does not record the name of one woman disembarked before sailing.
Died at Sea
A total of 25 women were recorded as dying at sea. This represents just 0.9% of all women transported. The
"Grenada" of 1827 recorded the most deaths with five, although Bateson records only four deaths for the "Grenada"
1827, Nicholson records only eighty landing of the 88 embarked (meaning eight possible deaths at sea) , whilst the
indent records five deaths (and there are colonial records for the remaining 83 women). The names of the two women
who died on board "Elizabeth" 1828 were not recorded.
Poor Mary Byrne (per "Asia" 1830) died whilst the ship was in Sydney Harbour before she could disembark.
Catherine McKenny (per "Mariner" 1825) died in HM Goal Cork before sailing so it is not certain if she should be
listed as a death or not embarked.
Remarks
The remarks mainly consisted of listing any family members who were already in the colony (as convicts mostly)
and it is surprising just how many of the women had these family connections, especially among the Irish.
But other notable remarks included that: Elizabeth Scott (per "Almorah" 1824) was reconvicted per "Caroline"
1833 as Margaret Craig, Catherine Walsh (per "Almorah" 1824) a decent looking woman, Susannah Courtney (per
"Grenada" 1825) originally transported 1818 "Friendship" had escaped from colony in 1823 per "Emerald", Anne Lang (per "Mariner" 1825) was deranged, Hannah Jefferies (per "Midas" 1825) was passionate,
Margaret Varlow (per "Midas" 1825) husband fell at Waterloo, Anne Byrne (per "Lady Rowena" 1826) not embarked
but arrived later (per "Brothers" 1827), Elizabeth Carter (per "Princess Charlotte" 1827) husband Robert Giddins was
on board as carpenters mate, Margaret Henderson (per "Princess Charlotte" 1827) disembarked as subject to fits, Ellen
Kelly (per "Elizabeth" 1828) unserviceable from venereal disease, Elizabeth Sherridan (per "Elizabeth" 1828) sister to
Mrs Reed the blacksmith's wife in Pitt Street, Elizabeth Austin (per "Competitor" 1828) cohabitated with a man
named John Hobcroft, Mary Heffernan (per "City of Edinburgh" 1828) was an idiot, Elizabeth Stapleton (per
"Edward" 1829) was pregnant by William Lamb the turnkey at Cork Depot, Phebe Lawrence (per "Sovereign" 1829)
husband George Lawrence convict at Bermuda, Esther Shaw (per "Sovereign" 1829) received a Royal Pardon 18 Feb
1830, Ann Green (per "Roslyn Castle" 1830) very bad and desirous of marrying Joseph Price one of the crew.
The sources for this section were the "Convicts Indents" micro-fiche held in the National Library Canberra. It has to be
admitted that it is sometimes difficult to read the micro-fiche; for one thing the standard of photocopying leaves a little
to be desired and for another deciphering the penmanship often presents a challenge, especially "3" and "5" and "8",
as a consequence transcription errors have been inevitable.
Colonial Chronology
In this section the life of each women once in the colony is tracked with Muster appearances, Applications for
Permission to Marry, Marriages, Certificates of Freedom, Conditional & Absolute Pardons and Deaths being
recorded. The Chronology mainly focuses on their time whilst in servitude.
Table 2. - Colonial Chronology Codes ------------------------------------ AP=Absolute Pardon CP=Conditional Pardon CF=Certificate of Freedom TL=Ticket of Leave das=died at sea 1822='General Muster & Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822' 1825='General List of New South Wales 1823, 1824, 1825' 1828='Census of New South Wales:November 1828'1837='General Return of Convicts in New South Wales 1837'
c=Birth of a Child d=De Facto Relationship m=Marriage p=application for Permission to marry MB=transferred to Moreton Bay PJ=transferred to New South Wales VDL=transferred to Van Diemens Land R=left the colony CFA='Convict Families that Made Australia' PR='Pioneer Register' al=alias ux=wife of []=age {}=date of death +=year of deathThe 1822 Muster
Only women arriving on the first three ships of the decade would be expected to be included in this muster and all such
women would still be under servitude. Even so only 65% are recorded.The 1825 Muster
This muster is somewhat complicated to analyse because it is a combination of musters taken in 1823,1824 & 1825
with no indication as to which year is being reported. Only women arriving on ships before 1826 would be expected
to be included (although no women from the "Midas" 1825 are included) and all such women would still be under
servitude. With a response rate of only 21% the muster was obviously not conducted with any thoroughness nor
precision.
The 1828 Census
All women arriving on ships before 1829, who were still alive and still in the colony, would be expected to be included
and unlike the musters, free people as well as those in servitude are supposedly included. With an inclusion rate of
78% it is certainly better than any of the musters. One might expect that the three ships arriving in 1828 would be well
represented but this is not the case - the "City of Edinburgh" which arrived in November (the same month as the census)
only had 20% recorded, the "Competitor" arriving in October only had 71% recorded and the "Elizabeth" arriving in
January only had 86% recorded. The two ships with the greatest representation, at 87%, were the "Woodman" of 1823
and the "Brothers" of 1824.
The 1837 Muster
Theoretically none of the women arriving in this decade with seven year sentences would be expected to be found in
this muster, only those arriving after 1823 with fourteen year sentences would be expected to be included and all those
with life sentence should be recorded (both the "Roslyn Castle" and "Forth" of 1830 did record quite a few women with
seven year sentences in this muster). On the other hand deaths and pardons or even departures from the colony would be
expected to reduce the numbers recorded. Even so on average only 36% were recorded with ranges from 82% from
the "Lady Rowena" 1826 to none from the "Lord Sidmouth" 1823 (even allowing for the fact that those whose
surnames commencing with the letter "K" are not listed in contemporary documents for some reason).
For some women it is not clear why they are included in the Muster, Margaret Walker (per "Midas" 1825) received her
certificate of freedom in 1832 yet she is included. Of interest Mary Graham (per "Princess Charlotte" 1827) was
employed at the Kings School Parramatta in 1837.
With all the musters and the census the usual challenge presented itself when trying to identify particular women
with 69 women for example claiming to have arrived aboard ships in which their name is not listed in the 1828
Census; sometimes they were listed under their new married name in the colony (and sometimes not) as well as
those who appeared under an alias.
Applications for Permission to Marry
The Applications for Permission to Marry microfiche held at the National Library in Canberra only commences in
the year 1825 meaning that data is only available for the second half of this decade. The total number of women who
applied to marry was 1,482 (71%) and when this is compared to the number of "eligible" women (i.e. single or
widowed)(73%) this is a very large proportion although certainly some married women did manage to marry
bigamously. It seems the one area where the colonial authorities do appear to have been particularly diligent was in
recording which convicts were married at the time of their arrival in the colony. As can be seen in the Statistics
Section below, 341 (18%) percent of applications were disallowed because either one or both applicants was
already married. There is room to speculate that some degree of "schooling" may have taken place when women were
providing this information on arrival, as it was advantageous to be recorded as "single" or "widow" to avoid the
elimination of any chance of remarriage in the colony and all the "advantages" which any marriage might bestow.
The total number of applications was 1,885 meaning that on average every woman who applied, applied 1.3
times or to put it another way, every third applicant applied more than once. Some women were very persistent in
their applications. Lydia Matthews (per "Sovereign" 1829) applied to marry five men but only married one, Ellen
Smith (per "Roslyn Castle" 1830) applied to marry six but only married one and Margaret Murray (per "Asia" 1830) also applied to marry six men and only married two.
Women who managed to rack up four proposals included: Ellen Murphy (per "Edward" 1829), Mary Morris (per
"Princes Royal" 1829), Mary Ann Taylor (per "Princes Royal" 1829), Margaret Kenny (per "Asia" 1830).
With only 66% of applications leading to a marriage, one can only conclude that when it came to matters of the heart,
the convict women were a fickle lot.Marriages
The total number of marriages conducted whilst the woman was still in servitude (ie requiring government
permission) was 1683. Interestingly 395 (15%) of these took place within the first twelve months of arrival
in the colony. Only 60 (3%) women married a native born colonial lad and only 127 (6%) married a free arrival to
the colony (often a sailor they met on the ship out) but this is hardly surprising given the demographics of the colony
at this time with convict and former convict men being in the vast majority. Of course this data only refers to marriages
undertaken whilst the woman was still in servitude. Some women have marriages recorded after emancipation,
mainly supplied by descendants.
In the early nineteenth century spousal 'death' was the equivalent of twentieth century 'divorce'. Many of the
women married more than once with Mary Connors (per "Mariner" 1825) marrying three times.
Not all deaths were from natural causes. Three women are known to have been murdered by their husbands; Prudence
Lindsey (per "Asia" 1830), Eliza Thompson (per "Sovereign" 1829) and Maria Toomey (per "Lucy Davidson" 1829).
Certificates of Freedom, Conditional & Absolute Pardons
Recording the dates of Certificate of Freedom is a symbolic 'bookending' to the womens' life in servitude, starting
as it did with the date of conviction and sentencing recorded on their ships indents and ending with their certification of
freedom once more. Additionally when no other mentions of the convict have been found it indicates she was still in
the colony at that date. Similar remarks apply to Conditional & Absolute Pardons. Sometimes the date of the
certificate is several years beyond the calculated time of release, the reasons for the delay are unclear, perhaps colonial indiscretions have been added to the original sentence. Finally it must be noted that these certificates are, for many
if not most women, the last colonial record found for them.Deaths
The dates of death of the female felons prove to one of the more difficult genealogical facts to discover. The
indents themselves sometimes record this information, especially if the woman died whilst still under servitude.
Otherwise they have been found in the various colonial church burial registers of the time if occurring before
the year 1840 (the last year of personal extensive research). Beyond that year dates have usually been contributed
by descendants.
To date 460 or (17%) deaths of the female felons of this decade have been found.
The "Princess Royal" 1829 with the most (43%) and "John Bull" 1811 with the least (5%).
The one exception to the general paucity of death details is the "Convict Deaths Register : 1828 - 1879" available on
microfiche at the National Library in Canberra and other locations. This register purportedly records all convict
deaths whilst still under servitude and is the source of the statistics under this topic. For this decade around 225
women died whilst in servitude being around 8% of total arrivals (45 women are recorded as dying in their first year).
As always the percentages change from ship to ship with "Princess Charlotte" 1827 and "Princess Royal" 1829
recording 16% deaths but the "John Bull" 1821 recording only 1%. These figures depend on the thoroughness and
accuracy of the recordings by the colonial authorities and of course they do not take into consideration of deaths prior to
1828 which have been gathered from other sources. Combined with the Deaths at Sea numbers this gives a figure of
around 9% for total deaths whilst still in servitude.
Why Elizabeth Mills, who arrived free per "Mary Ann" 1822, should have her death recorded in the Convict Death
Register is unclear, perhaps the clerk got her confused with her convict husband.
An unexpected finding discovered whilst researching the womens' deaths was that many, if not all, of those who
died at the Sydney Hospital or at the Female Factory in Parramatta where not given a Christian burial. Or if they
were, the fact was not recorded in any of the existing parish burial registers in the colony at the time!
Other Details
These details mostly originate in my previous works; "The Pioneer Register" Series and "Convict Families That
Made Australia" Series, indicated by the abbreviations "PR" and "CFA" respectively.
Departure from the Colony
The one detail which is missing and does not appear to be recorded anywhere in colonial records is; which and
when former convicts returned to the UK at the completion of their sentence, for the very good reason no doubt that
they were free by then and no longer under the all encompassing colonial convict bureaucracy. The local
folklore is that convicts were transported "for the term of her natural life" however this is just not historically
correct. For a start only those convicts receiving a life sentence would be so condemned and even then an absolute
pardon would allow such a convict to leave the colony. It would be so interesting to know just how many female
convicts returned "home".An interesting observation was made in noting that many women for this decade, who had received their Certificate of Freedom prior to the 1828 Census, do not appear in that Census. Either they were a little confused with the Convict
Musters and being free thought that they did not have to attend or they left the colony almost immediately upon
obtaining their freedom.
The sources for this section were: the books 'General Muster & Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822',
'General List of New South Wales 1823, 1824, 1825', 'General Return of Convicts in New South Wales - 1837' all
published by the Australian Society of Genealogists & ABGR, the book 'Census of New South
Wales:November 1828', published by the Library of Australian History, the online database "Convicts Application to
Marry - 1825 to 1851" available on the NSW State Archives & Records website , the online database "Convicts
Index - 1791 to 1873" available from the same website and other personal research.
Composite Index
To facilitate the finding and location of each convict, an alphabetical list, ordered by Surname then by Christian
name, has been created. Once a name has been found, the index indicates upon which ship she arrived and her indent
number for that ship.
The index has just under three thousand names (2,854)(more than the documented number of arrivals) because 133
names of women are included who were found on colonial records (such as muster entries, or applications to
marry, or burial entries etc) and who nominated a certain ship of arrival but who could not be allocated to any
known woman arriving upon said ship. This may have come about as a result of undocumented aliases or marriages,
or misunderstanding of how a name was pronounced (there were many regional accents in the colony) or simple transcription error or just a plain error.
By way of example all the following transciption errors occured in the 1828 Census; BARLOW Elijah recorded as Eliza "Bussorah Merchant" 1828, BEAUMONT Israel recorded as Grace "Prince Regent" 1827, GARDENER Edward recorded as Elizabeth "Eliza" 1822, RANDALL Michael recorded as "Margaret Sesostris" 1825, ROWLEY
George recorded as Emma "Royal George" 1828, SUFFOLK Eli recorded as "Eliza" Bussorah Merchant 1828
O'CONNOR Mary "Mariner" 1825 recorded as "Mermaid", BROWN Elizabeth "Princess Charlotte" 1827 recorded
as "Princess Royal", HALLINS nee GILES Mary "Princess Charlotte" 1827 recorded as "Princess Royal", WILSON
Eleanor "Lord Sidmouth" 1823 recorded as "Mary Ann" 1822.Aliases
To further facilitate the finding of particular convicts, a separate list of all known aliases has been included
totalling 354 in number.Statistics
Convict Indent Data
Data collected and analysed from the Convict Indents include:
Code :Ship Code
Smee :Number of Convicts Transported according to C J Smee
Bateson :Number of Convicts Transported according to Charles Bateson
CHL :Number of Children accompanying their convict mothers
AG-RG :Age range of the convicts transported
D'd-Sea :Number of Convicts who died at sea and ship percentage of such
Relanded :relanded and ship percentage of such
Read&Write:Number of Convicts who could both read and write and ship percentage of suchRead :Number of Convicts who could only read and ship percentage of such
None :Number of Convicts who could neither read nor write and ship percentage of such
Protest' :Number of Convicts who were Protestants and ship percentage of such
Catholi' :Number of Convicts who were Catholics and ship percentage of such
Single :Number of Convicts who were single and ship percentage of such
Married :Number of Convicts who were married and ship percentage of such
Widowed :Number of Convicts who were widowed and ship percentage of such
English :Number of Convicts who were English and ship percentage of such
Welsh :Number of Convicts who were Welsh and ship percentage of such
Scottish :Number of Convicts who were Scottish and ship percentage of such
Irish :Number of Convicts who were Irish and ship percentage of such
Other :Number of Convicts who came from non UK countries and ship percentage of such
OB-DN :Number of Convicts who convicted in either London or Dublin and ship percentage of such
7Years :Number of Convicts who were sentenced to 7 years transportation and ship percentage of such
14Years :Number of Convicts who were sentenced to 14 years transportation and ship percentage of such
Life :Number of Convicts who were sentenced to transportation for life and ship percentage of such
Colonial Chronology Data
Data collected and analysed from the Colonial Chronologies include:
Ship :Ship Code
Lan'd :Number of Convicts Landed in the Colony according to C J Smee
Must'1822 :Number of Convicts who were recorded in the 1822 Muster and ship percentage of such Must'1825 :Number of Convicts who were recorded in the 1825 Muster and ship percentage of such Cens'1828 :Number of Convicts who were recorded in the 1828 Census and ship percentage of such Must'1837 :Number of Convicts who were recorded in the 1837 Muster and ship percentage of suchP/M-I :Number of Individual Convicts who applied for permission to marry and ship percentage of such
P/M-T :Total Number of Applications for permission to marry
P/M-R :Ratio of Individuals to Total Number of Convicts who applied for permission to marry
P/M-D :Number of Convicts whose application for permission to marry was disallowed and ship percentage of such
M-Year1 :Number of Convicts who were married in their first year of transportation and ship percentage of such
M-Total :Number of Convicts who were married and ship percentage of such
M/P% :Percentage of Applications to Marry who actually married
P/M-BC :Number of Convicts who either applied to or actually married a colonial born lad and ship percentage of such
P/M-CF :Number of Convicts who either applied to or actually married a free arrival to the colony and ship percentage of such
D-Year1 :Number of Convicts who died in their first year of transportation
DiS :Number of Convicts who died whilst still in servitude and ship percentage of such
D-Total :Number of Convicts who died and ship percentage of such
UNK :Number of Convicts who appeared in colonial records but could not be found on any ship indent
Return to 1821- 1830
Return to Home Page
This work is copyright. Apart from any fair
dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process
without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.