The Convict Trail II

Eliza Rose.

My assignment (with a bit more added):

On the 4th of August 1842 the ship Waverley left Dublin with 149 convicted women on board bound for Van Diemen’s Land. 

The previous year, 1841, Governor Franklin had complained about the wretched state of the female Irish convicts on their arrival to Van Diemen’s Land. He also complained about the 30 young children aboard the MaryAnne who had to be admitted to the orphanage at a cost to the government of £10 a year.[1]

 Perhaps his complaints had been heeded, as the Waverley’s Surgeon Mr Samuel Mackey reported that all 149 women arrived in a clean and healthy state with no deaths on the voyage, and two births. He attributed the healthiness of the prisoners to the Water Closets and berths being kept clean and ventilated, fortunate fine weather during the voyage and the prisoners and children on deck every day from 9 o’clock in the morning till 6 o’clock in the evening.[2]

Eliza Rose, my ggg grandmother was one of these women. Eliza, a widow, had been charged with larceny in Carlow, Ireland on the 5^th of April 1842. [3]From 1836 a depot had been provided for the female convicts in Dublin, so it was here in the Grange Gorman Female depot in Dublin that Eliza spent four months until her transportation. [4]

Widowed Eliza had three children. Perhaps it was these difficult circumstances that had led her to shoplift several times.

hubpages.com/education/Grangegorman-Female-Penitentiary-Stoneybatter-Dublin-7-female-convicts-transportation-to-Australia

Grangegorman Prison, Dublin

 I’m fascinated how we love to make connections. You see it on ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ all the time. The famous guest looks back and discovers a connection. They discover an ancestor who was in theatre, was artistic, or something else that reaching back through time connects them.  Is it real genetic fabric, or is it conformation bias, I don’t know, but when I discovered Eliza stole twelve yards of calico, I was excited. A woman after my own heart. 

It probably had nothing what so ever to do with the fabric. She was probably desperate to feed her children and could resell the calico.

Upon arrival registers and reports were made and the equivalent of today’s mug shot was recorded detailing physical characteristics. Eliza’s description list states she was a short woman, 4/9”, age 24, fresh faced with very dark brown hair, black eyebrows, dark blue eyes and thick lips. She stuttered and had a scar in her forehead.[5]

Eliza’s conduct record states she was transported for Larceny. Gaol Report, ‘well behaved widow’. She stated her offence, Shoplifting 2 or 3 times. ‘Quiet and well behaved’. [6]

Eliza’s Indent record states she had only one child with her on the journey.[7] There was no definite policy on the transportation of children at the time, but outcomes followed were usually the ones that were cheapest for the government, and transportation of children with their mothers was the cheaper option.[8] Eliza’s children were admitted to an orphanage while their mother served her sentence. Emily Rose, presumably the child listed as accompanying Eliza on the voyage, was admitted to the Queen’s Orphan School on the 20^th December 1842 at age 4 years, five days after arrival of the Waverley. Life at the orphanage in New Town was bleak. It was effectively a prison, with the crime either being born to a convict or the loss of a parent. Much like the convict stain, there was a stigma attached to being in the Orphanage. Children were abused, malnourished and treated badly and deaths common. The years 1841-1844 were particularly bad, with many deaths recorded. [9]

                         Queens Orphan Asylum New Town, 1863, courtesy of Tasmanian Images: Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office

 Eliza had three children, but with only one documented as accompanying her on the Waverley, the records of herother children are a little confusing. Her son James was admitted to the Orphanage in 1841. Considering Eliza with the Waverley arrived in 1842, James’ childhood is unknown. Her other daughter Amelia also spent time at the Orphanage, admitted in 1846 at age six, her whereabouts during the previous four years, also unclear.[10]

Eliza was reprimanded for disorderly conduct in Liverpool St in December 1843. By June the following year she was marked as 3 Class. However, announcements from the Comptroller-General’s Office, December 21, 1844 were pleased to grant tickets-of-leave to ninety-five convicts, including Eliza. [11]

 

These often were granted before the sentence end, as convicts with a ticket could then earn their own money and become less strain on the Government’s purse. [12]

On the 1^st September 1845, Eliza’s conduct record states her being in bed with a T. (ticket) of Leave man and she was sentenced to two months of hard labour at the Cascades Female Factory. Her son Charles was born at the Female Factory two months later, on 1^st November 1845. [13]

Charles must have stayed with his mother as there is no record of him at the Orphanage. Presumably Eliza stayed out of trouble over the next few years as her other children survived their Orphanage years and were released to her. Convict John Williams and Eliza applied for marriage permission twice in 1849 but it was refused both times.[14]

Eliza was granted her certificate of freedom on 13^th September 1852, almost ten years after her arrival, and finally in November 1852, John and Eliza were married at the “light on the hill” church, St Georges.

This church sits on the highest point of Battery Point and is also known as the mariner’s church. Appropriately, John was a shipwright.  John Williams was 49 and Eliza an understated 30. [15]

Watercolour by henry Grant Lloyd, 1848
Digitised item from: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office

 Presumably their prospects were now better than ever, and they were happy to be building a new life for themselves in their antipodean home. They registered the birth of their first child, a male, in August 1853. John and Eliza were then living at Stoney Steps, a stone’s throw from the Female Factory, quite a way out of the town of Hobart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                       View from Stoney Steps.                     National Library of Australia   nla.pic-an8368182-v

Sadly, after all the high-risk ordeals she had endured, Eliza died twenty days later. Cause of death was listed as influenza, but almost certainly her recent childbirth would have contributed to her death.[16] Another twenty days later their baby, now named Samuel Peter died too.[17]

Eliza’s short life left her legacy in her children and grandchildren who settled in the Huon Valley. Who raised Eliza’s children isn’t known. Once James and Emily left the Orphanage, I’ve found no records of them.  Amelia married convict Andrew Lumsden. Her surname had by then become Williams, perhaps her stepfather raised her. Perhaps he remarried. She and Andrew had at least six children. Charles Rose married Elizabeth Lovell had at least twelve children.  [18]  Charles was my maternal grandmother’s grandfather.

I visited Stoney Steps in Hobart. Now well and truly encompassed by the city, it is a tiny little lane at the end of Davey Street with a fabulous view. An old sandstone cottage on the left could easily have been where Eliza lived and died, or perhaps there was an old house up the old stone wall and steps at number 3.

Eliza's descendants populated and built the colony, started businesses, planted fields of apples and sent their sons and grandsons back to the other side of the world to defend their country. They pushed their convict forebears to the back of the closet and conveniently denied them.

Our UTas lecturer recommended a trip back to Ireland if any students had Irish ancestors. Hmmm, I must do that.

---

[1] “Sources in the National Archives for research into the transportation of Irish convicts to Aus 1791-1853”Rena Lohan, Archivist, Nat Archives Journal of the Irish Society, Spring 1996

[2] Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record>catid=5039006&catln=6

[3] search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON40-1-8,244,225,F,60 accessed 10 May 2018

[4] itsfilemaker2.its.utas.edu.au/fmi/webd#Female_Convicts_in_VDL_database accessed 15 May 2018

[5] Linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/all/search/results?qu=eliza&qu=rose

[6] Search.archives.tas.gov

[7] Linc tas names search convicts

[8] Convict Lives: Women at Cascades female factory/Female Convicts Research Centre Convict Women’s press 2012

[9] www.orphanschool.org.au/suffer.php

[10] www.orphanschool.org.au/listorphans.php

[11] Trove.nla.gov.au Colonial Times 28 December 1844 news article8755874

[12] Colonial Times28Dec1844 nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8755874

[13] www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/lists/ChildrenUnderSentence.pdf

[14]linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=eliza&qu=rose&qf=NI_INDEX%09Record+type%09Marriage+Permissions%09Marriage+Permissions accessed 5 May 2018

[15] linc tas name search marriages

[16] linc tas name search deaths

[17] linc tas.name search deaths

[18] linc tas name search marriages/births

The Convict Trail. Part I

Eight weeks ago I knew I had one convict ancestor, so I happily enrolled in the UTas Convict unit knowing I'd have someone to research.
I pulled out my unorganised records and found the little information I had on him. Martin Cupit, my maternal Grandmother's grandfather. On scanning my records, I spy a mention that her (my grandmother) other grandfather was born at the Cascade Female Factory. Presumably this means his mother was a convict and it starts me on my search for his mother, Eliza Rose.

Just to put her in a little context, Eliza was one of the 12,500 female convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1803 to 1853. Approx half of these women were Irish.

These women were tried in Ireland and shipped off to the other side of the world, often with one or two children in tow. Once docked in Hobart, the women were disembarked and they were trekked on foot, early in the morning ( to avoid mixing with the respectable locals) the few miles to the Female Factory, which was situated quite nicely out of town under the shadow of the mountain by the rivulet. Here they were processed, set to work and had their children taken from them. The children were sent to the Queen's orphanage in New Town. For many, it would be unlikely they would ever be reunited.

                                                            iccs.arts.utas.edu.au/colonial/old_caia_site/femalefactory.html

For many Tasmanians, like me, its difficult to remove yourself from the sterotype and almost caricature of the convict. We grew up in the era when the convict stain was lifting from the fabric of our families' stories. We would pull the dirty linen from the closet and wear it as a bit of a badge of honour to state we had a convict in our past, but having very little understanding of what this really meant.

                                      Convicts in New Holland 1793  Wikipedia convicts in Australia

For a start, our fixation was often with the crime they committed. Seemingly menial crimes, like stealing an egg or a potato. In reality, the crime was irrelevant. Basically it was a deal. Their government wanted to get rid of a problem- horrific social conditions, starvation, poverty and the human cost that comes with this; our government wanted slave labour to build the new colony and consequently women to redress the gender imbalance that this virtual slave trade created.

Back to Eliza. Eliza arrived in Hobart on 15 December 1842 on the Waverley. On processing and the beginning of her record, it states she had one child with her. Five days later that child, Emily, age 4 is admitted to the Orphanage. I can't imagine the horror and heartbreak of saying goodbye to your child in such a way. And for the children, the trauma of maternal deprivation and subsequent institutionalization in such a dreadful place as this.

                                                                                                                                        linc tas

"There were 463 children at the institution, of whom 411 were the children of convicts and seven were Aboriginal. Reports indicate that conditions within the school were harsh: the buildings were sparsely furnished and cold; food was often in short supply; and many of those responsible for caring for the children treated them harshly. Epidemics of scarlet fever, measles , whooping cough and scarletina exacted a heavy toll amoung the children in the Orphan School."

Orphan School                     source ABC.net.au

Eliza had three children. I cannot unravel their stories. James Rose, 3yrs 6 mnths,  was admitted to the Orphanage on 17th August 1841 and discharged 13 December 1841. Considering Eliza arrived in 1842, this is confusing. Amelia Rose, 6 yrs, was admitted 3 March 1846 and discharged 27 July 1847. Emily Rose was discharged 24 April 1845. Records state all three were discharged to their mother. Obviously the children all had different fates, I can only hope they all ended up back with their mother at some stage.

Eliza was probably in some sort of service when she conceived her fourth child. The father's identity and the circumstances can never be known. Her record shows a few misdemeanors (more in Part II ), but back to the female factory for her to have her baby. After her final punishment of the crime of 'getting pregnant' she was a Class 3 inmate, the worst, and was sentenced to heavy labour, the bleakest corner of the Factory where the solitary cells and the wash yard were placed. The women washed and ironed for themselves, the staff and the citizens of Hobart. This meant carting water, heating it, scrubbing the heavy clothes, drying and heating and handling the heavy irons. How they dried the clothes through winter is a mystery.

                                                                                                                  female factory.org.au

The Factory is a fascinating place to visit. The day I went was sunny but cold. I wasn't sure where it was and I ended up following a rubbish truck. This was my first clue that I was in the right place and the history of the factory. Situated at the Hobart Tip, indicative of the attitude of the then society's wishes as to how to deal with these women. They were the lowest of the low and its taken many years to lift the social amnesia and banishment of these women from our memories and stories. Not only were they banished from their homeland, but then banished from their families stories and memory. These women were the mothers and founders of thousands and thousands of Tasmanians and Australians who built our heritage. The site of the factory had been forgotten and gradually degraded over the decades until it was saved from complete demolition in the 1960's by the National Council of Women of Tas. It had been the "ultimate act of erasing the suffering of convict women from the historical record" to quote Christina Henri.
The death of 1148 babies between 1829-1856 who are buried somewhere under a road outside the factory, inspired Christina Henri to start her baby bonnet project which grew into the Roses from the Heart project which aims to commemorate every convict woman with a replica bonnet.

Needless to say, now I know more of Eliza's life, I will be making her a bonnet.


                                      .
                                                                                               a sea of bonnets: Sew Make Believe.wordpress.com
 References:
linc tas names search/convicts
Female Convicts Research Centre Inc
Friends of the Orphan School    orphanschool.org.au
Christina Henri. Redeeming Memories a visual investigation into the lives of convict women