I have 5 newspaper references to her regarding her apprehension, trial and transportation:
Committed to our gaol.- Sophy Lovell (by the Rev. John Isaacson) charged with stealing a silver tea spoon, the property of Ann Pale, of Freckenham. (Bury and Norwich Post 3 May 1826)
Seven Years’ Transportation. - Sapy Lovell, (a gipsy girl, aged 18) for stealing a silver tea-spoon, the property of Ann Westrup, of Freckenham. (Bury and Norwich Post 21 July 1826, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 21 July 1826 and Ipswich Journal 22 July 1826)
Yesterday (Tuesday) Sapy Lovell, a gypsey girl, aged 19, convicted at the Summer Assizes, 1826, of grand larceny, was removed from our Gaol to the ship Louisa, lying in the River Thames, bound for New South Wales. (Bury and Norwich Post 8 August 1827)
She has such an unusual alias, I have trouble tracking her in English records. Being a gypsy, 'Sapy' could be a shortened pet name of a much longer and rarer first name, or it could be just one phonetic spelling of her name
Also, her Australian colonial records imply she is six years older, b 1802 rather than b 1808. They also have her birthplace as Lincoln but I can't trace her as born in Lincoln. Perhaps she just remembered that as the first place she lived in as a young child?
I'm hoping that Bury court records may give me some new leads to trace her in England? Perhaps she was one of a group of travelling gypsies apprehended for a range of minor offences around the same time/location? She was also pregnant at the time and gave birth to a boy Louis whilst in gaol - maybe there is a reference to this in court/gaol records, with possible mention of other children or a spouse?
