Harriet Williams Convict. Ship Cadet

[vhowie]

Hi, I have posted this query on the Stafford English Board and have been advised to post on the Australian Board. I do have a lot of information about Harriet Williams already. She arrived on the convict ship Cadet in January 1848. I have her convict records, marriage record, birth records for her children. Gaps are after she left the probation gang on the Anson, and when she married John Henry Wilson on the 11/9/1849. also where she would have met her husband John Henry Wilson. If she was still a convict where would they have spent their married life together until she was issued a ticket of freedom on the 23/12/51.
Query on posted on Stafford  English Board
I'm trying to gather information on the life of Harriet Williams convicted on the 9/1/1847 at Stafford Quarter Sessions for stealing from William Dalton at Bilston. She was sentenced to transportation for 7 years to VDL (Tasmania) Australia. The ship Cadet sailed from London on 4/9/47 and arrived in Van Diemen's land on the 2/1/1848. Where would I find the full trial transcript and where would Harriet have spent the time between being sentenced in January 1847 and sailing on the Cadet in September 1847? Any help would be appreciated.

[mollipops1]

It is possible Harriet was placed at a Female Factory and met her husband-to-be there - women were a scarcity in the colony...or that she was initially a domestic servant for him or his family. The Anson was used as a hiring depot.

"From 1843 to 1849, the female convicts were sent on arrival to the Anson, a penitentiary housed in a converted naval ship moored in the Derwent River, for a six-month training period in domestic skills. The women were then eligible to become probation passholders and could be employed privately, usually as domestic servants. The probation pass was linked to conduct and could be revoked for serious breaches; offenders were sent to a House of Correction (or Female Factory) for a period of 'punishment, employment and reformation'. A ticket-of-leave was granted at the satisfactory completion of the probation passholder stage. This was followed by the final stage, the granting of a pardon, either conditional or absolute."
From http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/F/Female%20convicts.htm

Have you seen http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/

[Dundee]

Unfortunately Harriet's conduct record is very sparse.  Normally in the 'remarks' column it would be noted who she was assigned to work for, but after her marriage she would certainly have been assigned to her husband as he was a free man and they would have lived in the home he provided in Harrington Street.

The 1849 muster shows that she was hired by T. WALKER (?) at Hobart, and if John WILSON was working as a butcher in Hobart then she would have just met him in the usual way that people meet - probably at the pub 

If she was still a convict where would they have spent their married life together until she was issued a ticket of freedom on the 23/12/51.

It was a ticket of leave that she received in 1851, she was not free until January 1854.  This is a handy guide:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/res-11.html

Debra 

[TasTyger]

Hi vhowie ,

Do you have details of her life after the death of John Wilson when she moved to Victoria?? Just noting that there are a couple of trees on Ancestry and also a researcher in the Female Convict Research Group who seem to have a fair amount of information. Not any detailed info about he life in Tasmania but the span of her entire life...

Cheers,

Peter

[vhowie]

Hi Peter, Yes I do have the information from the Ancestry Family Tree. My tree is one of them. The gaps in Harriet's life are where she spent time after sentencing and her life in Tasmania before she travelled to the Goldfields. Such an interesting woman.

[Yonks Ago]

You may have this index..very good on Tasmania Convicts..

https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=harriet&qu=williams

If you have her conviction date google her name/place and date something may come up..also News papers of that area.

cheers
Yonks

[MaxD]

You may be able to get a short sub to FindMyPast.   On 6 Feb 1847 she was ordered to be sent, as was normal, at that time, from Stafford (where she would have been in the local nick) to Millbank prison in London to await transportation. See
http://vcp.e2bn.org/justice/page11382-sentencing-to-departure-prison-hulks-convict-gaols.html

She arrived there on 15 Feb 1847.   she On 20 August she and another 169 female prisoners were ordered to be conveyed to the "Cadet" at Woolwich.  The record notes she had a previous conviction for stealing "wearing apparel".  Strangely, I find no newspaper report of the trial.

maxD

[MaxD]

V Howie - have you got what you were looking for?

maxD

[vhowie]

Hi Max I have some of what I was looking for. I cannot find the reference you have written.
She arrived there on 15 Feb 1847.   she On 20 August she and another 169 female prisoners were ordered to be conveyed to the "Cadet" at Woolwich. 
This is what I was wanting however I need the reference for an assignment.
Sorry I have not replied before have been busy writing another story for the course.
I am doing Writing Family History through the University of Tasmania. Very Interesting.
Thank you for all your help. I would like the reference if you have time . I have not found these details on her convict papers.  Regards Howie.