Date of Conviction: 11/10/1797

Age at Conviction: 38

Crime Convicted of: Unknown (likely theft)

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Quarter Sessions (held at the New Bailey, Salford)

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Britannia

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 01/01/1798

Arrival Date: 18/07/1798

Biography: Betty (Elizabeth) was sent as part of a group of seven convicts from Salford to Lancaster Castle. Two petitions were sent on her behalf to try and seek mercy but to no avail. A further letter was sent to the Sheriff of Lancaster requesting she and other convict women be provided with two spare shifts, two dozen pairs of stockings, two dozen handkerchiefs and a pair of shoes before their sailing and in December 1797, Betty and nine other women left Lancaster to be taken to the Britannia ship in the south at a cost of just over £12 per woman (about £540 in today’s money).

Soon after arrival in 1799, Betty co-habited with Corporal Thomas Tollis (arrived as soldier aboard ship- Ganges) and they had a daughter, Elizabeth in August, baptised at St Philips, Sydney and lived together at least until 1806, by which time Betty was free. By 1812, Thomas married and began a new family. It is not yet clear what happened to Betty, she is not the incorrectly cited Elizabeth Atkins, wife of Richard Atkins who died in 1809.