Date of Conviction: 18/04/1825

Age at Conviction: 27

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: 7 years

Ship Transported on: Remained in England

Where Arrived: N/A

Departure Date: N/A

Arrival Date: N/A

Biography: Mary stole money at Manchester, the property of John Fielding. She was born at Hull and described as a married hawker with one child, 5ft 4 1/2 inches with grey eyes, a dark complexion, dark hair and a tattoo on her left hand with the initials ‘IWI,GTROWT’. She had previously been jailed in Yorkshire. She was sent to Millbank jail in London in July 1825 and died there the following year on the 19th February 1826.

The official inquest and newspaper report details which followed were both confusing and conflicting; they mix up Mary with Jemima Davies, who was convicted and travelled to London with Mary and who provided a witness statement at the inquest. She said during the journey from Lancaster to London she had shared numerous bottles of rum with Mary, bought for them by their transporters. At the inquest the surgeon said soon after her (Mary’s) arrival from Lancaster, she had been vomiting blood, which continued intermittently over the next few months before increasing in frequency. He stated her stomach was diseased and she claimed to have been kicked by her husband two years earlier and she had been permanently in the infirmary since her arrival. Mary was already spitting blood by the time the carriage reached Preston. Jemima stated she recognised Mary was addicted to alcohol. She (Jemima) was described by the newspapers, as ‘clean and healthy looking in the extreme’. In all cases though, their names had been switched over.

28 year old Mary was buried (under the correct name) in Millbank Penitentiary graveyard on the 23rd February 1826, four days after her death. 18 months later, there are letters appealing for Jemima to be pardoned on medical grounds, stating that she has had severe epilepsy since birth and cannot be left alone for a moment and has parents willing to take her back. This pardon was granted in October 1827.