Date of Conviction: 23/03/1816

Age at Conviction: 29

Crime Convicted of: Coining

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Assizes (held at Lancaster Castle)

Sentence Length: Life

Ship Transported on: Lord Melville

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 29/08/1816

Arrival Date: 24/02/1817

Biography: Jane had a death sentence reprieved for ‘traitorously colouring’ . She had forged two base coins to look like sixpences along with her husband Peter at Liverpool, who uttered them. Lancaster Castle’s surgeon would not certify Jane as fit to travel as she was close to giving birth when the removal order came in July but a month later, after she had given birth an order came to take her to join the other women at Woolwich. She left the castle with her child on the 9th August accompanied by a turnkey.

She was reunited with her husband (ship- William Bensley) in Parramatta after his arrival. Originally from Glasgow, she was described as 4ft 10, pale with dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a scar on her upper lip. She was a servant in NSW. Jane received a ticket of leave in 1829 then a conditional pardon in 1838.