Date of Conviction: 18/04/1825

Age at Conviction: 19

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: Jemima had stolen money along with Mary Ann Thacker from a Jonathan Hayton at Manchester. Jemima had been born at Liverpool and lived on Red Cross Street there but was now living in Manchester. A petition was written by friends of Mary Ann claiming Jemima was the principal of the theft and had led Mary Ann astray. They said Jemima had led Jonathan to a public house, then a house of ‘ill-fame’ before turning him over to men there who robbed him of £2 11 shillings.

She was described as a single woman, 5ft 1 tall with grey eyes, brown/fair hair, a sallow complexion, two large front teeth and was a little pitted from smallpox. Whilst in Lancaster Castle jail she had been bled several times in both arms. Jemima was sent to Millbank jail in London, arriving on the 8th July but died on the 19th February the following year.

Jemima’s death is a confusing and conflicting one. At the inquest the surgeon said soon after her 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 (had previously stated she was single) two years earlier and she had been permanently in the infirmary since her arrival. A witness was Mary Adlard who described how she had come with Jemima from Lancaster and during the journey they had bought and shared numerous bottles of rum, purchased on their behalf by the guards. Jemima was already spitting blood by the time the carriage reached Preston. Mary stated she recognised Jemima was addicted to alcohol.

Strangely though, 18 months later, there are letters appealing for Jemima (with all the same criminal background details) 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.