Date of Conviction: 23/03/1816

Age at Conviction: 28

Crime Convicted of: Uttering

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

Sentence Length: 14 Years

Ship Transported on: Lord Melville

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 29/08/1816

Arrival Date: 24/02/1817

Biography: Sarah (officially Sally), from Bolton, had uttered numerous forged £2 notes to many different people. She was held in the castle along with her father Anthony who she had been convicted with and who was sent to the hulks just before her and sailed two weeks after her (ship- Sir William Bensley). Along with Margaret Pollitt and Susan Brown– the women planned an escape attempt through the roof of the dungeon tower- the plan was quickly thwarted when Sarah confessed to the Governor and Susan was found with numerous escape tools on her person. They left the castle for Sheerness on the 8th July.

On arrival she was sent to work for ‘Irish rebel’ Stephen Murphy and his wife Alice Schofield (also a Lancastrian convict) at their pub, the St Patrick, on Gloucester Street, until Murphy died the following year. By 1819 she had been sent to Newcastle penal colony and in 1820 and 21, she was in the female factory. To date I have not found further records of Sarah but her father went on to be a publican- running the Weavers’ Arms on the Liverpool Road, taking over the business after the suspected murder and later drowning of the previous owners.