Date of Conviction: 21/01/1795

Age at Conviction: 45

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Indispensable

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 01/10/1795

Arrival Date: 30/04/1796

Biography: Sarah, the wife of John Hughes of Ardwick, Manchester had stolen clothing.

In NSW, she was quickly remarried to Daniel Wellings (also written as Wellins, Wheeling, Wallings, Willings and possibly Whaling) (ship- Royal Admiral) at St John’s, Parramatta where she signed her name with an X.

Sarah was free by servitude by 1802 and claimed her certificate of freedom in February 1811.

In 1817, she is listed simply as a settler’s wife but in 1818, as a shopkeeper. Interestingly, by 1820 and 1821, it states she has left the colony but in 1825 she is back on the settlers lists as wife of D Wheelings, a basketmaker living on a farm at Bringelly. A newspaper account from 1819 recalls Daniel killing a large diamond back snake when he was collecting materials in the woods. He showed the snake to the governor who promised him a memorial which he later wrote to apply for, mentioning his age (73) and his wife who he has supported all these years. Incredibly both Sarah and Daniel are still going strong on the 1828 census, now back at Parramatta. Sarah is listed as age 79 and Daniel 82. The many variations the couple have of their surnames makes finding death records tricky, however, there there is a record of a 98 year old Sarah Whaling passing away at Windsor in 1844 and a 102 year old Daniel Whaling passing again at Windsor in 1846. If so, this would make Sarah the oldest lived of all the Lancastrian female convicts.