Date of Conviction: 26/03/1836

Age at Conviction: 46

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: Life

Ship Transported on: Remained in England

Where Arrived: n/a

Departure Date: n/a

Arrival Date: n/a

Biography: Alice had stolen an iron pan with lid from a doorstep in a yard off Penny Street, Lancaster before pawning it at John Thompson’s shop. Having been convicted of stealing a copper kettle and imprisoned in Lancaster Castle just the year before, she received an automatic life sentence of transportation.

However, perhaps due to her age and the slowing down of female convicts being sent to Australia, Alice was never sent. Her name appears on the manifest for the Elizabeth but is crossed out along with several other names. In October 1839, a petition decided that Alice was unfit for transportation and on the 21st May 1840 she was given a free pardon. The gaol report on Alice said she had been ‘remarkably correct and satisfactory’ and she was released.

Despite escaping transportation, Alice didn’t mend her ways and in 1842, now aged 52, described in the Lancaster Gazette as ‘an old offender’, ‘incorrigible’ and ‘wicked and drunken’ she received another 12 month term of imprisonment for stealing clothing from the house where she had been employed as housekeeper.

Although its not possible to say with certainty, a Alice Jenkinson in her 60s died in Lancaster in February 1846 and was buried in St Mary’s churchyard.