Date of Conviction: 07/01/1806 and 21/03/1807

Age at Conviction: 19 and 21

Crime Convicted of: Theft from a Shop and Returning From Transportation

Court Convicted at: Liverpool Borough Quarter Sessions (held at the Town Hall, Liverpool) and Lancaster Assizes (held at Lancaster Castle)

Sentence Length: 7 Years and then Life

Ship Transported on: Aeolus

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 02/07/1808

Arrival Date: 26/01/1809

Biography: Ann was found ‘at large’ at Manchester in December 1806 before expiration of her sentence; she had originally been convicted of theft of 20 yards of cotton from a shop at Liverpool in January 1806 before escaping. She was retried at Lancaster Assizes following capture where she received a death sentence which was reprieved to a life sentence.

Originally from Shropshire; she was described as 5ft 7, with a fair complexion, light brown hair and eyes.

Ann married Thomas Smart, a shoemaker, originally from Bath, who had been tried with Margaret Gill at Lancaster Assizes on the same day as her and transported in the same fleet with (Admiral Gambier). They had four children (two boys and two girls). Ann seems to have had her original sentence upheld in Australia as all records show 7 years not life! She got her certificate of freedom along with Thomas in April 1814. She received a two weeks sentence in the county jail in November 1820.

In 1822, the family were living at Baulkham Hills and in 1828 can be found living in Pitt Street in central Sydney.

Ann’s husband Thomas died in 1849 and Ann died the following year aged 65 from a cold, on the 31 July 1850 at Kent Street and was buried 2 August at Camperdown cemetery along with her husband. A very simple death notice was placed in the newspaper. Her eldest son Thomas would go on to become a very successful businessman magistrate, politician and government minister and her daughter Zenobia too rose above her humble beginnings marrying into a prominent Congregational ministering family.