Date of Conviction: 21/03/1812

Age at Conviction: 37

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: 14 Years

Ship Transported on: Emu then Broxbornebury

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 11/11/1812

Arrival Date: 28/07/1814

Biography: Bella stole two pieces of printed calico from bleaching grounds at Walton Le Dale belonging to Charles Swainson, Joseph Baxendale et al, near Preston. Tried and then held at Lancaster Castle, she and the nine other women who were to be transported on the Emu were furnished with clothing were sent south and boarded the Emu, the journey going as planned, until the ship was captured at Cape Verde. The women on this ship were eventually repatriated back to Woolwich where they were then transferred onto the Broxbornebury- making it a two year journey for them and the longest of all female convict voyages.

In New South Wales there are many variations on Bella’s names, however, as Isabella Hyanson, she was in the female factory in 1817, a request of marriage to a John Moore (ship- Admiral Gambier) was made in 1818 as Isabella Hindson (but not carried through) and she can be seen working as a general servant/housekeeper to a Mr Bacon at Sydney in 1822-1825. In 1828 as a now free, 51 year old Isabella Johnson was a housekeeper at Lower Portland Head to Micheal Foley.

It is not clear if the following record is ‘our’ Bella but in 1832, an Isabella Hindson married a Cornelius Sheehan (potentially of ship- Castle Forbes). Cornelius died 1849 and Isabella (aged 84) died 1859 at St Leonards.