Date of Conviction: 29/03/1823

Age at Conviction: 20

Crime Convicted of: Burglary

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

Sentence Length: Life

Ship Transported on: Brothers

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 20/11/1823

Arrival Date: 07/05/1824

Biography: Ellen, along with Mary Partridge senior, Mary Partridge junior, Ellen Partridge and Jane Miller, broke into and burgled Richard Donovan’s house at Liverpool, stealing ten sovereigns, large amounts of clothing and shoes, bedding and other articles. Born at Bickerstaffe near Skelmersdale, Ellen was described as having a fresh complexion with grey eyes, long brown hair, was ‘stiff made’ and was a single woman. She had already been in Kirkdale House of Correction. The death sentence she had received was reprieved on condition of life transportation.

Reformer, Elizabeth Fry recorded that ‘Eleven women from Lancaster (including Ellen) were sent to the ship ‘iron-hooped round their legs and arms, and chained to each other. The complaints of these women were very mournful, they were not allowed to get up or down from the coach without the whole being dragged together; some of them had children to carry, they received no help, or alleviation to their suffering.’

Onboard ship, Ellen suffered from fevers, aches and headaches which the surgeon attributed to typhus and she was treated with purges and blood letting but recovered. She was described as ‘loose but quiet’ by the ship’s surgeon who gave evidence after a supposed mutiny onboard to kill him. Ellen was part of the mutinous group locked in the coal hole chained by the neck for several days. On arrival in New South Wales, Ellen herself had to give evidence in a hearing but the charges against them were eventually dropped.

Ellen was assigned as a housemaid to a James Slade on George Street. She married blacksmith William Perry (ship- Shipley) at Windsor in 1825. In 1828 both Ellen and William were servants to a John Huskham(?) at Newcastle. In January 1829 she was sent to the female factory for three months for disorderly conduct at Newcastle. Ellen absconded from her husband in 1833 causing a newspaper appeal to find her- she was further described as being 5ft 2 with a fresh freckled complexion and was supposed to be at Sydney Stephen’s Farm at ‘Nulladora’. However she was on the 1837 muster with her husband still at Windsor and received a ticket of leave this year. In August 1842, now aged 39, Ellen received a conditional pardon.

William died in 1880 after two years in the Liverpool asylum but sadly I have not found a confirmed record of Ellen’s death.