Date of Conviction: 16/03/1829

Age at Conviction: 19

Crime Convicted of: Receiving Stolen Goods

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

Sentence Length: 14 Years

Ship Transported on: Lady of the Lake

Where Arrived: Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)

Departure Date: 06/06/1829

Arrival Date: 01/11/1829

Biography: Catherine, a single woman, had received a stolen watch and spoons from three young men following a burglary they had committed at Prescot. The newspapers reported: ‘the hardened offender dropped a curtsy and impudently said “thank you my lord”‘.

Upon arrival, Catherine’s jail report states she was part of a gang and had already served numerous sentences for theft. She was described as ‘very violent’. Physically, she was 5ft 4, a native of Liverpool, a dark complexion, dark brown hair and eyebrows, a protruding forehead, a medium-large nose, grey eyes and a small mouth. She was tattooed with the initials ‘J.B.H.S’ above her left inner elbow joint.

Catherine has the most extensive Australian criminal conduct record of any of the Lancastrian women and her misconducts and further crimes cover three full pages. From arrival onwards she absolutely refused to modify her behaviour in any way and the decades are full of continuous charges of impudence, disobedience, refusal to work, drunkenness, absence, running away and assault. She was moved between employers, towns, female factories, houses of correction, was put on bread and water, solitary confinement, hard labour and even in an iron collar. At times it was suggested that she should be sent to the male house of correction (though this was never carried out) and she had her 14 years extended by another year. A correction in the conduct record states that one of the punishments dished out to her was illegal (a double hard labour sentence). On one occasion she refused to work unless she was allowed to smoke.

Catherine eventually gained her freedom in 1847 and in this year, now aged about 37, she married sawyer, Robert Curtis (ship- Asia). In 1852 they had bought a parcel of land on Adelaide Street in Hobart which three years later they sold for considerably more. The couple left Tasmania for Melbourne in February 1852 aboard the ship Margaret Brock along with two children (who may have been either of the couple’s from previous, unrecorded relationships).

After this time, no more is recorded of Catherine and in 1874 Robert was admitted to the Liverpool Asylum for the Infirm & Destitute in New South Wales but left after five months.