Date of Conviction: 21/07/1823

Age at Conviction: 16

Crime Convicted of: Receiving Stolen Goods

Court Convicted at: Liverpool Borough Quarter Sessions (held at the Town Hall, Liverpool)

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Brothers

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

Departure Date: 20/11/1823

Arrival Date: 15/04/1824

Biography: Ellen, her mother Mary and older sister, also Mary, were all charged with burgling Richard Donovan’s house at Liverpool, stealing 10 sovereigns, large amounts of clothing and shoes, bedding and other articles along with Jane Miller and Ellen Meadows. Mary senior and Mary junior were both found guilty- the senior was sentenced to death, commuted to life transportation and junior- seven years but Ellen was acquitted and left to return to Liverpool where her older brother John remained.

Just four months later, Ellen was convicted at Liverpool Borough Quarter Sessions of theft of clothing with a group of other young people including her brother John and was sent to Lancaster Castle, reuniting with her mother and sister in jail. There a description of her was taken, she was born at Liverpool, had a pale complexion, dark grey eyes, dark hair, a cut on forehead, two moles on neck and was a single woman. A further jail report describes her as ‘indifferent’ whilst awaiting transportation. Ellen and her sister were to be transported first, their mother at 52 was probably unlikely to have been transported due to her age but personally asked to be sent (presumably to be with her daughters) and followed the next year. John, her brother, was sent to the hulk ‘Captivity’ and after five years, was eventually granted a free pardon in 1828.

Elizabeth Fry recorded that the Lancaster women (including Ellen and Mary) arrived at the ships chained together with iron hoops around their arms and legs which required all to move at once if they needed to get up or down). Whilst at sea, Ellen’s sister Mary, believing themselves separated forever from their mother was recorded slowly giving up through depression and existing health conditions and died at sea. Ellen, was described as ‘a girl of different’ habits by the ship’s surgeon, she was not expected to pine away from grief unlike her sister who had been very close to their mother.

In Tasmania, Ellen was assigned to Thomas Wells and his wife at Allanvale. In December 1825, Ellen had gained word that her mother Mary had arrived in New South Wales and was at Newcastle and received permission to go and join her there. The Wells however, decided they could not spare her but finally relented in January 1827 and in August 1827, Ellen finally sailed on the ‘Governor Ready’ to join her mother at the Hunter’s River who was assigned to Commander William Ogilvie. Ellen also went into service with the Ogilvies. The following year the 1828 census shows Ellen at the Ogilivies and her mother now in service in Camden. Ellen held a ticket of leave.

Ellen Married William Simpson (ship- Speke) at Merton estate, Denman (belonging to the Ogilvies) in October 1829. The following year in 1830 she was free by servitude and they had a son, Thomas. In 1831 Ellen was rewarded with £1 15 shillings by the Ladies’ Committee of the Female Factory for having completed three years service with Mrs Ogilvie and she received her certificate of freedom. Over the next fifteen years, the couple had a further seven children as they moved to Wollombi then Jerrys Plains, also in the Hunter Valley, where they ran a shop and later a pub. Mary senior lived and worked with them and passed away in 1851, aged 76. Three years later in August 1854, Ellen and William were in court, accused of robbing a customer of his money and possessions. The case fell through when the defence was revealed to have been drinking heavily for the week in their inn. Ellen passed away at home at the Plough Inn aged 47 just a few months after in December that year ‘after a long and painful illness of two months duration’. She was possibly buried in Jerrys Plains Old Anglican Cemetery.