Date of Conviction: 17/01/1816

Age at Conviction: 30

Crime Convicted of: Receiving Stolen Goods

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Quarter Sessions (held at the New Bailey, Salford)

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Lord Melville

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 29/08/1816

Arrival Date: 24/02/1817

Biography: Sarah (nee Stephens) was born in Liverpool and then brought up in Manchester and married when she was 16 to John Primer. Four men stole cloth (10 yards of ‘stuff’ and a shawl) belonging to a T. Brough with Sarah receiving it. She left Lancaster Castle on the 8th July along with her infant daughter Matilda to be sent to the ship but leaving her other children behind in Manchester.

On arrival, Sarah was put in the female factory but the following year she was out and living in Parramatta. Sarah began a relationship and had a daughter, Mary, with Patrick Hanratty (ship- Atlas) around 1819 who she was assigned to as housekeeper. In consequence in 1820, she was back in the female factory. However, the couple were married at St Johns Parramatta in March 1821. Matilda, Sarah’s daughter, may have been placed in an orphanage as in November 1821, Patrick petitioned unsuccessfully to have a child returned to them. They had a further daughter, Ann, together in 1823. That same year Sarah was free by servitude. In 1825 and 28 the family were living at Parramatta, now with Matilda again, along with a group of male convict lodgers.

Sarah passed away a widow at her daughter Ann’s house in July 1861, aged 76 at Stockyard Creek, close to Wollombi. She was buried at the Wollombi burial ground.