Date of Conviction: 23/01/1811

Age at Conviction: 22

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Minstrel

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 04/06/1812

Arrival Date: 25/10/1812

Biography: Elizabeth was a single woman of Manchester. She had been jailed previously in 1809. On this occasion she had stolen linen sheets.

Elizabeth, a Catholic, married fellow convict Joseph Kearns (ship- Sugar Cane) at St Philips, Sydney in 1813 and they had at least 8 children. Elizabeth was free by servitude in 1818 and in this year her daughter Ann drowned in a well on Cambridge St. The following year saw the death of their baby son. By 1825, Elizabeth was recorded (twice!) as ‘wife of Kearns, Constable at Sydney’ and general servant to Joseph Carnes (Kearns was actually only a constable for 2 months in 1820 due to ‘frequent drunkenness’ though was later reinstated. In 1828 Elizabeth was living with her husband and four children on Harington Street in Sydney. In 1833, Elizabeth was left to look after things when her husband went to jail for theft of a jacket for a month. In 1837 Elizabeth saw both her husband and son Francis jailed for six weeks for attacking some workmen whilst drunk. At the same time the newspapers reported that another of her sons and her daughter Ann ‘not more than 10 or 11 years of age’ (she was actually 13/14) had also both been in court requiring their parents to find sureties for them to keep the peace.