Date of Conviction: 11/08/1834

Age at Conviction: 45

Crime Convicted of: Uttering Forged Coins

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

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Newgrove

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

Departure Date: 30/10/1834

Arrival Date: 27/03/1835

Biography: Catherine had uttered a base sixpence at Salford, she had already been convicted of similar offences the previous two years and had served six months inside. Catherine was married to John, a Manchester linen draper and they had two children.

On arrival in Hobart, she was described as being 5ft 2 1/2. She had a brown complexion, black hair, a long oval face, brown eyebrows, blue eyes, a long thin nose and was missing her upper front teeth. She had been born at Boroughbridge near Ripon in Yorkshire. She was assigned to be either a laundress, plain cook or housemaid for Mr Henry Nicholls at Flinder’s Island. Flinder’s Island was a jail for First Nations people and now sometimes termed, the world’s first concentration camp. He left the island the following year, meaning Catherine probably returned to the Tasmanian mainland too.

Catherine was given a free pardon in January 1840. The following month she boarded the ship ‘Arab’ sailing from Georgetown back to London, via Port Philip as a servant of William Pritchard Weston, his wife and children who were visiting home. Weston was an important figure; both a anti-transportationist, founding the Anti Transportation League, eventually becoming Tasmania’s Prime Minister and designing the early flag of Australia. His strong views on transportation would certainly have been what helped Catherine to get home again. Catherine’s ship landed in London 12th June 1840.

Sadly following the ship’s arrival, it has not been possible to follow her journey further.