Date of Conviction: 07/11/1815

Age at Conviction: 48

Crime Convicted of: Theft

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Quarter Sessions (held at the Old Moot Hall, Wigan)

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: Isabella was the wife of Richard Thompson of Liverpool. She had already been imprisoned every year for the past three years before she was transported. Isabella left Lancaster Castle for the ship at Deptford along with 13 other women (and three for Millbank jail) on the 8th July 1816.

Isabella, aged 50 on arrival, was assigned as a housekeeper. In 1820 and 21, the musters show Isabella was in the female factory. Isabella gained her freedom in February 1823. However, in 1825 we see Isabella at Parramatta (incorrectly recorded with her husband). In 1828, she was noted as residing with J Roberts at Parramatta, though in fact she was actually living as a lodger to William Mons/Munns and his partner and/or housekeeper, Lancastrian, Ann Lord and her three children. She is noted as being a general servant to J Roberts.

in February 1832 the newspapers recorded that Isabella Thompson, a free woman of Parramatta was found in the street in a state of intoxication. She was taken to the watch house to sober up. After a few hours she asked for water. When the wardress went to check on her at midday she was discovered dead on her knees; she had hanged herself by her own shawl from the window bars ‘whilst in a fit of insanity caused by intoxication’. The nature of Isabella’s death means there are no other death or burial records to confirm whether this is ‘our’ Isabella.