Date of Conviction: 26/03/1787

Age at Conviction: 13

Crime Convicted of: Theft

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

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Prince of Wales

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 13/05/1787

Arrival Date: 22/01/1788

Biography: Elizabeth was a 13 year old girl when convicted. Somewhat of a record breaker, she was not only the youngest Lancastrian female convict but one of the first; arriving as part of the First Fleet in January 1788 with her younger brother George who she had been convicted alongside of.

Elizabeth and younger brother George had been discovered breaking into a Moor Lane silk warehouse belonging to James Noble in the early hours of 15 September 1786, they had stolen 41 shillings. It’s possible this was also their workplace as money had been going missing from the office for some time. Held at Lancaster Castle until the Lent Assizes the following year, they were found guilty and sentenced to hang, though were reprieved and were to be sent to parts beyond the sea for 7 years to help form a new colony in New South Wales. They joined a mixed group of men and women who were also awaiting a similar fate in the castle’s cells. Within weeks of conviction, the siblings were whisked to Portsmouth where they were put aboard the Prince of Wales convict transport ship which was due for departure. This would then travel in convoy with five other convict ships, a supply ship and a flagship to Botany Bay to establish the colony. George was the only male convict onboard. After a long nine months voyage which was plagued by lack of provisions and terrible living conditions. Elizabeth and George arrived at Sydney in January 1788.

Elizabeth, now aged 16 or 17 and her brother were shipped to Norfolk Island the following year where a new prison colony was to be formed. During the years she spent on Norfolk Island Elizabeth had three children. She returned with her brother and a daughter to Sydney in 1794 and sadly no further records can be found for George after 1794. Elizabeth married fellow convict Abraham Lee in 1798 whilst she was aged around 26 though they may have separated as she had another daughter, Anne to a different convict in 1808 whilst Lee was still alive. By 1819 Lee had died and she was now listed as a widow.

By 1822 she is listed as living on Clarence St, Sydney, with Anne and was the wife of another convict, James Hathaway (ship- Somersetshire) whom she had married two years prior and been living with for some years (though no marriage found). By 1825 she seemed to be alone again. She was described in a November 1836 gaol record as 4ft 10, slender, pale with brown hair and grey eyes, a Protestant and born in 1773. She had fallen, drunk in the streets and had accidentally exposed her person. She was jailed until she found the bail money in January. She lived a very long life for the time, dying July 1854, aged 82.