Mary Ann GATLEY
Hector, 1835
By Helen Ménard
Introduction
Unlucky in love or destined for destruction?
Mary Ann Gatley was born around 1816 in Manchester, England[1] but available records do not definitively identify her family.[2] With no prior convictions, Mary Ann was transported to Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) for 7 years when she was barely 19 years old.[3] In the colony, her behaviour frequently involved insolence, drunkenness and a lack of control in public places.[4] She was feisty to say the least! Over a period of sixteen years she had three husbands, two of whom died ‘on her watch’ and the third, having escaped the hangman’s noose, fled the colony. Mary Ann only had one child - a daughter Sarah Ann - who herself had two husbands, twelve children and many grandchildren.[5]
Yet, while her daughter managed to establish herself as a long term and highly respected member of the Burnie community, sadly, Mary Ann’s own achievements were far less. There is no evidence to suggest that Mary Ann was even part of her daughter’s family life. Sarah Ann spent most of her life in and around Burnie on the northwest coast of Tasmania, whereas Mary Ann’s existence seemed to be in Launceston – some 150 kilometres inland. Following the death of her third husband in 1854, Mary Ann’s life seriously came off the rails. The next thirty years involved a continuous procession before the courts facing charges of drunkenness, disorderly behaviour, idleness, prostitution and assault – some of which involved incarceration. There is no record of Mary Ann’s death.[6] More than likely she died alone, destitute and in a back alley somewhere - missed by no one.
Life in England
Little is known about Mary Ann’s early years except that she grew up in Manchester during the years of the industrial revolution in Britain. At the start of the 18th century, Manchester was a small, market town with a population of fewer than 10,000. By the end of the century it had grown almost tenfold to 89,000 and by 1851 to 400,000. Manchester’s growth into Britain’s second city rested largely on the back of the cotton industry and the city typified Britain as the ‘workshop of the world’.[7] In 1840 the cotton industry in Manchester was world famous but life expectancy was just 26. The story of Victorian Manchester is usually one which celebrates industrial expansion, technological advancements and economic growth. But there was another side. For ordinary people who worked in the mills and factories, life was hard, poverty was widespread and life expectancy was very short.[8] Teeming slums and squalid living conditions lead to widespread disease and chronic health conditions, child labour, illiteracy, drinking and prostitution. Freidrich Engels described mid-19th century Manchester quite simply as ‘Hell upon Earth’.[9]
For all these reasons, and maybe more, Mary Ann’s first recorded appearance before the courts – Chester Michealmas Sessions - was at 17 when she was acquitted of a charge of larceny from the person.[10] During this time she is stated to have been ‘on the town’ for about eighteen months.[11] Mary Ann appeared again before the Chester Quarter Sessions on 6 April 1835 charged with stealing money from one George Hyde. She was convicted and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation.[12] She was allegedly still only 17 but her transportation records six months later note her as 19.[13] Mary Ann’s lifestyle was undoubtedly driven by survival but did she also contemplate the prospect that life in the colonies couldn’t be any worse? As a young, socially disadvantaged street girl she certainly fitted the profile of those sought out to serve the political and economic policies of an imperialist government desperate to expand its interests in overseas colonies and rid society of the ‘unsightly poor’.[14]
Transportation and beyond
Mary Ann (Ann Mary) Gatley[15] departed London aboard the convict ship Hector on 11 June 1835 and, after an uneventful journey, arrived in VDL on 20 October the same year.[16] She arrived during the assignment period and her first assignment was to a Mr R. Hood. Shortly thereafter, in January 1836, when she refused to do all the washing as requested by Mr Hood, Mary Ann was sentenced to one month on the wash tub at the Cascades Female Factory.[17] So much for not washing! This was the start of a pattern of tempestuous behaviour that was to haunt her for years to come.
In the year from January 1837 to January 1838 Mary Ann was brought up on three conduct charges while in the service of three separate masters – twice for insolence and once for being out after hours. She was sentenced to 4 days in a cell on bread and water; second class for one month in the Cascades and to be sent to the interior.[18]
And then Mary Ann got married – did this improve her life?
Mary Ann and William
No - indeed it seemed to exacerbate the situation!
Mary Ann was granted permission to marry William Crew on 16 February 1838[19] and they were married at Hobart on 19 March 1838.[20] Three days later the newly wed Mary Ann was reprimanded for a charge of being out after hours – assumedly, not with her husband! But that was to be the last of the leniency shown by the authorities. Over the next eighteen months Mary Ann was brought before the courts on five separate occasions for abusing a constable; being drunk in a public house; being out after hours; being at large in town without control; and being in a disorderly house and under no control[21] – again, presumably, the control of her husband! She was sentenced, respectively, to 3 days in a cell on bread and water; one month’s hard labour in the house of correction; 5 days in a cell on bread and water; and, finally, in July 1839 to be returned to the house of correction for assignment in the interior.[22] What was happening in her life with William that invoked such truancy?
So, what transpired next? If Mary Ann was assigned to the interior did William go with her? Or was he already there and was this the cause of her unruly behaviour? In any event, things appeared to settle down for a short period and their only child Sarah Ann was born around 1840-41.[23] William would be dead less than three years later. In January 1842 Mary Ann was charged with an unspecified felony but was discharged and, while she never received a ticket of leave or a conditional pardon, she would have been free by servitude in early 1842.[24]
William Crew was tried before the Gloucester Assizes, England on 29 March 1820 for burglary in November 1819 at Westbury on Trym[25] and, ‘being a capital respite’,[26] was transported for life. He arrived in VDL aboard the convict ship Maria on 1 December 1820.[27] A farmer’s labourer, 22[28] and from Cirencester, Gloucestershire,[29] William was described as having ‘bad connexions … very bad notorious bad characters’.[30] He was initially assigned to Mr John Petchey[31] in whose service he remained for the next ten years, despite being charged with a number of offences during that time.[32] Petchey, a convict himself who arrived in VDL in 1812 aboard the Idefatigable, ultimately became a successful gaol keeper, wood merchant, innkeeper, storekeeper, brewer, pastoralist, shipbuilder, ferry operator, and whaler.[33] He possibly understood the convict psyche better than most and might have been happy to keep a good worker despite a few behavioural lapses. William was charged with a range of offences under Petchey’s service including theft, insolence, disobeying orders, drunkenness, being out after hours, being absent without leave, cutting and carrying away timber, fighting and not attending muster. These transgressions led to him being reprimanded or admonished on four occasions; receiving sentences of 25 – 50 lashes on four charges; 14 days in a chain gang and 4 days in a cell on bread and water.[34] William received a ticket of leave in 1836 and a conditional pardon in 1837.[35] He died, a farmer aged 45, on 11 December 1844 from injuries sustained in a cart accident on the road leading from Circular Head into Forest on the far northwest coast of VDL.[36] Presumably, Mary Ann and Sarah Ann were living in the same area at this time.
Mary Ann and Henry
Wasting no time and a mere three months later, Mary Ann received permission to marry Henry Webb (32 and a sawyer) on 31 March 1845[37] and they were married in the Forest Chapel at Circular Head on 9 June 1845.[38] Evidently, Mary Ann was still living on the northwest coast which was later to become the permanent home of her daughter, Sarah Ann and her family. Mary Ann and Henry had no children of their own.[39]
Henry Webb was tried in Worcester, England on 1 August 1829 for housebreaking and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation, arriving in VDL aboard the convict ship Red Rover on 26 March 1831.[40] Single, a sawyer, 22 years old and from Birmingham, Henry was appropriated to the Public Works department on his arrival.[41] Following a couple of minor conduct offences in 1832, he appeared before the Supreme Court in Launceston on 27 October 1835 charged with cattle stealing and receiving. He was sentenced to be hung which was commuted to life on condition that he be sent to Port Arthur[42] for not less than 7 years.[43] During his first three years at Port Arthur Henry was charged with a range of offences including stating a falsehood, pilfering vegetables, having a kangaroo in his possession, smoking and having rations contrary to orders.[44] By 1842 things must have improved as he was acting as special messenger for the prisoners’ barracks but, after an incident of misconduct, was dismissed from this post.[45] He was granted a ticket of leave in January 1844 and a conditional pardon in September 1847.[46] Three years later, on 7 November 1850, Henry departed Launceston for Sydney, NSW aboard the Hirondelle – leaving Mary Ann and Sarah Ann behind, never to be seen again![47]
Mary Ann and George
Three years passed and on 25 April 1853 Mary Ann (Crew) was given permission to marry George Darby.[48] After an unusually lengthy period of eight months,[49] they married at Launceston on 24 December 1853.[50] After Henry left the colony it seems Mary Ann reverted to her first married name (Crew) but there are no details on the marriage records to George of her marital status at the time.[51] There are no recorded births for Mary Ann and George.[52]
George Darby was tried in Middlesex, England on 14 January 1830 on charges of larceny and was convicted and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation.[53] Single, 20 years old and a rope maker from Stepney, London he arrived in VDL aboard the convict ship Royal George on 18 October 1830.[54] After a series of minor offences in 1833 and 1835 he received a ticket of leave around 1835 and his certificate of freedom in January 1837.[55] Then a tin plate worker, in September 1839 George was granted permission to marry Agnes Rutherford (25, spinster, a convict from the Nautilus)[56] and they married in November 1839 at Hobart.[57] In November 1841 George was acquitted of a charge of feloniously receiving a watch valued at £5[58] but, a few years later, he was not so lucky. On 2 April 1845 he was tried and convicted before the Oatlands Supreme Court for burglary in a dwelling house and sentenced to 10 years’ transportation with 2 years to be served at Port Arthur.[59]
At some stage, and probably about this time realising George would be off the scene for a few years, Agnes Darby disappeared to Victoria where she remarried Thomas Brasch in 1857 (some years after George’s death)[60] and died in Victoria on 27 November 1873 aged 59.[61]
After receiving his ticket of leave in May 1846, several misconduct offences meant George’s ticket was suspended and not reinstated until November 1850.[62] Following multiple petitions, his conditional pardon was finally approved in December 1853.[63] Two weeks later George married Mary Ann.[64] However, barely eight months on, George (at this time a sawyer and splitter) aged only 40, died from apoplexy (cerebral haemorrhage or stroke) on 11 August 1854 at Stringy Bark forest near Launceston.[65] Yet again, Mary Ann and Sarah Ann were alone. About a week later, Mary Ann’s life commenced its irreparable tumble into oblivion.
A lost soul
On 16 August 1854, five days after George’s death, Mary Ann Darby (Mary Ann Webb alias Darby) appeared before the court in Launceston on a charge of disturbing the peace and was fined 5 shillings.[66] Over the next year she appeared before the court on a further three occasions charged with ‘being an idle and disorderly person, in being a common prostitute, wandering on public places and behaving in an indecent manner’.[67] Surely, at this point, Mary Ann must have been suffering a sense of loss and despair. And who was caring for Sarah Ann? At the very least, having lost her husband, she would have had significantly less income to support herself and her young daughter. But then there was a quiet period for a few years. This was about the time her daughter Sarah Ann married and maybe Mary Ann became part of her life for a while.
Sarah Ann
There are no records of Sara Ann Crew’s first marriage to Robert Robinson but it is assumed to have been around 1855 given the birth of their first child in June 1856. In any event, she would only have been a young teenager but it may well have been fortuitous given the route her mother’s life was taking. Sarah Ann and Robert had a family of twelve children three of whom died in infancy – daughter (1856-); daughter (1858-); son (1860-1860); daughter (1861-); Henry James (1864-); William John (1866-1866); Annie (1867-); daughter (1869-); William John (1871-1871); Eliza (1872-); Sarah (1880-) and Olive Laurie (1882-).[68] Robert was a labourer and farmer who, over the years, lived with his wife and family in the northwest regions of Stanley, Circular Head, Forest and Emu Bay (now known as Burnie).[69] He died on 29 June 1889 (aged 60 and a mail cart driver) at Emu Bay from enlargement of the liver.[70] Robert and Sarah Ann had at least sixteen grandchildren.[71]
Sarah Ann Robinson (51, nurse and widow) remarried Wiseman Spinks (54, farmer and widower) at Burnie on 19 April 1892 with her son Henry Robinson and daughter Mary Jane (Horton) as witnesses.[72] They had no children of their own but each came with a pre-existing family![73] Wiseman died in October 1907[74] leaving an estate valued at £3,100 that was divided between his children and Sarah Ann.[75] His passing was noted as follows:
STANLEY
General regret was expressed when the demise of Mr Wiseman Spinks, of the Forest, became known. The deceased was a very old and highly respected resident of this district, and he will he missed by many. A widow and three sons are left to mourn their loss.[76]
Sarah Ann Spinks died on 1 August 1923 at Burnie.[77] Her esteemed place in the community was chronicled as follows:
Old Resident's Death:
The death occurred at her residence, Spring street, yesterday, of Mrs. Sarah Ann Spinks, who had resided in Burnie for about 45 years. Deceased was also well known and highly respected in Stanley where she lived for a number of years prior to coming to Burnie. Mr. Spinks predeceased her many years ago. The deceased lady leaves a son, Mr Harry Robinson, of Burnie, and eight daughters, to mourn their sad loss. Mrs. Spinks was a bright old Christian lady, and being an interesting conversationalist, time spent in her presence was always pleasurable to her friends.[78]
And equally so by her family:
SPINKS - In loving memory of our dear mother and grand-mother who passed peacefully away, August 1, 1923.
It's sweet to think we'll meet again,
Where parting is no more;
And that the one we loved so well,
Has only gone before.
Inserted by her sorrowing daughter and grand-daughter, M. Horton and J Wickham.[79]
What happened to Mary Ann?
In November 1858, by which time Sarah Ann had two children, Mary Ann’s life resumed its downward spiral. She was again convicted of being idle and disorderly and was sentenced to one month imprisonment,[80] presumably in Launceston Gaol. After a short respite, in the ten years from 1863 to 1873 Mary Ann (Webb) was convicted before the Launceston court on no less than twelve occasions for drunkenness and disorderly behaviour.[81] Most times she was only fined between 10 and 20 shillings but in May 1868 she was sentenced to one month’s hard labour.[82] In one instance in December 1866 Mary Ann was charged with stealing a purse.
Mary Ann Webb was brought up on remand from 3rd. instant charged by Sergeant Jonathan Peters with having on the Ist instant stolen a purse, containing 13s 4d. from the person of Mrs. Monks. Prisoner pleaded not guilty, and the evidence being of a rather contradictory character, the case was dismissed, Webb being advised to remove into the country, which she promised to do.[83]
Seemingly, she did not! Evidence suggests Mary Ann spent her life on the streets of Launceston and was most likely not an integral part of Sarah Ann’s family life in Burnie. Some years later in August 1883, when it appears Mary Ann was living in a room in Bathurst Street, Launceston, she was charged with assaulting one Ann Hathaway as follows:
Defendant (Mary Ann Webb) pleaded not guilty. Ann Hathaway deposed — I was in my room in Bathurst-street, about a fortnight ago, when the defendant was making a noise in the passage. I asked her to mind what she was saying. She went into her room, and came out with a kerosene tin full of water, and threw it at me, and it cut me on my eyebrow. John Sheehan corroborated the last witness' evidence.
The bench found the defendant guilty, and ordered her to pay 15s and costs, or in default to be imprisoned three weeks.[84]
Did Mary Ann go to prison?
At this stage Mary Ann would have been about 67 years old and from hereon she disappeared from public view. Her death is unrecorded and her burial place unknown.[85]
The end of the road
Mary Ann's relationship with William was turbulent; Henry eventually deserted her; and, if she finally found some happiness with George, it was ripped asunder in less than a year. The months that followed displayed her unhappiness. For some of the quieter years we hope she might have found some solace in being part of her daughter’s family life. But, by the time Sarah Ann had four children and was living some 225 kilometres away from Launceston in Stanley, something must have happened that triggered Mary Ann’s final bout of drunken self-destruction and found her back on the streets of Launceston. Or did she never leave after George’s death? Nonetheless, this is most likely where she spent her last days.
If, as many before her, Mary Ann gambled on finding a better life away from industrialised Britain, did she find it? Given her story, it seems unlikely. Did her lifelong battle with the ‘demon drink’ mean that her only daughter - a ‘Christian lady’[86] - eventually disowned her? Or was there some other reason in her later years why Mary Ann resorted to the bottle to alleviate her despair? While Sarah Ann obviously found her niche as well respected member of a small community and was a devoted mother and grandmother, Mary Ann was unable to achieve the same. Did Mary Ann deserve more or was she simply an architect of her own misfortune?
[1] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON19/1/13 p159 DI 173.
[2] Ancestry.co.uk; findmypast.co.uk
[3] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[4] Ibid
[5] LIB TAS: Names Index.
[6] LIB TAS: Names Index; VDL Pauper records.
[7] Emma Griffin, Manchester in the 19th Century: Poverty and the working classes, 2014
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/manchester-in-the-19th-century#:~:text=Professor%20Emma%20Griffin%20explains%20how,population%20of%20fewer%20than%2010%2C000.
[8] Royal Geographical Society & IBG, Discovering Britain: Slums, squalor and salvation, pp4,10
www.discoveringbritain.org
[9] Emma Griffin, Manchester in the 19th Century: Poverty and the working classes, 2014
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/manchester-in-the-19th-century#:~:text=Professor%20Emma%20Griffin%20explains%20how,population%20of%20fewer%20than%2010%2C000.
[10] Criminal Register for Chester Michaelmas Sessions , Ancestry.co.uk
[11] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[12] Chester Courant - Tuesday 14 April 1835; LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[13] Chester Courant - Tuesday 14 April 1835; LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290; CON19/1/13 p159 DI 173.
[14] Swiss, Deborah J., The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia’s Convict Women, (2010), The Berkley Publishing Group, London. Extracted from
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2018/06/the-founding-mothers-the-little-known-story-of-australias-convict-women/
[15] While her primary transportation records (CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290; CON19/1/13 p159 DI 17) state ‘Ann Mary’ all other pre and post transportation records have her as ‘Mary Ann’.
[16] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[17] Ibid
[18]LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[19] [LIB TAS: Names Index: CON52/1/1 p28.
[20] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD36/1/3 N4077 DI 137.
[21] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[22] Ibid
[23] There is no official record of Sarah Ann’s birth in VDL but on her second marriage in 1892 Sarah Ann was stated as 51 [RGD 27/1/51 N85 DI 57] and on her death in 1923 she was noted as 84; LIB TAS: Names Index: 758 /2022818; TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Advocate (Burnie, Tas.: 1890-1954) Thu 2 Aug 1923 p4 Burnie.
[24] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/1/3 p78 DI 290.
[25] Calendar of Prisoners for Gloucestershire Gaols; criminal register; ancestry.co.uk
[26] Commuted death penalty; see https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Execution; there is no record of the offence with which he was charged.
[27] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/6 DI 110.
[28] William Crew, son of William and Hannah Crew was born 16 May 1797 at Cirencester, Gloucestershire and was baptised on 9 July 1797. Ancestry.co.uk
[29] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON23/1/1 DI C312-341.
[30] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/6 DI 110.
[31] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Petchey-15
[32] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/6 DI 110.
[33] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Petchey-15
[34] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/6 DI 110.
[35] Ibid; while CON31 records CP No 1421 on6 September 1837 the Government Gazette as published on the Cornwall Chronicle, Sat 8 Feb 1840 states 30 Jan 1840.
[36] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/18 No 4 DI 166; SC195/1/15 Inquest 1190.
[37] LIB TAS: Names Index: LIB TAS: Names Index: CON52/1/2 p389.
[38] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/4 N2225 DI 362.
[39] LIB TAS: Names Index.
[40] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/46 DI 95; CON34/1/3 p60 DI 65.
[41] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON27/1/5 DI 56.
[42] https://portarthur.org.au/history/
[43] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/46 DI 95; CON34/1/3 p60 DI 65.
[44] Ibid
[45] Ibid
[46] Ibid
[47] LIB TAS: Names Index: POL220/1/1 p290; while his ship to the colony was recorded as the Red Rover he was noted as ‘arrived free’ which may be an error.
[48] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON52/1/6 DI D April-June 1853.
[49] As a matter of practice most couples married within a month of being granted permission to marry. Given that Mary Ann & George were both still married at the time and their spouses were still alive, albeit not in the colony, it is probable that they were required to satisfy the authorities of their eligibility for marriage.
[50] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/12 N1025 DI 395.
[51] Ibid
[52] LIB TAS: Names Index.
[53] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597.
[54] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON18/1/2 p300 DI 155; CON23/1/1 D609-635.
[55] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597.
[56] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON52/1/1 p36.
[57] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/1 N65 DI 23.
[58] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597; TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Launceston Advertiser, Thu 25 Nov 1841, p4 QS.
[59] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597; TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston, Wed 9 April 1845, p4, Oatlands Assizes; The Courier (Hobart), 8 Apr 1845, p3 , Oatlands Assizes.
[60] VIC/BDM Marriage records 1857/3005; Thomas Brash and Agnes Derby.
[61] VIC/BDM Death records 1873/8927
[62] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597
[63] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/10 DI 23; CON34/1/2 p593 DI 597; George Darby, “Royal George” – CP granted; Cornwall Chronicle, 3 Dec 1853, p8, Advertising.
[64] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/12 N1025 DI 395.
[65] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/23 no 1547 DI 62; SC195/1/35 Inquest 3335.
[66] Record of Cases Heard in Petty Sessions (Launceston), 1824-1981. Series LC346. 16/8/1854; Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office, LINC Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Ancestry.com.au;
[67] Ibid; 18/4/1855; 1/6/1855; 15/9/1855
[68] LIB TAS: Names Index; more information on this family can be found on the FCRC database under Ann Mary Gatley/research notes.
[69] The township of Burnie (known then as Emu Bay) developed as a timber port. Some growth took place from the 1840s to the 1860s, although population was minimal until the late 1800s when mining commenced nearby. From the 1880s Burnie became the main port for the west coast mines, aided by the opening of railway lines; https://www.ourtasmania.com.au/northwest/burnie
[70] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/58 N699 DI 83.
[71] LIB TAS: Names Index; more information on this family can be found on the FCRC database under Ann Mary Gatley/research notes.
[72] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/51 N85 DI 57.
[73] Wiseman SPINKS (21, bachelor) married Phoebe Blake (16, spinster) on 22 May 1858 [RGD37/1/15 N88 DI 58]; Phoebe died on 29/12/1875 aged 33 from uterine cancer [RGD35/1/44 N419 DI 106]; they had several children.
[74] LIB TAS: Names Index: 834/1990509; TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.: 1883-1928) Mon 14 Oct 1907 p6 Country News /Stanley.
[75] LIB TAS: Names Index: AD960/1/29 Will No 7278 DI 1-2.
[76] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.: 1883-1928) Mon 14 Oct 1907 p6 Country News /Stanley.
[77] LIB TAS: Names Index: 758/2022818; TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Advocate (Burnie, Tas.: 1890-1954) Thu 2 Aug 1923 p4 Burnie.
[78] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Advocate (Burnie, Tas.: 1890-1954) Thu 2 Aug 1923 p4 Burnie.
[79] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Advocate (Burnie, Tas.: 1890-1954) Fri 1 Aug 1924 p2 Family Notices.
[80] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Sat 13 Nov 1858 p3.
[81] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Tue 6 Oct 1863 Page 5, Monday Oct 5; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Tue 3 May 1864 Page 5, Monday May 2; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Thu 20 Oct 1864 Page 3, Police Court; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Thu 12 Oct 1865 Page 4, Police Court; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Tue 6 Mar 1866 Page 4, Monday March 5; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Mon 28 Jan 1867 Page 2 Launceston Examiner; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Tue 14 Apr 1868 Page 2 Police Court ; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Feb 29 1868 Page 3, Police Court ; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Sat 16 May 1868 Page 3, Police Court; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Thu 3 Mar 1870 Page 3, Police Court; Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Tue 4 Aug 1870 Page 5, Police Court; Cornwall Advertiser (Launceston, Tas. : 1870 - 1877) Tue 14 Jan 1873 Page 5, Police Court.
See footnote 66. While there are no similar court records to verify the identity of Mary Ann Webb (alias Darby) during these years, the offending pattern is consistent with previous offences and there are no records of another female convict named Mary Ann Webb in this area at the time. See also footnote 85.
[82] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Launceston Examiner (Tas.: 1842 - 1899) Sat 16 May 1868 Page 3, Police Court.
[83] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Wed 12 Dec 1866 Page 3, Police Court.
[84] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Daily Telegraph (Launceston) Fri 24 Aug 1883, p3, Police Court.
[85] A Mary Ann Webb died on 30/7/1877 aged 73 and a householder’s wife at Launceston from senility. [LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/46 N3490 DI 26] This is unlikely to be Mary Ann as the age is wrong and she wasn’t married at the time. There was a Mary Ann Webb who came out on the Aurora in 1851 but she married James Adams in 1854 and died as Mary Ann Adams in 1889 at Launceston. [LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/58 N356 DI34]
[86] TROVE: Newspapers & Gazettes: Advocate (Burnie, Tas.: 1890-1954) Thu 2 Aug 1923 p4 Burnie.
