Elizabeth Paterson
(Harmony 1829)
By Helen Ménard
Introduction
Elizabeth was born in Glasgow but moved to Edinburgh as a young child.[1] She was one of four children and when the family moved into the infamous Grassmarket area in Edinburgh, unsurprisingly, most of them ended up in a life of crime including her mother Mary. Ultimately, Elizabeth and her brother John were transported for their misdeeds – she to Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) and he to New South Wales (NSW).
The horrors of life in the Grassmarket area were legendary and it is quite reasonable that Elizabeth saw relocation to an unknown colony in the antipodes as the lesser of two evils. While, undeniably, daily survival left her with little choice but to beg, borrow or steal, the idea of transportation might well have been a brighter light on a distant horizon. After all, many sought the relative comforts of prison – basic shelter and daily food – over their existences in the wynds of Edinburgh.[2]
As it transpired, even though her early years in VDL were troubled and her marriage did not endure, Elizabeth eventually settled into a quiet life in Green Ponds, Tasmania where she died aged 72. Her two surviving children and their families lived in the same area and, in all probability, provided her with some contentment in her later years.
The wynds of Edinburgh
In 1849 Dr George Bell wrote of the beyond abysmal conditions that existed in the ‘masses of rotten, rat infested’ lodging houses and tenements in the wynds and closes of Edinburgh including Grassmarket, Cowgate, West Port and Canongate.[3]
Bell described the widespread presence of typhoid and cholera; families of eight to ten people living in one small room; starvation, malnutrition and alcohol dependence – even of the young; meagre employment options often lost with addiction; children orphaned by diseased, dissipated or neglectful parents and left to survive alone; unconscionable exploitation of the poor by the spirit dealers; the bartering of food for alcohol; the inextricable connection between drunkenness, crime and imprisonment; rampant pauperism; misery, despair and death.[4] The wretchedness that afflicted so much of human life in these areas is epitomised by the following excerpts:
A young woman with an infant … was chewing a crust and feeding the innocent one with her fingers. Her breast was dry. A lean, pale-faced, squalid man with a couple of ragged, hungry-looking urchins dropt in and lay down without saying a word.[5]
Lodging houses are in themselves all horror and are situated in the vilest parts of the city … each adult has to pay twopence a night … the shelter of these horrible places is resorted to because the parties have no regular income and … cannot pay rent. They live from hand to mouth and shelter themselves on the same principle. Their lodgings do not constitute a home in any sense of the word … they are crammed full of a motley crew of the destitute, squalid, obscene, blaspheming, vicious and often criminal of both sexes, young and old.[6]
In one room, twelve feet long by ten broad, we once saw twelve women sleep. There was not even straw for them to lie on; but they lay on the boards … riddled with rat holes- with their heads to the creviced wall and their feet across the chamber. They had no covering save the rags in which they wandered about during the day. We awoke one of the sleepers … she paid a penny a night for the privilege of sleeping in this den. She lived by begging … the odour of human miasm in the place was beyond all conception, dreadful … cholera prevailed in this tenement.[7]
We now beheld virtue and courage struggling with the direst adversity. The chamber which was about twelve feet long, by seven or eight feet broad, was occupied by seven human beings – two men, two women and three children. The men, father and son in law, were seated working together at their craft … shoemakers. The wife of the old man was seated on the ground binding a shoe. One small candle gave light to the three. The wife of the young man sat at the fire suckling an infant; and two children about two and four years of age sat at her feet … neither man was in regular employment … the profit upon their labour was so small … they were obliged to work fifteen hours a day … they seldom went out of doors and their diet was of the most meagre description.[8]
How much of this heartrending synopsis was part of Elizabeth’s life?
The family
Precise family records are unavailable but James Paterson, a gentleman’s servant, and Mary Ross (c. 1876) had at least four children – Janet (c. 1804-1806), Elizabeth (c. 1809-11-1881), John (c. 1811-15 -1892)[9] and Jean (c.1815).[10] It appears the children were all born in Glasgow and the family moved to Brown’s Close, Grassmarket, Edinburgh some time before 1820.[11] Their mother Mary appeared in the prison register for Edinburgh Bridewell in 1826 together with a child (Jean then aged 11).[12]
Janet, aged 20 and a domestic servant, was charged alongside John Rogerson Hunter (18) for theft in 1824 but, as there is no record of an indictment, quite possibly the charges were dropped.[13] However, Janet was recorded in the prison register for Edinburgh Bridewell in 1824,[14] presumably pending trial. Two years later, in March 1826, Janet was indicted for housebreaking and theft wherein, with her accomplices Adam Innes (upholsterer) and James Innes (chairmaker), they were accused of forcibly entering a school room in Hamilton’s Entry, Bristo Street and stealing a desk, books and other articles.[15] The case against Janet did not proceed and the men pleaded not guilty. Adam and James were both convicted and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation.[16] At this time Janet (aka Shepherd or Innes) was allegedly married to Adam.[17]
John’s first recorded legal appearance was as 12 year old in 1824, also on the prison register for the Edinburgh Bridewell.[18] The following year he appeared three times on the same register[19] and then, as a 14 year old, once again in 1826.[20] On 15 March 1827, still reputedly only 12 and a wright (skilled woodworker),[21] John, then residing at Brown’s Close, Grassmarket, Edinburgh with his father James Paterson, pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and housebreaking on the grounds that he was ‘guilty of going into the house, the door being open but not guilty of housebreaking and theft’.[22] His mother and sister Elizabeth were called to support his defence of an alibi, a measure described as ‘desperate’ and highly disapproved of by the Lord Justice Clerk.[23] John was convicted by the Edinburgh Court of Justiciary and sentenced to transportation for life.[24] He had been indicted along with his sister Elizabeth Paterson, Margaret Campbell and Alexander Glasgow, 14 and a blacksmith.[25] The charges against Elizabeth and Margaret did not proceed and Alexander was also found guilty and sentenced to 14 years’ transportation.[26]
By the time John Patterson (aka John Ross Patterson) arrived at Sydney Cove aboard the Champion in October the same year (1827),[27] he was recorded on the ship’s muster as 16 and a carpenter’s boy.[28] According to recent research ‘John became one of the first settlers on the Castlereagh River near the current town of Coonamble and befriended the local Indigenous Wailwan people.’[29] He reputedly died at Coonamble on 9 November 1892 aged 81.[30]
Jean, as an 11 year old, was recorded in the Edinburgh Bridewell register in 1826 together with her mother.[31] Precognition papers (pre-trial witness statements) in 1826 indicate that Elizabeth, Janet, Jean and John Paterson along with five other defendants were all interviewed for the crime of theft.[32] Again, as there is no record of an indictment, presumably, the matter didn’t progress to trial.
The Bridewells
Houses of Correction were established to correct what was considered as disorderly behaviour. Petty criminals and citizens considered ‘idle’ would receive whippings and be subjected to intense periods of hard labour. The first House of Correction was opened at Bridewell Palace in 1553 at the former residence of King Henry VIII. Thereafter, they became known as Bridewells. The name Bridewell came from the nearby ‘holy well’ of St. Bride’s church. Towards the end of the 18th century, prison reformers became increasingly critical of Bridewells along with other prisons. Far from reforming individuals, prisons were becoming training grounds for criminals, corrupting prisoners into more serious crimes upon release.[33]
En route to the antipodes
Records suggest Elizabeth first encountered the law in 1826 (aged 16) when, along with Margaret Finlayson, she was precognosced[34] for theft from Willian Martin and Jean Brown.[35] At the same time, she appeared on the prison register for the Edinburgh Lock-up House[36] but there are no records to suggest this resulted in a conviction. As mentioned previously, a year later in March 1827, Elizabeth, although precognosced along with three other co-accuseds (including her younger brother), was not indicted for the same offence of housebreaking that resulted in her younger brother John being transported for life.[37] Elizabeth had another narrow escape the same year when, in July 1827, she again avoided indictment. Even though she was strongly suspected of being the ‘companion’ referred to, her co-accused, again Margaret Finlayson (24), was convicted of theft and transported for 14 years.[38] The matter was reported as follows:
This prisoner, although in age and stature much beyond them, was one of those numerous bands of dissolute females who infest all parts of the city and environs, offering firewood or “sticks” for sale, under cover of which pretence they allow no opportunity afforded by the unguarded moments of servants to slip, without committing their depredations.
It appeared that on the evening of the 2nd of June the prisoner and a companion, in pursuit of their lawless avocation, called at the area door of Mr Martin, W. S. in Melville Street, and in a few minutes a silk shawl was missed from the laundry, which is below the steps leading to the street door, the window looking to the area, which had been opened, and the shawl abstracted from off the table by means of a stick. [39]
If Elizabeth was trying to orchestrate transportation then her time had finally come. In May 1828 Elizabeth, aged 17, was charged with theft and housebreaking and tried before the High Court Edinburgh on 7 July 1828.[40] It was alleged that a person or persons had broken into the house of Robert Redpath in East Broughton Place and removed blankets, bedcovers, a linen sheet and a linen shirt.[41] Upon hearing a noise in the house, the occupants realised the intruder had escaped through a bedroom window. They ran out into the back lane and the only people they purportedly saw were Elizabeth and a young boy about 12 running down the lane and the bundle of articles lying on the ground.[42] .
Elizabeth’s defence was that she had never seen the items described and, on the evening in question, after selling some bones to a woman in Leith, had met her father at Gayfield Square.[43] Supposedly, her father was not living with her mother at that time and declined Elizabeth’s request to accompany her to visit her mother. Instead, he asked her to wait at Gayfield Square until he got a letter to deliver to her and upon his return gave Elizabeth 2 shillings for her mother. On her way home, as Elizabeth turned up a narrow lane, she was hurrying to get home quickly and stated she
met a woman carrying a bundle & accompanied by two boys & immediately after they passed the Declarant [Elizabeth] she heard some person call out for the police but she thought nothing of it & proceeded up the lane & declares that she does not know the woman or the boys.[44]
Police evidence suggested that Elizabeth was ‘habite and repute a thief’ (an habitual criminal) and had previous convictions for theft although they were unable to produce such evidence.[45] One detective described her as
a very bad character, and associates with thieves, and her mother, and her sisters are considered thieves by the establishment; that the Declarant is of opinion that the prisoner gains her livelihood chiefly by stealing or resetting [receiving] stolen goods, but as she sometimes goes round the town with a basket selling eggs, and resides at home … that he has no doubt she carries the basket of eggs as a cloak or cover for her stealing what she can lay her hands on.[46]
Elizabeth was found guilty ‘art and part’ (as accessory or accomplice) and sentenced to 14 years’ transportation.[47]
Transportation and beyond
Elizabeth left the Downs, England aboard the Harmony on 13 September 1828 arriving in VDL on 14 January 1829. The ship’s surgeon, William Clifford, described the ship as ‘being excessively crowded having embarked 100 female convicts – 87 free women passengers and children independent of ship’s officers and crew … two infant children died on Passage …’.[48]
On 28 February 1830, while in the female factory in Hobart, Elizabeth gave birth to a son John Job[49] who, sadly, died nine months later.[50]
The assignment system was still in operation when Elizabeth set foot in VDL and her first recorded assignment was to Dr James Ross, a Doctor of Laws from Aberdeen University.[51] Ross emigrated to VDL in 1822 and in the early 1830s was granted all the land comprising Knocklofty and the top of today’s Mount Stuart. At the Lieutenant-Governor’s request Ross became editor of the Gazette and later left to establish the Hobart Town Courier. He and his wife Susannah had thirteen children and he died on his Richmond property in 1838.[52] However, things did not go smoothly for Elizabeth and Dr Ross as, in June 1831, she was charged with being intoxicated, insolent and absent without leave.[53] She was only reprimanded on this occasion but, two months later and still in the employ of Dr Ross, she was committed for trial in the Hobart Court of Quarter Sessions for stealing silk stockings and an Indian cotton petticoat.[54] She was found guilty on 19 August 1831 and sentenced to a further 14 years’ transportation.[55]
After a couple of quiet years Elizabeth’s troubles resurfaced and, in October and November 1833 while under assignment to a Mrs Atkinson, she was charged with insolence and absconding for which she was sentenced respectively to 14 days’ solitary confinement on bread and water, and to be returned to the female house of corrections for assignment in the interior.[56] Yet, things didn’t improve. In December 1833, under new assignment to a Mr Lette, Elizabeth was twice charged with disobedience and being absent without leave earning her 7 days’ solitary confinement on bread and water on each count.[57] Almost a year later, in October 1834 and still with Mr Lette, a charge of disorderly conduct earned her another 14 days’ solitary confinement on bread and water.[58]
Elizabeth and George
On 30 April 1836 Elizabeth Patterson and George Mayhew were granted permission to marry[59] and on 15 June 1836 Elizabeth Patterson, a convict, and George Mayhew, ticket of leave holder, were married at Launceston.[60] But the honeymoon was short lived! Two days later Elizabeth was charged with drunkenness and insolence and sentenced to six months in crime class.[61] Was this a case of too much partying or had Elizabeth realised she had made the wrong decision? Nonetheless, after serving her time and staying under the radar for a year, she was granted a ticket of leave in December 1837.[62]
George Mayhew was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (about 85 miles north of London) to George and Avis Mayhew and into a family of least five brothers and four sisters.[63] A farm labourer and tailor, single and aged 24, he was tried and convicted before the Middlesex Gaol Delivery on 7 April 1831 of stealing carpet and sentenced to transportation for 7 years.[64] He had one previous conviction for theft of a bridle for which he had served half of a 7 year sentence.[65] George arrived in VDL aboard the William Glen Anderson in November 1831.[66] With a clean conduct record[67] he was granted a ticket of leave in 1836[68] and a certificate of freedom in April 1838.[69] However, in August 1838, George was fined £2 and costs on a charge of harbouring.[70]
But 1839 turned out to be a rocky year for Elizabeth and George. In March Elizabeth was fined 5 shillings for being drunk and disorderly and a month later for the same offence was sentenced to 6 weeks’ hard labour and suspension of her ticket of leave.[71] By May 1839 George had set himself up in business and moved his ‘Ham and Beef Shop’ from Charles-street to York-street where ‘he has always ready Ham and Beef, Poultry, Pickled Pork, Soups and Hot Joints, and Tea and Coffee every day’.[72] Yet, in November the same year, the following notice appeared in the local press:
TO BE SOLD BY PUBLIC AUCTION,
By Mr B. Francis,
At the residence of George Mayhew, York-street, on TUESDAY, 26th instant, at 12 o'clock,
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, consisting of - Chairs, sofas, tables, bedsteads, bed and bedding, cooking utensils, crockery, tobacco. &c. &c.
Terms - Cash.
Was this in anticipation of George’s pending criminal trial? Where was Elizabeth going to live? George was tried and convicted before the Launceston Court of Quarter Sessions on 28 December 1839 for ‘receiving’ and was sentenced to 14 years’ transportation with 2 years to be served at Green Ponds.[73] The remainder of his two year ‘punishment sentence’ was remitted in August 1841,[74] possibly due to the closure of the Green Ponds Probation Station in 1841.[75] After a couple of misconduct charges in 1843 and 1845, he received a ticket of leave in 1846 and a conditional pardon in 1848.[76]
So, what was Elizabeth doing all this time? Records suggest she managed to stay out of trouble and in October 1843 was granted a conditional pardon and was free by servitude from her second sentence in August 1845.[77] After what must have been a challenging few years, it seems Elizabeth and George were still ‘hanging in there’ as Eliza Jane Mayhew was born on 16 April 1848 at Green Ponds with her father recorded as a labourer[78] and George Charles Mayhew was born in 1851.[79]
Yet, obviously, this was not enough for George as he departed Launceston for Melbourne on 21 January 1852 aboard the City of Melbourne.[80] Had he found it difficult to re-establish a business after serving his sentence? After all, VDL was hit with an economic depression during the 1840s brought on by the continued low price of wool in the London market after 1837, the 1839 English recession, the collapse of the mainland markets for grain and livestock, and the downturn of Tasmanian capital invested in Port Phillip.[81] Goods piled up in shops as lower earning power led to reduced spending. The influx of British capital ceased. Banks restricted credit. By 1843, bankruptcies no longer involved mainly small retail traders and merchants, but extended to the landed interests. Two banks closed.[82] Maybe, like so many others, George went looking for gold. Nonetheless, it appears he went to Victoria alone and never returned.
Eliza Jane and George Charles
Eliza Jane married William Priest (27, mariner) in Hobart on 3 May 1875 with her brother George Charles as a witness.[83] They had two children - a daughter Eveline Louisa in 1879[84] who married John Keogh in Sydney in 1902;[85] and a son Francis Tasman in 1880[86] who died in Sydney in 1888.[87] It seems that Eliza Jane and the family moved to NSW sometime between 1880 and 1888 and, most probably, after her mother Elizabeth died in 1881. Eliza Jane died on 24 February 1895 at Helensburgh, NSW aged 46.[88]
George Charles, a mariner, married Emma Luckman, farmer’s daughter, at Clarence Plains on 6 February 1880[89] and they had three children – George Irwin (1882-1939);[90] Edgar Louis (1883-1921);[91] and Frances Mary (1888-1888).[92] George Charles died at the Hobart General Hospital on 21 November 1917 and his will dated 18 August 1915 appointed his wife Emma and son Edgar Louis as executors.[93] George Charles owned three plots of land in Bellerive and devised one to Emma as well as life interests in the other two, with both the life tenancies going to each of his sons on Emma’s death. The residue of his estate was devised to Emma.[94] Emma died in Hobart on 29 February 1924 and her will dated 12 January 1922 appointed her only surviving child George Irwin as sole executor and beneficiary.[95]
What happened to George?
It is most likely that George headed to Victoria searching for gold and ended up in the Beechworth area where he became a long term resident until his death in the Ovens Hospital from ‘a lingering illness’ on 23 May 1864, aged 50.[96] An obituary stated that George
for the last nine years, has been a resident of the Woolshed and Beechworth. Mr Mayhew's father held office in H.M. Customs in London for nearly forty years. During the period of the deceased's residence in Beechworth, he was well known and much respected …[97]
The end of the story
Elizabeth died as Elizabeth Mayhew, housekeeper, on 10 March 1881 aged 72 at Green Ponds, Tasmania from diarrhoea. Her son George Charles who was still living in Cambridge (about 40 kms south of Green Ponds) registered her death.[98]
Whether or not as a teenager Elizabeth contrived her passage to the antipodes is a matter for conjecture but, despite ultimately being free to do so, she never returned to Scotland or, indeed, left Tasmania. So, maybe she did find a better life. Undoubtedly, her life with George was challenging including long periods of separation, but why he chose to leave her and two infant children behind, never to return, is unknown. Was it purely for financial reasons? Did he ever intend to return? Had their marriage run its course? In any event, Elizabeth was left to raise her baby son and daughter alone and, in the end, it was her children and grandchildren who obviously provided her with security and support until her death. Many were not so fortunate.
[1] There is no indication why the family relocated to Edinburgh but maybe they thought it might have been less crowded, with more prospects of employment and a better standard of living than Glasgow. While the ‘Highland Clearances’ from about 1750-1850 impacted on the populations of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1820’s, there is nothing to suggest the family was involved in this massive rural depopulation which resulted in large numbers of inhabitants of the Scottish highlands being forcibly evicted from their lands to allow for the introduction of sheep pastoralism. Many were relocated to coastal areas but as many were forced into urban areas with the promise of work which often did not materialise and contributed significantly to the development of the urban slums.
https:// Highland%20Clearances%20--%20Britannica%20Online%20Encyclopedia.html
[2] Bell, George M.D., Day and Night in the Wynds of Edinburgh, 1849, Johnstone and Hunter, Edinburgh, https://welcomecollection.org/works/p8nefcv5; a wynd is a narrow lane or alleyway between houses.
[3] Ibid p6
[4] Ibid pp5-7; 22-26;
[5] Ibid p7
[6] Ibid p5
[7] Ibid p10
[8] Ibid p31
[9] https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/patterson/john/87752; this site has his birth as 18/10/1811 and death 9/11/1892 aged 81 years.
[10] See various NRS records cited throughout.
[11] National Archives of Scotland AD 14/28/17 and JC26/1828/376; Edinburgh 19 May 1828. Compared Roderick Grant a Detective of the Edinburgh Police Establishment, who declared he has known the prisoner Elizabeth Paterson for six or seven years, more particularly for these three or four years past.
[12] NRS ref: HH21/6/5 p. 56; scottishindexes.com
[13] NRS ref: AD14/24/15; scottishindexes.com
[14] NRS ref: AD14/24/15; scottishindexes.com
[15] NRS refs: JC26/1826/300 & AD14/26/66; scottishindexes.com; The Scotsman 18th March 1826
[16] Ibid; there is no record of either man being transported to NSW or VDL.
[17] Ibid
[18] NRS ref: HH21/6/5 p. 2; scottishindexes.com
[19] NRS ref: HH21/6/5 p. 30; HH21/6/5 p. 46 & HH21/6/5 p. 38; scottishindexes.com
[20] NRS ref: HH21/8/1 p. 2; scottishindexes.com
[21] John Paterson, age 14, and a wright born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, was recorded on the prison register for Edinburgh Lock-up House in 1827; NRS ref: HH21/8/1 p. 11; scottishindexes.com
[22] Caledonian Mercury 17th March 1827
[23] Ibid
[24] NRS ref: AD14/27/25; scottishindexes.com
[25] NRS ref: AD14/27/25; scottishindexes.com
[26] Caledonian Mercury 17th March 1827
[27] https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/champion
[28] Muster Roll for the transport ship “Champion” arriving at Sydney Cove on the 17th November 1827.
[29] JD on 22nd August, 2021: https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/patterson/john/87752
[30] Ibid; NSW/BDM 4586/1892 death records has a John R Patterson dying at Coonamble with father James and mother Jessie. John’s mother was Mary so maybe this is a transcription error.
[31] NRS ref: HH21/6/5 p. 56; scottishindexees.com
[32] NRS ref: AD14/26/373; scottishindexes.com
[33] https://www.prisonhistory.org/the-history-of-bridewell/; see also
https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/pre-transportation/the-prisons/scottish-prisons#ScottishPrisons
[34] Under Scottish law precognosced means the preliminary examination / interview of witnesses in relation to an alleged crime, especially to decide whether there are grounds for a trial.
[35] AD14/27/62 Precognition against Elizabeth Paterson
[36] NRS ref: HH21/8/1 p. 2; scottishindexes.com
[37] NRS ref: AD14/27/25; scottishindexes.com
[38] NRS ref: D14/27/25 and AD14/27/62;
[39] Caledonian Mercury 14th July 1827
[40] NRS ref: JC26/1828/376; AD14/28/17
[41] National Archives of Scotland AD 14/28/17 and JC26/1828/376; Edinburgh 17 May 1828. Compeared Helen Redpath Daughter of & residing with Robert Redpath, a Mason, in East Broughton Place, in or near Edinburgh,
[42] Ibid
[43] National Archives of Scotland AD 14/28/17 and JC26/1828/376; Pannel At Edinburgh the 15 day of May 1828 in presence of George Tait Esquire, Sheriff Substitute of [Edinburghshire]
[44] Ibid
[45] Edinburgh 19 May 1828. Compared [sic] Roderick Grant, a Detective of the Edinburgh Police Establishment; Compeared Davidson Nicol, a Day Patrol residing in the Porters Lodge Police Office; Compeared James Dunn, Day Turnkey of the Edinburgh Police Office
[46] Edinburgh 19 May 1828. Compared Roderick Grant, a Detective of the Edinburgh Police Establishment
[47] National Archives of Scotland AD 14/28/17 and JC26/1828/376;
[48] https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/ships/Harmony1829_SurgeonsJournal.pdf
[49] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD32/1/1 N3330 DI 175; born John Job Pattison at the Factory, mother Elizabeth, convict; baptised 3/3/1830
[50] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD34/1/1 N2275 DI 99; died John Job Paterson on 11 December 1830, Hobart Town from the Factory, a convict’s child with no cause of death recorded.
[51] https://mountstuarttas.org.au/index.php/people/
[52] Ibid
[53] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/7 p33 DI 195
[54] Ibid; TROVE: Hobart Town Courier, Sat 20 Aug 1831, p2, The Courier
[55] Ibid; if a woman was sentenced to transportation while still a convict, the new sentence was usually served concurrently with the existing one. Tardiff, P., Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: Convict Women in Van Diemen’s Land 1803-1829, p.28
[56] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/7 p33 DI 195
[57] Ibid
[58] Ibid
[59] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON52/1/1 p116
[60] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD36/1/3 N3403 DI 38
[61] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/7 p33 DI 195
[62] Ibid
[63] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON14/1/2 p69 DI 71; VIC/BDM 2891/1864
[64] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/30 p66 DI70; CON34/1/3 p203 DI 208; CON14/1/2 p69 DI 71
[65] Ibid
[66] Ibid
[67] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/30 p66 DI70; CON34/1/3 p203 DI 208;
[68] TROVE: Colonial Times, Hobart, Tue 19 Jan 1836, p3, Advertising
[69] TROVE: The Hobart Town Courier, Fri 6 Apr 1838, p1 Classified Advertising
[70] TROVE: Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston, Sat 18 Aug 1838, p3, Launceston Police
[71] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/7 p33 DI 195;
[72] TROVE: Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston, Sat 25 May 1839, p4, Advertising
[73] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/30 p66 DI70; CON34/1/3 p203 DI 208;
[74] Ibid
[75] https://convict156.rssing.com/chan-53379781/all_p4.html
[76] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON31/1/30 p66 DI70; CON34/1/3 p203 DI 208;
[77] LIB TAS: Names Index: CON40/1/7 p33 DI 195; see above footnote 54.
[78] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD32/1/3 N3446 DI 173
[79] Taken from mother’s death certificate (Elizabeth)
[80] LIB TAS: Names Index: POL220/1/1 p544
[81]https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/D/Depression%20of%20the%201840s.htm
[82] Ibid
[83] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/34 N269 DI 154
[84] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD33/1/12 N632 DI 72; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[85] NSW/BDM 8222/1902; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[86] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD33/1/12 N2134 DI 239;
[87] NSW/BDM 1161/1888; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[88] NSW/BDM 1585/1895; Helensburgh is 45 km south of Sydney and 35 km north of Wollongong. There are several possible deaths for a William Priest in NSW, the most likely being in 1896 at Sydney. [NSW/BDM 5045/1896]
[89] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD37/1/39 N95 DI 46; The Mercury, Tue 10 Feb 1880, p1, Family Notices
[90] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD33/1/60 N882 DI 107; LIB TAS: Names Index: SC195-1-101 Inquest 17990; LIB TAS: Names Index: HSD274/1/2 Index M; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[91] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD33/1/62 N314 DI 40; LIB TAS: Names Index: AD961-1-14 Will N 4041 DI 1; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[92] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD33/1/58 N680 DI 88; LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/49 N89 DI 55; more information on this person can be found on the FCRC database under Elizabeth Paterson / research notes.
[93] LIB TAS: Names Index: AD960-1-41 N 10726 DI 1
[94] Ibid
[95] LIB TAS: Names Index: AD960-1-48 Will No 14609 – Mayhew Emma DI 1
[96] TROVE: Ovens & Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic.: 1855-1918) Tues 24 May 1864, p2 Family Notices; TROVE: Ovens & Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic.: 1855-1918) Thu 26 May 1864, p2 ; VIC/BDM 2891/1864; while VIC death records state his birthplace as London, the media reported it Stepney, Middlesex; Vic records also stated his father as George and mother Mary Farr (which may or may not be correct) and his age as 50 which is about 7 years different to his transportation records. There are no records of any marriages for George in Victoria.
[97] TROVE: Ovens & Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic.: 1855-1918) Tue 24 May 1864, p3; Woolshed, a former mining locality in north-east Victoria, is 8 km north-west of Beechworth and 225 km from Melbourne. It was named after a crude shed apparently built in 1838 and used for droving sheep from New South Wales. Woolshed is situated on Reid's Creek, which is the continuation of Spring Creek which flows through Beechworth. Gold was discovered at Spring Creek in February 1852, and discovered at Reid's Creek nine months later. Three settlements were formed, Woolshed, Reid's Creek and Sebastopol. https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/woolshed.
[98] LIB TAS: Names Index: RGD35/1/50 N266 DI 97
