The Anson

My maternal 2nd great grandmother, Bess, received a death sentence in the Old Bailey. At length, her sentence was commuted to transportation for life. On arrival in Sullivan’s Cove in Hobart Town, she was taken to the prison hulk The Anson*, her home for the next six months. She was transferred to the Women’s Prison up in the Cascades and employed in making garments, domestic work, and doing laundry. Having come back late one evening, she was charged with being absent without leave and sentenced to a month’s hard labour in ‘the interior’. Here she met her husband to be, also a convict. They married a month later and shortly after they were allowed to settle in Hobart on tickets-of-leave. They made the best of their circumstances, establishing a family business and raising many children. Doing their bit for the prospering young colony! One of their sons was a respected and honoured District Constable for many years. Bess hailed from Leith in Scotland. She was 4’11” tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and red hair. That must be where the freckles came from.

* The H.M.S. Anson arrived in Hobart on 4th February 1844, with 499 male convicts on board, plus a crew of 326. This was the greatest number of convicts to ever leave England on one ship.