Elizabeth Cheatham: From Death Row to Transportation

Elizabeth Cheatham - sentenced to death; transported for life: 5 November 1833 mss letter (2pp) written to her parents from the Chester City Gaol where she was being held pending removal to the hulks prior to transportation. 'I am sorry to afflict your tender hearts with my misfortunate Destiny after all the good advice you have boath given me. I was taken up for taking some money and sentenced to be Transported for Life....[I] should be very happy to see you boath for the Last time and to hear from my Brothers and Sisters......be so kind to send me a Little Money to get some little things for my Journey...I solenmly declare I never received one penny of the Money I am going Abroad for....Pleas to come as soon as possable and bring a few of my Cloaths with you.' The third side of the folded letter sheet bears a short note in an educated hand, 'Mr Cheatham, If you wish to see your daughter you must be at Chester....before Friday next...on that morning she will leave Chester City Gaol for Woolwich. She goes by the name of Elizabeth Morris.' Accompanied by another letter, written on Elizabeth's behalf on 24 January 1834 by George Jepson, Governor of the House of Correction & City Gaol, instructs the father on what to do with a petition he has arranged for his daughter....'you must get some respectable individual to give the petition to the member for Salop for them to present to the Secretary of State and then I think there will be a chance.....When you write please pay the postage as your daughter has no money and I have to pay it out of my own pocket.' Elizabeth Cheatham, aged only 21, had been arrested in August and again in September 1833, on both occasions for being 'a common prostitute.' On 15 October 1833 she was arrested and charged with assaulting William Hesketh on the Kings Highway and stealing 9 shillings. She was sentenced to death on October 25th; the sentence commuted to transportation for life and she was put on board the convict ship, George Hibbert on 3 July 1834. The ship departed, with 143 other female convicts aboard and arrived at Botany Bay on 1st December 1834. Surgeon John Tarn, surgeon superintendent on the convict ship kept a Medical Journal '.....Between the 3rd and 17th of July 1834, 144 female convicts, 11 free women and 64 children were received on board at Woolwich, having been forwarded in parties from the different counties of Great Britain. Most of the women were below middle age and in sufficient good health to make the journey without much risk of disease. The vessel was very crowded but the usual precautions to reduce risk of disease made it a healthy voyage. The convicts and children were on deck whenever possible and stoves were used to reduce dampness. Most complaints were affections of the bowels, catarrhal and dyspeptic attacks and diseases of the uterine system and were generally not severe. Bowel complaints appeared during the close, sultry weather and were mostly connected with hepatic secretions. The voyage was longer than usual, taking 130 days, and there were numerous slight symptoms of scurvy for some weeks before arriving in Sydney. Lemon juice had been regularly issued and when it ran out it was replaced with citric acid and a solution of nitre in vinegar....' By January 1835 some of the prisoners of the George Hibbert were already in trouble. The Sydney Herald reported...'The female prisoners who lately arrived per George Hibbert, seem fully equal to the task of rivalling in bad conduct those renowned damsels who arrived in the Colony a few years ago by the Roslin Castle and Lucy Davidson, and who were so noted at the time for their bad behaviour. Scarce a day passes without a batch of George Hibberts being placed at the bar of the Sydney Police.' What became of Elizabeth Morris (nee Cheatham)?