1825       

 

Some time before May 1825 Hannah is assigned to Mrs Drummond of Liverpool. So far we have been unable to confirm Mrs Drummond is the wife of John Drummond who held 2 plots of land totalling 710 acres, west of the Liverpool township(21 22).

 

Early in this research we speculated on the possibility of Henry and Hannah meeting in Liverpool. They were both in the area, although not necessarily at the same time.

 

Henry left Robert Lowe’s property (Birling) some time after the 1823 Muster in September, and was assigned to someone in Windsor. Henry fails to appear in the 1824 Muster records so it’s impossible to know when he left Liverpool.

 

Hannah was assigned to Mrs Drummond some time after her arrival down under in May 1824.

 

The Lowes Creek to Liverpool map(22a) gives an approximate location for the properties of Robert Lowe and John Drummond.

 

Did they meet in Liverpool? Probably not, the window of opportunity seems very very small.

 

On Monday 30th May Mrs Drummond sends Hannah out to the field to collect a few turnips, an errand she expected would take about a quarter of an hour. Hannah returns 2 ½ hours later. Questioned by Mrs D, Hannah’s reply is deemed to be “most insolent”, and on the following day: “she was also abusive and said “if you don’t like me turn me in in the evening’”.

 

“On Wednesday 1st June deponent desired the Prisr. to proceed properly with her work she treated her orders with contempt ...” Hannah was taken to gaol the same night.

Mrs Drummond is listed in the Liverpool Court Records as Gov. Servant  / Employer. Hannah was not the only assigned convict reported to the authorities by Mrs Drummond.

 

3rd June (Liverpool Police Court Records(23)), Thos. Moore Esq. sentenced Hannah to 6 months at the “House of Correction Parramatta to return to Mrs Drummond on completion of her sentence.”

 

The “House of Correction” would have been the Female Factory rather than the (2nd) Parramatta Gaol. The gaol housed the really really nasty buggers. As a convict, Hannah was a “lifer” and therefore more likely to receive a more severe punishment than convicts who originally received lesser sentences of 7 or 14 years.

 

 

 

The Female Factory(24)

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In 1824 or 1825 women in the Factory were divided into 3 classes.

 

1st Class prisoners had the most privileges. 2nd classers were determined by the minor nature of their crime, while 3rd class was reserved for reoffenders and nasty buggers (who seem to have actually been behind bars).

 

Unfortunately many of the Factory records have been lost to time, however, and thanks to Mrs Drummond, Hannah would most likely have qualified as a reoffender.

 

Did she scrape into the 2nd class because of the minor nature of her crime? Possibly, we’ll never know, Administrative “guidelines” appear to have been interpreted variously according to circumstance, although the penalties were harsh.

 

 

The Factory and the Orphan School

While in the Factory, I believe Hannah (20/22) meets Celea Kenedy (12/13) and they become long time friends. There’s no proof until Celea and her husband William Peckham witness the marriage of Hannah and Henry in 1836, but there are threads that run through both lives suggesting a long friendship, but they are circumstantial at best. If they were long time friends, Hannah’s story makes more sense

 

If they really did meet, it was probably during Hannah’s 2nd stint in the Factory, but it might have been earlier.

 

 

A thumbnail sketch of what we know:

• There is little doubt the Orphan School and the Female Factory had close links, who better to take care of the orphans than the women from the Factory, and “The Factory” was just that, it wasn’t a gaol. The Orphan School was only a few Km down river, and women from the Factory certainly worked in the laundry and kitchen.

 

• Hannah did two stints in the Female Factory at Parramatta. The first in 1824 on her arrival in the colony, the second in the latter half of 1825 when she was sentenced to 6 months for “insolence and neglect of duty”.

 

• In 1820 Celea aged 8 was admitted into the Orphan School Parramatta. In 1825, aged 13, she is assigned to someone in Newcastle

 

 

• Women worked in the Factory, were placed on assignment as domestic servants, and provided a ‘captive’ marriage market. (Sadly, before its closure, its function had gradually shifted to that of a gaol).

 

• 1829 Celea marries William Peckham(24a) in Christ Church Hexham

 

• Hannah (pregnant) receives a ToL in December 1829

 

• April 1830 William Alexander Peckham is Baptised in Christ Church Hexham

 

• Hannah gives birth to Sarah Ann in Hexham in August 1831 and is baptised in Christ Church Hexham 3 months later. One week after the baptism, she is pregnant with the first of five more children to take the SAMUELS name

 

• Celea and William witness the marriage of Hannah and Henry in St Philips Church Sydney

 

 

Research into the political and social complexities of both institutions is on going, and although it’s a personal view, I am stunned, the building, still standing, designed by Francis Greenway, has NO Heritage status whatsoever. Parramatta Local Council clearly sees Heritage as a hindrance to development !!

 

In the 1825 General Muster(25) held on 5th October, Hannah is still in “The Factory” (26)  

 

            Marriage in the Factory.

 

The Official view(27)

There are various accounts (some ridiculously romanticised) of how a wife was chosen and the class of prisoner eligible to “stand in line.” Most researchers tend to agree, the infamous Sunday “ marriage line up” was reserved for 1st class female prisoners.

 

If the regulations were that strictly enforced, then Hannah had somehow become a 1st Class prisoner!

 

Other accounts suggest male convicts were simply not eligible to apply.

 

            The Unofficial view

From a convict’s perspective the “unofficial” (and prevailing) view was if a woman married, “assignment” faded into the background and although this contradicted the “official” view, possibly the greater good of the colony prevailed, at least unofficially.

 

Assigned convicts were also required to attend the local Anglican Church every Sunday, presumably as a check on their remaining at the assignment, and presumably some did.

 

 

Hannah completes her sentence at the beginning of December. Does she return to Mrs Drummond? Not bloody likely.

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Enter Thomas Benton / Benson:

 

Roughly about now Hannah meets a fellow convict Thomas Benton, possibly in a Sunday “line up” at the Factory. Thomas is listed in the Australian Convict General Muster of October 1825 as being in “Government Employ Parramatta”(28)