Ann Arnett

53

Beth Taylor on 3rd November 2019

ARNETT, Ann (c1783-?) Tried - 14 July 1813 Middlesex (Old Bailey) Ann had been a housekeeper in Haymarket, London when she was taken before Court charged with receiving 8 handkerchiefs that had been stolen by James Smith. It was alleged that the pair were working as pickpockets. Smith would pass the goods to Ann who was waiting at the end of the street. They were caught by the Constable who said at the trial that Smith, aged 64, was known to him. James Smith pleaded guilty and received a sentence of transportation for life but Ann claimed her innocence and said “I was going to see the lights; I lost my acquaintance; Smith came up to me; he said would I hold the handkerchiefs until he came back.” Ann was found guilty and received a 14 year sentence. Ann was placed on the Broxbornebury in 1814 and arrived in NSW as a convict. BC: 1783 Sentenced: 14/07/1813 Middlesex [see trial record below] to transportation for 14 years Crime: Receiving stolen goods Previous Occupation: Housekeeper Age on Convict Indent: 30 1813 - ANN ARNETT, Theft > receiving, 14th July 1813. 709. ANN ARNETT was indicted for feloniously receiving, on the 6th of July, eight handkerchiefs, value 8 s. being part and parcel of the goods whereof James Smith confessed himself guilty of stealing. BENJAMIN JOHNSON. I apprehended the prisoner, Smith, on the 6th of July, it was facing of Carlton-house; that was the day the rejoising (sic) took place; I saw him picking pockets opposite of Carlton-house; at the time he was picking of pockets Arnett was waiting for him at the corner of the Haymarket ; I saw him take some of the handkerchiefs out of his pockets, and some out of his breeches, and deliver them to the prisoner, Arnett; she put them all in her pocket; he left Arnett, and went into the mob again. I left Jeffreys, the Marlborough-street officer, to watch him; I took Arnett into custody while he was absent; I took Arnett into the Opera-house, and searched her; I found eight handkerchiefs upon her, cotton and silk together; four silk handkerchiefs. I saw James Smith deliver them to her; there is not one of them but what is marked, and all of them have different initials. I seized James Smith at the corner of the Haymarket. I took from him a bunch of keys, a cork-screw, and three handkerchiefs; he had been at work again; I knew Smith before. All the handkerchiefs were marked with initials. CHARLES JEFFREYS. I watched Smith in the mob; he picked as many persons pockets in the mob as he could. Prisoner's Defence. I was going to see the lights; I lost my acquaintance; Smith came up to me; he said would I hold the handkerchiefs until he came back. GUILTY, aged 30. Transported for Fourteen Years. Second Middlesex jury, before Mr. Common Serjeant. (Source: Old Bailey on-line www.oldbaileyonline.org ) 1814 Muster: Ann HARNETT (?), Broxbornebury, con, off stores, single, Sydney (7059) c1822 – Ann Arnett was living as the defacto wife of Owen Fogarty (c1780-?), who had arrived in Sydney in 1810 as a convict on the ship Providence. 1822 Muster: Ann HARNETT (?), TL, Broxbornebury, 14 years, wife of O Fogarty, Sydney (A09276) Owen FOGARTY, FBS, Providence, 14 years, tailor, Sydney (A07405) [Note: No record of a marriage found for the couple] 1823-1825 Muster: Owen FOGARTY, FS, Providence 1811, 14 years, tailor, Sydney (21205), No record of Ann found. 1824 - Owen FOGARTY per ship Providence received his COF in 02/08/1824 #18/2447. Described as: convicted in County Carlow August 1810, 14 years, a tailor, born c1780, 5’7” tall, fair ruddy complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes. (Source: Sydney Gazette, 05/08/1824, p1 and SRNSW Convict Pardons, Reel 601, 4/4423) 1828 Census: No record found for Ann or Owen. No record of marriage/children born/death for Ann Arnett or her defacto husband Owen Fogarty. From the book “Journey to a New Life…” the story of the ships Emu & Broxbornebury by Elizabeth Hook (3rd ed. 2014). I am the author & can be contacted on tbeth3370@gmail.com for further info