Sarah Ashwell

71

Robin Sharkey on 27th August 2021

Sarah Ashwell died in July 1839 and was buried on 24th July 1839. She was buried in the "family vault" of Mr Hately. The service was to commence at 9am on 24th July, but the Rev Mr Wood only let it be known that day that he couldn't attend then, and she was buried at 5pm, with another minister attending. The undertaker wrote a letter to the newspaper (Sydney Monitor, 31/7/1839 p.2) complaining about this, and saying it was more difficult/expensive to do burials in the Episcopalian burial ground with various obstacles in the way of determining who "shall of right" perform the burial ceremony.

71

Robin Sharkey on 27th August 2021

By the 1822 Muster Sarah was recorded as the wife of Joseph Hateley (1816 Conditional Pardon). They lived in Sydney and she had a Ticket of Leave. In 1825 the situation was the same. In February 1824 she and Jospeh were witnesses at the second marriages, in Sydney, of Daniel Burrows, farmer at Campbelltown, and Ann Davis of Sydney. In March 1827 Sarah applied for, and got her Certificate of Freedom. She was then aged 55. At the 1828 Census she and Joseph were living in George St Sydney, Protestant. ___________________________________ PETITIONS TO BANK OF ENGLAND BEFORE LEAVING THE U.K. Before departing England, Sarah petitioned the Bank of England for payments. Where the Bank of England had successfully prosecuted for forging or uttering, it would provide a small amount of assistance to prisoners who requested it - but the vast majority of payments were only made to women offenders. Because women remained in the local gaol often for a long time until they were transported, they would face very hard times with no means of support. Letters on behalf of Sara Ashwell, Sarah Startin and Martha Pedley were not written until they were already on board the “Wanstead”. They might not have heard about the Bank’s payments until they were mingling with the London-convicted women. Martha Pedley’s first letter mentioned her associates, the two Sarahs - Ashwell and Startin - as being very much distressed. Then they were all three part of a second letter from eight women seeking “a little more”. [F/25/11/17] 4 July 1813, from Deptford “Mr Kay, Sir, I hope you will Pardon the Leberty I have takein in writen to you But it is nessety for I have Been taken up Ever sence the 30th of October and A small famley and have Been fost to sell all my things to Live on and I am very much Distrest and if you will have The Goodness as to give me A trifle it will be very thankfully Received By me martha Pedley as I have A Child with me and I have no money to Purcehs any thing But the alounce and there is 2 moor women that was Convected at Warwick the same time as my Salfe and very much Disstrest in Deed the Be Honnerd Sir I hope you will atend to the Above and your humble Pektichners is in Duty Bound and will for Ever Pray for you, Martha Pedley, Sarah Aswell, Sarah Startin” Petition from eight women jointly: [F25/11/25] 23 July 1813, from Spithead “Honerd Gentlemen Wee humble thank you for the favour wee have Recevid from your hands and as wee are Likeley to have a Long Voyege and most of us as Childrin and wat you have Been so Good as to give us all moust Expinded with By in a few things as we wanted very Bad and if you Goodness will Remit us a trifle moar it will Be thankfully Receveid By your humble Pertichner and wee shall Be in Duty Bound and will for Ever Pray: Sarah Startin, Sarah Ashwell, Martha Pedley, Elizabeth Chedlow, Elizabeth Jones, Catherine Watson, Mary Best, Jane Smith”

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Robin Sharkey on 27th August 2021

RENEWING BIRMINGHAM ACQUAINTANCES Sarah Ashwell arrived at NSW in January 1814, and Mary Bradbury, aged only 18, arrived as a free person in June six months later. Why might 44 year old Sarah have been witness at the marriage of 18 year old Mary in 1817? It seems they were connected back in Birmingham through the network of forging and passing bad notes. Mary Bradbury aged 18 was the only child of William Bradbury, a horse dealer from Birmingham who was sentenced to life transportation at Warwick Assizes in March 1811, for disposing of forged notes in Birmingham. He arrived in NSW on “Guildford” in January 1812. The man his daughter Mary married had been transported on the same ship as her father. The judge at Warwick Assizes had condemned Bradbury in these terms: “You have been in the habit of carrying on this infamous traffic for a considerable time; you had means to make all these notes; I cannot but look upon you as a most dangerous man, and a proper object of the severest punishment of the law.” (Leicester Journal Fri 19 Apr 1811 p.3) Sarah Ashwell probably knew William Bradbury in Birmingham. She was passing forged shillings in Birmingham in February 1811. Probably, she was part of a gang run by Bradbury. She would also have known Bradbury's Birmingham family - his wife Alice who would have been around her own age, and his young daughter Mary. In 1814, Bradbury lived in Castlereagh St Sydney and sold spirits out of his house. He had made money shortly after arriving in Sydney by hiring out a borrowed cart in 1813 to help with building the new road over the Blue Mountains, and he never worked for government again after that. This got him a Ticket of Leave and from there he did exceptionally well financially. In these circumstances he was easily able to bring out his only daughter, Mary, to Sydney arriving in June 1815. His English wife, Alice, did not come. Eventually he would become rich from land grants and acquisitions and another inn at Campbelltown. William Bradbury was illiterate and his successful cattle breeding business based in Campbelltown depended on trusted associates in Sydney. (Jnl RAHS, Vol 104, Pt 1 June 2018, p.95). One of these men was Joseph Hateley, also tried at Warwick Assizes, and transported for life in 1797. Sarah Ashwell married Hateley, continuing the ties with her old Birmingham life. Her old acquaintance in forgery, Martha Pedley, became housekeeper to Bradbury (see 1822 and 1825 musters). __________________________________________

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Robin Sharkey on 27th August 2021

SARAH ASHWELL, aged 41, a native of Worcester, was transported for passing forged notes, being found guilty in April 1813, with others who seemed to be a small gang: Northampton Mercury, 3 April 1813, p.3 “At Warwick assizes, which commenced the same day, Martha Pedley, Sarah Ashwell, Sarah Startin, and Thomas Powell, charged with passing forged notes, were all found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years”. The three women arrived in NSW on “Wanstead”. Thomas Powell appears to have not arrived. Sarah Ashwell (and Martha Pedley) had prior records for offences relating to forged money. • Sarah Ashwell had been committed to Warwick Gaol in February 1811 for tendering a large number of counterfeit shillings (300) and counterfeit sixpences in Birmingham. [ Gloucester Journal 25 February 1811 p 4] • Martha Pedley had been sent to Warwick Gaol in November 1812 for putting off forged bank of England notes, Bank of England tokens, and counterfeit coin. (Derby Mercury Thurs 26 Nov 1812 p.3) _____________________________ Sarah was given a Ticket of Leave shortly after arrival on "Wanstead" on 9 January 1814. In the NSW Muster later in 1814, she was single, off stores and residing in Sydney. In. Nov 1817 Sarah was a witness at the marriage of Mary Bradbury and Denis Shiel, at St Philips in Sydney. Mary had come free on ship "Northampton" in 1815.