Clarissa Ward Downes

Clarissa Ward Downes, one of 87 convicts transported on the Lord Wellington, May 1819

Name, Aliases & Gender

Name:	Clarissa Ward Downes
Aliases:	none
Gender:	f

Birth, Occupation & Death

Date of Birth:	1799
Occupation:	Dressmaker
Date of Death:	-
Age:	-

Life Span

Female median life span was 53 years*

* Median life span based on contributions

Conviction & Transportation

Sentence Severity

Sentenced to 14 years

Crime:	Possessing a forged note
Convicted at:	Middlesex Gaol Delivery
Sentence term:	14 years
Ship:	Lord Wellington
Departure date:	May, 1819
Arrival date:	20th January, 1820
Place of arrival	New South Wales
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 124 other convicts

References

Primary source:	Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 88, Class and Piece Number HO11/3, Page Number 162
Source description:	This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project.

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Community Contributions

Penny-Lyn Beale on 4th October, 2020 wrote:

1825 - Convict Muster. Clarissa Downs. WIFE Of William Downs, Sydney

1828 - Census.
No; 42. William Downs. Age; 35. F.S. Morley. 1818. 14 years. Protestant. Constable
No; 43. Clarissa Ward Downs. Age; 28. G. S. Wellington, 1819. 14 years. Protestant.

1832 - 7 May. Certificate of Freedom. 32/417.
Name: Clarissa Ward Downes
Age: 32. Birth Year: 18001799
Native Place: Cambridge
Arrival year: 1820. Vessel: Lord Wellington
Trade or Calling; Dressmaker
Offence; Uttering forged notes
Trial; Middlesex G. D.
Height; 5 ft. 2 Inches
Complexion; Pale
Hair; Light brown
Eyes; Blue
Remarks; Wife of William Downes Per ship Morley 2. Free by servitude
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Penny-Lyn Beale on 4th October, 2020 wrote:

Old Bailey On-Line
772. THOMAS DAVIS , THOMAS WARD , THOMAS SMITH , CLARISSA WARD DOWNES , PATRICK LANE , ROBERT PURNELL , and WILLIAM BROWN were severally and separately indicted for feloniously having in their custody and possession forged bank notes, knowing them to have been forged .

To which indictment they severally pleaded

GUILTY .

Transported for Fourteen Years .

First Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Recorder.

Maureen Withey on 8th September, 2021 wrote:

ADM 101/45/1 1819-1820
Diary for the Lord Wellington female convict ship sailing from England to New South Wales, covering 27 April 1819 to 27 January 1820, by Edward Foord Bromley, MD, Surgeon, Royal Navy and Superintendent of Convicts. (Described at item level)

Folio 12: C [W?] Downs, aged 19, convict; taken ill, 15 November 1819; disease or hurt, sickness at stomach, bad taste in the mouth and general pains in the extremities, headache, quick pulse with considerable pain in the abdomen; discharged from sick list, 26 [November?] 1819.

Maureen Withey on 8th September, 2021 wrote:

Folio 14: C [W?] Downs, aged 19, convict; taken ill, 2 December 1819; disease or hurt, considerable pain in the extremities attended with thirst, bad taste in the mouth, pulse hard and full, head confused. Bowels constipated, slight pain in the abdomen loss of appetite; discharged from sick list, 30 December 1819.

Convict Changes History

Penny-Lyn Beale on 4th October, 2020 made the following changes:

gender: f

Penny-Lyn Beale on 4th October, 2020 made the following changes:

date of birth: 1799 (prev. 0000), occupation, crime