Ann Harris

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Dianne Jones on 15th May 2022

1817 Muster: Listed as having left the Colony (New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834; New South Wales; Female; 1817). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 15th May 2022

IN NSW: 7 December, 1811: Ann Harris received a Certificate of Freedom #228/442 (New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom, 1810-1814, 1827-1867). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 15th May 2022

14 July, 1805: Hannah Palmer and Ann Harris were among several Newgate Prison “respites” from the death sentence who were delivered on board the William Pitt at Portsmouth, to be sent to NSW (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for Hannah Palmer; Newgate Prison; List of Felons; 1859-1890). —00—

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Dianne Jones on 15th May 2022

TRANSCRIPT OF TRIAL: “#27. HANNAH PALMER and ANN HARRIS were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 20th of October, twenty-eight yards of lace, value 7 l. the property of Christopher Fisher, privately in his shop. CHRISTOPHER FISHER sworn. - I live at No. 19, Great Newport-street, in the parish of St. Martin. Q. Look at the prisoners at the bar - do you know them? - A. Perfectly so. Q. Do you remember seeing them at your shop in the 20th of October last? - A. I do, about half past four o’clock in the afternoon; they both came together. Q. Was there any body in the shop besides yourself? - A. My wife was in the back part of the shop, and her father-in-law, sitting by the fire; there is a screen between the back shop and the front shop; it totally hinders any person sitting there from seeing who comes into the front shop. Q. Then the back shop is so separated by a screen, as just to leave a passage from one shop to the other? - A. Exactly so. Q. So that if you were in the back shop, you could not see without going round that? - A. No. Q. As either of them sat, could either of them see what passed in the fore shop? - A. I believe he might, if he sat facing the door, but he sat with his face towards the fire, and his back towards me; my wife was so placed that she could not see in the least when the two prisoners at the bar came in. Q. What did they ask for? - A. They asked to look at some black lace. Q. Had you ever seen them before? - A. I had seen the tall one before pass by, I believe; I know more of them now; I have an officer here who can tell more than I; the short one I did not know at all, I never saw her before in my life; I asked them what sort of lace they wanted, whether British or real; she answered, real; Palmer, the tall one, said she wanted real, she wanted some very good; I immediately shewed them some of different patterns and prices, from five shillings up to eighteen shillings a yard; they seemed very difficult both in pattern and price; there was one lace in particular that took the fancy of the prisoner Harris; she said to Palmer, my dear, this is good lace, it is real lace, taking the cloak that she had on in her hand; she said, my cloak is trimmed with real British lace, and directly threw it over the counter, covering the lace, to shew me the lace that was on it; this was Harris; Palmer made answer, I know it is. After that, Ann Harris walked to the door; I supposed that she intended to shew me some other that was outside, as we have a shew-board, and that shew-board stands sloping, you cannot see in the inside; but she did not go to the shew-board, but stood in the front of the door upon the threshold, and seemed to be adjusting something in the front of her, in this kind of manner, (witness described how); she supposed that I could not see her, having a pile of woollen cloaks piled up against the door, but so as not to cover the whole of it, but leaving one square of glass of the door uncovered, from which I can see every one that passes in the street; that is how I saw her in that motion; I observed her before she returned into the shop again; she was not quite out, but was upon the threshold. At the time she returned, the prisoner Palmer was looking at a lace of 18 s. per yard, it was Harris that went to the door; Palmer said the price was too high, that she should not like to give more than 14 s. but did not bid me 14 s. I answered I could not take that, and they both walked out of the shop. Q. How long might they be in your shop altogether? - A. I suppose about fifteen or twenty minutes. Q. So they bought nothing at all? - A. Not any thing. Q. How soon after they were gone, did you miss any thing? - A. I began, as soon as they were gone, to adjust my lace, taking them one by one, and in the space of three minutes I missed the card of lace I now charge them with; this is the pattern of it, (shewing a small bit of lace.) Q. Are you quite clear that you saw the card of lace upon the table while they were there? - A. The card of lace was there, and was particularly looked at by Harris, saying it was a good one; I am perfectly clear it was there, I had it in my hand to shew them. Q. And you are perfectly clear it was upon the counter, and that Ann Harris particularly admired it? - A. Exactly so. Q. How much did you lose? - A. Twenty-eight yards. Q. What might be the price of it? - A. Seven pounds. Q. The value of the whole? - A. Yes; the whole was gone. Q. How do you know the pattern? - A. This is the pattern I know it by; it is a kind of a sample. Q. You are positively certain that that pattern, twenty-eight yards of lace, was laying on the counter, and that you missed it? - A. I am certain of that; I saw which way they turned after they went out of my shop, I took my hat, and went in pursuit of them; the street being very short, that in less than a minute they can turn either corner, I took the turning towards Cranbourn-alley, and through Leicester-square, but did not meet them; I saw no more of them till Wednesday, the 24th, about half past three, when they passed the door, both of them together; I then went in pursuit of them; I followed them up Long-acre at a distance, and they went into Mr. M’Knight’s, a linen-draper; I beckoned to him, I stood in the doorway; I beckoned him to come to speak to me, as he knew me well; he turned into the back parlour, and he said if I would come to him, he would speak to me; I went in to speak to Mr. M’Knight, and in the mean time the prisoners stepped out, they saw me. Q. I wish you to be particular about that? - A. When I was standing at the parlour door with him, they directly went out of the shop without purchasing a single thing of Mr. M’Knight. Q. Did they inquire for any thing? - A. There was a person in at the time at Mr. M’Knight’s looking at some kind of linen, but they all went out together. Q. Had the prisoners joined in company to look at any linen before you went into the shop? - A. I do think they had in the same business; I followed them immediately. Q. When they went out, what did you do? - A. I stepped out of the shop, and took the prisoner Harris by the arm, and said, walk along with me. O, my dear, said she, I will walk along with you any where; I took Harris, and we went into Mr. M’Knight’s shop again; I believe Mr. M’Knight’s man brought Palmer in; she was brought in; they were taken into the back parlour, and I immediately sent to Bow-street for an officer. Q. You have described this action of her taking up the lower part of the cloak, and putting it over the counter - did the cloak cover any part of the lace? - A. Nearly the whole of it. Q. Had the action of putting her cloak in that sort of a way, the appearance of a natural action to shew it you, or strange and forced? - A. It is rather unusual to shew it you in that manner; sometimes they will shew in this manner (describing how), but I never knew one throw it over. Q. It did not excite suspicion in you? - A. None in the least. Q. You never found that lace? - A. No, nor never heard any thing of it. RICHARD LIMERICK sworn. - I am an officer of Bow-street; we searched the prisoners, and that is all we can say; we found nothing upon them; nothing that they said made any impression on my memory in the least; they denied the charge, and when they were fully committed, there was a girl stepped forward, and said, that Palmer was an innocent woman, and that she did this robbery. Palmer’s defence. The gentleman has known me for many years, and he knows that I do not live many doors from him, and when he was at Bow-street, he swore to twenty-seven yards. Q.(To the prosecutor.) Is that true, that you knew her many years back? - A. No; I knew her and her father by sight, but I never spoke to the man in my life. Palmer. I bought a cloak of this gentleman the 24th of last May; I have never been in his shop since. Q.(To the prosecutor.) Did you sell her a cloak? - A. I really do not know, I cannot say that I have. Palmer. I have got my cloak at home. Q.(To the prosecutor.) Do you know that she lived in your neighbourhood? - A. I have seen her pass, but I did not know who she was. Palmer. I am an innocent woman, and the officer knows that a young woman came into the Office, and said she did the robbery. Harris’s defence. I am an innocent woman; at the Office a gentleman came up, and he said he could not swear to our persons, we were not the women. Q.(To the prosecutor.) Did you before state that you did not know the persons of the prisoners at the bar? - A. No. Harris. His friend did. Q.(To the prosecutor.) Had you any doubt before the Magistrate of the persons of the prisoners at the bar? - A. None in the least; I could identify the person of the prisoner Palmer, in case of an alibi; the two officers are here that searched them, and they found nothing upon them. Harris. At the time the gentleman said the robbery was committed, I had not seen Mrs. Palmer for three weeks, or a fortnight, and I brought her a gown that I made for her on that day. Palmer, GUILTY, Death, aged 19. Harris, GUILTY, Death, aged 18. The Jury recommended them to mercy on account of their youth. Second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron Graham.” (https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/) —0—

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Dianne Jones on 15th May 2022

TRIAL: 5 December, 1804: Hannah Palmer and Ann Harris were tried at the Old Bailey, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for shoplifting. Their sentences were respited to seven years’ transportation. According to newspaper reports, the two “handsome young women” (Sun, 7 December 1804, p4) escaped the death sentence by pleading that “they were with child and a Jury of Matrons was empannelled to inquire into the facts” (London Chronicle, 13 December 1804, p2). —0—