Sarah Mills

Level 6

Rita Kidd on 9th November 2015

Twin to Abraham ???? Sarah Mills 1836 46/0655 6 July 1846 4/4405 1022 Wife of Francis Foster Per "Neva" 1833 FBS freed by survice ( which means he served his sentence ) Sarah MILLS arrived on the Ship Elizabeth 5th Voyage Year 1837 Trailed 1836 Ref no 46/0655 Ticket of Freedom 6 Jul 1846 Ref no 4/4405-1022 Date of Arrival 12 Oct 1836 Pages 237 Fische 720 File 908 Shelf x638-9 5211836 134 Sarah Mills age 19 could Read Protestan Single Native Place Wiltshire Hawker Tin Offence Receiving Stolen Goods trail where Southhampton Quarter Sessons When 5 Jan 1836 FFR 25 Nov 43 3 mos Index No 134 Sentence 7 yrs Former Convictions NO 5 ft 1 inch Dark Ruddy and Freckled Hair Sandy brown Scar inside middle finger of R Hand Small scar on fack of third finger of L hand Ticket of Freedom 46/655 Sarah was working for Gabriel Bennett 18 Sydney 5th Voyage of the Elizabeth no remarks Page 45 in Orignial Records 1837 Muster General Return of Convicts NSW 1837 150 . Francis Henry Foster Parish of St Phillip Sydney (Parramatta ) to Sarah Mills married in Church by Banns with consent of Governor 2 Dec 1840 by me John Troughton Chaplin This marriage was Francis Henry Foster solemnizes between us Francis Foster the X of Sarah Mills In the Presence of John F Staff of The X of Thomas of Smith Ref no V180357 24B/1840 Francis Foster was a Convict he came to Australia on the "Neva " Birth of 1 Child Elizabeth Francis Foster - V 1842 Item 199 Vol 26A Elizabeth Francis Foster 1 st Sep 1842 Abode Clarence St Quality or Profession Printer by whom the Ceremony was Preformed J C Gyles Charged and convicted of stealing clothing in company with Abraham, Sarah was transported as a convict on the “Elizabeth” (5) to Australia in 1836. Her convict Indent refers to the trial as being at Southampton (see previous notes on trial) and states a ‘native place’ as Wiltshire (see page 8) Described as being a Protestant, aged 19, who could read, was 5ft 1in in height,, dark ruddy and freckled, sandy brown hair, small scars on both hands. The “Elizabeth” was built at Dartmouth in 1805 and was a Barque of 392 tons. On this, her fifth Convict Transportation the Master was John AUSTIN and the Surgeon a Robert ESPIE. They left from London on the 21st of June 1836 and after 108 days arrived in Sydney on the 12th of October 1836. This voyage is noted in Bateson’s, ‘The Convict Ships’ regarding transportation, because of the reported violence and brutality of Surgeon ESPIE towards the 161 convict women carried. His later claim was that the women did not respond to the normal punishment of ‘solitary confinement’ and thus numerous punishments of ‘beating’ and other physical indignities were handed out on his orders. During the inquiry into the complaints, Surgeon Espie acknowledged that he had himself beaten many women with a length of heavy rope “but” only on their arms, legs and backs ... he was not reprimanded. All 161 convict women arrived safely. There was no loss of life on the voyage and the good standard of hygiene was commented upon. Following her arrival in Sydney the 1837 Convict Muster notes that Sarah was assigned as a servant to a Gabriel BENNETT although it would appear that this arrangement was changed prior to the 28th of October 1838 when her situation was mentioned in a number of letters raised in the Sydney Police Office by Inspector Peter PROSSER. ..... Inspector PROSSER was to become quite a heroic figure later during the hunt for bushrangers in NSW and when writing these letters, filled the position of both Inspector of Police and Superintendent of Convicts. The collection of letters retrieved from the NSW Archives refer to ‘Sarah MILLS per ship “Elizabeth” 7 yrs, assigned to Mr DUFF, Elizabeth Street’ and start with a report from Inspector PROSSER following his response to a call from a neighbour of Mr DUFF requesting police attendance; the Inspector states: I went there and found DUFF half undressed and in a beastly state of drunkenness. I found the house in the greatest disorder. DUFF was abusing the prisoner in the grossest manner. His conduct was violent approaching to madness and I confined the prisoner for protection. The police magistrate determined that DUFF was an unsuitable person now and never again to have a convict assigned to him and noted against that judgement ... 1st class factory for assignment, which may well have referred to Sarah, retaining her in protective custody. Sarah’s colonial file then contains a letter dated 2nd April 1840 from the Colonial Architect’s Office attempting to arrange for the passage of a Sarah MILLS and infant to New Zealand. The request was made because (this) Sarah had been on the point of sailing to New Zealand on the “Westminster” with her husband, a mechanic in the service of the Government ... she had been arrested on a felony, charged and subsequently acquitted; but lost her passage. The Colonial Architect, Mortimer Wm. LEWIS recommended that Sarah and infant be allowed passage in the “Buffalo” to rejoin her husband but this was rejected outright by the Colonial Secretary, even though the request had been marked as ‘urgent’. It may well be that if this person was Mrs Sarah MILLS then she was not “our” Sarah as the letter was not specifically marked as referring to the person who arrived per “Elizabeth”. On December 2nd of this year of 1840 the records of Church of the Parish of St Phillip in Sydney show that Francis Henry FOSTER a convict freed by service who had come to Australia on the ‘Neva’ in 1833 married Sarah MILLS in church by Banns with the consent of the Governor. The service was conducted by the Chaplin, John TROUGHTON and as we know from her Indent that Sarah could not in 1836 write, she endorsed the certificate with “her mark”. Francis FOSTER was a printer by trade who was a resident in Clarence Street, Sydney and it was probably there that their daughter Elizabeth Francis FOSTER was born in 1842. The baby was returned to the church where her parents married to be baptised on September 1st, 1842 by the Rev. J.C. Gyles. Sarah MILLS per “Elizabeth” to Australia in 1836 received her Certificate of Freedom No. 46/0655 on the 6th of July 1846, just two months after the birth of Maria MILLS to Abraham and Margaret, then living at Brush Farm only a short distance up the Parramatta River from Sarah’s home in the busy city. Sadly I know nothing of Sarah’s life after that date but I often wonder whether Abraham’s decision to return to Brush Farm, nearby to the dispersal point of so many convicts; was an indication of a search for both Sarah and William ??? If so he was very close to finding Sarah in 1846 !This is from Peter Q U I R K F A M I L Y H I S T O R Y