Mary Talbot

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Gail Robyn Newman on 15th March 2025

Mary Talbot was born in Ireland around 1766 and as a young woman, she moved to London, where she married a stonemason. Struggling to support her family, desperation led her to steal, an act that saw her sentenced to seven years of transportation. She was supposed to board the Juliana as part of the Second Fleet but Mary had other plans. She managed to escape, but her freedom was short lived. Rearrested and sentenced to death, she was later granted a pardon however it came at a cost. Instead of freedom, her sentence was changed to life transportation, and she was sent to Australia aboard the Mary Ann as part of the Third Fleet. During her voyage to Sydney, Mary wrote a letter to an unknown gentleman. This letter is incredibly significant—it makes her the first known female convict letter writer. Her words offer a rare and powerful insight into the struggles and hardships faced by many, reminding us of the human voices often lost beneath the official records of history.

342

Maureen Withey on 24th April 2020

https://www.londonlives.org/static/TalbotMarytransported1791.jsp Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 24 April 2020), February 1788, trial of MARY TALBOT (t17880227-34). MARY TALBOT, Theft > shoplifting, 27th February 1788. 187. MARY TALBOT was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 19th of February , 7 yards of printed cotton, value 17 s. the property of Francis Faulding , privily in his shop . THOMAS FIELD sworn. I am servant to Mr. Faulding, linen-draper , King-street, Covent-garden ; on Tuesday the 19th of February, between five and six o'clock in the afternoon, the prisoner came into the shop, and asked for a quarter of a yard of Irish linen, at 14 d. a yard; I cut her off a quarter of a yard, and she gave me twopence-halfpenny, and went out of the shop. JOHN RUSHTON sworn. I am shopman to Mr. Faulding; I had been out; I came in while the prisoner was in the shop; she had a piece of calico in her hand, and was putting it under her arm, between her and her child; she had a child in her arms; she went out, I went after her and took her. (The calico was produced in Court, and deposed to by Rushton and Field.) PRISONER's DEFENCE. I went into the shop to buy a bit of linen; I was very much in liquor; what I bought, or what I brought out of the shop, I do not know. The witnesses both said, she did not appear to them to be in liquor. GUILTY Of stealing the goods, but not privily in the shop . Transported for seven years . Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. ROSE.

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Carol Axton-Thompson on 20th December 2013

Mary Talbot was placed on the convict transportation ship 'Lady Juliana' but escaped, whilst still in port. She was later recaptured and transported on the 'Mary Ann'.

Mary Talbot came to London from her native Ireland and married a London stone-mason. He suffered a severe injury at work, was taken to hospital and was unable to take up his trade again for a considerable while.1 By this point, Mary and her husband had at least one child. In order to support the family, Mary took to theft. In February 1788, then aged about 22, she was apprehended for the theft of seven yards of printed cotton, valued at seventeen shillings, from a linen draper's shop in King Street, Covent Garden. She entered the shop carrying a baby and bought a small piece of Irish linen for two and a half pence, but was seen leaving with a much larger piece of cotton, concealed between her arm and the baby. At her trial for theft at the Old Bailey sessions in February 1788, she attempted to excuse her behaviour by saying that she had been drunk when the theft happened and did not know what she was carrying out of the shop. The witnesses, however, insisted that she was perfectly sober. Convicted of the crime, she was sentenced to seven years transportation to New South Wales. At the Old Bailey in October 1790 she received a conditional pardon and her sentence was commuted from death to transportation for life to New South Wales. To her distress, she was ordered to leave without any of her children, even though she claimed she preferred death to living without them.4 She was taken on board the convict ship Mary Ann, unable to either say goodbye to her husband or to receive any money or items from him for her voyage. The ship left Portsmouth on 23 February 1791, arriving in Sydney on 9 June.