Hannah Walker

47

Naomi Parsons on 15th April 2026

Hannah was born in Parsonage Lane, Manchester. She was described as having a sallow complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. She was tattooed on her upper arm with the initials 'J.S.IA.M.H.H.S.T.R' and had a tattooed band/ring around the fourth finger of her left hand and was a calico weaver. She had already served a 12 month sentence in the New Bailey. Hannah was single though appears to have had a common law partner John Croucher. Hannah had pick-pocketed a purse containing two sovereigns and a bill of exchange for thirty pounds from a John Ferguson at Manchester. Hannah did not get off to a good start; the year after arrival she was sent to the female factory, having been caught stealing a bottle of brandy but she soon began to work for a Margaret Ancel. She applied to marry Thomas Barnes (ship- Fame) in October 1826 but it was refused as she had stated on arrival that she was married (which she legally wasn't). Hannah again applied to marry a John Burrows (ship- Coromandel) at Windsor in 1827 and 1828 but again the marriage was not permitted as Hannah was already assumed to be married. In 1830, she received a ticket of leave. Her description was again taken saying she was 4ft 10, black hair, black eyes and a dark complexion. Hannah eventually married colonial born George Henry Ancel in September 1832 at St Matthews Windsor who was the son of her employer after she was finally given permission to marry- seven years having past since she had arrived. Hannah was still at Windsor in 1837. In 1840, Hannah was given a certificate of freedom, she was now aged 36 and listed as a housemaid. She was now described as pale and freckled with black hair and chestnut eyes. She'd also grown to 4ft 11 1/2! The couple appeared to live steadily with her husband running a hardware shop at Macquarie Street, Windsor and lived on Catherine Street and was a church warden for St Mathews, landholder and trustee of the Windsor hospital/Hawkesbury Benevolent Society. In August 1864, Hannah's husband of over thirty years passed away at their home, now at McGrath's Hill, and she was left all his estates and property. Hannah, still at McGrath's Hill, remarried at age 71 in 1875 to Thomas Akins. She died at Windsor five years later in September 1880, aged 76 and was buried in a family grave with a substantial memorial stone at St Matthews Windsor.

25

Ron Selden on 3rd March 2015

Hannah was born in Manchester and arrived in Australia in 1825. In 1832 she married George Ansell and she died at Windsor in 1880