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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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young * woman between seventeen and eighteen years of age , who was removed from the house of correction at Cambridg-e , * to be lodged in Newgate for the night , prior to being sent to the Penitentiary at Mill-
bank . Her offence was stealing- something from a shop . She was leg-locked , the chains being- brought up hetween her leg's , under her petticoats , and fastened round iier waist ; in this state she remained all nkfht , there bein £ * in Newgate no key which could unlock the chain . Another
case of greater atrocity occurred too last year . A woman was sent up from Carlisle on the top of one of the coaches , during the inclement weather of the month of March , chained even more severely thau the last victim . She had been brought to bed of a child while in prison , which she was then sucklino * : the child was torn from
her breast , and deposited , probably to perish , in the parish poor-house . In this state of bodily pain and mental distraction she was brought to Newgate , where , by care , she soon recovered , and was then sent out to Botany Bay , on board the vessel which sailed last spring * . I saw her on board , and she could not speak of her child without nn a «* ony of tears . "—Pp . 23—25 .
The custom hitherto has been , Mr . Bennet says , as soon as the ship cleared the river , for every officer and sailor on board to select some one of the women for his mistress . " I have already described the ordinary treatment of the women-convicts in prison .
the manner they are moved to the transportships , a , nd the customary proceeding during the passage out . On their arrival at New South Wales , notice is given to the colony , and the women , newly dressed and cleaned , are turned upon deck to be chosen like slaves in the bazaar , or cattle at Smithfield :
though the most reputable and best conducted of these women may be taken as domestic servants , and bringing- with them a fair character and recommendation from the captain of the vessel , may be hired as such } yet the greater part of those who
are well-looking are taken as prostitutes by the officers of the colony , or by those who have interest with the government to have the priority of selection . True it is , many of these women marry , and turn out well . I could furnish a list of persons who
* u This wretched g-irl was removed from the town gaol of Cambridge , which ijB a disgrace to the corporation of that city , and though in the heart of the XJntversitij i divine service is never performed , and there is no religions attendance at all . "
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are so situated , who , having "been tlie mrstresses of the captain or officers of the ship during the voyage , have obtained recommendations on their arrival , are now the mothers of families , and are living * in a creditable manner . But these are the great prizes in the lottery ; by far the greater part of the women go on the town , live on the town , and subsist in no other way . Mr . Marsden writes , that the consequence of this system is , there is scarcely one female convict that will quietly go into the service of the most respectable families in
the colony , that they in the most open and positive manner refuse to obey the order of magistrates to that effect , preferring to live upon bread and water in a solitary cell , till they weary out , by length of time , the patience of the magistrate , and he knows not what measures to adopt to support his judicial authority , and to carry his necessary orders into execution . '
u women who are not hired as servants , are put into a boat , and sent across the bay * to a species of workhouse at Paramatta , where they are employed in a sort of factory , on the account of government . Here were in 1815 , 150 women and 70 children . * There is not any room
in the factory that can be called a bed-room . For these wretched beings there are only two rooms , and they are over the yard , and both occupied as w © rk-shops , being about eighty feet long by twenty wide . In these rooms forty-six women were daily employed ; twenty spinning wool upon the
common wheel , and twenty-six carding : there are also in them , the warping machines belonging to the factory . These rooms are crowded all day and night ; suck women sleep in them as are confined Jbr recent offences , amongst the wheels , wool and cards , and a few others who have not
the means of procuring a better abode . The hours of government labour end at three o ' clock of the day , and from that time till the following morning , the female convicts are at liberty to go where they think fit . No less than 150 women sleep out . During the night they spread themselves through all the town and
neighbourhood of Paramatta , and some of them are glad to cohabit with any wretched man , who can give them shelter for a night . Hence the male convicts nightly rob or plunder either government or private individualsy to supply the urgent wants of the females who are devoted to their plea sures . On this account , there is not a
* " The carelessness with wliich this removal is executed , and the abominable scenes that take place , are disgraceful to any government that professes to call itself English . "
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5 > 6 £ Review . —Hon . H . G . Rennet ' s Letter to Viscount Sidrnouth .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1819, page 262, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1771/page/50/
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