387 GET OUT OF MY LIFE!: June 1856 mss letter to the Comptroller General’s Office from the obviously disgruntled husband of a female convict. In acknowledging "her own present deplorable situation, mainly attributable to herself..." he nevertheless writes that he has "no objection to assist her and allow her say £15 a year out of my earnings so that she does not come to this County." To make it perfectly clear he adds "If she should trouble me in this County I will certainly go w[h]ere she will not meet with me." $200–300 ❖ 388 PLEASE REVOKE THIS TICKET-OF-LEAVE: 11 April 1856 mss report to the Chief Magistrate written from Kingston Police Office. The 4-page document recounts a remarkable series of events which appear to have taken place in the district of Cygnet. George YOUNG [Ticket-of-Leave holder who had arrived aboard "Runnymede" in March 1840 having been sentenced to 10 years Transportation] has just been convicted of "Harbouring in his premises....a young female aged about 14 years....and the harbouring being of a most gross nature - the girl having been found....undressed in the defendant’s house at the hour of midnight in company with the defendant and his wife." The report goes on to "bring under special notice the gross misconduct of a Ticket-of-Leave holder named Ellen DONNEGAN [probably Eliza DUNNE, "Blackfriar", 7 years] residing at Port CYGNET]. The woman recently proferred a serious charge of assault against one Roger DUGGAN......[later] she declared on oath that the charge she had proferred against Duggan was not true and that he had not beaten her as she had alleged." Charged with gross misconduct, she was sentenced to six months imprisonment and the recommendation that her Ticket-of-Leave be revoked and that she be forced to leave the District appears to have been upheld according to the additional notes on the last page. $300–500 389 John Williams - Transported for Life: 9 May 1856 mss ledger page recording a 3 May 1856 letter from W.C. Mayne, Inspector General of Police in charge of Convict Department [Hobart] to the Inspector Generals Dep’t, Convict Branch, Sydney and the Acting Comptroller General of Convicts, Hobart Town, responding to an enquiry about the prisoner, John Williams. As Williams had been transported for Life Mayne advises that as he has completed "the sentence of fifteen years to a Penal Settlement....have the goodness to return him under warrant to Sydney, for the purpose of completing his sentence...". $400–600 390 Schoolmaster needed at PORT ARTHUR: 19 May 1856 mss note to "The Civil Commandant" asking if he "knew any person, whom he could recommend for the situation of Schoolmaster at Port Arthur." In a signed note on the reverse, the recipient has written "I do not know of any suitable person whom I could recommend for the situation of schoolmaster at this Establishment." It must have been a difficult position to fill. $300–400 ❖ 391 WHO IS TO BLAME WHEN FEMALE CONVICTS ARE LED INTO TEMPTATION? 1: 26 May 1856 confirmation of a Police Pass issued by R. Atkins, Keeper of the Female House of Correction, Hobart, discharging MARTHA BRAITHWAITE [transported for 7 years, arriving in April 1853] and permitting her to travel to her assigned employer, J.Corrigan at Jerusalem near Richmond. This document has been mailed to the Police Magistrate at Richmond. 2: 27 May 1856 five-page mss report written from Richmond Police to the Comptroller General explaining the circumstances in which Braithwate and another Probation Pass Holder, BRIDGET LYNCH, who had been travelling together, had failed to reach Jerusalem, having been "detained" at the Odd Fellows Hotel in Elizabeth Street, by the landlord, Mr Patrick Harvey, who appears to have put them to work on his own behalf for a few days. 3: The report to the Comptroller General makes mention of forged passes for the two women, created by Harvey in an attempt to justify their late arrival at Jerusalem. Those 2 passes are present in this remarkable group. As the ladies never made it to their assigned stations, as the magistrate at Richmond has already ordered Braithwaite out of his district and as Corrigan showed considerable neglect in not "taking the necessary steps for the safe conduct..." of the female servants, they were returned to Hobart Town to wait to be "assigned out to any one wanting [them] for I think it behoves all employers of female P .P . Holders to be peculiarly careful of the servants under them..." "These unfortunate women have temptations to do wrong without temptations being created for them." Martha Braithwaite, transported for 7 years, arrived via "Duchess of Braithwaite" in April 1853. Bridget Lynch, arrived via "Martin Luther" in June 1852. [This information may be incorrect; another convict of the same name is listed as having arrived via "Australasia" in 1849]. $2,000–2,500 389 391 59