Elizabeth Fry, sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the treatment of prisoners, especially female inmates, and as such has been called the "Angel of Prisons". She was instrumental in the 1823 Gaols Act which mandated sex-segregation of prisons and female warders for female inmates to protect them from sexual exploitation. Fry kept extensive diaries, in which she wrote explicitly of the need to protect female prisoners from rape and sexual exploitation.
Broderie perse is a style of appliqué which uses printed motifs from one fabric to create a design on a background fabric. It was popular in the late 18th century and early 19th centuries. The technique could be considered an early form of puzzle piecing.
Jørgen Jørgensen was a Danish adventurer during the Age of Revolution. During the action of 2 March 1808, his ship was captured by the British. In 1809 he sailed to Iceland, declared the country independent from Denmark–Norway and pronounced himself its ruler. He intended to found a new republic, following the examples of the United States and the French First Republic. He was also a prolific writer of letters, papers, pamphlets and newspaper articles covering a wide variety of subjects, and for a period was an associate of the famous botanists Joseph Banks and William Jackson Hooker. He left over a hundred written autographs and drawings, most of which are collected in the British Library. Marcus Clarke referred to Jørgensen as "a singularly accomplished fortune wooer—one of the most interesting human comets recorded in history".
The Cascades Female Factory, a former Australian workhouse for female convicts in the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, is located in Hobart, Tasmania. Operational between 1828 and 1856, the factory is now one of the 11 sites that collectively compose the Australian Convict Sites, listed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO.
The history of quilting, the stitching together of layers of padding and fabric, may date back as far as 3400 BCE. For much of its history, quilting was primarily a practical technique to provide physical protection and insulation. However, decorative elements were often also present, and many quilts are now primarily art pieces.
Jane, Lady Franklin was a British explorer, seasoned traveler and the second wife of the English explorer Sir John Franklin. During her husband's period as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, she became known for her philanthropic work and her travels throughout south-eastern Australia. After John Franklin's disappearance in search of the Northwest Passage, she sponsored or otherwise supported several expeditions to determine his fate.
Convict women in Australia were British prisoners whom the government increasingly sent out during the era of transportation (1787–1868) in order to develop the penal outpost of New South Wales into a viable colony.
Surry, also known as Surrey, was a square-rigged transport ship, which had an especially long career transporting convicts to Australia. In 11 voyages, the most of any convict transport, she brought 2,177 convicts, male and female, and so became one of the best-known of the vessels that visited Australia. In all, she lost 51 men and one woman during her various passages, 46 of the men dying during her first and most notorious voyage in 1814 when she was under the command of James Patterson. The high death toll on her first voyage led to a Board of Enquiry, which blamed neglect by the Master and Surgeon.
John Barry was a three-masted merchant ship, convict transport, and immigrant transport built in 1814 at Whitby, England by John Barry for his own interests. A typhoon damaged her in 1841 and at last report she was an opium hulk at Hong Kong.
Charlotte Anley (1796–1893) was an English didactic novelist and a writer on social and religious affairs. She was also a composer and a lyricist. As a Quaker, she spent the years 1836–1838 in Australia, researching for a report on women's prisons commissioned by Elizabeth Fry.
Pestonjee Bomanjee was a wooden sailing ship built in 1834 by James Lang of Dumbarton, Scotland. She was a three-masted wooden barque of 595 tons, 130 feet in length, 31.5 feet in breadth, first owned by John Miller Jnr and Company, Glasgow. Her last-known registered owner in 1861 was Patrick Keith & George Ross, Calcutta, India.
Royal Admiral was a 414-ton timber three-masted barque, built at King's Lynn, England in 1828 and used as a merchant ship. Royal Admiral first served for trade to India. She subsequently sailed to Australia on four occasions carrying convicts, from Portsmouth to Port Jackson in 1830, from Dublin to Port Jackson in 1833 and 1834, and from Woolwich to Hobart Town in 1842.
Henry Wellesley was a barque built in 1804 by Bacon, Harvey & Company at Calcutta, British India. In 1808 a French privateer captured her, but she returned to British ownership. Between 1820 and 1824 she was a whaler that made three voyages to the British southern whale fishery. Later, she twice transported women convicts from England to Port Jackson, New South Wales. She was wrecked near Calais in 1841.
Lydia Irving was a British philanthropist & prison visitor. She was a leading Quaker and she worked closely with Elizabeth Fry seeking to improve conditions for women in prisons and on convict ships filled with those to be transported.
James Pattison was a merchant sailing ship built in 1828 upon the River Thames, England. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and two transporting convicts to New South Wales. She also made several voyages carrying immigrants. She burnt to the waterline after her cargo ignited en route from Sydney to England in 1840.
Boyne was launched at Calcutta in 1807. In 1809 she sailed to England. She was sold to the Danes, but by 1811 was under English ownership under the name Moffat. She then made seven voyages as a "regular ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). After the EIC exited its maritime activities in 1833–34, Moffat made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia: one voyage to Port Jackson and three to Van Diemen's Land. She also made at least one voyage carrying immigrants to South Australia, and later regularly traded between Liverpool and Bombay. She was last listed in 1856.
Princess Charlotte was a ship launched in Sunderland in 1813. She immediately started trading with the Indian Ocean and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage for the EIC, and she made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, one to Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, and one to Port Jackson, New South Wales. She foundered in 1828 in the Bay of Bengal.
The merchant ship Sir Robert Seppings was launched at Mawlamyine, formerly Moulmein, Burma in 1844 and traded between India and London. It was first recorded in Lloyd's Register in 1848, when the owner was J. Allen, the Master was Richard Stuart and the Mate was Joseph Clutterbuck.
Elizabeth Read was an English-born prostitute who was transported to Australia. She and 179 other female convicts arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land in 1841 aboard the Rajah, which has since become legendary by virtue of a patchwork quilt stitched by the convicts en route, now held at the National Gallery of Australia.
Kezia Elizabeth Hayter (1818–1885) was a volunteer in prison reform in England. In 1841 she was matron on board the convict transport ship Rajah to Australia, where she lived for the remainder of her life. During the voyage, she was instrumental in the creation of the Rajah Quilt.
