Mary Ann Ormisher - transported to Van Dieman’s Land 1850

[DenisOrmesher]

I am trying to trace a possible ancestor of mine – Mary Ann Ormisher.

She was transported to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) in 1851 but I cannot find out much about her life in Liverpool before them and have run into a blank wall.

Can anyone help me with this please ?

I have been able to find a lot of info on what happened to her when she arrived in Hobart from databases in Tasmania (assignment, further crimes and punishments, marriage, children, family tragedies – including one son killing another son, death etc). The Female Convicts Research Centre in Hobart, is a superb resource (http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/ if interested).

I know so far that ….

Mary Ann Ormisher was convicted at the Lancaster (Liverpool) Quarter Sessions, England, on 13th May 1850, for “stealing from the person and previous conviction of felony” and sentenced to transportation for 10 years. She sometimes used the alias Eliz Munroe.

Source Citation
Class: HO 27; Piece: 92; Page: 194
Source Information
Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

She departed from London, England on the ship Emma Eugenia on 30th October 1850 and arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on 7th March 1851.

The Tasmanian records give the following info about Mary Ann before she was transported, but so far I have been unable to find any of this in UK records.
• 9 times convicted; a disorderly prostitute and a thief for the last 5 years
• Her previous convictions included 4 months for £10; 3 days for selling &c and 14 days for drink
• Her father was Bernard Munro; mother Elizabeth; brothers John, Pat, William, Bernard, sister Ann
• There is a conviction for Eliza Munroe (an alias she used) on 22nd Oct 1849 in Lancashire, sentenced to 4 months in prison for Larceny

On arrival in 1851 Mary Ann was described as:
• 18 years old (making her DoB abt 1833)
• 5ft 3¼ ins with fresh complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes
• from Liverpool
• single
• a “house maid”
• a Roman Catholic
• she could read and write

I plan to visit Tasmania early next year and hope to be able to follow up on her history on my visit.

I hope someone can help unblock the dead end.

[PatsyB]

Hello there

I am Pat Bellas, the Society Project Coordinator. One of our main projects is to research the backgrounds of these convicts before they were transported. We then send this information to Tasmania and the Female Convicts Research Centre. As you say they have loads of information and the pre-transportation stuff is done by our volunteer researchers.

I have found our file on Mary Ann. It gives details of all we found out about her, where we looked, what we found and what we didn't find. Would you like me to send it to you? If so, email me your email address.

Pat Bellas

[MaryA]

Well done Pat, I know how much effort you and your Group have put into this project, I'm sure what you have is useful for Denis.

[DenisOrmesher]

Pat,

Many thanks - that sounds excellent. I have sent you my email address via Private Message.

Regards,

Denis Ormesher