Elizabeth (Betsy) Carter nee Inchbold
By Rosemary Hayes
Betsy Inchbold, my great-great-grandaunt, was initially found through a Hobart Town GPO unclaimed mail listing dated January 1838.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Inchbold (Inchbald) was born 17 August 1811, and baptised at St Nicolas Church, Norton near Malton, Yorkshire, to Elizabeth and James Inchbold.
My first finding of Betsy being in trouble with the law was when she was sentenced and committed on 9 March 1833 in York, on suspicion of felony. The case was discharged on 12 March 1833 by the committing magistrate, James Barber, Mayor.
Then, on 1 April 1833, Betsy was charged at St Mary, Castlegate, York, with her friend Ann Kirk, for stealing a woollen shawl belonging to Ann Kirkby. The prosecutrix was returning home from a cattle fair when she met the prisoners, who demanded money, and after using her, they made off with her shawl. A court of twelve City of York citizens found twenty-two-year-old Betsy guilty, and she was sentenced to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years.
Between 23 May and 10 June 1833, the barque William Bryan commenced receiving prisoners at Woolwich (London). On 13 June, Betsy embarked. Most of the women were from the English countryside.
The voyage was not without its health problems. Betsy was one of many to develop diarrhoea, and was listed as being quite ill for three days from 7 June.
On her arrival at Hobart Town on 23 October 1833, Betsy's health was reported as being good. She was of dark complexion and 5'4" tall, and her occupation was listed as a cook She was assigned to the Reverend Mr Philip Palmer to work as a cook, house and vat-wash. Reverend Palmer had been appointed on 26 June 1833 to Hobart Town as a chaplain to Trinity Parish. This would have been a busy household with church duties and looking after the Palmer's new baby, who was born at sea ten days before the Warrior landed the family at Hobart Town.
On 20 March and 27 May 1834, Palmer charged Betsy with being absent all night without leave. Her punishment was six weeks at the washtub. You can imagine how soft and sore her hands would have been at the end of this time! On 26 December 1834, she was charged by her new master, Mr Bohan, for gross insolence. On 28 December 1836 and 13 March 1837, she was charged by another new master, Charles Abbott of Hobart Town, for insolence and refusing to wash blinds when directed. On 20 March 1839, she was ordered to fourteen days hard labour for disobedience, and her ticket-of-leave was suspended during this time. No reason was documented, but I presume it would have been due to her confinement. On 13 May 1839, she was charged again with misconduct.
On 17 June 1837, Betsy delivered a son named John out of wedlock to her future husband. The baby died aged two years at the factory nursery, Hobart Town.
At some stage, Betsy was granted her ticket-of-leave as, on 18 April 1839, an application was sent to the muster master requesting permission to marry. This was approved on 1 May 1839. Betsy, aged twenty-eight years, married John Carter, another ticket-of-leave convict, at St David's Church, Hobart Town on 29 July 1839.
Betsy and John produced six children including John David (born 7 July 1840 and died 16 October 1842, Hobart Town); Jane (born 9 April 1842 and died 16 September 1842, aged five months, of brain fever, Hobart Town); Sarah (born 13 September 1845); Edward (born 1 September 1850, Launceston); and Elizabeth (born 1 December 1850 and died 22 December 1850, Launceston). Sarah later married James Lee in Launceston.
Betsy, described as a publican's wife, died of apoplexy in 1854, aged forty-two years, in Launceston. An inscribed monument to Betsy and John's first three children was erected in St David's burial ground, now St David's Park, in Hobart.
This story was originally published in 2004 by the Writers Group of the Hobart Branch of the TFHS Inc. in the publication PROS and Cons of Transportation A collection of convict stories.
Not only does this publication celebrate the cessation of transportation of convicts to Van Diemens Land, it also celebrates the work of the Family History Writers Group. This group was formed in 2003 to assist members who wanted to write their family histories. The monthly meetings stimulated great interest and enthusiasm.
The original introduction may be found here.