Margaret Humphreys

A Convict’s Journey: From Crime to Colonial Life

Crime and Conviction in England
1817-1818
14 December 1817
Margaret Humphreys assaulted James Redman at St Paul’s, Shadwell
14 January 1818
Convicted of Violent Theft & Highway Robbery
Transportation and Early Colonial Life
1818-1819
September 1818
Arrived in New South Wales per ship Maria
23 March 1819
Received permission to marry James McCarthy
11 April 1819
Married James McCarty by banns within the district of Castlereagh & Richmond
Family Life and Assignment
1820s
1820
Birth of daughter Mary Anne McCarthy
1822
Listed in General Muster as wife of JJ McCarthy, Windsor, with 2 unnamed children
16 September 1823
Assigned to James McCarthy of Kent Street
Legal Troubles and Second Marriage
1827-1829
20 January 1827
Submitted memorial to Colonial Secretary requesting release from Female Factory to care for infant child
10 December 1827
Granted Ticket of Leave, allowed to remain in district of Sydney
11 October 1828
James McCarthy (conductor in police department) wrote to Colonial Secretary explaining Margaret’s lost ticket of leave
26 February 1829
Appeared before bench at Sydney, charged with “Aiding and assisting a runaway in his escape on the Parramatta Road”
30 March 1829
Wrote to Colonial Secretary asking for release to care for children and restore ticket of leave
30 September 1829
Applied to marry James Harding due to James McCarty having been previously married, with his former wife arriving in the colony
22 November 1829
Married James Harding in chapel at Sackville Reach
Petition for Freedom
1833
24 January 1833
James Harding petitioned for a conditional pardon, stating he was renting 12 acres of land at the Lower Branch of Hawkesbury, married with 1 child