People Australia

Mary Davis, laundress and convict, was born in about 1814 at Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales, daughter of Daniel Davis, puddler. Recently ‘on the town’, in June 1841 she was convicted at Glamorgan Neath Quarter Sessions of robbery with violence and sentenced to fifteen years’ transportation. She had been a member of the ‘notorious’ Pontystorehouse Gang, participating in robberies and fencing whatever she stole from clients.[1] Together with her accomplice, David Cross, she was found guilty of robbing Daniel Phillips of 8/11, hitting him over the head with an iron bar, knocking him to the ground, and kicking him repeatedly.[2]

On 24 November 1841 Davis left Woolwich, Kent, on the Emma Eugenia (2), along with 190 other women convicts and fifteen children.[3] John Kidd, the ship’s surgeon superintendent, noted the women's general good health, with the few exceptions being due to long confinement before embarking.[4] Davis’s behaviour during the voyage was described in her conduct record as ‘tolerably good’, a marked improvement on her gaol report—‘a common prostitute of the lowest grade’.[5] While that was more likely a value rather than a character judgement, it seems the journey may have been restorative for her, just as many ships’ surgeons hoped for their charges.[6]

The Emma Eugenia (2) arrived in Hobart on 9 April 1842, and Davis was assigned in July to the police superintendent’s office,  most likely undertaking laundry work.[7] In April 1843, she went to work for Thomas Archer at Woolmer’s Estate, Longford.[8] The previous month, she had been granted permission to marry Henry Whorrod, a freed convict, in Longford.[9] Just before the marriage, she gave birth to a daughter who died two months later.[10] The marriage may have been one of convenience, or perhaps Whorrod abandoned her, because she was subsequently granted permission in 1844 to marry John Murray, a ticket-of-leave holder.[11] That she could get away with giving her age as nineteen suggests she appeared to be in very good health.[12] Murray’s conduct record describes him as a member of a thimble-rigging gang, so they likely had much in common.[13] Davis was recalled to the probation system in February 1845 and assigned a third-class work pass, further demonstrating her good record. [14] It is assumed she served this time at the Launceston Female Factory.

In February 1846 Davis was granted a third-class pass, offering work outside the factory.[15]  In 1847 she was granted her ticket-of-leave,[16] and in 1849 a conditional pardon,[17] having ‘no offence on record’.[18]The couple later departed for Hotham, Melbourne, where Murray was working as a publican at the time of his death in 1866.[19] He bequeathed his license and hotel to Davis, who continued running it.[20] Left with seven children, she married again, to George Bevan Williams, quartz miner, on 14 January 1867 at St Mary’s Church, North Melbourne, and signed over the license to him.[21] Sadly, the marriage was a mistake, with Davis’ divorce petition filed that year describing Williams’s violent abuse,[22] and his counterclaim that she was a drunkard and adulterous.[23] Her fate after 1869 is unknown.

[1] Glamorgan Monmouth and Brecon Gazette and Merthyr Guardian, 1 May 1841, 3.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Surgeon’s Journal General Remarks, Emma Eugenia (2) 1841, UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1856, Ancestry.com, accessed 17 May 2024.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1841, Conduct Register of Female Convicts arriving 9 April 1842, Tasmanian Archives, CON40/1/4 Image 48, Libraries Tasmania.

[6] Katherine Foxhall, ‘From Convicts to Colonists: The Health of Prisoners and the Voyage to Australia, 1823-53,’ Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 39, (2011): 1–19.

[7] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1841, Convict Indent of Female Convicts arriving 9 April 1842, Tasmanian Archives, CON15/1/1, page 14-15, Libraries Tasmania.

[8] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1841, Convict Department: assignment lists, 1840–1842, Tas. Papers D 05: Tasmania, State Library of New South Wales.

[9] Mary Davis married Henry Whorrod,18 May 1843, Marriage Registry Launceston, Tasmanian Archives, RGD37/1/3 no 598, Libraries Tasmania.

[10] Martha Whorod, born 7 May 1843, Baptism Registry Longford, Tasmanian Archives, RGD32/1/3/ no 2247, Libraries Tasmania; Martha Whorod, died 1 July 1843, Burials Registry Longford, Tasmanian Archives, RGD34/1/2 no 1226, Libraries Tasmania.

[11] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1841, Marriage Permissions, Tasmanian Archives, CON52/1/2 Page 123.

[12] Mary Davis married John Murray, 1844, Marriage Registry Launceston, Tasmanian Archives,

RGD37/1/3 no 951.

[13] John Murray, Blenheim (1), 1837, Conduct Register of Male Convicts arriving 16 July 1837, Tasmanian Archives, CON31/1/31.

[14] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1841, Conduct Register of Female Convicts arriving 9 April 1842.

[15] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1846, New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849, HO10, Piece: 39, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 3 Jun 2024.

[16] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), Conduct Register of Female Convicts arriving 9 April 1842, image 48.

[17] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), Grant of Conditional Pardon, Launceston Examiner, 8 December 1849, 8.

[18] Mary Davis, Emma Eugenia (2), 1849, New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Convict Pardons, 1834-1859, HO 10/61, Piece: 61, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 10 June 2024.

[19] John Murray, 1866, Deaths Registered in the district of Melbourne North in the colony of Victoria, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria, State Archives of Victoria.

[20] John Murray, 1866, Victoria, Australia, Wills and Probate Records, 1841–2009, Ancestry.com, accessed 15 June 2024

[21] Argus (Melbourne), 24 January 1867, 8.

[22] Mary Davis, 1867, Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records, 1860-1940, Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV), Ancestry.com, accessed 16 June 2024.

[23] George Williams, 1869, Victoria, Australia Divorce Records, 1860-1940, Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV), Ancestry.com, accessed 16 June 2024.