Bethia Mitchell was tried only once at Shire Hall. Sentenced to transportation at the age of 12. Her story is typical of the experience of over 20,000 women forced into servitude on the colonies, but also the tremendous resilience many showed.
Trigger Warning:
This article discusses themes of sexual harassment.
Born to parents Jonathan and Mary Mitchell in Lytchett Minister in 1821. Lytchett Minister was an exceptionally poor village, and Bethia’s family had been no different. It was not unusual to find a family of eleven sleeping in a single room, with only a single tallow candle to light their dark, cold cottages. This was the life that nearly all poor labourers endured at this time.
In 1833, Bethia and her brother, George, were arrested for ‘stealing six cheeses and other articles’ from the local landowner Edward Doughty. Bethia was convicted at Shire Hall at New Year’s Eve and sentenced to 7 years transportation to Tasmania. She was just 12 years old.
Remaining at Woolwich for two years, in 1835 Bethia – alongside 130 other female prisoners – were put onto a ‘Prison Hulk’ and transported over 12,000 miles from home.
It took 117 days to make the voyage, at the darkest time of the year in raging storms. She finally made it to Hobart Town, Tasmania on the 25th April 1836, just after her 14th Birthday.
Once she arrived, Bethia was assigned to the ‘Cascade Female Factory’. The factory was designed to hold female prisoners until they were assigned to a ‘master’ often for the purpose of domestic duties. While here, Bethia would have been expected to launder the factory, spin wool, cook, clean, make clothes and prepare and mend linen. In the summer months, women in the factory would work 12 hours a day.
Life was often worse when they were assigned to a ‘Master’. Often being sexually harassed or taken advantage of by their masters. Some women were purposely disobedient to be sent back to the factory, in hopes their next assignment would be better.
Between 1837 and 1841, Bethia found herself back and forth between assignments and the factory, serving various sentences for ‘misconduct and insolence’. Punishments ranged anywhere from a ‘diet of bread and water for 7 days’ to ’10 days solitary confinement’, until in 1841 she was assigned to ‘Mr A Crocker’ of Pittwater.
Bethia would return to the factory in 1843, this time for being pregnant. Likely to be the child of her ‘master’, it was common for children born under these circumstances to be taken from their mothers and adopted. There is no further record of this baby.
Once out of the factory, Bethia was granted a ‘Ticket of Leave’, similar to modern day parole. Only returning to the factory once in this period ‘for being out after hours’. By November 1846, Bethia was recommended for Conditional Pardon, granting her freedom so long as she remained in Tasmania and didn’t return to England.
On the 4th July 1848, Bethia was issued her pardon, having been in the prison system 14 years and 7 months. She was now 26 years old. Remaining in Tasmania the rest of her life, Bethia married another former convict from Essex named Allen Wisbey, having 7 children together and never appearing within the prison system again.
Sadly, Bethia’s story is typical of female convicts’ experiences in the 19th century. She gives us a glimpse into the lives of the 20,000 women that were transported to Australia. Despite the challenges put against her, Bethia was still able to defy the odds, to live and grow a family, albeit 12,000 miles away.