Researchers who have claimed this convict
There is currently one researcher who has claimed Elizabeth Hemblin
- Researcher (James Cosgrave)
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Biographies
Elizabeth Hemblen was born at Bath, Somerset, circa 1824, the fourth child of Isaac and Mary Hemblen. Mary died when Elizabeth was very young and Isaac remarried. Elizabeth did not get along with her step-mother and rebelled.
On 11 October 1841, 16 year old Elizabeth Emblin appeared at the Bath City Sessions, charged with larceny. She was convicted and sentenced to one month in prison. Soon after her release from prison, she appeared before a judge at the Bath City Sessions on 29 December 1841, along with Mary Ann Elmes and Elizabeth Stokes, charged with stealing a frying pan. As all three of the accused had previous convictions, they were each sentenced to 7 years transportation.
On 2 May 1842, Elizabeth Hemblen, Mary Ann Elmes, and Elizabeth Stokes departed England on the ship Royal Admiral, bound for Hobart, Tasmania, where it arrived on 24 September. On 8 October 1842, Elizabeth Hemblen was transferred to the ship Lady Franklin, for the journey to Launceston, on the north side of the island. On arrival in Launceston, she was transferred to the Launceston Female Factory.
The female convicts were assigned to free settlers, to whom they provided work, in return for food and clothing. We have no record of who Elizabeth was assigned to work for, but it was perhaps James Elder, as on 10 January 1844, the already pregnant Elizabeth requested permission to marry James Elder.
Elizabeth Hemblen married James Elder on 11 March 1844 at the parish church in Evandale, a few miles outside of Launceston. It is likely, but not certain, that James Elder was transported on the ship Phoenix which arrived in Tasmania on 21 July 1824, at which time he is described as a 19 year old Plasterer from Glasgow.
Their first child, whom they named Elizabeth, was born 1 July 1844. No further record has been found of this child, but it is believed that she died in Tasmania before 1852.
With good behaviour, Elizabeth Elder (nee Hemblen) was granted a Ticket of Leave in February 1845, and the family moved south to Hobart. Seventeen months later, on 9 July 1846, Elizabeth gave birth to her second child, James Elder, in Hobart.
Elizabeth received a conditional pardon in July 1848, and became free on 29 December, 1848, upon completion of her seven year sentence.
On 14 April 1849, Elizabeth’s husband, James Elder, died in Hobart, and just a month later, on 14 May 1849, Elizabeth was officially granted her Certificate of Freedom.
It is likely that around this time Elizabeth Hemblen met John Fothergill. John had been convicted of attempted theft at Leeds, Yorkshire in 1843 and was transported to Tasmania on the Anson. John Fothergill did not yet have his freedom, and was known to have a wife and family back in England, so he could not marry Elizabeth Hemblen, and could not leave Tasmania. But it seems that John Fothergill, Elizabeth Hemblen, and her young son, James Elder, somehow boarded a ship and travelled to New Zealand, where John assumed the name John Meale.
John Meale and Elizabeth Hemblen were married in St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Auckland, New Zealand on 13 June 1854. The marriage produced five children – John James Meale (b. 1855), Ellen Meale (b. 1859), Joseph Meale (b. 1861), George Meale (b. 1863) and Elizabeth Meale (b. 1868).
Soon after the birth of their first child, John and Elizabeth moved north to Waiwera, where they farmed for the remainder of their lives. James Elder son of Elizabeth Hemblen, was a Labourer by occupation, and died of tuberculosis at the Provincial Hospital in Auckland on 22 January 1868, at the age of 21 years.
The eldest child of John and Elizabeth Meale, John James Meale, died 19 June 1870, at the age of 15 years, as a result of a shooting accident whilst playing with friends. The remaining four children all married and had children of their own.
Elizabeth Meale, nee Hemblen, died at Upper Waiwera on 13 March 1899, from general debility, at the age of 70 years. She is buried at Puhoi.
Submitted by Researcher (James Cosgrave) on 13 April 2022
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Disclaimer: The information has not been verified by Claim a Convict. As this information is contributed, it is the responsibility of those who use the data to verify its accuracy. Research notes
There are currently no research notes attached to this convict. Sources
- The National Archives (TNA) : HO 11/13, p.99
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