Archive for May, 2013

Imagine – You are Convict in 1800

Imagine, if you can, being employed as a servant, by a middle class family, in country England over two hundred years ago. Life is hard. You are both house maid and under cook.  The master is a brewer; comfortably well off, providing he toils over twelve hours each day.  The mistress is still weak following the birth of her sixth child. You work from sun up to long after sun down. Your family is poor and becoming poorer. Whilst some scrape a living as tenant farmers, most are forced into service and some into the workhouse.  One day you are at the village markets and you see a shawl. It is …

Read More

Margaret Catchpole – Her Life and Her Letters

The moon rose late on the night in 1797 when Margaret Catchpole rode John Cobbold’s horse to London. Did she steal it or borrow it? Did she act alone or did she have accomplices? Horse stealing was a capital offence in Georgian England. Did she risk her life for love, friendship or freedom?

Having twice been sentenced to death and escaping the gallows both times, she became the ‘notorious’ Margaret Catchpole about whom plays were written and films were made. Before convict transportation to Australia ended, Margaret Catchpole had become the h…

Read More