There is still no further information on Sarah's early life. We know she had 2 daughters - when and where? And that she was a convict - tried at Middlesex Assizes, February 1832. Verdict - “Guilty of stealing to the value of 99s. Transported for Seven Years”.
Sarah it seems was living in Stepney Green as far back as August when pawnbroker George Gray Williams of High Street stated she had pawned some items with him on the 26 August 1831, then further items on 11 January 1832. They were pawned in the name of Brim, of Stepney-green.
He said he had known her for 18 months. This could mean Sarah (and possibly William) had been living in this area of London from about June 1831 - which tallies with the statement of their landlady at the time of the offences.
Sarah and her husband lodged in the dwelling-house of Sarah Flanders in Wellington-place, Stepney for five or six months, leaving on the 13th of January 1832; (which means they were there from approx. June 1831). She paid 5s. a week - Sarah Flanders had no other lodger for two months, and had no family of her own - as the prisoner could not pay her she told her to go away; she came on Friday morning, the 13th, and asked if she could stop till Monday, as she was going out to look for apartments, and she would pay the sum of 10s. on the Saturday night - she was given leave to stop; she came again, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, and returned a shawl, which the landlady had lent her. Sarah and her husband, we presume, then left the Wellington Place lodging.
The prisoner and her husband lodged at the house in Sampson-place, Stepney, of Peter and Bridget Aylmer from the 13th of January, until the 16th, when Sarah was taken prisoner: she had taken the lodging by the week, and paid 10s. beforehand of her own accord;
( NOTE: Sarah was convicted on 2 separate charges and received 2 X 7 year terms - 14 years in all)
Click www.oldbaileyonline.org/search/name/ to go to the website for the Old Bailey - then enter name of convict to read actual entriesfrom the trial/s.
Poor Sarah! Did she collapse with relief on hearing she was to escape with her neck intact? What lay ahead was unknown, but surely nothing could be worse than a date with the hangman!
Having heard tales of miserable, starving peasants stealing bread to feed their hungry children, thereby becoming convicts, we felt sure our Sarah had been sadly misjudged.
Not so! After reading excerpts from her trial, including witness statements, it seems she was indeed a bad girl. But then, what unimaginable circumstances drove her to steal? Sarah's eldest child was born when she was just a girl of thirteen or fourteen! Reason enough?
A very interesting point is that nowhere in the records of the trial, including witness statements, is there one single mention of the two daughters, Sarah and Rebecca.............
Sarah BRAME was indicted at the Old Bailey on 16 February 1832 for stealing on 22 December 1831, 1 jacket, 6 shells, 2 table-spoons, 1 waistcoat, 1 walking-stick, 1 shawl, 1 mahogany pillar, (a mahogany pillar???), 1 gold ring, and 1 sovereign, the property of a fellow lodger. Also, on 13 January 1832, 2 brooches, 2 rings, 5 table-cloths, 3 shifts, 4 petticoats, 1 necklace, 3 tea-spoons, and 3 sovereigns, the property of her land-lady. There were two charges, both to the value of 99 shillings.
Theft was a capital offence, but juries were often instructed to find on a lesser charge, possibly because the colonies were in need of young women. Sarah's life was spared. Aged just twenty-one, she was sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen's Land, for a total of 14 years! Her children, both under 10, were sent with her.
Were the colonies so desperate for immigrants? After all, she was a convicted criminal! However, had Sarah lost her young life at the end of a hangman's noose, her descendants would not be here today!
Sarah was born c. 1809 and baptised October 15th, 1809 in Berden, Essex, England. Her parents were William Knight and Ann nee Rand. She married William BRAHAM 26th October 1827 at Stocking Pelham, England. If this is ‘our’ Sarah, she and husband William had two daughters, Sarah c.1823, Rebecca c.1825. (This information on Sarah's birthplace, parents and marriage place and date is new and came to me as a direct result of someone reading my plea on this webpage. The power of the www! Thank you for contacting me)
However, as mentioned at top of page I still have no records or information to confirm these details. I'm working on it though...!
Previously the only detail to tie the family to any particular part of England was the birth certificate of her daughter Rebecca's son Charles, which states she (Rebecca) was from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. However, much research, including a visit to the Record Office there, failed to find any evidence to support this. We now know (or think we know!) that Sarah's origins were in the Essex area, but we still have the above placing Rebecca (and therefore most likely also Sarah) in Suffolk at some stage.
The most recent documents relating to Sarah's past are the INDENT for the convict ship “HYDERY”, and the convict APPROPRIATION LIST, which have only just become available.
The INDENT states - No. 229, Sarah Brame, Height 4 ft 9 ins, Age 23, Trade or Calling - Cook & Housemaid, Where Tried - Middlesex, When Tried - 16 Feb., 1832, Sentence - 14 years, Native Place - Colburn, Married, Children 2, Religion - P, Read or Write - None, Offence &c. - Stealing money etc., Ship Character - Very Good, Remarks - none.
The APPROPRIATION LIST states - No. 229, Name - Sarah Brame, 23, Trade or Calling - Cook & Housemd., Soups & .....? dishes - wash & iron., How Appropriated - Wm. Burnett.
(NOTE: Colburn is in North Yorkshire, so now the search is on to try to locate a birth, baptism, marriage in that part of England.........!)
(NOTE: Burnett is the name stated on Sarah's convict record as reporting her couple of cases of having absconded from her post whilst serving her sentence.)
However - to carry on with the area previously known -
What a delightful place is the former St Edmundsbury, originally named for the martyred East Anglian King, whose striking statue stands amongst the ruins of an early Benedictine monastery. Here also, is where the Magna Carta barons met in 1214 to plan their tactics!
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But - to return to our convict!
Sarah BRAME's deportation was a cruel inditement against her two young daughters. They travelled with her aboard the convict ship “HYDERY” and on arrival in Tasmania in January 1833 were placed in the care of the Queen's Orphan School at Hobart.
DETAILS FROM CONVICT SHIP WEBSITE
Vessel - "Hydery"
Master - Alex McDonald
Surgeon - Allan McLaren
Sailed - 11 04 1832 - From Plymouth. Days on voyage - 121.
Embarked - 150 Females, arrived 146 Females - 10 08 1832 - VDL Tasmania
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And where was Sarah's husband, father of the two girls? Her convict record shows that William, a free man, was to follow his wayward wife to Australia - but did he? Perhaps instead he opted to claim she was deceased, as it seems many did when their partners were transported to far distant colonies.
There is mention of William BRAME in the South Australian, Victorian and Tasmanian indexes, but never enough detail to prove one way or the other whether the records relate to the man who was Sarah's husband.
Sarah had an eventful incarceration, some months being added to her original sentence as a result of absconding on a number of occasions. She was given a Conditional Pardon in 1841 and received her Free Certificate in 1853. Does this mean that she served 21 years? The saddest thing is that nothing is known of her fate after her debt to society was paid.
Records show that Sarah's daughters left the Orphanage and were “apprenticed” to Sir Robert Jacomb Esq., Sarah on 30 December 1838, and Rebecca on 24 July 1840.
Rebecca was born approx. 1825, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England and married Thomas LEWIS at Green Ponds, Brighton, Tasmania in September 1842.
Thomas, born in Westham, near Brighton, Sussex, England in 1809 to Hugh and Elizabeth LEWIS, was a bricklayer at the time of his marriage. He and Rebecca left Tasmania, and landed at Portland, Victoria where they made their way to Mr F. Henty's property, "Muntham Station". During the following years they moved from there to the Henty property at Merino Downs, then to Sandford, and finally to Bahgallah.
Thomas and Rebecca had 10 children. Charles Henry, (whose birth certificate supplied the clue to the BRAME family origins) was born in 1864 at Sandford, near Casterton, Victoria. He married Virtue BEST whose family had originated in Dorset.
Poor Thomas came to a sad end in 1874 aged 65 - he was found dead in the shed!!! Rebecca was initially suspected of doing away with him, but managed to convince the authorities of her innocence. It seems he drank a bit (quite a bit!), fell and hit his head. It could happen!
Following Thomas' burial at Sandford, Rebecca went to live with her daughter Mary Ann at Strathdownie.
There is a photograph of Rebecca, looking very grim, but perhaps that is typical of the times. Another picture shows Thomas, son of Rebecca and Thomas.
Rebecca LEWIS lived to a grand old age, spending her final years with her family. She died aged 83 in November 1907 at her daughter Eliza's home in Mt Gambier, South Australia.
Her final resting-place is in the Lake Terrace Cemetery where she lies beneath an impressive marble headstone.
Two daughters of a convict - their lives were Sarah's legacy.
Sarah BRAME, convict, mother, pioneer, and ?????
No photos of Sarah exist; her convict description is all we have.
What became of her?
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