Chapter 2.

Ann Parker - Her Arrest and Trial

The Map of the County of Devon shows all of its Parishes and that the Registers of the Parish of Tamerton Foliott commenced in1794. The village was of considerable size even in 1806, and it had had a market even as early as 1269. Its large Church, of St. Mary was an ancient structure. The Foliotts were Lords of the Manor during the reign of King Stephen in l135.

Ann Parker alias Ann Willcocks had been. arrested on a charge which read: "Stealing in the Dwelling House of William Hull at the Parish of Tamerton Foliott in the County of Devon on the second day of this present month of May 0ne Bank of England note of the Value of Ten Tounds and one Promissory Note of the Bank commonly called The Plymouth Bank of the value of Five Pounds, the property of the said William Hull." He resided in Milford House which still stands there in the village. She was really charged with house breaking and stealing, and it is quite probable that she had never seen so much money in all her life, for servant girls were often paid only £5 a year in money wages.

There were cells for prisoners at the Plymouth Guildhall, and she would have been kept there. Mr. Hawker, as Mayor of Plymouth, was also a Justice of the Peace, and she was taken before him. His task was to listen to the stories from the different witnesses and to take it all down in writing and to see if there was a good enough case against Ann to be tried by a Judge and Jury in the big Assize Court at the Exeter Castle. Housebreaking like this could not be tried by him. On 12th May, 1806, after listening to the evidence of William Hull, Susannah Hull, George Pardon and Catherine Palk, he decided that she should be tried at Exeter, and he issued his warrant for her to be held in gaol untiI the trial.

The next sitting of the Assizes at the Exeter Castle was on 28th July, 1806. There were at least thirty prisoners to be tried, and she was No. 10. A Grand Jury of 23 men went through the papers first to see if a majority agreed that there was a case for her to answer. They agreed that she should be tried by the Judge and Jury, and she was eventually placed in the dock, and the charge was read to her. "How do you plead?" "Guilty or Not Guilty?" she was asked. How much did the little uneducated girl of 17 know about Courts or punishment? She probably whispered, "Guilty, my Lord." Standing there, just 17, all five feet of her, with her pale, pock marked face, she could just see over the rail on the top of the dock.

In 1714, there was so much housebreaking and stealing taking place in England that the English Parliament decided to stop it by stating that any person who stole property worth more than forty shillings from a house and was convicted by the Court of doing so, would be hanged by the neck until he was dead. That was the Law, and the Judge had to comply with it. Forging Bank notes was similarly punished, and 600 forgers were so convicted. Three hundred of these were hanged, and the remainder received the Royal Pardon from King George III.

Standing there in the dock, Ann saw the Judge put on a black cap on top of his wig, and he then said to her, "It is my painful duty to pronounce that you, Ann Parker, be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and thence to the place of execution and there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may the Lord have mercy on your Soul."

She was taken off to the Exeter prison to wait for her hanging to take place. Some of the men who had been convicted and sentenced to be hanged were executed within a week.

Left, an aerial view of the village of Tamerton Foliott in 1979.  Click on the small image for a full display.

Ann had met a girl in the Exeter prison who had been there since 17th March, 1806 when she had been sentenced to transportation for seven years. Her name was Maria Smith, and she must have comforted Ann when the meaning of those dreadful words by the Judge were explained to her.

But, fortunately for her, they were desperately short of women and girls out in New South Wales where most of the people there were convicts or ex-convicts, mostly men, and most of them hoping to find a wife among the girl convicts who were arriving by the boat load. The Judges of the Assize Courts had sent in a recommendation that some of the prisoners, who had been sentenced to death, might be granted Mercy by King George III, provided that they agreed to be transported beyond the Seas. And our little Ann Parker, otherwise called Ann Willcocks, was on the list.

The letter from Lord Sydney on 26th June, 1806, reads: "His Majesty has therefore been graciously pleased to Extend the Royal Pardon to (her) on condition of (her) being transported to the Eastern Coast of New South Wales or some one or other of the Islands adjacent for and during the term hefore mentioned and has commanded me to signify the same to you that you may give the necessary directions accordingly."

So Ann and Maria wondered when they might be leaving together for New South Wales for seven years.
The Commissioners were arranging for a ship to take about 100 women and girls, and a small ship was offered to them. She was only of about 282 tons, about the size of a Sydney ferry.  And there was another swindle here. I will tell you all about that in the next Chapter.