Lydia Matthews (1813-1904)

Daughter Lydia was baptised on 16th October 1813 at the church in Madron in Cornwall. Her baptism occurred on the very same day that her grandmother Lydia was buried in the very same church yard. Lydia was named after her grandmother.

Daughter Lydia was charged with stealing a shirt worth 3 shillings from Mr John Templeton in 1828 when she was 14 years old. She was a dairymaid at the time. She was tried and sentenced at the County of Devon, City of Exeter Quarter Sessions on 21.3.1828 and 14.10.1828. The record lists her date of birth as 1811 in Madron, Cornwall which was the baptism of her elder infant sister of the same name. This meant that they treated her as a 17 year old when she was, in fact, only 14. She was sentenced to transportation to Australia for 7 years.

Lydia was transported from Downs to New South Wales, Australia in 1829 on board the ship “Sovereign”. She shared the voyage with 118 other female convicts, all of which arrived in the colony safely. Lydia was placed with a Mr William Lee of Bathurst, one of the first settlers in the Bathurst area.

In 1830, Lydia was still in the Bathurst area when she made application for marriage to James Sherrard who had arrived in the colony as a ‘free’ person on the ship “Morley”. Lydia was 19 years old at the time. There is no record of the marriage ever taking place.

Permission for Lydia to marry James Sherrard. The marriage never appeared to have occurred.

On 20.12.1832, when residing in the Maitland area, she was given consent to marry John Shaw, a convict who was 18 years her senior. He had been baptised 18.10.1796 in Nottingham, England and had been tried and sentenced at the Nottingham Quarter Session on 20.4.1815. He was sentenced to 7 years transportation and was described as 5 ‘4” tall, fair to pale complexion, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He had been transported to Australia aboard the ship ‘Elizabeth’ in 1816. The couple were married in Maitland, New South Wales. John’s occupation was a sawyer.

Permission for Lydia to marry John Shaw. This marriage did occur.

The couple had 4 children – Rachel Mary Ann (born 24.2.1833), Lydia (born 8.4.1834), Anne (born 03.09.1837) and John (born 31.05.1839).

Lydia received her certificate of freedom on 30.09.1836, her certificate number being CF NO. 36/0997. It describes her as 5 foot tall with brown hair and hazel eyes, and a small scar inside her left arm. Her skin was described as florid – having a bright red colour.

Her husband John died on 22.09.1841 at Newcastle Hospital, New South Wales. He was buried as a ‘free pauper’ in Newcastle. Lydia was in Newcastle Gaol on charges of having bashed her husband John at the time of his death.

Lydia’s children Anne and John were sent to an orphanage in Sydney after their father’s death.

Another application to marry was made on 05.02.1842 between Lydia and a convict called George Longford, who had arrived on the ship Hercules in 1825. He was originally a blacksmith from the Isle of Wight. Permission was granted, but again, the marriage does not appear to have taken place. It is interesting that Lydia was using her maiden name in the application.

Permission for Lydia to marry George Longford. This marriage never appears to have occurred.

Lydia married again on 26.10.1844 to Robert Webb, another ex-convict who had been sentenced for life and had arrived in the colony aboard the ship “Adrian” on 20.08.1830. Robert was on his ticket of leave when they married at Muswellbrook, New South Wales. Robert died on 30.10.1881 at Bell’s Hollow, Gundebri Station via Merriwa. By this time, Lydia had changed her name to Edith Harriet.

Permision for Lydia to marry Robert Webb. A note beneath the entry mentions her previous marriage to John Shaw and evidence produced saying she did not marry George Longford.

Lydia died on 28.06.1904, aged 90 years, at Gundebri Station via Merriwa, New South Wales. Because all her records from her conviction forward had recorded her birthdate at 1811, they mistakenly recorded her age at death as 93. She had outlived all her children and, according to her death certificate, she is buried as Harriet Webb in the Merriwa General Cemetery.

At the time of her death she was using the name Harriet Webb and gave the story that she was the daughter of a Donald McDonald ( a captain of cavalry) having being born in Windsor, New South Wales but went back to England at an early age, returning to the Colony at the age of 26 years.

Children

 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of John and Lydia Shaw
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of John and Lydia Shaw