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For Their Country's Good: The Convict Women of the Ship Harmony -- 1829

NCJ Number
127424
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 14 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (Spring/Winter 1990) Pages: 83-96
Author(s)
T E Jordan
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on the recorded descriptions of 96 female convicts transported by a sailing vessel, Harmony, from Great Britain to Van Diemen's Land, Australia in 1828-1829.
Abstract
It provides the social background of the age cohorts which cluster around birth years 1793 and 1805. Most of the women were born in small towns in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Seventeen were from London and 11 from large towns. Comparison of heights of the women to those of other women of the nineteenth century showed these women were short; probably a reflection of their level of existence and prior nutrition. In addition no secular trend in height was found when the heights were compared to the economic indexes by a regression analysis. Detailed information is provided about the voyage and about individual women. 1 table and 38 references (Author abstract modified)