Criminal Women 1850-1920 by Lucy Williams & Barry Godfrey

Author:Lucy Williams & Barry Godfrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REFERENCE / Genealogy & Heraldry
ISBN: 9781526718631
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2018-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

ELIZABETH DYER

(B. 1824 LONDON) – TRANSPORTED

It was second time unlucky for Elizabeth Webb when she appeared at the Old Bailey and was sentenced to seven years’ transportation in August 1850 for stealing a watch, guard and 8s. from Thomas Jebb.

Jebb contended that he had met Elizabeth in the Red Lion pub in Greenwich, and that as he had sat with her she had complained to him of poverty and hunger. Jebb said that he bought her a drink and passed a few hours with Elizabeth before going home. When he got up to leave, Elizabeth followed him home, and went upstairs with him, lying on the bed. When he woke up in the morning, he missed his watch and chain from the bedside table and 8s. in cash. The inference in Jebb’s testimony was that Elizabeth was a prostitute, with whom he had spent the night, but who had robbed him as he slept and made her escape.

Elizabeth denied the charge when she was apprehended, and was found to have 8s. in her possession, but no watch. Elizabeth denied the accusation of prostitution, although this was almost certainly true. She had been living in common lodging houses.

The case against Elizabeth was compounded when a police constable produced a certificate which showed Elizabeth had a previous conviction. In 1848, Elizabeth had entered a Deptford shop with her friend Catherin Ganey and stolen a pair of boots. They had tried to use the boots to pay their landlady in lieu of rent, but had soon been found out and turned over to the police. Although she had only broken the law once before, and for minor theft, Elizabeth’s record spoke against her, gaining her a punishment that would irrevocably alter her life.

Sketch of Hobart Town by Edward Carlton Booth 1873.

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