A few months ago I discovered a Convict ancestor! Samuel Johnson, my 4th great grandfather, born 1797 at Garton-on-the-Wolds, was convicted of stealing a plough tray and sentenced to 7 years transportation in May 1821. He left England on the Lord Hungerford ship from the Downs (East Kent Coast) in August 1821 with 227 other convicts, and landed at Van Diemen’s Land 26th Dec 1821. During his 7 years he was convicted of embezzlement of a quantity of leather (he was a shoemaker by trade) for which he received 100 lashes, and on another occasion, neglect of duty, 50 lashes. I’m still trying to discover whether he managed to return to England or whether he remained in Tasmania. I suspect he had to stay. He left behind a wife and two young children, the eldest was my 3rd great grandmother, Charlotte. Samuel’s wife, Hannah, remarried 4 years later and went on to have several more children with her 2nd husband, John Arnett. Her record of marriage stated she was the “supposed widow of Samuel Johnson, transported 5 or 6 years earlier”.