Catherine the Criminal?
Who is this Catherine Hingerty?
charged at the central court and sentenced to 3 months labour in Darlinghurst Goal, Sydney in November 1864 for stealing 6 geese?
Interestingly, on another admission record Catherine Hingerty is listed as being 30 years old, from Ireland and having a child:
No other records for this Catherine Hingerty (or her child) have been found to date, apart from the charging and release records for this offence.
Who is she?
Where did she come from?
What happened to her (and her child) after she was released?
Catherine was charged with Ellen Mountain. Who is Ellen Mountain?
When Catherine was released after serving her sentence, she was listed in the Police Gazette of 1st February 1865 as being released with "Sarah or Ellen Mountain"- one woman and two names or two separate women?
NSW, Australia, Police Gazettes 1854-1930. Accessed via Ancestry.com
In the Police Gazette of 22 February 1865, Catherine is listed as being discharged with Sarah Mountain.
That is interesting since Sarah Mountain died of natural causes as a 90 year old in Darlinghurst Goal in July 1864!
She had been charged and imprisoned for 3 months for vagrancy.
She was buried in the graveyard at St Stephen's Church Newtown.
It is therefore more likely that Catherine was charged and discharged with Ellen Mountain.
Ellen seems to have continued with her life of crime and in February 1866 is sentenced to 3 months in goal for stealing.
This time Catherine Hingerty is not charged with her, so they must have parted ways.
Ellen Mountain died in June 1888 as a 67 year old widow when she accidentally fell down the stairs of her abode in Redfern.
What was Catherine's relationship with Ellen Mountain?
Why are they stealing 6 geese together in 1864?
What happened to the child who was listed for Catherine Hingerty in her goal admission in November 1864?
Did children stay with their mothers in goal at that time?
The Police Gazette entry for 22 February 1865 is also interesting in that it states that Catherine Hingerty arrived in Australia in 1854 aboard the ship "Simon".
I have not been able to find reference to such a ship arriving in Australia by that name at any time. However, records do not exist for every ship that arrived in Australia at that time.
Since Catherine could neither read nor write, the police register would be based on her verbal answers so the spelling of the ship's name could be incorrect.
The ship "Symonds" arrived in Sydney in 1855, however no Catherine Hingerty was listed among the passengers.
So, who was this goose stealing Catherine Hingerty?
Where did she come from?
What happened to her (and her child) after her release?
If you have any information that might throw some light on this mystery-
I would love to hear from you!
Leave a Comment or send me an email
hingerty@one-name.org
UPDATE February 2022:
I am no closer to finding the goose stealing Catherine, but have located a few more Catherines in Ireland.
Which now raises the question as to who these Catherines are and are any of them the goose stealing Catherine???
1811 Killarney, Kerry: Catherine Hingerty married D Scannell. Not likely
1828 Killarney, Kerry: Catherine Hingerty and husband Michael Doyle baptise their daughter Johanna. Not likely
1854, 1 December Nenagh Tipperary: Catherine Hingerty has a son Thomas baptised with no father listed. Possible: could have emigrated to Sydney with her young son and he could be the child listed in her goal admission. He would have been 10 years old when she was imprisoned. Seems too old to have been allowed to stay in prison with his mother??
1857 Templederry Tipperary: Catherine Hingerty and her husband Jeremiah Wixted have their son Michael baptised. Not likely
Could this be the Catherine of Nenagh with son Thomas, now married and having a family with her husband??- 3 hours walk to Templederry from Nenagh.
1858 the same Catherine and husband Jeremiah have their daughter Catherine baptised.
1860 Templederry: The same Catherine and Jeremiah have another daughter Catherine baptised- the first daughter must have died.
UPDATE: March 2022
Still no closer to solving this mystery, however, I did explore the possibility that this Catherine was actually the only other Catherine Hingerty in Australia at the time, namely Catherine Mary (Kate) Hingerty.
Catherine Mary Hingerty was born in Goulburn, NSW 17th March 1846, the first child of John Hingerty and Isabella McDonald.
She married Felix Hilly in Yass, NSW 9th October 1871. Felix was a 34 year old widower with children. Catherine and Felix went on to have 8 children of their own.
There are no records for Catherine from the time of her Baptism in Goulburn in April 1846 until her marriage in October 1871, apart from a case brought against Catherine, her sister Mary Ann and her parents in March 1862 when the family lived on a property near Rocky Creek.
Could she have been the Catherine charged with stealing geese in Darlinghurst in 1864?
The case for: Her name is Catherine Hingerty, she is in New South Wales at the time. She could have left home, had a child and a life in Sydney, then went home after being released from prison and settled down and married. There is no other Catherine Hingerty in any record in Australia after 1865.
The case against: She would have been 18 not 30 years old at the time of imprisonment - although the ages on the prison records are very unreliable. The prison records say the criminal Catherine is from Ireland and arrived by ship SIMON - however we cannot find such a ship nor such a passenger- but then records of shipping for the period are incomplete. There are no family stories of Catherine having had a Sydney life, or a child, before her marriage to Felix- however such a story may well have been hushed up....
Will we ever know for sure?
Note: NSW Gazette entries for this blog post were found on TROVE- the free data base of Australian Newspapers and Gazettes operated by the National Library of Australia. trove.nla.gov
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