Cornish Studies

This website isn't dead, honestly. I've just been...busy. Really busy. I became mum to Elinor on January 16th and as a result I've put my studies on hold for at least a year.

My "one day I'll get around to it again" PhD topic is "Cornish Convict Women", in which I am attempting to trace the lives of women transported from Cornwall to Australia and Tasmania. I'm interested in both what their situation was in Cornwall and what became of them on the other side of the world - were they simply bad women who remained bad, or were they driven by poverty and desperation and able to make the most of the opportunities that life in a new colony provided? There will be updates here as I get on with it.

If anyone's interested, I have identified ALL Cornish convicts, male and female, who sailed - I've studied all of the assize and court records as well as the actual shipping lists at the National Archives. I'm happy to share that information with anyone who needs it and will eventually get around to posting it here too.

~Susie