Deborah Hickman

Deborah is, strangely enough, my connection to Norman nobility (most notably Count Guy I of Ponthieu, who was an ally & cousin of William the Conqueror and features on the famous Bayeux Tapestry) and consequently Rollo of Normandy, the Viking seafarer who founded the Viking settlements of France in the area that became known as Normandy.

Deborah Eliza Hickman was born 12 Nov 1820 in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England, the 8th of 9 children born to Benjamin Hickman and Deborah Webb.

She was tried at the Stafford Quarter Sessions on 31 Dec 1839, charged with stealing 2 pork pies and some flour from a private residence. She was sentenced to 10 years transportation.

She left London on 9 Oct 1840 on the Navarino, and arrived in Hobart on 17 Jan 1841.

Her convict description is as follows:

Trade - Servant

Height - 5' 2¼"

Age - 20

Complexion - florid

Head - round large

Hair - dark brown

Visage - oval

Forehead - broad

Eyebrows - dark brown

Eyes - black speck in one eye - loss of sight in the other

Nose - rather crooked

Mouth - medium

Chin - double

Remarks - small scar on left thumb

In 1847 she was convicted and fined for disturbing the peace, possibly shouting at another woman in an argument on the street.

On 12 Jul 1844 she married William Johnson (son of Montrose Johnson and Ellen Hickey) in St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond, Tasmania. Six children were born to them before she died of influenza on 25 May 1853 in Glenorchy. She is buried at St Paul's Church Cemetery, Glenorchy.

In 1854 William married a Scottish convict, Christina McKay who apparently helped raise the children including my great great grandmother Mary Johnson. Christina was well qualified for the job, her trade on her convict papers being given as "Nurse Maid". She died 13 years later and William did not remarry for another 16 years.

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