[bigamy – women defendants in crime]

R. v. Lindsay

Supreme Court of New South Wales

Burton J., 12 May 1841

Source: Sydney Gazette, 15 May 1841[1]

            Ann Lindsay, free by servitude, per the ship Southwell, was indicted for having on the 30th of March, 1840, committed the crime of bigamy, by marrying one John Handley, a ticket of leave holder, in the district of Campbelltown, she having been lawfully married at Sydney, by the late Rev. Richard Hill, to one John Brown, on the 23rd of January, 1833, the said Brown being still alive.

            From the certificates of marriage produced, it appeared that when the prisoner married Brown in 1833, she was 25 years of age, and Brown was then 50; also that when she married Handley, he was about 40 years of age. - The only defence set up was a denial that she had ever been married to Brown. The jury without retiring, found the prisoner guilty, when she received sentence of transportation to a penal settlement for 7 years.

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