Description:

1844 lengthy entire letter signed "B Livesay", to Yorkshire endorsed "postpaid" & rated "5" in red, GB 'SHIP LETTER' h/s in black & rated "8" for an incoming shipletter, London transit b/s of '28AP28/1845' in red & 'YORK' arrival b/s of the same date, extensive internal repairs & minor overall soiling. Ex Rod Moreton.



The convict Benjamin Livesay was a former clergyman who was transported for theft of a "money letter". He arrived in VDL in -/9/1841 per "Westmoreland". He spent a short time at the Brown's River Probation Station, then was assigned to prominent landowner Roderic O'Connor at Avoca where he established a school for the local children. His ticket of leave was granted 26/9/1846 & he was pardoned 22/8/1848. Livesay writes: "I speak from an abyss...I am at comparative liberty...before the time when a Ticket of Leave is actually given. I am allowed to act in my own acct & altogether without constraint. I keep a school in a village in the interior of the island. I have 36 scholars & £30 a year. I am well clothed, live comfortably & as far as it can be called happy..."