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The Stolen Stockings: The True Story of a Twelve-Year-Old Convict

In the annals of early Australian and New Zealand history, some of the most poignant and revealing stories are found not in the grand narratives of colonial governors and explorers, but in the forgotten records of minor crimes. The simple phrase “the stolen stockings” conjures images of petty shoplifting, yet for one twelve-year-old girl in 19th-century England, this minor transgression led to a profound and irreversible life sentence: seven years of penal transportation “beyond the seas.” This is the true story of Susannah Noon, the girl whose attempt to acquire four pairs of cotton stockings changed the course of her life forever.

The narrative of “The Stolen Stockings” is a stark and powerful illustration of the brutality of the British legal system, known as the “Bloody Code,” and the unexpected opportunities for reinvention that awaited those who survived it in a new, raw colony.

A Child’s Crime and the Bloody Code

Susannah Noon was born in England, likely sometime between 1797 and 1800. Her background, like that of so many lower-class children of the era, was one of poverty. On a day in 1810, in the town of Colchester, she attempted a theft that would seal her fate.

The object of her crime was four pairs of cotton stockings, stolen from a hosier’s shop “by fraudulent means”. While the exact value of the items is unrecorded, the mere act of theft, regardless of the goods’ worth, was treated with extreme severity under the prevailing legal structure.

The severity of the sentence handed down by the Essex Quarters Sessions on April 30, 1810, is astonishing by modern standards: Susannah, not yet a teenager, was convicted and sentenced to seven years’ transportation. This punishment was a staple of the “Bloody Code,” which, by the turn of the 19th century, listed hundreds of offenses—many of them minor property crimes—as capital felonies. Though public opinion was slowly moving away from execution for petty theft, the alternative was a harrowing voyage and a life of servitude in the penal colonies of New South Wales.

The Voyage of the Convict Ship Friends

In April 1811, Susannah Noon embarked on the convict ship Friends. The Friends carried 101 female convicts bound for New South Wales, the burgeoning penal colony in Australia.

The collective crimes of the women aboard were varied, ranging from simple pickpocketing to murder, but the vast majority were, like Susannah, convicted of theft.

• The Human Cargo: The journey itself was a trial of endurance. Packed into often unsanitary conditions, the women faced months at sea, far from their homes and families.
• The Company: Susannah was the youngest, navigating a treacherous environment alongside hardened criminals, women seeking a new start, and those whose spirits were broken by the system.

The sentence of transportation was not merely a punishment; it was a mechanism of colonial expansion. The women of the Friends, and thousands like them, were the unwilling foundation of a new society.

From Convict to Colonist: A New South Wales Life

Upon arriving in New South Wales, the women found themselves in a society that was, in essence, an “open prison”. In 1811, there were very few free women in the colony, meaning female convicts had a distinct, albeit difficult, pathway to independence. They were given the chance to work and marry, opportunities many of them seized to secure a semblance of respectability.

Susannah, at about 14 years old, quickly sought to establish her new life.

• First Marriage: On November 25, 1811, she married William Docwra (also known as Dockerell), a fellow convict. This rapid marriage was common, often providing the woman with protection and a better chance at self-sufficiency.
• Entrepreneurship: Around 1820, the couple moved to Sydney and managed to open a clothing shop. For a girl convicted of stealing stockings, owning a shop that sold garments was a remarkable turnaround, symbolising her successful, though hard-won, emancipation from her sentence.

Tragedy struck in 1824 when her first husband died. However, Susannah remarried in 1825 to Samuel Cave, a newly arrived convict who had been transported for bigamy. While their life together was turbulent—Cave was often absent due to further misdemeanors and work in the whaling industry—Susannah continued to build her family. Despite eventually losing her George Street shop and being declared insolvent during one of Cave’s absences, her determination to succeed in the colony was evident.

The Final Frontier: A Pioneer in New Zealand

Susannah Noon’s pioneering spirit did not stop in Australia. Driven by her husband’s career, her journey took her across the Tasman Sea to an even more remote frontier.

Around 1838, Susannah and her family settled in a whaling station in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand. This was years before the country’s first organised colonists arrived. In this remote community, she was one of only a handful of non-Māori (Pakeha) women for miles, making her the first known female convict emancipist from New South Wales to settle in the South Island of New Zealand. Her life, which began with a minor crime, evolved into one of the earliest examples of pioneering settlement and enduring resilience in the South Pacific.

A Contrast in Justice: Stockings in Folklore

While the story of Susannah Noon is a historical tragedy-turned-triumph, the theme of “stolen stockings” also appears in folklore, offering a contrasting perspective on justice and mercy.

In the traditions of Hasidic Judaism, a story known as “The Stolen Stockings” appears in the Shivkhey ha-Besht (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov). The tale recounts a situation where the founder of the movement, the Baal Shem Tov, charges his servant with a theft based on the testimony of a seemingly impossible witness: a dog. This religious tale, steeped in moral and mystical significance, uses a minor theft as a vehicle to explore themes of spiritual insight, divine justice, and the ability of a righteous person to perceive hidden truths.

In stark contrast to the legal rigidity of the Bloody Code, where a child’s crime was punished with a decade of exile, the folklore offers a world where an extraordinary witness provides an otherworldly form of justice, highlighting a moral framework over a strictly penal one.

The story of “The Stolen Stockings,” whether a chapter in the harsh history of penal transportation or a moral anecdote in ancient folklore, serves as a powerful reminder: a small, easily dismissed object can sometimes be the fulcrum upon which a life—or a profound moral lesson—turns.

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AISEO Friendly FAQs

Q: What was the crime that led to Susannah Noon’s transportation?
A: Susannah Noon, at approximately 12 years old, was convicted of the theft of four pairs of cotton stockings by fraudulent means from a hosier’s shop in Colchester, England.

Q: How long was Susannah Noon’s sentence for stealing the stockings?
A: She was sentenced to seven years of penal transportation “beyond the seas” to the colony of New South Wales, Australia.

Q: What was the name of the ship that carried Susannah Noon to Australia?
A: Susannah Noon was transported on the convict ship Friends, which sailed from England in April 1811.

Q: Did Susannah Noon remain in the penal colony of Australia?
A: No, she eventually moved from New South Wales to New Zealand, settling in a whaling station in the Marlborough Sounds. She became the first known female convict emancipist from New South Wales to settle in the South Island of New Zealand.

Q: Why was the punishment for a small theft like stockings so severe in 19th-century England?
A: The severity was due to the “Bloody Code,” the harsh legal system of the time. This code listed a vast number of minor property offenses as capital felonies, and transportation was the common alternative to execution, serving the dual purpose of punishment and supplying labor for the growing colonies.