Convict Love Token - 1832 - $13,500 SOLD
Stock# 120500

Convict Love Tokens have been romantically described as 'postcards before leaving' but they were really sad mementos of relationships torn asunder by the courts and the tyranny of distance.

Most were crafted from smoothed English Pennies which were inscribed with a message of everlasting love from a convict to a family that was very unlikely to see him again if he received a sentence of transportation to Australia.

One such criminal was John Lavender, the second son of James Lavender and Lydia Brown, who was born in Offley Hertfordshire around 1812. Unlike his law abiding brother Thomas (born 1809) John veered to petty crime.

In 1831 at just 19 he was tried and convicted of housebreaking for which he received a flogging and six months jail. The experience obviously did not deter him as he was up before the courts the very next year and on the 29th of November 1832 was convicted of stealing four iron rabbit traps.

This time he was sentenced to transportation for life. Records show that he was originally incarcerated on the 'Cumberland' where it is more than likely that the convict love token was made for him. John Lavender departed Plymouth on the 'Isabella' on the 28th July 1833 and arrived in Van Diemen's Land on the 14th November 1833 where he appears in the convict muster of the same year.

Unfortunately he was again in trouble in 1837 when he was sentenced to 12 months hard labour in chains for petty larceny. He finally received a full pardon in May 1845 'after having served beyond the ordinary time in the colony and (having) undergone a probation of three years as a ticket of leave holder'.

The convict token was obviously cherished by Thomas and it did keep John in his thoughts, as his first born son was named after his long lost brother.