Ann Dinham (17 March 1827 – 2 May 1882); born Ann Orchard, and later Ann Riddiford and Ann Foster, was keeping an inn in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire in 1851 with her husband, William, when she was convicted of inciting a burglary and sentenced to be transported to Tasmania for ten years. In Tasmania, she married John Foster, a wealthy businessman, magistrate and member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council. After his death, she took their five surviving children to be educated in England, and was thus one of the few Australian convicts to return to her native land.
Early life
Dinham was born in the Gloucestershire town of Wotton-under-Edge on 17 March 1827. Her father, James Orchard, is described in the 1851 census as a "Dealer in Marine Stores", a term applied to traders in second-hand goods and "rag and bone men". Her mother, Elizabeth, died in 1839, when Dinham was about 12 years old and her father remarried before the end of that year. The 1841 census shows Dinham and two younger siblings living with their father and stepmother in Church Street, Wotton-under-Edge.
It is not known when she left Wotton, or where she met her first husband, William Cozens Dinham, who had been born in Bath, Somerset in 1825, but they married in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1847. Their marriage certificate describes him as a "timekeeper" but he was, in fact, a warder at Usk Prison. In December 1848, William Dinham was appointed as the first superintendent of the Abergavenny Town Police, a very small force which had only three constables in addition to the superintendent. William Dinham only served in the role until March 1850; the reasons for his dismissal seem to have been mainly about a need to save money, though some local ratepayers expressed concerns about his performance.
By April 1851, the family were living at 53 Monk Street, Abergavenny and keeping an inn. The census of that year shows that they had two children: a son, also William, born in 1848 and a daughter, Eliza, born in February 1851:-
Trial and conviction
Dinham was tried at Monmouth Assizes on 8 August 1851 and convicted of inciting a burglary. Her trial was reported both in a local newspaper, the Monmouthshire Beacon, and nationally in The Times. The latter commented that "This case was remarkable for the train of circumstantial evidence by which the guilt of the woman was established." She was tried together with Francis Davies, who was one of the two men accused of committing the burglary. The other was Henry Clarke, who had already previously been convicted of the crime and sentenced to transportation, and who gave evidence for the prosecution in this trial.
At the time of the burglary, in January 1851, Dinham and her husband were keeping an inn in Abergavenny. The house that was burgled was in Usk, which is about 11 miles from Abergavenny, but the police suspected that the culprits had come from Abergavenny because some of the stolen items were found along the road between the two towns. Continuing their investigations, the police visited the Dinhams' public house and spotted other items that they suspected had been taken from the house in Usk. Dinham was arrested and the police discovered that she had been to the house in Usk as a dressmaker and had made clothes for the two women who lived there. They also arrested the two men who had carried out the burglary; one of whom said that Dinham had provided them with information about their target. William evaded the police and escaped to the United States where he eventually settled in Iowa and became a farmer.
The jury found Dinham guilty but recommended that the judge should show her mercy because they believed that she had been coerced by her husband. Mr Justice Erle agreed to consider the jury's recommendation and to defer sentence until the following morning in order to make enquiries about the extent of her husband's influence. The next day, he announced that he had made inquiries as to how far she had been influenced by her husband and that he did not know a more remarkable degree of guilt than that of hers. He then sentenced her to ten years exile to Tasmania.
It is not known who or what was consulted by Mr Justice Erle before he reached his conclusion. As was normal at that time, no consideration appears to have been given to the fact that Dinham was the mother of two young children.
Francis Davies, who the judge said had led a long career of the most flagrant crime, was sentenced to 20 years for the burglary.