Between 1615-1945 the British Penal Settlements were put into place in order to rehabilitate and reside criminals from England, sending them to places like Australia. Before they were to be deported, they would hand to their loved one a ‘Love Token’, a small coin melted and engraved with personal messages from the criminals right before their deportation. Upon looking at many a love token, I stumbled across this particular coin that stuck out to me for reasons I still don’t quite know myself. All I know is, it must have had an interesting story behind it, and I wanted to find out more.
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Unlike most tokens that had phrases such as “remember me”, or “love of my life”, this token seemed peculiar. It’s almost as if its giver was begging for acceptance from his true love ‘Mary Gibbs’. But, why has her name been crossed out numerous times on the back of it?
The search began, despite the limited knowledge I had, as the only information given was ‘Alexander’ and the year it was supposedly made in 1787 ( and of course ‘Mary Gibbs’ as the receiver). However, it just so happened that 1787 was the year the first fleet set sail towards Botany Bay, so my search began for an Alexander aboard the (ironically-named) ship the Alexander, and I miraculously found a Mr. Alexander McDonald, tried at The Old Bailey on the 8th December 1784 for stealing his master’s clothes. He was sentenced to 7 years, and boarded the Alexander in 1787, correlating with the coins date. There was no other recorded Alexander aboard this particular shipment. Whats both equally interesting and sad is he died in 1788, the documents stating “Probably killed by Aborigines”.
Now, onto the Mary part. After searching through Documents on the Old Bailey Online, I found the exact document of his trail, recorded in 1784. A Mary Archer testified against him. In the trail documents, it states he showed Mary his treasures, and she told their master that he had them. “I put my hand and took out one of the buckles, and he scratched my hand in taking it away” .
The hopeless romantic inside of me wants to believe maybe poor Alexander took a fancy to Mary, and since she betrayed his trust by testifying against him, he wanted to show his love and affection for her, but resented her actions simultaneously, hence her name being withdrawn from the coin. He also asks on the coin ” keep this for his sake”, as if to plead her to keep it despite her feelings not being mutual. Maybe this coin does not contain his profession of love because he knows her feelings are not reciprocated.
Bibliography:
Convict Love Tokens, (http://love-tokens.nma.gov.au/tokens/2008.0039.0307) Data Sourced from the National Museum of Australia. Date accessed 17/10/18.
First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc, Alexander. (http://firstfleetfellowship.org.au/ships/hms-alexander/) Date Acessed 17/10/18.
Old Bailey Proceedings Online (https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t17841208-8). Date accessed 17/10/18.
The First Fleet Register, (http://firstfleet.thruhere.net/convict.php?id=464). Data sourced from the Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources, University of Wollongong. Date accessed 17/10/18.
Prison Voices: Uncovered 