Convict love token from James Thurtell, 1829

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Type: Convict love tokens
Materials: Metal - non specific
Collection: Timothy Millett collection
Accession number: 2008.0039.0088

Description

A convict love token, made up of a coin, engraved on both sides. One side features stippled text reading 'JAMES THURTELL / AGED / 18 / YEARS / 1829'. The other side features stippled text reading 'TRANSPORTED / FOR / X 7 X / YEARS / 1829'.

James Thurtell, 18, gardener and baker's apprentice, was tried and convicted at Norfolk Assizes in April 1829 for stealing shoes, spectacles, a tea chest, candlesticks and other items from Martha Chapman. He was sentenced to seven years' transportation. He sailed for New South Wales on the Katherine S Forbes, leaving 7 October 1829 and arriving 19 February 1830. Thurtell's records show that he measured 5 feet 4 inches (1.6 metres), had a ruddy complexion and that he was missing the point of his right fourth finger. He also had a number of tattoos. He gained his ticket of leave in 1836 and his certificate of freedom on 9 February 1842. He married Maria Jane Culverson in 1841 in Kelso, New South Wales. His death certificate shows that he died in the Lunatic Asylum in Parramatta in 1861.

About the collection

The Timothy Millett collection comprises 307 convict love tokens dating from 1762 to 1856, and seven contemporary documents relating to the criminal justice system including: recommendations to commute the death sentences of Hester Sampson and Thomas Hayes to life transportation; a calendar of prisoners awaiting trial in the goals of Durham, Newcastle and Northumberland; a request to the Middlesex assizes for rewards to be paid; a printed copy of George Skene's last speech prior to execution; a printed broadside listing prisoners in Dorchester jail awaiting transportation; and a 60 page handwritten account of the life of Thomas Jones, who was transported twice and finally hanged at Winchester Prison in 1856. Convict love tokens, typically made from smoothed-down coins and engraved or stippled with a message, derive from traditional sailors' farewells. The production of these 'leaden hearts' rose as criminal indictments increased in Britain, with the majority produced during the 1820s and 1830s. As mementos made by or for convicts facing transportation (or death) to leave behind for their loved ones, the tokens provide a poignant, personal insight into the transportation system.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 6:04:15 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-09-03. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.