Charlotte Ann YOUNG
Name Variations alias Charlotte Ann SMITH
Father b. m. d.
Mother b. m. d.
Inmate Charlotte YOUNG b.c. 1858 m. (see below) d.
Description
Relationship Name Age Height Hair Eyes Complexion Build Distinguishing features
Inmate Charlotte1 20 tall brown fresh good-looking; black dress & black hat trimmed with pink rose

Note: There is not believed to be a connection between Charlotte Ann SMITH alias YOUNG and the sisters Sarah and Charlotte YOUNG aka SMITH, and that the similar names and admission dates are just coincidence and Charlotte Ann is probably from a separate family. These girls were all admitted to Newcastle within weeks of each other but Charlotte Ann YOUNG or SMITH was arrested in Penrith and the YOUNG sisters were arrested in Sydney. Distinguishing between the two girls named Charlotte YOUNG or SMITH is very difficult as they were of a similar age. There is a separate biography for Charlotte YOUNG and her sister Sarah.

Charlotte Ann YOUNG was admitted to Newcastle from Penrith2 on 19 January 1870. It is unknown whether Charlotte had been in service or whether she had been in some other institution. Details for her admission once appeared in the section of the Entrance Book that has not survived, so her age, trial location, family, religion and educational details are unavailable from this source. Charlotte was almost invariably recorded in the records of the Newcastle Industrial School as Charlotte A. or as Charlotte Ann and with the surname SMITH alias YOUNG.3 While it is possible that administrators confused the two girls as they were roughly the same age and were admitted in the same month, it is not thought that this occurred - probably due to the use of this middle initial. To date no trial details have been found in any newspaper as eithe Charlotte SMITH or Charlotte YOUNG for this court appearance and to date no court appearance for any admission from Penrith or Parramatta has been located in the newspapers.

Limited records show that the girls were almost exactly the same age. Identifying an age for the Penrith girl is difficult. She is believed to be the younger of the two girls. On 23 June 1871 both girls were identified as eligible for apprenticeship in LUCAS's list. In this record LUCAS makes no distinction between the pair. Both are recorded as Charlotte YOUNG and one was fourteen and one was fifteen.4 In the complete list of admissions to April 1874, no ages are shown with the Sydney girl the 139th admission and the Penrith girl the 142nd admission. The best indication of their respective ages was recorded on the Biloela transfer lists in May 1871. LUCAS had compiled this record directly from the Entrance Book and it identified that Charlotte YOUNG from Sydney was thirteen years and five months of age when she was admitted and that Charlotte YOUNG alias Charlotte Ann SMITH from Penrith was thirteen.5 Although Charlotte Ann was the first of the pair apprenticed, both were over 12 so LUCAS would have only needed to find them a position.

Only one record defines that Charlotte's middle name was Ann and that was in a letter to the Colonial Secretary where it was necessary for LUCAS to distinguish between the two girls. This bundle of correspondence is interesting because the letters arranging the apprenticeships for both girls are filed in the same bundle - very strongly suggesting that the Colonial Secretary believed that they referred to the same girl. After receiving permission to apprentice Charlotte Ann YOUNG, who was identified in the letters only as Charlotte YOUNG, when LUCAS subsequently attempted to apprentice Charlotte YOUNG in July 1872, the office requested an explanation about the first apprenticeship and a clear distinction was made between the two girls. LUCAS replied with what was almost certainly recorded in the Entrance Book for each admission. He wrote:

The girl Charlotte Young, alias Charlotte Ann Smith, aged thirteen years, parents unknown, was admitted into this institution from the Penrith Bench on the 19th January 1870 and was apprenticed 1st January last6
The girl Charlotte Young … was admitted from the Central Police Court, Sydney, on the 4th January 1870.7

Significantly, this communication clearly showed that Charlotte Ann YOUNG alias SMITH had not identified her mother or her father when she was admitted to Newcastle. No other record for her has yet been found in another institutions. This may suggest that she was an orphan.

Attempts were being made by LUCAS from as early as 28 November 1871, to find an apprenticeship for Charlotte A. This date was two months before she would have been eligible to take up any position but must be viewed as one of the rare instances when LUCAS was being efficient and he ensured that Charlotte was ready to take up her apprenticeship once her year at the school had expired. LUCAS had arranged and received permission from the Colonial Secretary to apprentice her to William FOURER, J.P., of Campbelltown, but as FOURER was unwilling to make any payment, another apprenticeship needed to be arranged so she was sent instead to A. SPROWL of Goulburn. She was to be apprenticed for three years and was to be paid two shillings a week for the first two years and three shillings a week during her final year.8 The April 1872 list, compiled by LUCAS from the Entrance Book, recorded that Charlotte had been discharged on 15 January 1872, to T. P. SPROUL, in Goulburn9 and in his report on 22 January 1872, LUCAS confirmed her apprenticeship.10

It is possible that LUCAS did inadvertently confuse the two girls but the lengths of the arranged apprenticeship match what would be correct for the ages he believed that each girl was when she was admitted. Charlotte Ann's apprenticeship was for three years and she was 15 when the apprenticeship began. Charlotte's apprenticeship was for two years and she was 16 when the apprenticeship began.

It is believed that the Charlotte YOUNG who was arrested in Woollarah in July 1876 for a larceny as a servant from Emma TAYLOR was the same girl who had been admitted to Newcastle as Charlotte Ann,11 even though this identification is based only on circumstantial evidence of her name, age and location. The NSW Police Gazette in 1876, reported on this theft, and indicated that the suspect may have fled to either Penrith or Goulburn.12 These two locations identified the place of arrest and the place of apprenticeship for the girl admitted as Charlotte Ann YOUNG. Charlotte was arrested in Penrith but there was no prosecution made.13 This girl cannot be the other admission named Charlotte YOUNG as by 1876 the Sydney girl had married. Because the name used in this incident was YOUNG, it is believed likely that this was the surname used by Charlotte after her discharge.

Family

Even if Charlotte had been born before 1858, her birth should have been registered. Whether it was is unknown. If the birth was registered in NSW, because Charlotte Ann had been arrested in the Penrith area the most likely registrations occur only as Charlotte SMITH. There are no birth registrations recorded with the name of YOUNG. The most likely birth was the one that occurred in Campbelltown as it matched the age of the Newcastle admission.

1858 in Campbelltown: Father: William; Mother: Catherine: 6114/1858
1855 in Sydney: Father: James; Mother: Catherine: V42 1855/4028
1856 in Sydney: Father: Richard E.; Mother: Mary A. V142 1856/1457
1860 in Sydney: Father: John; Mother: Phillis: 1587/1860 as Charlotte A. SMITH

The birth registered in 1855 (V31 1855/3064) to William B. and Eliza SMITH occurred in Melbourne so is considered extremely unlikely.

Where has She Gone?

Tracing possible marriages for Charlotte A. is ongoing but no registered marriage before 1900 yet found was that of the Newcastle admission. It is believed that a marriage record for her is may not exist. There are three marriages after 1900 for a Charlotte YOUNG that may be appropriate but all are very late so are considered unlikely as Charlotte would have been quite old. There were a 191014 marriage in Rockdale to Albert HARRINGTON, the 190315 marriage to Robert F. STANLEY in Forbes or the 190816 marriage to Leslie FOWLER in Wickham. It cannot be defined whether any of these marriages was that of the Newcastle admissions and it is believed more likely that Charlotte adopted the surname of the man she eventually settled with and so has been lost in the records.

The 189717 marriage to John ANDREWS in Balmain North was for a woman born in Kingston on Thames in 1869 so this woman is too young to be the Newcastle admission.

The death of Charlotte A. YOUNG in Queanbeyan in 1923 was for Charlotte Amelia née WEBBER, the widow of Frederick YOUNG.

Updated December 2020

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