Sarah Elizabeth CHAPMAN was the 4th (or 5th) child of Catherine HOBSON and Edward Samuel CHAPMAN - born April 1848 in Hobart.

From the records of correspondence through the Colonial Secretary's Office it transpired that she and her two sisters were placed into the Orphan School in early March 1854. This was as a result of their plight being highlighted to the authorities by Archdeacon Davies who describes the situation of these three destitute children. He states that they were "deserted" by their father who was a steward on a ship travelling to England and that the mother is of bad character (coincidentally their mother died in late March 1854).

Sarah was only 6 years old when admitted into the Queen's Orphange and one can only imagine how she and her two sisters (Frances Sarah 10 years and Maria Caroline almost 2 years) would have looked - bedraggled, dirty - perhaps even clinging to each other for warmth, safety and comfort.

Her discharge from care was 12 months later (March 1855) into the care of her father ES CHAPMAN ("free" - by birth or by servitude?) with her younger sister Maria Caroline. One might think that the father didn't return from England till this time or that he left them in care to enable him to work.

Sarah died in 1874 in Hobart at the age of 25 years from a pulmonary abscess / consumption (tuberculosis). A young life taken too early in her prime. She too was unmarried like her sister Frances Sarah. Did life in the orphanage prove to be an issue relevant to their health and relationships?

Sarah Elizabeth CHAPMAN is the sister of my great-great-grandfather and I am honoured to have the opportunity to claim and thus acknowledge her life.