Thief, Convict, Pirate, Wife: The Many Histories of Charlotte Badger

210 Pages·2022·4.305 MB·English

by  Jennifer Ashton

THIEF,
CONVICT,
PIRATE,
WIFE
The Many Histories of
Charlotte Badger
JENNIFER ASHTON

THIEF,
CONVICT,
PIRATE,
WIFE
First published 2022
Auckland University Press
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland 1142
New Zealand
www.aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz
© Jennifer Ashton, 2022
ebook ISBN 978 1 77671 0829
Published with the assistance of Creative New Zealand
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library
of New Zealand
This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private
study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act,
no part may be reproduced by any process without prior permission of
the publisher. The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
Design by Carolyn Lewis
Cover art by Xoë Hall, 2021
Map design by Tim Nolan/Blackant Mapping Solutions
For
J & G

Contents
Introduction 1
The Accused 13
The Convict 39
The Pirate 65
The Beach Crosser 87
The Army Wife 115
The Histories of Charlotte Badger 141
Notes 158
Bibliography 168
Acknowledgements 182
Index 185
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Introduction
This is a story of doubt. It is a story of people who left little trace and
whose lives are subject to speculation and doubt. There are no writings
to pore over; no monuments to gaze at; no perfectly preserved homes
to visit. We will never see their faces; we cannot hear the sound
of their voices. In other words, they were like most of those who
inhabit the past. We catch glimpses of people like them as names in
documents recording the major events of their lives. If they lived at
a time and in a place where the state was actively engaged in data
collection, we might find them coming into contact with the courts,
crossing a national border, boarding a ship, or listed as members of a
household in a census. But the details of their daily lives remain out
of reach. They are the people from whom most of us descend, but for
the most part they are mysteries to us.
The woman at the heart of this story, Charlotte Badger, was one
such person. Her life, which began at the bottom end of eighteenth-
century English society, in many ways remains a mystery, or a series
of gaps to be filled in. But she differs from the vast majority of
history’s inhabitants because her obscurity has not prevented her
from playing a role in a nation’s history.
Our awareness of Badger owes much to her status as one of the first
Pākehā women thought to have resided in New Zealand. Some of