Creamware mug depicting George Barrington

Eighteenth-century English earthenware mug decorated with the first known image of an Australian convict in porcelain, the rakish and charismatic pickpocket George Barrington, for many years the most famous felon in the colony.

Barrington was already a favourite of the press when, in September 1790, he was caught stealing a gentleman’s watch in the crush of Enfield racecourse. At his trial at the Old Bailey, Barrington was sentenced to seven years transportation to NSW, his theatrical self-defence reputedly leaving jury and judge in tears. Such was the interest that newspaper reports turned into full books, the first of which was published at the end of 1790 as The Memoirs of George Barrington. The Memoirs featured a remarkable frontispiece depiction of Barrington picking his mark’s pocket, and it is that image which is reproduced on the mug, confirming the early date.

By September 1791 Barrington was in Sydney, where he in fact led a rather sober and industrious life, including being appointed a police constable at Parramatta.