Convict love token – William Jennings

William Jennings appeared at the ‘Old Bailey’ on 16 February 1820 for the more serious crime of uttering forged (bank) notes and was sentenced to death, later commuted to life and he was transported to New South Wales aboard MINERVA which arrived in “Sydney on 16 December 1821.

The inscribed obverse of the token reads: ‘Weep not/for me my Wife/and Children dear/With heavy heart/and would Promise/I am confined here/with grief and sorrow/I am opprest (sic) thinking’. The reverse continues: of you my//wife and dear/children I cannot/take no rest/Wm Jennings/Mae Jennings/I wait for death/April 20 1820′.