Elizabeth Read

Elizabeth Read (née Archer; c. 1820–1884) was an English-born prostitute who was transported to Australia. She and 179 other female convicts arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania) in 1841 aboard the Rajah, which has since become legendary by virtue of a patchwork quilt stitched by the convicts en route, now held at the National Gallery of Australia.

Early life Elizabeth Archer was born in 1820 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, and soon after moved to Bradford. By the age of 20, she had been imprisoned several times for crimes such as drunkenness and being "lewd and disorderly". According to a newspaper account of one of her court appearances, Archer formed part of a "troublesome batch of prostitutes"; the Bradford Observer wrote that she "had long been on the pavé" (a streetworker). In July 1840, she and another prostitute, Ann Wright, were convicted of stealing money from a customer, the "unfortunately, if somewhat appositely-named" Joseph Muff. The judge, noting the pair's "long list of previous imprisonments", determined that they be "transported beyond the sea for the term of Ten Years". Originally owned by prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, the quilt is now held at the National Gallery of Australia and is regarded as a symbol of "the redemptive power of work, and of the grace and dignity that might be fashioned from graceless, undignified circumstances".