Finding Thomas Dames: An Investigation By Lynne Morley

Finding Thomas Dames is the moving true life story of Lynne Morley's ancestor, who, as a child, turned to a life of petty crime in order to survive the grim streets of Georgian Nottingham, one of the most poverty stricken cities of that era. A city where life was cheap, disease was rife and the grim figure of death was an ever present companion. Apprehended by the law on many, many occasions, and labelled an "Incorrigible Rogue", Thomas felt the full force of the law on frequent occasions before the irritated judiciary sentenced him to be transported to the new penal colonies in Western Australia. The incredible story reveals how this happens not once - but twice Sent south on the convict ship, Lincelles, Thomas endures a three month journey of brutality and privation. This scarcely believable story is unearthed by Lynne and painstakingly recreated here. As the author says, Thomas' life was so tragic, it is stranger than fiction.