history
18th century United Kingdom.
Crowded cities gave rise to the urban poor.
Crime soared in squalid conditions. Prisons reached capacity.
Something needed to be done.
The solution: Punishment by Transportation.
Thousands of the lawless were ripped from their lovers,
exiled on an 8 month voyage 10,000 miles across the sea,
destined for a land on the other side of the world.
It was this moment, on the eve of their sentence, they would bestow a small token,
a handmade forget-me-not engraved with their everlasting love.
These were known as Leaden Hearts.
Crowded cities gave rise to the urban poor.
Crime soared in squalid conditions. Prisons reached capacity.
Something needed to be done.
The solution: Punishment by Transportation.
Thousands of the lawless were ripped from their lovers,
exiled on an 8 month voyage 10,000 miles across the sea,
destined for a land on the other side of the world.
It was this moment, on the eve of their sentence, they would bestow a small token,
a handmade forget-me-not engraved with their everlasting love.
These were known as Leaden Hearts.
left with a leaden heart
On the eve before departing on their 10,000 mile journey to the other side of the world,
bound for the hell that was the penal colonies of New Holland, the Unknown South Land,
convicts knew they would be leaving their loved ones forever.
It was on this night they would bestow a small token,
a hand made forget-me-not made from smoothing down coins
on the stone walls of their cell, crudely etched with sentiments of
everlasting love, devotion, & torturous lament.
Crafted by smoothing a coin on one, or both sides, they were engraved with messages of love & affection, in the form of poetry, images, & names, but the symbol of what it represented was more than the words it holds.
Some poor doomed souls, in anticipation for being separated from their country, their families, & their lovers, were able to make one last gesture, one last stand against those who sentenced them to a life on the other side of the world.
It’s important to note that by making a Leaden Heart convicts were breaking the law one last time, it is illegal to deface or destroy currency of the commonwealth, & you can’t help but think this was seen as one last act of defiance against the monarch that was shipping them away from their country, & family.
A token often included the name of the convict & their loved one, the length of their sentence, decorative patterns, popular phrases & sentiments, poems & rhymes of separation, love & loss, political statements even drawings of ships, prisoners in chains, & likenesses.
Whether complex, or simple, every Leaden Heart is as unique as the love story it represents.
These are not just trivial historical Convict Love Tokens of law breakers, they are the voices of lovers torn apart, families ripped from each other, never to be together again, but its more than that,Â
a Leaden Heart is part of that persons heart, that persons soul they leave behind in the care of their love.
