This tatooed convict would be easily recognizable if he were caught. His name appears on the Nottingham census in 1851, so maybe he wasn’t!
“A “MARKED” MAN. -The following minute and curious description of an escaped convict appears in the Police Gazette:- “William Mellors, a convict belonging to the Ganymede hulk at Woolwich, escaped on the 5th inst., while at labour in the dock-yard. He was convicted at Nottingham, on the 29th of June, 1838, of stealing a cock-fowl, and sentenced to seven years’ transportation; he has been in the house of correction, and in prison for felony. He is five feet four inches high, dark brown hair, grey eyes, full nose, common mouth, oval visage, stout made, dark complexion, 32 years of age; is single, can read and write, has a scar on the left eye, one on the top of his nose, sundry brawn blotches on the back, tatooed on the right arm – sun, moon, and seven stars, a woman with a skipping-rope and C.B., mermaid, a flower-pot with flowers, gun and carriage, stripe with three shots in it – rings on middle and fore fingers of right hand; tatooed left arm – a woman’s head, two pipes across, a foul anchor wrong side up, J.M., C.B., B.O.L.E.S. † A.N.N., a woman, MELLORS †, daughter O.F. W.M. † ;- rings on middle and fore fingers of left hand; a stag on breast-bone, a man with his hand in his pocket and a glass in his hand, a dog underneath, a woman with parasol and reticule, cat underneath, a gate on of the back, a dog on left side, and scar on right shin bone.”
The Stamford Mercury 16th November, 1838.