According to Victorian certificates she was born around 1824 in Liverpool. The earlier birth and death certificates of her and John's children show her maiden name as 'Watmore' (or variants) while the later ones show 'Heyden'. The Van Diemens Land register of convict permission to marry reveals that the Susan Elizabeth Watmore who married John Lutchford in Launceston in 1844 was transported on the 'Royal Admiral' in 1842.

'Watmore' was the name of Elizabeth Susan's step-father, James Watmore, whose name she took. Later certificates show that her maiden-name was 'Heyden'. According to her death certificate, for which her son Charles was the informant, her father was Robert Heyden, a hotel keeper, and her mother was Theresa.

On 25 October 1841, Elizabeth Susan was convicted of stealing 15/- on 27 August from her master, Isaac Storey, described in directories as a grocer and tea dealer at 163 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool. She was living at this address in April 1841, during that year's census, described as a servant, aged 17, born Lancashire. She was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The sentence was reported in the Liverpool 'Mercury' of 5 November, with Elizabeth described as 17.

She was again convicted in Liverpool Borough Sessions on 7 February 1842 of larceny, this time for stealing £1 2d from one Thomas Humphries the younger on 30 January (only several days after her release, assuming she served the full three months). Isaac Storey was a witness in the case. She was sentenced to seven years' transportation. The sentence was reported in the Liverpool Mercury of 18 February, with Elizabeth still described as 17.

Her official conduct record states that she was 'transported for stealing money from the person prison at Vauxhall Road (the Liverpool Borough Prison) ... before once 3 months for same'. Her behaviour record in Australia added 'gaol reports bad' and 'convicted before' (three months). As was the case with John Litchfield, the fact that she had a previous conviction was probably the reason she was transported to Van Diemen's Land.

Under 'relations' the details read 'father and mother Jac. (i.e. James) at native place and brother James, sister..ezer'. She was described as a native of Liverpool, Roman Catholic, single, able to read and write, a servant, 4'8" tall, of pale complexion, dark brown hair, with hazel eyes and a pointed nose. There was a small dent on her forehead.

The details we have on Elizabeth Susan's family from her transportation record and from her death certificate make it possible to identify her family on the 1841 Liverpool census. James Watmough, born about 1801 at Rochdale, Lancashire, was living with his wife Tereza, about the same age but born in Ireland, and Tereza Heyden, born about 1826 in Lancashire. James was described as the proprietor of an 'eating house'.

Tereza had married James Watmough in Liverpool in 1839. She was described as a widow with the surname Cunningham, the daughter of James Lehy, a cordwainer (shoe-maker). Her daughter Theresa married in Liverpool in 1846, and the marriage certificate reveals that her father was Charles Heyden, a tailor. This suggests that the older Theresa married three times, and that the details on her parents listed on Elizabeth Susan's death certificate are correct at least in respect of her maiden name and her mother's Christian name. This name 'Heyden' was passed down by several generations of Elizabeth Susan's descendants.

Elizabeth Susan left Woolwich, London, on 5 May 1842 on the Royal Admiral, a barque of 414 tons with 4 guns, which travelled via the Cape of Good Hope to arrive at Hobart on 24 September 1842. The ship carried 202 female passengers, of whom twenty were given immediate tickets of leave on arrival. It also carried 11 passengers and a cargo of rum.

Her ship character was described as 'good' as was the surgeon's report on her at the end of the voyage. Categorised as a second-class convict (first class, best behaved; third class, worst), she seems to have served an uneventful sentence. She was allowed to marry a little over two years after arrival and was granted her Ticket of Leave on 11 November 1845, about a year after her marriage. She was recommended for a pardon on 6 April 1847 and a conditional pardon was approved on 9 January 1849. The following year, the family left Van Diemen's Land for Melbourne.

After John's death in 1862, directories no longer listed his Bay Street boarding-house but from 1864 to 1866 listed a restaurant in his name at roughly the same position on the street - it may have been the same building. Elizabeth Susan was almost certainly the proprietor of this establishment. The 'Victoria Police Gazette' of 22 June 1865 recorded that a fire was deliberately lit in the yard of her house in Bay Street which destroyed 'in whole or in part' her property and those of several neighbours.

The 1867 Sands directory suggests the restaurant had moved by then - it lists a Mrs Litchfield as the proprietor of a restaurant on the nearby corner of Rouse and Dow Streets (a site which has since been redeveloped).

Elizabeth Susan ran the Rouse Street restaurant until 1872. From 1875 her restaurant moved back to Bay Street, again on the western side, but this time at no. 31 on the block between Beach and Rouse Streets, a few doors from the 'Exchange Hotel' on the corner of Bay and Rose Streets (no. 39), which survives under the name 'Molly Bloom's'. This restaurant appeared in directories until 1881.

On 11 January 1875, the Melbourne 'Argus' carried an advertisement from 'Mrs Litchfield, opposite Post Office Bay Street Sandridge' for a 'useful girl about 15'. A similar advertisement was carried on 24 April 1879.

We know from the 1841 census that Elizabeth Susan's step-father James Watmore/Watmough had been the proprietor of a Liverpool 'eating house' or restaurant, and it is possible that she learned skills from him that she reapplied in later life.

She was buried with her first son Charles at Melbourne General Cemetery. In 2000 their tombstone was in good condition.

• Married: 3 Dec 1844 in Launceston, Van Diemen's Land

1. Charles John Litchfield b: ABT 1845 in Van Diemen's Land
2. George Edward Litchfield b: 7 Feb 1848 in Longford, Van Diemen's Land
3. Emma Litchfield b: 31 Jul 1850 in Longford, Van Diemen's land
4. Walter Litchfield b: 18 Dec 1852 in Melbourne, Victoria c: 12 Jan 1854 in Melbourne, Victoria
5. Matilda Litchfield b: 31 Jul 1855 in Sandridge (Port Melbourne), Victoria
6. Julia Theresa Litchfield b: 16 Sep 1858 in Emerald Hill, Victoria