"Charles Peale was born in 1709 in England. His father, Charles Peale Senior was the rector of Edith Weston parish in Rutland County, England. A certain uncle, being a doctor, had the means to provide young Charles a 'comfortable inheritance.' Charles was to pursue a career in the Church and has been described as a 'member of England’s landed gentry and possible heir to extensive properties.' He attended Cambridge, but for unknown reasons did not stay there long. In his twenty-first year, Peale was working in London as a clerk in His Majesty’s General Post Office. Lillian Miller (who has edited Peale family papers) proposes that Peale gained this position due to his skill in penmanship. Peale’s personal letters and papers surviving today indeed display a clean and beautiful hand.
"A series of events took place in Peale’s London finances that changed his life drastically. Peale was involved in a crime of forgery and theft. The Old Bailey session of May, 1735, reports that Peale was accused of stealing a Bill of Exchange (payable to the Treasurer of the Post Office,) forging an endorsement to the bill, publishing the endorsement, and forging and publishing a receipt to the bill. To these accusations Peale pled guilty and was sentenced to death. Other criminals sentenced to death in the Old Bailey on that day included a murderer. It is not known how Peale came to be involved in this embezzlement, and if truly guilty, why he was moved to commit the crime. Peale was not actually put to death, but was instead transported to America. It has been suggested that Peale had friends of high social status who were able to persuade the court to change the sentence. Author David Ward suggests that though 'he ran afoul of the law in its enforcement of property rights, he was probably saved from the gallows by his own membership in the class that the law servedâ€â€or at least his apparent membership in that class.'
"Peale sailed with other exiled convicts on the ship Dorsetshire, and arrived in Virginia in 1736 or 1737. Peale purchased his freedom and worked in New Post under Alexander Spotswood, postmaster for all the colonies. It is apparent that the purchasing of one’s freedom upon arrival was an option for convicts who could afford to do so. One 1742 prisoner noted that a convict ship captain 'always sells such as are not able to pay.' Interesting to keep in mind, is this fact that Peale was immediately able to obtain an employment higher than that of plantation work. It was even a position like that of his postal work in London, seeming a simple continuation of his career (with just an ocean voyage in between.) In 1739, Peale accompanied the postmaster to Annapolis, and it was here that Peale’s form of work changed. He was made schoolmaster of King William’s School. Peale also married in 1740, to Margaret Triggs.
"Queen Anne’s County Free School recorded in 1740 that their 'register was again instructed to advertise for a teacher. A response was received from Charles Peale who was engaged as master October 28…' Thus Charles Peale became the schoolmaster in the Free School in Queen Anne’s County. Further entries in the school’s records indicate that in late 1741, Peale’s salary was set to 30 pounds Maryland money, and in 1742, Peale was appointed Register. Later that year, Peale informed the school that he would be leaving due to new employment. He had been hired again as schoolmaster, this time at Kent County School in Chestertown. This introduction to Peale’s arrival in America describes Peale’s employment situation, and will aid in the discussion of convict financial success." (1)