Stories of Convicts on the First Fleet contains information about a number of convicts on the First Fleet to the penal colony of New South Wales who meet the following criteria: There is information about the individual following their arrival in the colony, with appropriate references, that may be of interest to readers. The information includes, in addition to offence, sentence and death details, a story about the activities of the individual subsequent to arrival in the colony. No separate Wikipedia article exists, or is likely to be written, for the individual.
Background The List of convicts on the First Fleet contains basic information about most of the 775 convicts who were on the First Fleet when it sailed. For about 93 of these individuals useful information is available, often of such volume that it is not suitable for inclusion in the “Other information” column of the list article.
Only 18 of these individuals have their own Wikipedia article, but the stories of the others are both of general interest and an integral part of the early European history of Australia. A further 12 whose names are shown in “External links” have their stories in other online sources and are not included here.
Individual stories
Robert Bails
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1766 Reading 28 February 1785 Death commuted to 14 years Alexander
Bails was convicted of highway robbery, value 2s. Originally sentenced to death, the sentence was commuted to 14 years transportation. A police report describes Bails as "near six feet high, wears his own lank hair, pitted with the smallpox, thick lips and stout made." Bails had been discharged from his regiment of guards prior to his arrest. A native of Yorkshire, Bails was one of 12 prisoners who escaped from Reading Gaol on 30 November 1784. A £10 reward was offered for his capture. Bails was found hiding with another escapee in a barn near Shinfield on 6 December 1784.
On 30 April 1788, Bails was charged with three others with the theft of meat and was required to pay the value of the stolen property. In October 1789, Robert was sentenced to 25 lashes for insolence to John Palmer, the purser of the Sirius. In 1801 Robert was listed as an emancipist settler at Port Jackson. By 1806 Bails was listed as a Schoolmaster and in 1820 as a teacher with 25 pupils.
Martha Baker
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1762 London 30 August 1786 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Baker was convicted at the Old Bailey for highway robbery of a silver watch (40s), a watch key (1d), and a seal (2s), that occurred on 2 August 1786. Martha's occupation was listed as servant.
Baker married Walter Batley on 21 February 1788 at Sydney Cove. She had previously been married to Thomas Baker in England prior to her transportation. In November 1789, Baker was sent to Norfolk Island on board the Supply with her husband. By 5 February 1790, Baker was recorded as Off Stores and sharing a sow with Samuel Mobbs, with whom she cohabited on Norfolk Island. On 7 May 1792, Baker sold two pigs to the Government for £2 16s. On 2 November 1793, Baker left Norfolk Island on the Britannia bound for India.
Stephen Barnes
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1765 York 9 July 1785 7 years Alexander
Barnes was convicted at York for stealing a Great Coat.
He served his sentence without any incidents recorded against him and then left the Colony aboard the Convict Ship 'William' captained by William Folger after he completing its voyage from England, bringing Rev. Samuel Marsden to Sydney in March 1794. The 'William' took the long road back to England, apparently William went whaling. She was reported off the coast of Peru, and then on the coast of Chile in November 1794. She returned to Britain on 29 November 1795 with 64 tuns of sperm oil, 57 tuns of whale oil, and 32 cwt of whale bone.
William Boggis
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1767 Kingston upon Thames 24 March 1784 7 years Scarborough
Boggis, a fisherman, was tried on 3 February 1783 for stealing a sheet (3s), and was convicted with William Hubbard.
In August 1788 he received 50 lashes for gambling, in September 1788 he received 100 lashes for attempting to rape Lydia Munro, and in July 1789 received 200 lashes for stealing a shirt. In 1789 was sentenced to wear a label with the word thief upon it, and was transferred to Norfolk Island and given a plot of land after his sentence expired. He returned to Sydney sometime between the years of 1797 and 1801.
Joseph Buckley
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1748 Dorchester 16 March 1786 7 years Charlotte
Buckley was convicted at Dorchester of stealing a purse containing 43s on 16 March 1786. He was described by the wardens on the Dunkirk prison hulk as "tolerably decent and orderly."
Buckley left the colony in 1793 on the Kitty as a servant to the surgeons Dennis Considen and Mr Cranston.
Margaret Bunn
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1762 London 26 April 1786 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Bunn was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing one linen handkerchief (6d), one cotton handkerchief (2s), and twelve halfpence (6d), and one shilling in money. Her occupation was listed as servant.
She married Thomas M'Lean on 18 March 1788. He left her upon the completion of his sentence in 1791. Bunn died in 1825.
Mary Burkitt
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1757 London 30 August 1786 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Burkitt, alias Martha Valentine, a.k.a. Martha/Patience/Pacence Burkitt. Convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing one handkerchief (1s), one rule (6d) and six shillings in money. Her occupation was listed as Servant.
She married James Davis on 13 February 1788 and both were sent to Norfolk Island on 2 October 1788.
Elizabeth Cole
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship 1758 Exeter 20 March 1786 7 years Charlotte
Cole was convicted of Burglary in Exeter, Devon and sentenced to 7 years transportation. She left England on "Charlotte", but due to unruly behaviour was transferred to "Friendship" at Rio de Janeiro and then was transferred to "Prince of Wales" at the Cape of Good Hope, eventually arriving in Sydney Cove on 26/1/1788.
Elizabeth had a relationship with William ELLIS, a Marine Private on the Friendship and had the following child - Thomas COLE 9/8/1789. She was then sent to Norfolk Island on "Sirius" and arrived 6/3/1790
Elizabeth then had a relationship with James TUCKER and they had the following children - Sarah 7/9/1793 - Maria COLE 27/12/1795
Elizabeth then had a relationship with Richard Cornelius BURROWS having the following children - Ann BURROWS 8/5/1800 - John BURROWS 7/3/1803. On 3 September 1808, the Burrows family transferred to Hobart on the sailing ship City of Edinburgh and were married by the Reverend Robert Knopwood on 25 February 1810 after cohabiting together for fourteen years. Elizabeth died 31/1/1821 of natural causes.
Jane Creek
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship London 1785 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Creek worked as a butcher of birds and seller of feathers. Convicted of stealing and sentenced to seven years transportation.
Worked on Norfolk Island from 1790 to 1796.
James Davis
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship London 8 December 1784 7 years Scarborough
Davis was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing from William Farrington on 28 October 1784 one man's cloth great coat (5s), one petticoat (10s), one gown (4s), one handkerchief (3s), one silk handkerchief (2s), two other handkerchiefs (2s), one pair of sheets (7s), two shirts (4s), two shifts (4s), one apron (2s), two aprons (1s 6d), two yards of white thread lace (4s) and one yard and a half of linen cloth (12d).
Davis married Mary Burkitt in February 1788 and both were sent to Norfolk Island in October.
Mary Dickenson
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship 1761 Southwark 8/1/1787 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Dickenson was tried at the Surrey Quarter Sessions, Southwark, on 8 Jan 1787 and found guilty of stealing eleven waistcoats from the shop of Richard Marks, in the parish of St Saviour, Southwark, Surrey. She was sentenced to transportation for seven years.
She became the wife of William Eggleton on 17th Feb 1788: theirs was the 15th recorded marriage in New South Wales. They had four children, although their infant son, William (aged 1), predeceased his mother in 1792. Mary died on 25 Aug 1799 and her remains were buried in the Old Sydney Burial Ground (now the site of the Sydney Town Hall and surrounds).
William Eggleton (alias Bones)
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship 1761 Kingston upon Thames 23/3/1786 7 years Alexander
Eggleton appeared at the Surrey Lent Assizes together with another man in connection with the theft of clothing, a chest, and a padlock from a house. He was convicted for stealing goods (value 39 shillings), though not of breaking and entering. Only some three weeks after arriving at Sydney Cove, Eggleton married fellow convict Mary Dickinson (see above). In 1791 he was one of a group of 26 men, chosen by Governor Arthur Phillip as being the most reliable convicts, who established a farming district around the area of Prospect Hill to help feed the starving colony. William went on to pursue a career in farming, receiving a 60-acre land grant at Prospect Hill in 1793, leasing land at Petersham, purchasing land at the Field of Mars, and farming at Windsor. By the mid-1810s he was working on land granted to him in the district of Airds (60 acres behind the modern Macarthur Shopping Square at Campbelltown). The 1822 NSW Muster shows him as being employed on the property of his son-in-law Robert Lack. In 1823 he received another grant of land at Bargo (50 acres).
Ann Fowles
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship London 16 April 1785 7 years Lady Penrhyn
Fowles was convicted for the theft of gowns and petticoats (£2 16s).
She was transported with her four-year-old daughter Mary, who was made a ward of the state and resettled on Norfolk Island.
John Hadon
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1756 Exeter 7 years Charlotte
Hadon, aka Haydon, Haidon, was originally convicted with Simon Burn for highway robbery and stealing 39s on 11 August 1783. Hadon was part of the Mercury Mutiny in April 1784. There is no record of Hadon's trial following the mutiny, but he was transported once again. A report from the Dunkirk hulk describes Hadon as "troublesome at times".
In January 1789, Hadon was ordered to receive 100 lashes for being absent from work for three days.
Richard Hagley
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship c. 1743 Winchester 2 March 1784 Death commuted to 7 years Scarborough
Hagley, aka Agely, was convicted at Winchester for assault and highway robbery (2s). Sentenced to death, it was commuted to 7 years transportation.
Hagley married Ann Wicks in March 1792 at Port Jackson. In 1795 he was employed as a labourer in the Windsor area. In 1828 he was employed as a stock keeper in Pitt Town. Hagley died on 10 August 1841 at Windsor.
John Hart
Date of birth Place of conviction Date of conviction Sentence Transport ship London 12 January 1785 7 years