Born: c. 1793, Liverpool, Lancarschire, England
Died: 10 March 1867, Hobart, TAS

Crime details: As the papers on John TURNER are still being sorted out, a little details can only be revealed. He arrived Sydney in 1816 on the ship "Mariner" as convict, with West Indian appearance, serving 7 years sentence. He was already a Ticket of Leave by the time he married his first wife, Elizabeth HUMPHRIES. John had married thrice - first to Elizabeth Humphries, then after her death to Ellen Hamer, however he left Sydney for Tasmania and there he married Mary Ann Bennett. John had, so far, 10 identified children, three from the first marriage and the rest from the third marriage. His occupations, right through his convictions and after, were identified as Anchorsmith and Blacksmith.

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William GOSLETT (aka GOSSLETT/GASSLET/ etc)

Born: c. 1805, Wiltshire, England
Died: 9 February 1876, Gundaroo, NSW

Crime details: Still investigating...
 

James William WOODS

Born: c. 1815, Shadwell, Middlesex, England
Died: 17 October 1902, Anambah, West Maitland, NSW

Crime details: Still investigating...
 

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Sarah ? (alias THORN)

Born: circa 1790, London, England
Died: 23rd November 1827, Sydney, NSW, Australia (aged 36)

Crime details: This is extracted, with thanks, from Elizabeth Hook's book "Journey to a New Life: The Story of the ships "Emu" in 1812 and "Broxbornebury" in 1814" (2000):

"THORNTON (or THORN), Sarah (c1791-1827) (Mrs, maiden name unknown) -
Tried - 27 October 1813 Middlesex.

Sarah married Samuel THORNTON Snr. (c1783-1842) about 1810. They had two children, Sarah and another (name not known) in 1813 when Sarah was charged before the Old Bailey Court. Sarah THORN, as she was named in the trial records, was one of 3 women the Police believed to be a gang of shoplifters. Also charged were Mary SMITH and Ann WILLIAMS, alias HARKETT. Mary was charged with Ann WILLIAMS, alias HARKETT and Sarah THORNTON. It was alleged by a Police Officer, that he had watched them for several hours on the 6th of October. He noticed Ann SMITH and Sarah going into Mr SCRIVENER's shop in 96 Oxford Street while Ann WILLIAMS waited outside. When they left, he asked the owner if anything was missing and he said that 3 cards of lace were gone. The Officer followed the women into a public-house in Oxford Market where they were searched. Mary SMITH told the Judge that she was the only guilty party, the others were innocent, but all 3 received death sentences later commuted to transportation for life and banished to NSW.

Sarah was placed on the ship ("Broxbornebury") as a convict, with her young child Sarah Jnr; the other child possibly stayed behind in England. Her husband, Samuel was given permission to join her as a free passenger and he left on the "Somersetshire" (1) in May, arriving a few months after his wife. Sarah was pregnant and gave birth to a son, Samuel Jnr, on board the ship on the morning of Thursday 23rd of June 1814. JH BENT, in his diary, recorded: "This morning another convict of the name of THORNTON was brought to bed of a fine boy. She had a very bad time. Sir John (Jamison) and the Doctor were both there and it was doubted whether the child or the mother must be sacrificed to save the other. But fortunately they saved both". There was only one other baby born on the voyage, a girl.

After they reached Sydney in July, Sarah stayed at the Female Factory at Parramatta, until being "assigned" to her husband. Samuel Snr. was a tailor at first, later becoming a Publican in George Street Sydney and also was granted 100 acres of land, where he raised about 20 head of cattle and sold salt pork to the Public Stores. There were another 4 children born to Samuel and Sarah; Margaret (c1816-?) [marr 1839 William TUCKER]; George (1819-1901) [marr Mary A SOLOMON]; Mary Ann (c1821-?) [marr 1841 John H ECCLESTON]; and Edward (1824-1884) [marr 1874 Annie CLARKE]."

The ship "Broxbornebury" arrived Port Jackson/Sydney on 28 July 1814. At the time of her arrival, she was recorded as a Sarah THORN (alias THORNTON), aged 25 and married with two children (a girl and a boy) and that her calling was as a Furrier. It seemed that she was literate as she wrote letters back home and to submit her petitions as well. From her Ticket of Leave, it shown that she was a native of London and her trade as a needleworker with her birth year as 1792. Her appearance was recorded as having black hair, hazel coloured eyes with fair/ruddy complexion and was only 5'4.5" tall.

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John Humphrey MORRIS 

Born: circa 1792, England
Died: 21 August 1867, Piper St Woollahra, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: Still investigating... However, here's what is avaliable at the moment: John was born at London in 1798 and his occupation as a watchmaker. He was sentenced at Old Bailey on 18th September 1816 and his sentence was a seven years transportation. After leaving Downs in England on 26 April 1817, the ship 'Almorah' arrived via Rio in Sydney on 29 August 1817. However, John was sent to Van Diemens Land by the ship 'Pilot' which arrived present Tasmania on 28 September 1817. His physical record shown him to be 5 '5 1/2' tall, has brown hair and eyes with a very dark complexion.

On 10 September 1819 Morris was found guilty of entering the Government Stores in Hobart Town and stealing property of the Crown. At the Derwent Court in Van Diemen's Land, he was sentenced to 200 lashes and 2 years transportation to Newcastle. From the ship 'Prince Leopold', John was transferred from Hobart Town to Sydney and then to Newcastle on the ship 'Elizabeth Henrietta' on 13 September 1819 (dates to be verified).

John MORRIS was provided with a second Certificate of Freedom on 24th September 1924 after having the first one returned mutilated and cancelled. By the 1828 Census, he was free by servitude, working as a Dealer and was living at Sussex St., Sydney. He was listed as a Jew, living with his wife, Elizabeth GILL. John had married Elizabeth GILL on 8th March 1826, and Elizabeth died three years later on 6th December 1829 at Sussex St, Sydney. John MORRIS was a Publican then and in three months later, married Sarah Lydia THORNTON.

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David KNOWLAND/KNOWLING/NOWLAND/NOWLAN 

Born: circa 1772, East Smithfield, East of London, England
Died: before 24 January 1837, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: David was caught hiding under a bed by the housewife of John BURRELL at a house in Labour-in-vain-Street, Shadwell on 6th June 1788. David was only fourteen when this happened and was trialled at the Old Bailey a couple of weeks later. He was sentenced to seven years transportation for breaking and entering the dwelling house and stealing: a silver watch (valued at 50s), a chain (6d), a metal seal (6d), a brass watch key (1d), a tea chest (4s), one leaden jack weight (2s), two tin canisters (1s), one pair of scales (1s), and one towel (2d) from the property of John Burrell.

Apparently, from the trial notes, David had signed his confession which goes as:

"David Knowland, says, this afternoon a man who is known by the name of Bowles, went with him, this confessant, to the house of Ann Burrell, where he was found, that the said old Bowles broke a window with his hands, and lifted up the sash and put him in, and Bowles followed him, took the leaden weight and wrapped it in the cloth, and took the tea-chest and put it on a chair, and likewise moved the watch hanging on a nail, that hearing the fore door open, he hid himself under the bed, and what became of Bowles he does not know."

Nearly a year after the trial (May 1789), David was sent with other London prisoners to the hulk "Dunkirk" at Plymouth in the south-west of England. There he stayed on the hulk until he was embarked on the "Neptune" in November 1789. The 'Neptune', along with the Second Fleet, arrived Sydney on 28 June 1790 in middle of winter.

David enlisted in the NSW Corps in 1802, possibly at Norfolk Island. He then returned to Sydney and met Mary SMITH, another convict, after her arrival in 1801. They have had four daughters: Mary (1803), Sarah (1806), Louisa (1808) and Mary Ann (1809) and was married later at Windsor on 6 May 1810. They have moved several times - Windsor, Airds, etc. David was a landholder, farmer/ploughman, as well as a foster father to a boy.

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Mary SMITH 

Born: circa 1777, England
Died: before 1825? - no death record found, Liverpool, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: By 1799, Mary was employed as a washerwoman by a washerwoman named Mrs Ann WILLIAMS, not far from her lodgings at Peter Street, London. On 18 October 1799, Mary stole few items and disappeared for nearly eight months later. She was arrested and tried on 9 July 1800 at the Old Bailey.

According to the trial paper, Mary was sentenced to life, i.e. to death for stealing items worth up to ten pounds. She was only aged 23 years old.

Six months after her arrival to Sydney in 14 December 1801 on "Nile", Mary was pregnant with her first daughter to David KNOWLAND. There are not much known of Mary's movements during her lifetime in Sydney, except for the births of her four daughters and marriage to David KNOWLAND. The record for her death was not found to this date, and it is believed that she may have been buried at Liverpool.

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Catharine MALONE 

Born: circa 1769, Ireland
Died: 4 August 1841, Seven Hills NSW, Aust.

Crime details: Catharine was 23 years old when she arrived abroard the ship "Sugar Cane" which reached Sydney on 17 September 1793. She was a convict who had been tried at Dublin during March 1792 and had received a seven years sentence.

In the colony, Catharine was 'under the protection' of a third fleet convict named William BUTTS. They eventually married at Parramatta on 1 June 1794 and had their only daughter, Sarah who was born on 10 December 1794. Sarah only lived for about two years before dying and buried at Parramatta.

After the death of Sarah, Catharine and William may have not lived together as Catharine was found in 1806 Muster as a nurse at Parramatta Hospital. By that time, she had two sons: James and Thomas. She is still identified as a wife of William BUTTS until his death in 1821. According to the 1828 Census, Catharine is listed as living with Edward BENNETT, another convict in the same family group, therefore possibly have been married (no record found).

Max Laidley, a researcher, have found the important document that indicated that Catharine had to put her sons in the Orphans at Liverpool in 1818. Apparently she was 'in great distress because the father of her son Thomas WARRINGTON had left the colony.' There are not much on Catharine but that she had lived quite a long life despite her hardships.

Catharine had five children: Sarah (to William BUTTS), James, Thomas and John (father unknown, but presumed to be John WORTHINGTON or WARRINGTON), and William Fry WARRINGTON (fahter believed to be a William FRY - not found yet). She died at Parramatta and buried as Catharine BENNETT at Parramatta. Edward followed her a year later.

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William BUTTS/BUTT 

Born: unknown, England
Died: 1821, Parramatta district, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: William arrived in Sydney on "William and Ann" on 28 August 1791, as a third fleet convict, serving his seven year sentence.

He had a land grant of thirty acres at the north boundary of the colony in November 1794. This area is now where Macquarie University and Epping is at. William had a daughter Sarah (with Catharine MALONE), but lost her when she was about 2 years old. He died in 1821 and was buried in Parramatta on 23 January 1821.

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Edward BENNETT 

Born: circa 1768, England
Died: 1842, Parramatta, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: Edward was tried in 1796 and was sentenced to transportation for life. He arrived Sydney on 'Britannia' on 27 May 1797. And by 1806, he was a laondholder with twenty one acres of land at Toongabbie, in the Parramatta district. Edward received his ticket-of-leave in April 1811. He is believed to have married Catharine MALONE/BUTTS after William BUTTS' death but they didn't have any children together.

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John HOCKEY 

Born: circa 1803, Montacute Somerset, England
Died: 12 October 1878, Camberwarra near Berry, NSW, Aust.

Crime details: John was about 27 years old when he was found guilty for stealing fowls and was sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to transportation for fourteen years to New South Wales. He was tried at Wells, in Somerset, on 19 April 1830 and was recorded as able to read and write. His occupations were described as a ploughman and a dairyman.

John left England on 'Burrell' and arrived Sydney on 19 December 1830, without his family - wife Mary LOVELL and sons Samuel (1824), Enos (1826) and Charles (1829).

After his arrival, he was assigned to Robert JOHNSTON, son of George and Esther JOHNSTON, on the estates at Bankstown and Cabramatta. John received his Ticket of Leave on 20 February 1837 after serving half of his sentence. His occupation was listed as overseer.

John received sad news that his wife had died. Charles, one of his sons died soon afterwards, and his other two sons eventually joined John in NSW. John married a young Irish immigrant named Mary Steel at end of 1839 at Dapto and had another four sons with her: Thomas, James, John and Dennis. But Mary died after Dennis was born, so John married again, this time to another Irish immigrant named Mary McGowen. Together they had a son named Robert.

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