Taylor & Ashdown Family Genealogy

Index to Convicts & Convict connections

This painting is of Early Sydney Cove and shows the locations of the first buildings in Australia

This site is my attempt to preserve as much detail as possible regarding the lives of my ancestors who came from various places in Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and many of whom settled in Australia. The information is being gathered for the benefit of their descendants, those presently living and those yet to come.

• Government publications
  Australian Government Historical Records of Australia, Series I
  Historical Records of Australia, Series III
  NSW Government Historical Records of NSW, Volume 1
  
• Claim a Convict

  First Fleet - Resources

  During the early months of 1787, seven hundred and eighty-eight convicts embarked bound for New South Wales, some of whom who had been tried as early as 1781. The convoy of eleven ships comprising the First Fleet were "The Alexander", "The Borrowdale", "The Charlotte", "The Fishburn", "The Friendship", "The Golden Grove", "The Lady Penrhyn", "The Prince of Wales", "The Scarborough", "H.M.S. Sirius" and "H.M.S. Supply" departed from Portsmouth, England on 13 May 1787 arriving in Sydney Cove on 26 Jan 1788.

  • 'The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet' by Mollie Gillen - cites WATSON, Robert
  • 'Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol.2 (1788-1850) (Editor Douglas PIKE)- page 575 cites WATSON, Robert
  • the First Fleet Fellowship for The story of the First Fleet, The ships of the First Fleet and List of Provisions and Livestock
  • For paintings of the ships of the First Fleet see The Ships of the First Fleet (Images)
  • 'The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts' by John Cobley (1970)ISBN 0 207 14552 8 published by Angus & Robertson. Lookups available. Send an e-mail to: Amanda Taylor with the subject heading of 'Lookup Request'. Other resources by the same author (lookups not available) are Sydney Cove 1788 ; Sydney Cove 1789 - 1790 ; Sydney Cove 1791 - 1792 ; Sydney Cove 1793 - 1795 and 'The Convicts 1788-92 : A study of one in twenty sample'
  • Convictions - Australian shipping 1788-1968 by Peter Larson which also includes a detailed Database Index for Passengers
  • Refer additional resources listed at Convictions: Australian Shipping on the net by Peter Larson

  Second Fleet - Resources

  A second fleet of six ships left England, comprising of the "Guardian", "Justinian", "Lady Juliana", "Surprize", "Neptune" and "Scarborough". The conditions under which the Second Fleet sailed were different from those of the First Fleet. Of the 520 convicts that embarked the Neptune 31% died. Merchants were contracted per convict, the more deaths amongst the convicts en route, meant more surplus food left for sale at the ports visited and this trip of the Neptune is consistently cited as the worst case of convict transportation with numerous deaths and hardship.

• "The Crimes of the Lady Juliana Convicts 1790"
• THE CONVICT SHIPS By Charles Bateson - Chapter Eight The Lady Juliana provides extracts from Australia's Second Fleet and advises details of those transported and from which the following have been extracted
  NAME, Where Sentenced Term
  BOOTLE, John, Somerset - - - - - - - - - 14
  CHESHIRE, Thomas, Surrey - - - - - - - - Life
  DORSET, Sarah - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7
  FLOOD, Rose, Middlesex - - - - - - - - - - 7
  FLOYD, William, Middlesex - - - - - - - - 7
  GEE, Hannah, alias Teesdale - - - - - - - - 7
  HOUNSETT, Mary - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7
  MARKWELL, Thomas, Essex - - - - - - - - 14
  ROBERTS, William, Warwick - - - - - - - - - 7
  SARGEANT, Thomas, Middlesex - - - - - - - Life
  SHIPTON, Thomas, Hants - - - - - - - - - - 7
  SOARE, John, Derby - - - - - - - - - - - - 7
  TEASDALE, Thomas, Middlesex - - - - - - - - 7
  UPTON, Thomas, Middlesex - - - - - - - - - 7
  USHER, James, Middlesex - - - - - - - - - Life

  Third Fleet Resources

  The third fleet of 11 ships arrived in 1791, with over 2000 convicts. 194 male convicts and 4 female convicts died during the voyage.
  Australia's Third Fleet provides a List of Persons transported as Criminals to New South Wales on the Ships "Atlantic", "William and Ann", "Britannia", "Matilda", "Salamander", "Albemarle", "Mary Anne", "Admiral Barrington", "Active" and "Gorgon" togeth with their place of Conviction and Term of Sentence. The convicts from Ireland who arrived on board the "Queen" are not included in the list.

  Third Fleet vessel? - The "Mary Ann"

  The ship, "Mary Ann" left England on 16 February 1791 and arrived at Port Jackson 9 July 1791. It was the fastest voyage out by a convict ship up to that date, being a voyage of 143 days and this included a 10 day stopover at St. Jago for supplies. Of a total 150 female convicts to leave England, 141 survived the voyage.
  Once again there is conjecture as to which Fleet the 'Mary Ann' was part of. Some books have it sailing from England with another ship independently from the 2nd and 3rd Fleets, while other books have it as the first vessel of the 3rd Fleet, although the majority of the 3rd Fleet proper sailed from England some time after the "Mary Ann". Mastered by Mark MUNROE, the "Mary Ann" was a 298 ton vessel which was built in France in 1772.

  My Convict Ship Research Interests

  note those above arriving on the same ship

  • "Albermarle" arrived in 1791 - LAMB Henry (came free as a Private)
  • "Admiral Barrington" arrived in Sydney on 16 Oct 1791 - ROBINSON Edward
  • "Brothers" arrived on 4 Apr 1807 - MURRAY Robert (came free as a Seaman
  • "James Pattison"(2)arrived on 25th October 1837 - ASHER Samuel Leyon
  • "Fortune" arrived in Sydney on 12 July 1806 - SMITH George &: ALLEN Edward
  • "Kitty" arrived on 18 Novemember 1792 - CHAMBERS Elizabeth
  • "Lady Juliana" arrived on 3 Jun 1790 - DORSET Sarah & Ann [alias "Hannah Teesdale GEE"] TEASDALE
  • "Marquis of Hastings" arrived in Sydney on 31 Jul 1827 - SARGEANT Thomas [Sergeant/Sarjeant]
  • "Mary Ann" arrived on 9 Jul 1791 [Third fleet]- CORNWELL Isaac, HARRISON Mary, LEE Elizabeth & PIGG Sarah
    Once again there is conjecture as to which Fleet the 'Mary Ann' was part of. Some books have it sailing from England with another ship independently from the 2nd and 3rd Fleets, while other books have it as the first vessel of the 3rd Fleet, although the majority of the 3rd Fleet proper sailed from England some time after the 'Mary Ann'.
  • "Mellish" arrived in 1829 - SADLER Thomas. Refer painting of the 'Mellish' at the National Library of Australia, by Duncan, Edward (1803-1882) of The East India ship Mellish entering the harbour of Sydney [London : W.J. Huggins], [1830?]
  • "Neptune" arrived in 1790 - BOOTLE John, BROWN Kezia , CHESHIRE Thomas, HEATHER Thomas & UPTON Thomas
  • "Pitt" arrived in 1792 - BRYANT William, COULAN Thomas (aka COOLING & variants) and JOHNS Benjamin (arrived as a Sergent in the NSW Corps)
  • "Royal Admiral" arrived in Sydney Cove on Sunday 7th Oct 1792 - DARGIN Thomas (came free as a Seaman), EZZY William & his "free" wife Jane. Also LOVERIDGE Mary "alias HOUNDSBY"
  • "Scarborough" (1) arrived on 26 Jan 1788 - ROBERTS William
  • "Scarborough" (2) arrived in 1790 - MARKWELL Thomas
  • "Sirius" ["H.M.S Sirius"] arrived 26 Jan 1788 - WATSON Robert (came free as Quartermaster). Refer painting of the "Sirius" and basic information of the H.M.S. Sirius. Also view the various images at The National Library Australia
  • "Speke" (2)- SMITH John Woodness

  Other Ship Research Interests

  • "Ballarat" arrived April 1928 - KEWN Irene Syliva. For further information refer SS Ballarat
  • "Gulf of Lions" arrived in Victoria in July 1895 - TAYLOR Robert. The Ships List advises built in 1890 and in 1899 sold to Red Cross Line, Liverpool and renamed "Maranhense".
  • "Lady Flora" arrived in Victoria in 1853 - ASHDOWN Henry
  • "Ormuz" arrived in Victoria in Oct 1896 - TAYLOR Mary & family
  • "Maitland" arrived Sydney Cove on 6 Nov 1838 - BOWDEN William and family & GODFREY Sarah Ann. For conditions regarding the voyage of the "Maitland" and other information see Juliette HENDRY's Home Page and for another site which gives substantial details of the voyage of the "Maitland" and its' passengers, refer Bruce Fairhall's pages at Maitland - The Voyage of 1838. Additional Resources
    
  • Genseek Ships Index

  Did they Swim? - Possibly more Convicts in our Past

  This section is devoted to those ancestors (like Thomas SADLER & Ann FINNIGAN mentioned above) whose arrival in Australia that I have not been able to ascertain. Therefore they are mentioned here, for the benefit of future researchers, in they hope they lead to 'One More Convict to Claim'. They are :
  

  • LAWS Mary Ann who arrived prior to 19 Feb 1856. The future wife of Henry ASHDOWN
  FINNIGAN Ann who married Thomas SADLER on 21 Nov 1836 in Sydney
  • McCREA William who arrived about 1843.
  • MURRAY Robert who arrived before 1814 (possibly on 4 Apr 1807 as a Seaman on the ship 'Brothers'?).

  My complete Rootsweb database can be seen at Amanda Taylor's Genealogy

  

  Surname List of my Direct Ancestors Individual Name Index

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  Prepared by:

  Amanda Taylor
  P.O. Box 5042
  Wheeler Heights NSW 2097 Australia
  

  Send e-mail to: Amanda Taylor

  These pages includes some of the Ezzy / Ezzey, Floyd, Lamb, Chambers, Witney and relates spouse families researched by Grace Douglass and Laurel Legge and published in 'Along the Windsor Richmond Road' 1985 (ISBN 0 9589831 0 0 and ISBN 0 9589831 3 5) which is subject to copyright. Written permission is held from the late author Grace Douglass for the writer to publish contents via the Internet. However, although this book is in the public domain, it still remains copyrighted material and may not be copied for any reason without permission. I do not have the right to give permission to others to reprint the book. I was only given permission to put extracts online. All copyrights stay with Grace Douglass & Laurel Legge and whoever they appointed, for control of the book. Under no circumstances may it be reprinted for profit. Extractions of parts of the information for personal use with references to the book as the source is encouraged.