(Continued from page 2) No official records or lists have been kept to give precise names of the Hampshire men who died as a result of the lack of care on the ships during the long and arduous trip to Australia, therefore all that can be said is that the following names were definitely on the Indents of either the Surprise or the Scarborough, but none have ever been found in any of the census that was taken in Sydney between 1800 and 1828.

As the first census was taken ten years after the landing it can be assumed that some may have died in the intervening years, tried to escape into the bush or even escaped on one of the ships that left during that time. Though the census were intended to be as accurate and as comprehensive as possible and cover all the settlements on the mainland and Norfolk Island, their accuracy depended on so many extraneous factors that it is more probably that some names might be missing from some and yet appear in others. Thomas Ambrouse, is not mentioned until 1811 when he is recorded as still being a convict. Death therefore has only been presumed where no entry was found. It is reasonable to assume that the following convicts from Hampshire never lived to make themselves a better life in New South Wales.

One other convict, Philip Rumble is believed to have died en route. He was to have travelled on the Surprise, but there is a note on the indent saying he was transferred to HMS Guardian. This naval ship was used to take out desperately needed stores. Until the ship hit an iceberg in thick fog, nothing untoward had been reported. The water poured in flooding the ship and it was thought that the vessel would sink. Five lifeboats were launched, four managed to get clear, but only one reached the Cape and safety. Twenty of the convicts are know to have helped a skeleton crew to bring the ship back to the Cape by the use of the pumps, after this they were either put onto the Neptune or the Scarborough to complete their journey. But when they arrived at Port Jackson fourteen of them were given conditional pardons for good conduct but Philip Rumble's name was not amongst them, so it is presumed that he must have died between the Cape and Port Jackson, or that he was one of four convicts who jumped into one of the other lifeboats that never reached land. 

Australian records show that probably only 12 of the original 27 Hampshire men survived the trip and one of these was to die the following year. James Chapman had been sentenced along with James Townsend to transportation for life for stealing six fowls in April 1787. A year after he arrived in Sydney, on 27 July 1791, he was charged with 'feloniously and burglariously breaking and entering.... and stealing various articles of clothing'. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, and hanged at noon the following day. Townsend his accomplice to the original crime was recorded in the 1828 census as being free and working as a sawyer at Darling Harbour.

But some information has been discovered of the remaining 11 men in one or more of the censuses, but it is sometimes difficult to be absolutely certain that the correct convict had been located as there was  quite often more than one person with the same name and often spellings varied slightly.

Some convicts did better than others, John Bagley (Bayley) and Thomas Phillips sentenced together in March 1789 to seven years for stealing a large quantity of articles from Henry Winscomb of St Maurice, Winchester, were both free by 1802 and holding land at Mulgrave Place about 30 miles northwest of Sydney on the Hawkesbury River. Both men were still working  their land in 1814, but Phillips may have been one of the convicts who returned home as there is a note on the shipping indent saying 'Britannic 10 May 1819. Yes 58'.

However William Chandler who stole 'iron' in Portsmouth and was sentenced by the local borough sessions to serve seven years in April 1788 was still on government rations at Norfolk Island some 14 years later in 1802. John Hunt was free by 1814 and was working as a 'shingle splitter' in Parramatta and Charles George who received seven years in 1788 was also free. By 1828 he was 67 years old and working as a servant to Mrs Ann Payne at Kissing Point, which lies about 10 miles to the west of Sydney on the Parramatta Road.

There are two possible entries for John Palmer who had stolen a large  quantity of 'iron' belonging to Edward Bridger of Millbrook, near Southampton and he received seven years; he was either aged 74 and living as a pensioner in York Street Sydney, or he was 75 and living as a lodger in Park Street Sydney. Charles Smith also received seven years for stealing hay in January 1788 but it is not sure how he fared as there are various entries in the Australian Censuses for a 'Charles Smith'. It is more than likely he was free and a gardener in Sydney.

More confusion evolves around Robert Russell who had stolen clothes from John Cole of East Stratton. It is believed he arrived on the Mary Ann at Norfolk Island in August 1791 and still be receiving government rations four years later. This is obviously a mistake for the Mary Ann only carried female convicts, it is more than likely that Robert Russell was transferred from the Neptune to the Surprise. Lastly there was Samuel Howell who with Mary Jones his accomplice had stolen clothes and other things from Elizabeth Gearle at Wallop and received transportation for life as his reward. He may well have been the blacksmith mentioned in 1814 working in Sydney. Mary Jones who was originally on the indent of the Neptune was fortunately for her transferred to the Mary Ann which did not leave England until 1791 and which only nine out of 150 female convicts died. Nothing was heard of Mary Harbour and it must be presumed that she died before or during the journey. Mary McDonaugh, who would been one of the women about who Mr Mcarthur so bitterly complained did indeed survive, she was one of the convicts sent straight to Norfolk Island on the Surprise, and arrived there on 7 August 1790. She is recorded as receiving government rations in 1794 but is thought ny Needham to be the Mary McDonald who went, with her husband, James Wood to Tasmania on the City of Edinburgh in 1808, and is shown in the 1811 Muster at Hobart.