Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Mary Cowcher was transported on the Lady Juliana, departing 31st May 1789 and arriving 3rd Jun 1790 with 247 passengers.
Launched 1777, 401 ton barque, built at Whitby, England. Departed Portsmouth, England on 29 July 1789, via Cape of Good Hope for Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia on 3 June 1790. 1790 voyage carried 226 female passengers (convicts)- 5 of whom died on the trip. 6 children also on board. Significant because it was the first ship to bring all female women to the Colony.
Lady JulianaReferences
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/1, Page Number 15 (9) Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 9.0) October 1787. Trial of MARY COUCHER , alias MARY CHRISTMAS (t17871024-4). Available at: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t17871024-4?text=Mary%20Cowcher (Accessed: 16th February 2025). |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Family connections for Mary (Cowcher) are: COWCHER/CHRISTMAS Mary (Cowcher/Christmas) was born about 1770. She was tried for theft of a silver spoon probably Old Bailey on 24 10 1787, sentenced to 7years, held at London Gaol Delivery & arrived in NSW as a convict on 3 6 1790 after a journey of 12months on Fleet ship LADY JULIANA-a ship with 228females who easily entertained the whole crew & also sailors at Teneriffe stopover; she was sent to Norfolk Island on SURPRISE arriving on 7 8 1790. She married firstly Charles (Smith)) in November 1791 in group ceremony on Norfolk Island & produced 4children.>>> [Some details taken from this Website] Charles (Smith) was born about 1758. He may have been tried at Hampshire Quarter Sessions, sentenced to 7years & arrived in NSW as a convict on 26 6 1790 after a voyage of 6months on Fleet ship SURPRISE; a voyage noted for extreme brutality of prisoners with a high death rate; & was sent to Norfolk Island arriving on 7 8 1790. He died on 2 2 1795 on Norfolk Island [Smees records show ship as SCARBOROUGH (same Fleet)]. [Smees records also show a Charles (Smith 1790 SURPRISE age61 Absolute Pardon) as dying on 9 7 1818 & buried at St Phillips CofE Sydney. [Some details taken from this Website. However, a second Charles (Smith) who was born about 1757 also travelled on the SURPRISE: he was tried at Middlesex Gaol Delivery & was also sentenced to 7years. It may be he who died, with Absolute Pardon, on 9 7 1818 age61 & was buried at St Phillips CofE Sydney] .. >>>Mary (Cowcher/Christmas) had a second relationship with Thomas Risdale/Ristell/Russell (Crowder his second relationship) from 1794 &, as a widow, married him on 22 12 1799 on Norfolk Island-the same day as the birth of one of her children-can't be right?. She is recorded as sentence expired off stores on Norfolk Island in February 1805. On 25/6 12 1807 she moved with her family as part of the first evacuation to Derwent Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) on HMS PORPOISE, arrivig on 17 1 1808. She was Free by Servitude in 1819. She died on 28 5 1830 age60 mother of 8children & was buried at St Davids CofE Hobart. Thomas Risdale/Ristell/Ristol/Russell (Crowder) was born about 1755/58 & baptised at St Martin in the Fields Middlesex in 1758 & became a seaman. He was tried as Thomas (Risdale) for breaking entering stealing money & goods at Bristol Gloucestershire on 29 3 1785, sentenced to death reprieved to Life & arrived in NSW on 22 1 1788 after a voyage of 12months on First Fleet ship ALEXANDER. As Thomas (Risdale/Crowder) he married firstly Sarah (Davis/Davies) on 1/7 6 1788 at St Phillips CofE Port Jackson Sydney. He was sent with his wife to Norfolk Island on SUPPLY, arriving on 2 3 1789. He became an overseer. On 3 11 1792 he was emancipated & appointed constable & became settler on 14acres (he is recorded in 1796 with plots no.26-28 of 12, 14 & 14acres on southeast of the island near Kingston & no.49 of 60acres in centre of the island near Phillipsburg). In January 1794 he had a fracas with a sergeant, was arrested & taken to Sydney in March 1794; he was returned to NI. He was Free by Servtude by 1796 & a prosperous farmer by 1799. On 25 12 1807 he moved with his family as part of the first evacuation (for which volunteers apparantly had been called with appropriate compensation offerred & for which he may have tried to decline as some successful farmers were asked to stay) to Derwent Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) on HMS PORPOISE, arriving on 17 1 1808. In 1813 he was appointed Superintendent of convicts/carpenters at Hobart Town & took on work as master carpenter, bricklayer & surveyor; he was suspected of inaccuracies in recording of convicts & eventually given a pension - serving out his days as caretaker/verger of St Davids CofE church Hobart. He owned 100acres in Sussex area. He died on 29 11 1824 age66 father of perhaps 5children at his home Elizabeth St Hobart & was buried at St Davids CofE Hobart. [Noted a Thomas (Crowder convict age50) is recorded as dying on 15 4 1806 & buried at St Johns CofE Parramatta]. [Some details taken from this Website] [Noted a Thomas (Crowder convict), who may be related, is found in entry for Elizabeth (Williams NILE 1801) on this Website] References: Craig James Smee 'Births and Baptisms Marriages and Defacto Relationships Deaths and Burials New South Wales 1788-1830' ..a complete listing from church & other records in the early colony. Irene Schaffer & Thelma McKay 'Exiled Three Times Over! Profiles of Norfolk Islanders Exiled in Van Diemens Land 1807-1813' James Hugh Donohoe 'Norfolk Island 1788-1813-The People and Their Families' Reg Wright 'Forgotten Generation of Norfolk Island & Van Diemens Land'
Mary was tried and found guilty of the theft of a silver a spoon which she attempted to sell.
Mary married twice once she arrived in the colonies at Norfolk Island. the first husband Charles Smith was a second fleeter, and after his death in 1795 she married Thomas Restell Crowder.
Married Charles Smith (he died 1793). Married Thomas Risdale/Ristell Crowder (1st Fleet Convict) who became a prosperous farmer,1799. Thomas died 1824 Hobart. Lived on Norfolk Island and also Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Listed in VDL 1818, 1819 free. Several children: Thomas Restell Crowder b.1810 d. 1851 (8 children) Susannah Mary