Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Mary Davidson 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 | The Second Fleet; Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790. Michael Flynn. Page 234 |
Claims
"6th great-grandmother"
Photos
No photos have been added for Mary Davidson.
Convict Notes
Family connrctions for Mary (Davidson) are: DAVIDSON Mary (Davi/dson) was born on 30 4 1867 in United Kingdom. She was tried for stealing 10muslin handkerchiefs 16yards tafferty silk at Northumberland Summer Assizes at Morpeth, sentenced to 7years, held in county gaol Newgate & arrived as a convict on 3 6 1790 after a voyage of 12months on LADY JULIANA. She had a relationship with John (Cross his second?) although a marriage is noted in 1790, & produced 9children. She was Free by Servitude before 1801. She died, as Mary (Cross) widow, an emancipist on 13/5 12 1827 age59 at Lower Portland Head & was buried at St Matthews CofE Windsor. [Some of this information is taken from this Website] John (Cross) was born on 23 3 1757 at East Knoyle Wiltshire. He may have married firstly Karen Happuch (Burden) on 11 1 1781 at Semley Wiltshire. He was tried at Salisbury Wiltshire New Sarum Assizes on 5 3 1785, sentenced to be hanged reprieved to 7years, held for 2years on a hulk & arrived in Port Jackson as a convict in January 1788 after a long voyage on First Fleet ship ALEXANDER. He was Free by Servitude before 1801. He originally worked (assigned?) on farm of James (Furzer), later became a farmer & lived at The Ponds Rydalmere, Field of Mars in 1798. On 4 6 1804 he was granted 100acres at Summer Reach Hawkesbury River which he named 'Cross Farm' & farmed there through good & bad times, achieving in 1896 crops orchard garden & livestock. Due to pressure of debts he sold much of it. He died poor on 25/7 12 1824 age67 at First Branch father of 9known children at Hawkesbury River & was buried at St Matthews CofE Windsor. John (Cross) does not have an entry on this Website as yet-added by me. 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.
Mary Davidson, 1768–1827 aka Mary Davison Married name Mary Cross Facts and events Birth 1768 Kirkaldie, Fifeshire, Scotland, United Kingdom Immigration June 6, 1790 (Age 22 years) Sydney Cove, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Ancestry.com. New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007 Text: Mary was convicted at Morpheth in 1787 and received a 7 year sentence. She arrived in the colony on the ship 'Lady Juliana' in 1790. Marriage John Cross — View this family Type: Common 1793 (Age 25 years) Parramatta, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Flynn, Michael. The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790. Sydney : Library of Australian History, 1993 Text: Living together by 1793 Death December 13, 1827 (Age 59 years) Lower Portland Head, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia Source: Gillen, Mollie. The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet. North Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1989 Burial December 15, 1827 (2 days after death) Windsor, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia Cemetery: St Matthews Source: Flynn, Michael. The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790. Sydney : Library of Australian History, 1993 from Australian Royalty website: https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I52306/Mary-Davidson
WYONG FAMILY HISTORY GROUP INC Mary Davidson My 4th great grandmother Mary Davidson (also shown as Davison and Dawson in some records) was sentenced to seven years transportation at the Northumberland Summer Assizes of 1788 for stealing ten muslin handkerchiefs and 16 yards of taffety silk from Alice Redhead, a milliner of Alnwick. Davidson was carrying two bundles when she was stopped in Clayport Street as a suspicious character. Clothing in the bundles was identified as stolen from Redhead’s shop. At the time she was convicted there were 151 female convicts living in three female cells in Newgate which had been built to house a maximum of 70. The population of Newgate was malnourished (the provisions were only supplied enough for the theoretical maximum number of prisoners), debilitated, cold, inadequately clothed and infested with disease-bearing lice. Davidson was held in the county gaol until shortly before 26 April 1789 when she embarked on the 'Lady Juliana' transport, age given as 20. The Lady Juliana became known as the "the floating brothel". This came about because the female convicts, many of whom had been prostitutes, gave favours to the crew in order to obtain some comforts. The 'Lady Juliana' was the first ship to arrive in Sydney Harbour after the first fleet. She had set out on 29th July 1789 at the same time as the Guardian, but the Guardian hit an iceberg south of Africa and most of the much needed supplies for the hungry colony were lost. Despite the appalling condition of the women on leaving England they arrived in good condition with few deaths, unlike like the rest of the second fleet. By 1793 Davidson was living with the First Fleet convict John Cross. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was baptised at Sydney in June 1794 followed by James Thomas (1796), William (1797), David (1799) my 3rd great grandfather, John (1801), Alexander (1803), Mary Ann (1806), Ann (1808) and Sarah (1812). Several of the children appear to have died in infancy and in 1806 Mary "Dawson" was recorded with one female and three male children. The BDM records of NSW show that Mary never married John Cross. In 1798 Cross was recorded renting a farm at Field of Mars. By 1800 the family had moved to the Hawkesbury district where Cross rented a farm with 3 acres sown in wheat and 6 in maize. The couple owned 6 pigs and they and their two surviving children were supported from public stores. Cross was among the farmers of the South Creek area who petitioned the Governor for help in January 1801 after suffering losses from flooding. In 1804 Cross was granted 100 acres at Sussex Reach of which in 1806 just over 20 acres were cultivated in wheat, maize, barley, orchard, vegetables and garden. Cross was fully supporting his wife and four children (5 were born after 1800, two of them after 1806) and employing a free man. From 1812 the family suffered financial difficulties and much of their land had been mortgaged or sold by 1820. Their farm at Half Moon Reach was offered for sale by execution in April of that year. Mary Davidson died in December 1827 three years after her husband; her burial on the 15th December is recorded in the register of St. Matthews, Windsor, her age is shown as 59 years. Submitted by : Jean Macleay, Member WFHG, 17 February 2012 http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nswwfhg/articles/convicts/0359_davidson_mary.html
John Nicol John Nicol was steward on the Lady Juliana. He kept a journal of the voyage an extract of which was printed in the Spirit of the English Magazines in 1823...... His account of the voyages would throw Mrs. Fry and all the Newgate Committee into fits, and make Mr. Grey Bennet rave, and fill every philanthropical heart with a horrible delight that such things were, and are not. 'There were not a great many very bad characters; the greater number were for petty crimes, and a great proportion for only being disorderly, that is, street walkers; the colony at the time being in great want of women. 'One, a Scottish girl, broke her heart and died in the river; she was buried at Dartford. Four were pardoned on account of his Majesty's recovery. The poor young Scottish girl I have never yet got out of my mind; she was young and beautiful, even in the convict dress, but pale as death, and her eyes red with weeping. She never spoke to any of the other women or came on deck. She was constantly seen sitting in the same corner from morning to night; even the time of meals roused her not. My heart bled for her, - she was a countrywoman in misfortune. I offered her consolation, but her hopes and heart had sunk. When I spoke she heeded me not, or only answered with sighs and tears; if I spoke of Scotland she would ring her hands an sob, until I thought her heart would burst. I endeavoured to get her sad story from her lips, but she was silent as the grave to which she hastened. I lent her my bible to comfort her, but she read it not; she laid it on her lap after kissing it, and only bedewed it with her tears. At length she sunk into the grave, of no disease, but a broken heart. After her death we had only two Scottish women on board, one of them a Shetlander. 'I went every day to the town to buy fresh provisions and other necessaries for them. As their friends were allowed to come on board to see them, they brought money, and numbers had it of their own, particularly a Mrs. Barnsley, a noted sharper and shoplifter. She herself told me her family for one hundred years back, had been swindlers and highwaymen. She had a brother a highwayman, who often came to see her, as well dressed and genteel in his appearance as any gentleman. 'Those from the country came all on board in irons; and I was paid half a crown a head by the country jailors, in many cases, for striking them off upon my anvil, as they were not locked but rivetted. There was a Mrs. Davis a noted swindler, who had obtained great quantities of goods under false names and other equally base means. We had one Mary Williams transported for receiving stolen goods. She and another eight had been a long time in Newgate where Lord George Gordon had supported them. I went once a week to him and got their allowance from his own hand all the time we lay in the river. We had on board a girl pretty well behaved, who was called, by her acquaintances a daughter of Pitt. She herself never contradicted it. She bore a most striking likeness to him in every feature, and could scarce be known from him as to looks. We left her at Port Jackson. Some of our convicts I have heard even to boast of the crimes and murders committed by them and their accomplices; but the far greater number were harmless unfortunate creatures, the victims of the basest seduction. When we were fairly out at sea, every man on board took a wife from among the convicts, they nothing loath. The girl with whom I lived, for I was as bad in this point as the others, was named Sarah Whitelam. She was a native of Lincoln, a girl of modest reserved turn, as kind and true a creature as ever lived. I courted her for a week and upwards, and would have married her upon the spot, had there been a clergy man on board. She had been banished for a mantle she had borrowed from an acquaintance. Her friend prosecuted her for stealing it, and she was transported for seven years. I had fixed my fancy upon her from the moment I knocked the rivet out of her irons upon my anvil, and as firmly resolved to bring her back to England, when her time was out, my lawful wife, as ever I did intend anything in my life. She bore me a son in our voyage out. What is become of her, whether she is dead or alive, I know not. That I do not, is no fault of mine, as my narrative will show. 'At length almost to our sorrow, we made the land upon the 3rd June 1790 just one year all but one day from our leaving the river. We landed all our convicts safe'.....Excerpt from The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner printed in the Spirit of the English Magazines https://www.jenwilletts.com/convict_ship_lady_juliana_1790.htm
Mary Davidson's Story - as told by Jean Macleay, Member Wyong Family History Group, 17 February 2012. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nswwfhg/articles/convicts/0359_davidson_mary.html
A good read: The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an Eighteenth-Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts by Siân Rees A seafaring story with a twist -- the incredible voyage of a shipload of "disorderly girls" and the men who transported them, fell for them, and sold them.This riveting work of rediscovered history tells for the first time the plight of the female convicts aboard the Lady Julian, which set sail from England in 1789 and arrived in Australia's Botany Bay a year later. The women, most of them petty criminals, were destined for New South Wales to provide its hordes of lonely men with sexual favors as well as progeny. But the story of their voyage is even more incredible, and here it is expertly told by a historian with roots in the boatbuilding business and a true love of the sea. Siân Rees delved into court documents and firsthand accounts to extract the stories of these women's experiences on board a ship that both held them prisoner and offered them refuge from their oppressive existence in London. At the heart of the story is the passionate relationship between Sarah Whitelam, a convict, and the ship's steward, John Nicol, whose personal journals provided much of the material for this book. Along the way, Rees brings the vibrant, bawdy world of London -- and the sights, smells, and sounds of an eighteenth-century ship -- vividly to life. In the tradition of Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, this is a winning combination of dramatic high seas adventure and untold history Hardcover, 236 pages Published March 6th 2002 by Hachette Books (first published 2001) ISBN0786867876 (ISBN13: 9780786867875) Edition Language English
13 Dec 1827. Death. Windsor, New South Wales, Australia Sources Source Citation State Library of Queensland; South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; The Second Fleet; Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790. Michael Flynn. Page 234 Source Information Ancestry.com. Web: Australia, Convict Records Index, 1787-1867 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. Original data: Australia Convict Records Index, 1787-1867. State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. https://convictrecords.com.au/: accessed Sep 2017
1790. Marriage? to John Cross No record of marriage found. In some records he is referred to as her partner or common-law husband. Mary Davidson met John Cross, a 1st Fleet convict who arrived on Alexander in 1788. Their first child, Elizabeth, was baptised on 29 June 1794. They had nine children 1794 and 1812 (not all surviving infancy) Children: Elizabeth (1794-1806) James Thomas (1796-) William (1797-1845) David (1799-1869) John (1801-) Alexander (1803-1886) Mary Ann (1806-1873) Ann (1808-1880) Sarah (1812-1929)
Reaction to Arrival When Lady Juliana arrived at Port Jackson she was the first vessel to arrive at Port Jackson since the First Fleet's arrival almost two and a half years before. With the colony in the grip of starvation, and with HMS Sirius having wrecked at Norfolk Island, Judge Advocate David Collins was mortified at the arrival of "a cargo so unnecessary and so unprofitable as 222 females, instead of a cargo of provisions". Lieutenant Ralph Clark was more blunt, lamenting the arrival of still more "damned whores". The ship carried letters bringing the first news of events in Europe to the settlement since the First Fleet had sailed in May 1787 Source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Juliana_(1777_ship) (accessed on 16/3/2018)
3 Jun 1790. Arrival at Port Jackson. New South Wales. Sources. Detail Class: HO 10; Piece: 2 Source Information Title New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834 Author Ancestry.com