Olivia Gascoigne

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Maureen Withey on 14th June 2025

NSW Digitised Indent Index. 1788-1801. Per ship Alexander, Charlotte, Friendship, Lady Penryn, Scarborough (1), Prince of Wales. Olive Gascoine, tried at Assizes of Worcester, 5 March 1785, 7 years. Tuesday Evening the Assizes for the County, of Worcester ended; when ... was capitally convicted, and received sentence of death; he is, left for execution. The following also were Capitally convicted and received sentence of death, but  were reprieved before the judge left the town, viz. ... Oliver Galcoigne for stealing out of a box at Severn Stoke, 13 guineas;  Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 14 March 1785.

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iain Frazier on 19th June 2024

Family connections fpr Olivia (Gascoigne) are: GASCOIGNE Bamber (Gascoyne) married ??? (???) & produced perhaps 3children: (he became Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and leading English Brewer) 1.Olive/Olivia/Holiffe (Gascoigne/yne/Gaskins/Harlow) daughter of maybe John (Gascoigne) & Sarah (Partridge) may have been born at Severn Stoke Malvern Hills Worcestershire on 17 2 1763 or maybe Droitwich in 1760 or in Radsley-now Harlows Way-Derbyshire. Her name was changed from Olive to Olivia at age3 when her sister was born. She was living at Kempsey where a cousin ran a General Store & worked at Severn Stoke Malvern Hills Worcestershire when tried for stealing with force of arms, on 10 8 1784, gold coin etc of Edward (Griffith) at Worcester Lent Assizes on 5 3 1785, sentenced to be hanged reduced to 7/14years, held at Gloucester Newgate Prison & arrived in NSW as a convict on 22 1 1788 after a voyage of 12months on First Fleet ship SCARBOROUGH also. She was quickly sent to Norfolk Island as a first settler on SUPPLY, arriving on 6 3 1788. [The ship of arrival in NSW, or arrival on Norfolk Island, may have been LADY PENRHYN, as recorded ambiguously in Ref:'People...'] She associated with Nathaniel (Lucas his first relationship), married him on 5 11 1791 in group ceremony on Norfolk Island & produced 13children. On 2 2 1792 or August 1792 she was badly injured by a falling tree. On 28 2 1805 she travelled to Sydney with her family on INVESTIGATOR, captained by Matthew (Flinders). She ran the Trafalgar Inn next to St. Phillips Church. In April 1816 she was maybe a subscriber to 'Relief of the Sufferers of the Battle of Waterloo'. After her husbands death in 1818 she took her youngest children to Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) & sometimes moved between her adult children in NSW & Tasmania. She collaborated with Brewer James (Squire) in his hops plantations and beer brewing. In 1817 2(Harlow) cousins visited her in Launceston. In 1824 she was granted land on south bank of Tamar River near her daughter Ann. She died on 10 6 1830 age67 at Launceston & was buried at St Johns CofE Launceston-she has descendants in the (Goodin) family.>>> >>>Olivia/Olive/Holiffe (Gascoigne/Gaskins/Harlow) was neice of her Aunt Riddy. She was grand niece of Mrs Charles (Riddy nee Sarah (Wainwright). She was the Aunt of the Marchioness of Salisbury, Margaret (Gascoyne-Cecil). ..[Some details taken from this Website] ..Nathaniel (Lucas), maybe son of John (Lucas) & Mary (??? maybe Bradford) of Thames Ditton Surrey & maybe brother Thomas (Lucas) [see under], was born about 1764 & became a carpenter/joiner boatbuilder millwright. He was tried for stealing an apron etc (possibly unjustly) while employed in London at probably Old Bailey, sentenced to 7years, held at Middlesex Gaol Delivery & arrived in NSW as a convict on 22 1 1788 after a voyage of 12months on First Fleet ship SCARBOROUGH (the same ship as marine Thomas (Lucas); he was a teetotaller. He was also quickly sent to Norfolk Island as a first settler on SUPPLY, arriving on 6 3 1788. On 2 2 1792 or August 1792 he accidentally caused the felling of a tree onto his wife & 3of his children. He is recorded as going to Port Jackson in June 1795. He seems to have had a second relationship with Eleanor (Wainwright her third (3of4) relationship). He built many houses on Norfolk Island, became constable & had a water supply contract; he had 15acres (he is recorded with plot no.52 of 60acres in the centre of the island) on Norfolk Island in 1796. He was suspended on 5 9 1800 for impertinence. On 28 2 1805 he travelled to Sydney with his family on INVESTIGATOR. He became a patroller of Greenville Vale in 1806 to maintain order & afterwards building a windmill at Church Hill Sydney Cove; later becoming Superintendent of carpentry; they lived at The Rocks. In 1810 he moved to a land grant farm at Liverpool. Some of the family moved to Port Dalrymple Derwent Tasmania, facilitating trade of their produce between states. In 1815-17 he built St Lukes CofE Liverpool. He was recorded as off stores in Hobart Town on 2 10 1818 & was instrumental in establishing, with others, Tasmanian Hop & Barley Industry in Launceston. In 1817 he may have become estranged from his wife. He died on 5 5 1818 age54 father of 14children, found dead near Moore Bridge George River Liverpool; considering his affliction of painful hereditary Haemacromatosis/cancer of the face/neuralgia, treatment by alcoholic drink despite his abstinence, his marriage separation & differences of opinion with & accusations by the architect of his last project, his death could have been by his own hand or by design-some unfortunate circumstances in the life of an apparantly skillful & resourceful man.] ..[Some details taken from this Website] .. 2.Olive (Gascoyne) was born about 1766. She married James (Blackwall)). 3.Captain John (Gascoyne) becama sea Captain-the Gascoyne River in Western Australia is named after him. 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'

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James Donohoe on 10th April 2022

Olivia told the court at her trial that she stole the money so Aunt Riddy would not go to debtors prison. Olive Harlow was the grand niece of Mrs Charles Riddy, nee Sarah Wainwright. Riddy and Wainwright are DNA cousin matches with her descendants. DNA also shows that Olivia was the daughter of a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and leading English Brewer, Bamber Gascoyne Senior. Her descendant Goodin family records show that she had a brother who was a "Sea Captain". He was Bamber's son, Captain John Gascoyne, after whom the Gascoyne River in Western Australia is named. Olivia was born in Radsley, Derbyshire, in what is now known as Harlow's Way. Olivia's activities in Sydney and Vandiemensland after 1805 shows her Beer Brewing knowledge. she collaborated with Brewer James Squire in his hops plantations and beer brewing. She also ran her own Pub "Trafalgar Inn" next to St. Phillips Church. She was firstly named Olive by her mother but three years after her birth, her mother had a second child, named Olive (Later Mrs James Blackwall) so the elder girl who was renamed Olivia. Olivia did not live in Severn Stoke. She only worked there. She lived five miles away in Kempsey with her cousin who ran the General Store there. Two of her Harlow cousins visited her in 1817 in Launceston. Incidentally, she was the Aunt of the Marchioness of Salisbury, Margaret Gascoyne-Cecil.

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Darryl Buley on 4th March 2021

Olivia Gascoigne is thought to have been born in 1760 in Droitwiche, Worcestershire, and her name appears with a variety of spellings in different records, including Olive or Holiffe, and her surname sometimes appears as Gaskins. Olivia's parents are likely to have been the first cousins, John Gascoigne and Sarah Partridge. Olivia was arrested in August 1784 and tried at the Worcester Lent Assizes on 5 March 1785 for Stealing by the Force of Arms thirteen pieces of silver. On 10 August 1784, Olivia allegedly forced her way into the home of Edward Griffith and robbed him at gunpoint of gold guineas to the value of £13 and 13 shillings, and a foreign silver dollar valued at 4 shillings and sixpence. The mandatory sentence for armed robbery was death. Fortunately for Olivia the growing calls for penal reform saw many capital crimes commuted, and Olivia was saved from the gallows. With her sentence for armed robbery commuted to 14 years transportation, Olivia spent the first two years of her sentence at the Gloucester Newgate gaol. Around March or April of 1787, she was transferred to the Lady Penrhyn, and travelled with the First Fleet to Sydney Cove. The ship arrived on 20 January 1788. Due partly to her good behaviour on the voyage out, Olivia was one of 16 convicts selected to accompany Lieutenant-Governor King to Norfolk Island, to establish a settlement there. Olivia spent only three weeks in the Port Jackson camp, before departing on the Supply on 14 February 1788, and arriving on the island on 6 March. As difficult as the establishment phase on Norfolk Island undoubtedly was, Olivia was lucky to escape the even greater hardships that were suffered by the main convict settlement in New South Wales. Soon after arriving on Norfolk Island, Olivia formed a relationship with fellow convict, Nathaniel Lucas, although their marriage was not solemnised until the Reverend Richard Johnson visited the island in November 1791. Olivia gave birth to their first child, Ann, in March 1789. Nathaniel had acquired responsibility on the island through his skills as a carpenter, and built their house. Soon, Olivia was pregnant again and this time gave birth to twins, Sarah and Mary. But tragedy struck in August 1792 when a tree-felling exercise went horribly wrong. Accidentally Nathaniel brought a tree down on their house, killing the toddler twins and seriously injuring Olivia, who had the infant William in her arms. Olivia's injuries were serious enough that Nathaniel thought he might lose her. Miraculously baby William survived. Although she recovered, Olivia is thought to have sustained some permanent disability affecting her legs. Even so, another seven children followed while the family lived on Norfolk Island. All the children survived the dangerous diseases of childhood and, apart from the twins, all of them survived to through to adulthood. Sarah 1790 Mary 1790 William 1792 Nathaniel b. August 1793 Olivia b. April 1795 John b. December 1796 James b. October 1798 George b. May 1800 Charles b. December 1801 Sarah b. December 1803 Mary Ann 1805 Thomas 1807 The family's return to Sydney Cove in March 1805 on the Investigator was a significant move for Olivia, with five children still under the age of ten. Another two children were born after the family settled in The Rocks, Mary Ann in December 1805 and Thomas in November 1807. With Nathaniel's land grants and government postings, the family might have looked forward to a bright future. A break-in at their home on Church Hill, on the night of Tuesday 16 April 1805 suggests they had possessions worth stealing. In 1810, Olivia and Nathaniel moved to a farm at Liverpool, on land granted to the family after the government reclaimed their land in the Domain. Over time, a number of the Lucas children made either temporary or permanent moves to the Port Dalrymple area in Van Diemen’s Land. Over the next seven years, the family established a number of inter-related businesses run by Olivia and Nathaniel's children, culminating in a regular trade between Van Diemen’s Land and Sydney Cove. In April 1816, a Mrs Lucas is listed as a subscriber for the 'Relief of the Sufferers by the Battle of Waterloo', giving £4, only £2 less than that given by the wife of Governor McArthur for herself and her daughters. It is unclear whether this is Olivia, but if it is, it showed that she had money of her own to dispose of. There is evidence to suggest that, in 1817, Olivia's marriage to Nathaniel broke up, and she took the youngest children with her to Van Diemen’s Land. When Nathaniel died in 1818, Olivia returned to Sydney to tidy up his affairs. Unfortunately, Nathaniel left only debts. Despite having to find some money to cover Nathaniel's debts, Olivia is still recorded as owning the farm at Liverpool for another ten years. On her return to Van Diemen's Land, Olivia raised her remaining children and enjoyed the company of her family for another twelve years. In 1824 she was granted land of her own adjoining the grant given to her daughter Ann Lucas, on the south bank of the Tamar River. Sons William and Jamesons built a ship, which they named the Olivia, to transport the produce from their farms to her other children in Sydney, for sale. Unfortunately the Olivia was wrecked in Two Fold Bay in November 1827. Olivia did make further trips to Sydney to visit her children and grandchildren who remained there, and is registered in the 1828 census as staying with her son John and daughter-in-law Mary at Liverpool. Olivia Lucas (nee Gascoigne) died on 10 June 1830, and was buried at St John's Church of England in Launceston. No headstone remains.

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Darryl Buley on 4th March 2021

Birth: 17 February 1763 • Severn Stoke, Malvern Hills District, Worcestershire, England Trial: 5 Mar 1785 Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Arrived: 22 Jan 1788 Lady Penrhyn, First Fleet, into Sydney Cove Arrived: 6 Mar 1788 onto Norfolk Island Married: 5 Nov 1791 Norfolk Island Arrived: 1804 Olivia, Nathaniel and family back into Sydney on the Investigator with Matthew Flinders Death: 10 Jun 1830 Launceston Buried: 12 Jun 1830 Launceston

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Denis Pember on 26th November 2020

Olivia was tried at Worcester Lent Assizes on 5 Mar 1785 having been charged thus: "...Olive Gascoigne late of the parish of Severn Stoke in the county of Worcester, Spinster on the 10th day of August...with force and arms in the parish aforesaid...13 pieces of gold coin of the proper coin of the realm called Guineas of the value of £13/13/- one piece of Foreign Silver Coin called a Dollar of the value of 4/6 of the goods and chattels and monies of Edward Griffith in the dwelling house of George Griffith then and there being found feloniously did steal take and carry away." The verdict recorded was "guilty; to be hanged no goods." No record of reprieve located. Transported aboard "Lady Penrhyn' for Seven years.

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Glenda on 27th September 2012

Married Nathaniel Lucas Convict from Scarborough