Sophia Girton

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Beth Taylor on 29th July 2019

Sophia Girton (AKA Sophia Parker), arrived Sydney on 9 July 1791 on the ship "Mary Ann". She had been tried at the Old Bailey on 7 July 1790 & given a life sentence "beyond seas". "On the morning of the ninth, the signal for a sail was made at the South Head; and before night it was made known that the Mary Ann transport was arrived from England, with one hundred and forty-one female convicts on board, six children, and one free woman, some clothing, and the following small quantity of provisions: one hundred and thirty-two barrels of flour; sixty-one tierces of pork; and thirty-two tierces of beef. ... The Mary Ann had a quick passage, having been only four months and sixteen days from England. She touched nowhere, except at the island of St. Iago, where she remained ten days. The master landed a boat in a bay on this coast about fifteen miles to the southward of Botany Bay; but made no other observation of any consequence to the colony, than that there was a bay in which a boat might land. The women, who were all very healthy, and who spoke highly of the treatment which they had experienced from Mr. Monroe, were landed immediately after the arrival of the transport in the cove, and were distributed among the huts at Sydney, while the governor went up to Parramatta to make such preparation as the time would admit for the numbers he expected to receive." 1792 - Sophia married First Fleet convict William Bond at Parramattta. The couple did not have issue. 1799 - Sophia received an Absolute Pardon on 12/09/1799. Source: SRNSW 4/4486, Reel 800, p4) 1820-1821 - Sophia BOND held a licence as a baker, in Pitt St. Sydney. (Source: Bigge's Appendix, Bonwick Transcripts, BT Box 24, 52708 - Mitchell Library 1833 - Sophia Bond died on 12/09/1833, said to be aged 78. She was buried in her friend's the Morris' family vault, which deteriorated badly & is no longer in existence. (NSW Burial record V1833-251-17 & "Gravestone Inscriptions NSW, Vol 1, Sydney Burial Ground", by Johnson & Sainty) ================================================