Grizel Johnston

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Ron Garbutt on 15th March 2020

High Court of Justiciary Trial Papers Title Trial papers of Grizel Johnston, lately residing at Port Seton, county of Haddington, presently prisoner in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, for the crime of theft by means of housebreaking, and of being habit and repute a thief. Name Eliza Dickson or Hamilton Role Victim Designation wife of George Hamilton, minister of the parish of Gladsmuir, Manse of Gladsmuir, East Lothian Crime Theft by means of housebreaking, and of being habit and repute a thief Crime Location Manse of Gladsmuir, East Lothian Trial Date 27 December 1808 Trial Location Edinburgh NRS Reference JC26/1808/39 Victim(s) Name and Designation Eliza Dickson or Hamilton, wife of George Hamilton, minister of the parish of Gladsmuir, Manse of Gladsmuir, East Lothian Crime Theft by means of housebreaking, and of being habit and repute a thief Name and Designation Rev George Hamilton, minister of the parish of Gladsmuir, Manse of Gladsmuir, East Lothian Crime Theft by means of housebreaking, and of being habit and repute a thief Source Citation 'High Court of Justiciary Trial Papers', NRS Reference JC26/1808/39; Index, Scottish Indexes (https://www.scottishindexes.com/jcdetail.aspx?jcid=1808039&pid=180803989: accessed 15 Mar 2020); Original Source: National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Ron Garbutt on 13th March 2020

Grizel Jonhston, 1786–184 Grace Johnston Grace Johnson Facts and events Birth about 1786 Source: Census of New South Wales November 1828, ed. by Malcolm R. Sainty and Keith A. Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1985 ie. 1980 Text: age given as 42 in 1828 Immigration October 10, 1811 (Age 25 years) Sydney Cove, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: State Library of Queensland. Convict Transportation Registers Database 1787-1867 [database on-line]. Citation details: Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/2, Page Number 41 (22) Text: Grizel Johnston, one of 299 convicts transported on the Admiral Gambier and ship Friends, April 1811. Sentence details: Convicted at Edinburgh Circuit Court of Justiciary for a term of 7 years on 22 March 1808. Vessel: Admiral Gambier and Friends. Date of Departure: April 1811. Place of Arrival: New South Wales. Source: Bateson, Charles. The convict ships 1787-1868. 2nd ed. Glasgow : Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd., 1985 ie 1969 Citation details: p. 340 Text: The ship Friends arrived in NSW 10 Oct 1811 Marriage … Eddington Type: Common estimated 1811 (Age 25 years) Marriage John McFarlane Type: Common estimated 1812 (Age 26 years) Marriage William Watson — View this family Type: Common estimated 1820 (Age 34 years) Census about 1825 (Age 39 years) Windsor, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia Source: Ancestry.com. New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Citation details: 1825 muster (1823-1825) Text: Johnston, Grizel, convict, Friends, 1811, 14 years, wife of Watson, shoemaker, Windsor Watson, William, ticket of leave, Lord Eldon, 1817, 14 years, shoemaker, Sydney [sic] Watson, Jane, 11, born in the colony, daughter of Wm. Watson, Windsor Watson, Daniel, 9, born in the colony, son of above Watson, Mary, 2, born in the colony, daughter of above Watson, Thomas, 7, born in the colony, son of above Census November 1828 (Age 42 years) Windsor, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia Source: Census of New South Wales November 1828, ed. by Malcolm R. Sainty and Keith A. Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1985 ie. 1980 Citation details: p. 384 Text: Watson, William, 34, government servant, Lord Eldon, 1817, 14 years, Protestant, shoemaker, Windsor Watson, Grace, 42, free by servitude, Friends, 1811, 7 years, Protestant Watson, Jane, 13, born in the colony Watson, Daniel 11, born in the colony Watson, Mary, 5, born in the colony Watson, Martha, 3, born in the colony Death May 14, 1843 (Age 57 years) Sydney City, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Johnson, Keith A. Comp. Gravestone inscriptions, N.S.W. Volume 1. Sydney burial ground : Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets "The Sandhills' (Monuments relocated at Bunnerong) / compiled by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. n.p., the compilers, 1973 Text: William WATSON died 30th March 1841 age 46 years Native of Aberdeenshire, Parish of Alford, Scotland also Grace WATSON wife of the above died 14th May 1843 aged 67 years also John Frederick WATSON... Burial Sydney City, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Johnson, Keith A. Comp. Gravestone inscriptions, N.S.W. Volume 1. Sydney burial ground : Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets "The Sandhills' (Monuments relocated at Bunnerong) / compiled by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. n.p., the compilers, 1973 Citation details: p. 116, no. 2078 Text: William WATSON died 30th March 1841 age 46 years Native of Aberdeenshire, Parish of Alford, Scotland also Grace WATSON wife of the above died 14th May 1843 aged 67 years also John Frederick WATSON... from Australian Royalty website: https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I37521/Grizel-Jonhston

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Ron Garbutt on 3rd March 2020

Apology and Correction. The biographical entry by Ron Garbutt on 2nd February, 2020 lists an irrelevant web address. The correct address for the biography of Grizel (and the other convict women on Friends) is: http://friendsconvictship.com/convict-women/

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

A good read: The Girl Who Stole Stockings The Story of Susannah Noon and the Women of the Convict Ship Friends by Elsbeth Hardie and Julie Stafford On 8th April 1811, the ship Friends sailed from England carrying 101 female convicts bound for the penal colony that was New South Wales. The crimes of the women and girls on board ranged from pickpocketing to murder, but most were convicted of theft. Susannah Noon, not yet in her teens, tried to steal four pairs of cotton stockings from a shop in Colchester. It earned her a sentence of transportation for seven years' 'beyond the seas'. It was a sentence that reverberated throughout her lifetime; she never returned to England.What drove most of these women, young and old, to crime was what helped them to shape new lives in New South Wales - the will to survive.The newly invented society they found themselves in was, in effect, that of an 'open prison'. In 1811, there were only one hundred women in New South Wales who had not arrived as convicted felons. Susannah and her Friends shipmates were free to work and marry. Most of them grabbed the chance for respectability and, in doing so, they became part of the unexpected phenomenon that was transforming a penal outpost to thriving colony.Author Elsbeth Hardie knew nothing of these women when she went in search of them. Susannah and the others remained largely silent and invisible to history. In uncovering their stories, she provides a little-known account of the convict system that prevailed in the early years of transportation to New South Wales and how these women fared. ISBN: 9781876467241 Category: Australasian & Pacific history Format: Paperback / softback Publication Date: 01-10-2015 Language: English Publisher: Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Country of origin: Australia

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

May 1843. Burial. Sydney City, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Johnson, Keith A. Comp. Gravestone inscriptions, N.S.W. Volume 1. Sydney burial ground : Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets "The Sandhills' (Monuments relocated at Bunnerong) / compiled by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. n.p., the compilers, 1973 Citation details: p. 116, no. 2078 Text: William WATSON died 30th March 1841 age 46 years Native of Aberdeenshire, Parish of Alford, Scotland also Grace WATSON wife of the above died 14th May 1843 aged 67 years also John Frederick WATSON...

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

Some Sources for Grizel Johnston's Trial, Departure, Arrival and Convict Musters in the colony. Detail State Library of Queensland; South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/2, Page Number 41 (22) Source Information Title Web: Australia, Convict Records Index, 1787-1867 Author Ancestry.com Detail State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 12188; Item: [4/4004]; Microfiche: 633 Source Information Title New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 Author Ancestry.com Detail Class: HO 10; Piece: 19 Source Information Title New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849 Author Ancestry.com Detail Class: HO 11; Piece: 2 Source Information Title Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868 Author Ancestry.com Year Range: 1810-1817 Source Information Ancestry.com. Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

Grizel JOHNSTON, Convicted felon 1808, Dec 27th High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh Abridged transcription of the trial of Grizel JOHNSTON StrettonD originally shared this on 19 Feb 2016 on Ancestry High Court of Justiciary Edinburgh 1808, Dec 27th Grizel JOHNSTON was found 'Guilty in terms of own confession' of the crime of theft by housebreaking. In 1807 while she was residing at Port Seton, Grizel did, by breaking open one of the windows, ‘feloniously break into the washing house’ belonging to and adjoining to the Manse of Gladsmuir, in the parish of Gladsmuir and County of Haddington. The Manse was then occupied by the Revd. George HAMILTON, his wife Mrs Eliza HAMILTON and their servants Catherine McGREGOR & Margaret BLAIR She then proceeded to steal sundry articles particularly: Three children’s frocks of printed cotton, the property of Revd. HAMILTON. A dotted muslin gown and white demity petticoat, the property of Eliza Dickson HAMILTON A white short gown, a striped short gown, one large napkin or shawl and one small napkin, a cheque cotton apron, a cotton petticoat, two pairs of black stockings, several night caps and a pair pf pockets, the property of Catherine McGREGOR, servant of Revd. HAMILTON A striped gingham, three short gowns, a shift, a neck-hand kerchief, a light cotton apron, two pocket handkerchiefs and several night caps the property of Margaret BLAIR, the property of Catherine McGREGOR, servant of Revd. HAMILTON. At her trial Grizel made a judicial confession and acknowledgement of her guilt in the presence of the Court and Jury. However, being deemed to be a person of 'bad fame, habit and repute a thief' the 'fifteen assizers' found her guilty. However, because of her confession a capital punishment was not sort and instead the said Grizel JOHNSTON pannel was: ‘transported beyond the Seas to such place as his Majesty with advice of his Privy Counsel shall declare and appoint and that for the space of seven years from this date; with Certification to her that if after being so Transported she shall return to or be found at large within any part of Great Britain or Ireland without some lawful cause during the said space of seven years and be thereat carefully convicted she shall suffer death as in case of Felony without benefit of Clergy by the law of England.’ Grizel JOHNSTON was then returned to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh to be detained awaiting her transportation.

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

The following biography is from the site - FriendsConvictShip.com https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/edit/71185 Grizel Johnston Also known as Grace Convicted: High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh , 27 December 1808 Crime: Housebreaking, habit and repute Age: About 26 Sentence: 7 years Grizel was living in Port Seton, East Lothian, when she broke into a house and stole some washing. The stolen items included children’s clothing, a muslin gown, a petticoat, another gown, a shawl, an apron, two pairs of stockings and several nightcaps. She was found in Edinburgh with some of the goods, despite protesting her innocence. It was her second or third offence. (This information has come from a family website.) Grizel was pregnant on the voyage of the Friends and gave birth to her son John shortly after her arrival in Sydney. The dates suggest Grizel fell pregnant towards the end of February 1811, which was around the time the Scots women were being trans-shipped from Edinburgh to join the Friends at Woolwich in London. 1811 – 17 November, birth of son John Eddington, Sydney CS 1813 – Daughter Jane born 1814 – Grissill Johnson, free, on stores, wife to constable, Sydney M 1815 – Son Daniel born 1817 – Son Thomas MacFarlane born, father’s name: John MacFarlane, mother’s name: Grace (John MacFarlane came on the Admiral Gambier in 1808, also convicted in Edinburgh) 1817 – Ticket of leave issued CI 1819 – Son John admitted to Male Orphan School, Sydney, born 17 November 1811, mother: Grizzle McFarlane, 3 Clarence Street, fishwoman CS 1819 – (with) John McFarlane; 4 children, off stores M 1822 – Grace Johnson, FBS, wife of Johnson, Windsor M 1823 – Daughter Mary Watson born, father: William Watson, mother: Grizel NSWBDM 1825 – Daughter Martha Watson born, father: William Watson, mother: Grizel NSWBDM 1825 – Convict, wife of Watson, shoemaker, Windsor; Son John, came free, Orphan School, Liverpool M 1828 – Grace Watson, aged 40, FBS; William Watson, aged 34, GS, Lord Eldon 1817, 14 years, shoemaker, Windsor; children: Jane aged 13, Daniel aged 11, Mary aged 5, Martha aged 3 CEN 1843 – 15 May, Buried under name of Grace Watson, aged 67 The ages given at various stages of Grizel’s life are inconsistent. Her age given at death suggests she was born in 1776. Her birthdate given on a family website is 1782. Her age given at the time of the 1828 Census would place her birth c. 1788. The following is from a family history website: Grizel was born 11 June 1782 to James Johnston and Jean(Jane) Bird in Tranent, East Lothian. This would put her nearer the age of 26 when she was living in Port Seton, in the parish of Tranent, East Lothian. Grizel had three children to John MacFarlane: Jane born c. 1813, Daniel born c. 1815 and Thomas born 10 October 1817. Several entries on family history sites suggest Grizel gave birth to her eldest son John on board the Friends, however, the information provided in the records of the Male Orphan School contradicts this, providing the date of his birth in November 1811. The name of John’s father was given as Adam Eddington at John’s death in 1891 in Balmain. His mother’s name was given as Grace. There were several men called Adam Eddington in East Lothian when Grizel lived there. Sources: National Archives of Scotland: High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, 27 December 1808, JC8/6, JC4/4, JC26/338 Caledonian Mercury, 28 February 1811 CS: John Eddington, admitted to Male Orphan School 1 January 1819, NRS 898 4/7208 Family history site

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Ron Garbutt on 2nd February 2020

The voyage of the Friends The voyage of the Friends from England to New South Wales in 1811 was its only run as a convict transport. It was one of two ships contracted by a London shipping agent to carry convicts to Sydney at the beginning of 1811; the other was the Admiral Gambier. The Friends carried only women convicts; the Admiral Gambier took a male shipment. The Friends was a three-masted, square-sailed ship of only 339 tons – two-thirds the size of the Admiral Gambier. Two years earlier, in the midst of the Napoleonic War, the then 11-year old ship had been repaired and equipped with new topsides and 14 guns. At the time, James Ralph also took over as master of the vessel. The Friends was refitted again for its voyage to Sydney to turn its ‘tween deck into a prison deck. There were 101 women convicts on board and at least 15 children accompanied them. There were also a number of paying passengers, who included several families with children. Since it was a female transport there were no guards on board, unlike the Admiral Gambier which carried a regiment of soldiers who were en route to duty in New South Wales and who acted as guards for the voyage. The Friends set sail from Galleons Reach on the River Thames, near Woolwich, on 9 March 1811. It finally left English shores from Portsmouth on 8 April. The Friends sailed through the east Atlantic, then across to the coastline of South America to Rio de Janeiro. It was a slow voyage – the vessel was caught in the doldrums – and it took three months to reach Rio in the middle of July. The Friends remained in port for two weeks restocking water and food supplies and set sail again on 28 July. The Friends headed down through the South Atlantic and after a voyage of six months, it weighed anchor in Sydney Cove on 10 October 1811. It had just made the third fastest direct passage yet from Rio of 72 days. The story of the Friends’ voyage is told in more detail in The Girl Who Stole Stockings. Sources: Lloyds Register of Shipping 1804 to 1811 Lloyds List no 4546, 19 March 1811 to no. 4552, 9 April 1811 Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787-1868, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 2004 (first published Glasgow, 1959) Sydney Gazette, 5 October 1811, p. 2 Ships log, Admiral Gambier, State Library of NSW, B597, CY, Reel 1389

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D Wong on 28th October 2017

From the Death Certificate of John Eddington: Died 28 February 1891 (Age 80) Balmain, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Source: Document - Death Certificate Citation details: 1891/002934 Died 28 Feb 1891 at Campbell Street Balmain John Eddington a shoemaker, male age 80 years Cause of death senile decay of 9 months duration Son of Adam Eddington a fisherman and Grace Johnson Informant Frances Griffiths, daughter of Campbell Street Balmain Buried 1 Mar 1891 Church of England cemetery Leichhardt Born on the sea about 80 years in Sydney Married in Sydney to Margaret Riley at age 29 Children of marriage: Margaret 47 years Frances 43 Matilda 41 Emma 37 Arthur 38 Flora 41 living Mary Ann Ellen deceased