Ann Wilson

343

Maureen Withey on 30th September 2025

On Sunday evening last a most shocking murder was committed at Parramatta, on Mrs. Rowe, who had for many years lived in the house of Charles Wright, which lies between Mr. Joseph Ward's and the Stone-quarry. The body of the unfortunate woman was found on Monday morning on the floor of her own dwelling, lifeless, bruised from head to foot, and mangled in a brutal manner.— She appeared to have been strangled with a shawl she wore when attacked ; her breast was much torn, by her own finger nails to all appearance, during her dire struggles. Soon after the information reached Town, the Coroner set out for Parramatta, and arriving on Monday evening, summoned an Inquest which assembled early on Tuesday, and proceeded to the enquiry. A Gentleman of the Faculty having declared the strangulation to have been sufficient to occasion death, several persons who lived contiguous to the deceased were examined on suspicion ; and from the evidence of John Welch, a boy 14 years of age, his father James Welch, and himself, a woman named Ann Wilson, who came prisoner in the Experiment brig, and James Donne, a foreigner, were committed by the Coroner for the murder, and sent down to Sydney, where they await a legal investigation of the dreadful charge. Sydney Gazette, 31 Aug 1811. ---------------------------------------------------------------- For the full Report of the Trial: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/628315?searchTerm=Ann%20wilson TRIAL for MURDER. Yesterday the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction assembled at 10 in the forenoon ; and proceeded to the trial of John Donne alias Dun, a foreigner ; Thos. Welch, and Ann Wilson, for the wilful murder of Mary Rowe, at Parramatta, on Sunday the 25th of August ultimo. The indictment charged Donne as the perpetrator of the crime, and under three counts charged Welch and Wilson as accessaries to, before, and after the fact. … John Welch, a boy about 14 years of age, son of the prisoner at the bar Thomas Welch, was then called as an Evidence for the Crown, …. deposed, that he lived at Parramatta with his father, with whom the prisoner at the bar Ann Wilson co-habited, and that the other prisoner at the bar, John Donne, lodged in the same house when in Parramatta, he being employed on the roads by Mr. Harrex, the Road Contractor.— The deponent knew the deceased very well, as she was his father's next door neighbour ; ... … ... the Verdict of the Court, which without a shadow of doubt had convicted the prisoner Donne of wilful murder, and the prisoner Thos. Welch of being an accessary after the fact, which extended to him the Benefit of Clergy. Ann Wilson was pronounced Not Guilty. Sydney Gazette, 14 Sept 1811.

343

Maureen Withey on 16th February 2021

Irish Convict Database by Peter Mayberry. Ann or Sarah Wilson, per Experiment II (1809), Tried Armagh, 1806, 7 years.