John Wood

John Wood was convicted on 7 May 1788 at the Old Bailey, along with John Cobcroft and William Fubbs (alias Fielder, alias Jack the gardener)for violent theft - highway robbery. The offence occured on April 16 on the Edgware Road, north of London. The very detailed court proceedings can be read at: http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17880507-45-off208&div=t17880507-45#highlight John, and the other 2 men, were sentenced to death but all were recommended for mercy which resulted in their sentences being commuted to transportation for life. John arrived at Sydney in late June 1790 aboard the transport Scarborough. Scarborough was one of 5 ships, plus the ill-fated Guardian, that formed the Second Fleet. John's wife, Maria (as well as a small number of other convicts' wives) was allowed free passage to NSW and she arrived in Sydney the same day as John, aboard the transport Neptune. A few men named John Wood were in the colony at the same time as this John; another was even listed on page 56 of the same transportation register. As such it's difficult to accurately determine who was who. However, it is believed that the subject was the John Wood who was granted a conditional pardon on 14 Oct 1793. It is also believed that the same John Wood enlisted in the NSW Corps and was the soldier who was buried at Sydney on 23 Apr 1798. (Of course he may have been the John Wood, "settler killed by the natives", who was buried 16 May 1797 at Sydney.) Maria Wood died on 28 Feb 1803 and the Sydney Gazette (page 4 of the 1st Edition!) gives details of her death. The notice says, "On Monday last, the 28th ult. of a consumption, Maria Wood. She has left three children, two of whom are girls—the eldest is in the Orphan Asylum." Biographies of John and Maria are set out in Michael Flynn's book, "The Second Fleet, Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790".