People Australia

William Blunt, a coachman, and John Berryman were found guilty on 10 September 1783 at the Old Bailey, London, for breaking into a house in Soho. Their death sentences were commuted to 7 years transportation. Blunt was sent to the Censor hulk until sent to New South Wales aboard the Scarborough, arriving in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. In February 1789 he was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply. On 14 May 1790 he received 50 lashes for theft.

By mid June 1791 he was supporting two people on a one acre lot at Sydney Town. He and Ann Houston/Owston had each received a pig from the government on 5 February to make them independent of stores for meat. At the end of 1791 he was living on a 12 acre lease at Grenville Vale. A son seems to have died in infancy. Blunt and Houston were still together in 1794. In February 1805 Blunt was recorded as a constable. He died on 3 April 1807.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 39