People Australia

Thomas Newby was found guilty at the June 1788 Old Bailey Sessions of stealing a mare. His death sentence was commuted to life transportation. He arrived in Sydney in 1790 aboard the Scarborough as part of the Second Fleet. Later that year he was sent to Norfolk Island. In February 1791 he was recorded as sharing a sow and was allowed to cultivate a small block of land. He was then living with a woman, thought to be Sarah Jones.

In 1802 he was recorded as being a constable and in 1805 was overseeing a convict gang. He was granted 41 acres of land and was recommended for a pardon in 1804. He purchased 25 acres in 1806. In 1807 he and Sarah Jones transferred to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) where he was granted 80 acres of land at New Town. Sarah died in 1814.

Newby was living in Hobart and was recorded as a bailiff employed by Provost Marshall Timms in 1818. In 1819 he was recorded as holding 50 acres of land in the Hobart area. By then he was living with Eleanor McEvoy. They had two children by 1820. In 1823 he was sentenced to life transportation for forging a promissory note at Hobart. He was also convicted of stealing goods from a house.

Newby died at New Norfolk (as Thomas Newbey) at New Norfolk and was buried on 18 March 1833; his age was given as 69 and his occupation as 'invalid'.

*information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), pp 458-59