People Australia

Jacob Bellett, a silk weaver, was found guilty on 12 January 1785 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing 51 ells of half-ell lining, one pound of unwound black silk and 32 ounces of double black silk wound. Sentenced to 7 years transportation he was sent to the Ceres hulk before arriving in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Scarborough as part of the First Fleet.

On 4 March 1790 Bellett was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply. By July 1791 he was supporting two people on a Sydney Town lot. In December he was living on 12 acres. By mid June 1794 he was living with Ann Harper and two children.

In 1805 Bellett was listed as a constable and had 26 acres cultivated, with 22 waste acres and held 16 swine. He and his wife had 7 children. On 3 September 1808, Bellett, his wife and 8 children were evacuated to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the City of Edinburgh where he took up 45 acres at Queenborough and 40 acres at Gloucester. His burial was registered at St David's Hobart on 2 December 1813; his age given as 47.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 32-33