William Brown (c.1761-1787) was found guilty on 29 July 1783 at Winchester, Hampshire, of a highway robbery that netted him a silver watch worth £3. His death sentence was commuted to 7 years transportation to America. Brown was among the prisoners who mutinied on the convict transport Mercury in April 1784. Recaptured, he was sent to the Dunkirk hulk and was discharged to the Charlotte in March 1787, to be sent to New South Wales.
Brown fell overboard at sea on 19 September 1787. Though the ship was hove to and a boat hoisted out to retrieve him, he could not be saved. 'The ship went directly over him'.
* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 402-03
'Brown, William (c. 1761–1787)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/brown-william-30796/text38146, accessed 26 April 2025.
c. 1761
19 September,
1787
(aged ~ 26)
at sea