William Childs (c.1762- ), a waterman, was found guilty on 10 January 1786 at the Southwark Quarter Sessions of the theft of 21 yards of black lace. Sentenced to 7 years transportation he was sent to the Justitia hulk in March 1786 and embarked for New South Wales on the Alexander in January 1787, arriving in the colony in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.
Childs was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in January 1790 and was subsisting himself on a Sydney Town lot by July 1791. He returned to Port Jackson on the Chesterfield in March 1793. No further records have been found for him. It is possible he left the colony.
* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 69
'Childs, William (c. 1762–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/childs-william-30541/text37861, accessed 16 April 2024.