People Australia

Patrick Connell (1761- ) was a marine in the 6th (Plymouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Charlotte as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain James Campbell's company at Port Jackson. He was court martialled during the voyage and had been sentenced to 100 lashes for insolence to his sergeant and the surgeon. He worked as an 'indifferent carpenter' at Port Jackson in 1788 and 1789.

Connell was sent to Norfolk Island in March 1790 on the Sirius. He returned to Port Jackson in April 1791 to be discharged from the marines and was granted 60 acres at Queenborough on Norfolk Island. He married Margaret Jones in a mass wedding ceremony on the island in November 1791.  By 1792 he was selling sows to the government and in 1793 he was elected a member of the Norfolk Island Settlers Society. He hired Stephen Jones for 12 months. Connell sold his land to Thomas Hibbins in February 1796. He left the island with his wife (no children were recorded) on the Supply, for Port Jackson in April 1796. No further records have been found for him.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 80 and HMS Sirius 1786-1790 website https://hmssirius.com.au/margaret-jones-convict-charlotte-1788/