People Australia

Elizabeth Ayers (c.1759- ) and Ann Wood were found guilty on 24 October 1787 at the Middlesex Old Bailey Sessions of stealing a coat, a pair of breeches, buckles and stockings from a man who had paid to lodge with them for the night. Sentenced to 7 years transportation the women arrived at Sydney in June 1790 aboard the Lady Juliana as part of the Second Fleet.

Ayers married John Cuss on 12 July 1790. The couple were living in Sydney in 1801. John Cuss may have died prior to 21 January 1805 when his will leaving his effects in the colony to John Mullins was registered. There is no further trace of Elizabeth Cuss in colonial records after that date. Whether she predeceased her husband or left the colony after his death is not known.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 142