People Australia

Ann Read (c.1764-1828) was found guilty on 12 January 1785 at the Old Bailey, London, of assaulting a woman in a street, taking her coat and trying to take her rings. Her death sentence was commuted to life transportation on 3 March 1785. She remained at Newgate Gaol until she embarked for New South Wales on the Lady Penrhyn in January 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Read was sent to Norfolk Island on the Sirius in March 1790. She lived with Edward Perrott and stayed behind when he left the island in 1793. In November 1795 she made a visit to Port Jackson on the Supply, returning on the Reliance in February 1796. John Drummond was also on the latter ship. The couple lived together on Norfolk Island for many years. Read was granted a conditional pardon on 13 December 1802.

Read and Drummond left Norfolk Island for Sydney on the Minstrel in April 1813. They were married on 3 May 1813 at St Philip's Church, Sydney. Ann was buried at Liverpool on 2 September 1828; her age was given as 61.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 299-300