Susannah Fowkes (c. 1766–?)
Susannah Bray (c.1766- ), alias Susannah Gay, was found guilty on 22 April 1789 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing a linen sheet from her lodging room. Sentenced to 7 years transportation she embarked on the Lady Juliana for New South Wales in May 1789 but was removed from the ship in June to enable time for a report to be made after she lodged a petition for mitigation of her sentence. The trial judge saw no reason to recommend any mitigation and Bray arrived at Sydney aboard the Mary Ann in July 1791.
Bray married Francis Fowkes at St John's Parramatta on 21 October 1792; both signing their names on the register. She was granted 30 acres of land at Toongabbie in October 1799; the same month her husband was granted 85 acres at Toongabbie.
Francis Fowkes left the colony on the Buffalo for Cape Town, South Africa, in 1800. Susannah does not appear on the list of supernumeraries on the ship and it is not clear if she accompanied her husband.
* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 648
Additional Resources
- proceedings of trial, Old Bailey, London, 22 April 1789 (pdf)
Related Entries in NCB Sites
- Fowkes, Francis (husband)
Citation details
'Fowkes, Susannah (c. 1766–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/fowkes-susannah-31145/text38533, accessed 12 October 2024.