Robert Freeman (c.1757- ) and Nicholas Greenwell were found guilty of (a failed) highway robbery at the Old Bailey, London, on 8 December 1784. They had tried to rob a drover returning by chaise to Barnet, Hertsford. Freeman carried a pistol but the postboy 'hit the horses a good lick' and escaped and the two men were caught. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, the men were sent to the Ceres hulk on 5 April 1785. Freeman was discharged to the Alexander in January 1787 and arrived at Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. Greenwell was pardoned, on condition of quitting the kingdom for seven years, and discharged from the Alexander on 12 May, the day before it sailed.
Robert Freeman is on records at Port Jackson in 1788 but disappears after that.
* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 136
'Freeman, Robert (c. 1757–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/freeman-robert-31154/text38542, accessed 9 September 2024.
c. 1757
Crime: insurrection
Sentence: 7 years