People Australia

Charlotte Springmore (c.1756-1822) and Mary Harrison, both silk winders, were found guilty on 19 October 1785 at the Old Bailey, London, of throwing acid at a woman they suspected was operating as a prostitute in their area. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, the women arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Lady Penrhyn as part of the First Fleet.

Springmore married William Gloster on 11 February 1788. The couple and their daughter Mary were sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in January 1790; Mary had at least two more children before the family returned to Port Jackson on the Britannia in 1793, but it may have been an earlier ship.

In 1814, following her husband's death, Charlotte lived with Samuel Witney. He was still under sentence and was assigned to her.

Charlotte Gloster drowned on 24 June 1822 and was buried at Castlereagh on 28 June; her age was given as 64.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 341