People Australia

William Gloster (c.1749-1792?) was found guilty on 29 June 1785 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing a great coat and three coach glasses. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, he was sent to the Ceres hulk, where he remained until he embarked for New South Wales on the Alexander in January 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Gloster married Charlotte Springmore on 11 February 1788. He worked in the colony as a carpenter, working on the Sirius and helping to erect huts. He was sent to Norfolk Island, with his wife and young daughter Mary on the Supply in January 1790. In December 1790 he received 50 lashes for impertinence to a supervisor.

By July 1791 Gloster was subsisting his family of four people on a Sydney Town lot, with 120 rods cleared. With his wife and children Gloster left Norfolk Island on the Britannia in November 1793, according to victualling records. But as this voyage went directly to India they may have left on an earlier ship.

He may be the William 'Glister' who was burial was registered at St John's, Parramatta on 31 July 1792.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 143