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William Godfrey (?–?)

William Godfrey was a marine in the 30th (Plymouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney aboard the Friendship in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain James Campbell's Company at Port Jackson.

Godfrey received 50 lashes on 20 February 1788 for going into the women's tents at Port Jackson. On 17 July 1791 he was taken prisoner after he opened the lock of the wine cellar, while he was working on sentry duty there, and drew off some wine. He was sentenced to 800 lashes at his court martial and was ordered to be 'Drumed out of the Corps as A Scandle to the Corps he belonged'.

Godfrey was given a return passage to England on the Gorgon in December 1791 — though was no longer a marine.

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

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Citation details

'Godfrey, William (?–?)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/godfrey-william-31176/text38563, accessed 19 April 2024.

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