People Australia

Jane Meech (c.1757-1812), a married woman, was found guilty on 30 March 1786 at Exeter, England, of stealing, with the help of a male companion, four iron chains weighing 60 pounds. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, she was sent to the Dunkirk hulk, where she remained until she was discharged to the Charlotte in March 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. (Meech's name does not appear on the list of convicts, aboard the Charlotte, made up by Major Ross but there is a Jane Alcock on his list who appears nowhere else so that is probably her.)

Meech was sent to Norfolk Island on the Atlantic in November 1791. By June 1794 she was living with William Moulton, a former marine; they had one child.  The family moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in December 1808 on the Lady Nelson. Following Moulton's death in January 1810, Meech married William Hambly on 21 December 1810 at Hobart.

Jane Meech was buried at Hobart on 25 November 1812; her age was given as 57.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 243