People Australia

Eleanor Watson (c.1759-1828) was found guilty on 25 March 1789 at the Kingston Upon Thames Assizes, Surrey, of stealing money without violence — she stole money from a man in a room. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, she arrived at Sydney in January 1790 aboard the Lady Juliana as part of the Second Fleet.

Watson was sent to Norfolk Island on the Surprize, arriving in August 1790. By 1791 she was living with Henry Hatheway on a 2 acre block at Sydney Town. In June 1794 they were recorded as unmarried and childless but Eleanor gave birth to a daughter in October 1796; the child appears to have died prior to 1805 as the couple were recorded as childless in that year. Eleanor was recorded as the matron of the island's orphan school in 1805.

The couple left Norfolk Island for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the Lady Nelson in 1808, settling on 30 acres at New Town and 30 acres in Argyle in 1813.

Eleanor Hatheway died at O'Brien's Bridge. Her burial was registered at St David's, Hobart, on 12 September 1828, nine days after her husband; her age was given as 78 and her profession as 'poor woman'.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 598