People Australia

Hannah Hawkins (c.1762-1837), the wife of William Hawkins, was found guilty on 13 August 1789 at the Stafford Assizes, England, of burglary. Her death sentence was commuted to 7 years transportation soon afterwards. She arrived at Sydney in June 1790 aboard the Neptune as part of the Second Fleet.

Hawkins was sent to Norfolk Island on the Surprize, arriving in August 1790. Lieutenant Clark recorded that she received 25 lashes on 5 April 1791, one of four women punished 'for Refusing to doe what ther overseer ordered them'.

Hawkins had been issued a sow with Henry Taylor in February 1791; the couple were married in the mass wedding ceremony held on the island in November 1791. They had separated by 1801.  Hannah returned to Port Jackson. In 1806 she was recorded as childless and living with Archibald Kane on a ten acre rented farm. In 1814 and 1822 they were recorded farming in the Windsor district. Kane died in 1823 and Hannah fell into poverty. She died (as Hannah Hawkins) at the Windsor Poorhouse and was buried on 7 June 1837 at St Matthew's, Windsor. She was described as a pauper, aged 75.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 324