People Australia

Henry Horne (c.1762- ) and Alexander Kennedy were found guilty on 10 December 1783 at the Old Bailey, London, of highway robbery: having assaulted a man and stolen a gold watch with two stone seals set in gold, two rings, and fifteen guineas in monies. Their death sentences were commuted to 7 years transportation to Africa on 25 February 1874. Kennedy was sent to Africa on the Recovery in January 1785; Horne was sent to the Ceres hulk in that same month. He arrived at Sydney aboard the Alexander in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Horne worked as cox of the governor's boat as a free man. On 26 January 1792 his son Henry was baptised. On 20 September 1792 he was a witness at the trial of William Godfrey. No further information has been found for Horne in colonial records. As an experienced seaman it would have been easy for him to ship out of the colony when his term expired.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 179