People Australia

Ann Forbes (c.1768-1851) was found guilty on 2 April 1787 at Kingston, Surrey of stealing £1 worth of printed cotton. She was sentenced to seven years transportation. Her co-accused in the crime, Lydia Munro, was sentenced to 14 years transportation on 17 April 1787. The women were moved on the 26th April from Southwark Gaol to Newgate Gaol, London, and embarked for New South Wales on the Prince of Wales in May 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Forbes had a child, Sarah, with George Bannister, who was baptised in Sydney on 15 November 1789. She was then sent to Norfolk Island in March 1790. Bannister went with her. There is no further record of Sarah – she possibly died.

Forbes was married to William Dring in a mass ceremony on Norfolk Island conducted by Rev Johnson in November 1791. They had three children before returning to Sydney in 1874. Both William and their son Charles then disappear from the records. It is suspected they either died or returned to England. Their elder daughter, Ann, died in 1795.

In the 1806 muster Ann was listed as Thomas Huxley's housekeeper at Mulgrave Place near Windsor. In the 1821 Census the couple were listed as married with ten children. There is no evidence, however, that they ever married. Ann Huxley died on 29 December 1851 and was buried at St Thomas cemetery, Ebenezer.