People Australia

Thomas Invill (c.1747-1836) was found guilty (as Thomas Henwell) on 12 September 1787 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing, from an unfinished house where he was working, two iron chissels, with wooden handles, each valued at 6 pence; one rabbit plane, valued at 2 shillings; and one iron hammer with a wooden handle, valued at 6 pence. Sentenced to 7 years transportation he spent nine months at Newgate Gaol before being sent to the Stanislaus hulk where his age was given as 13. He arrived at Sydney in June 1790 aboard the Surprize as part of the Second Fleet.

Although tried and transported as Henwell he signed his surname as Invill in the colony. When his sentence expired he left the colony on the Endeavour in September 1795. After the ship was damaged and had to be scuttled at Dusky Bay, New Zealand, Invill was among those rescued and brought to Norfolk Island in January 1796. He then made his way back to Sydney.

With several others Invill was sentenced to death in November 1796 for stealing from government stores. His death sentence was reprieved on 9 December. Still under sentence in 1806 he was working as a baker. He was not granted a conditional pardon until 1817.

Invill had two children with Isabella Johnson  (Thomas, 1806) and (Sophia 1808). On 29 November 1813 at St Philips Church, he married Jane Jeffries, a widow. He was still working as a baker in Sydney in 1828.

Thomas Invill died at Sydney Hospital in July 1836 and was buried on 22 July. He was described in the register at St Philips Church as a labourer, aged 60.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 357-58