People Australia

John King (c.1754- ) was found guilty on 21 April 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing a greatcoat and a linen towel from a peg in a stable. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, he was sent to the Censor hulk on 6 September 1784, where he remained until he embarked for New South Wales on the Scarborough in February 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

King worked as a bricklayer at Port Jackson. In 1789 he made 11,000 bricks a week, with 16 men and two boys to assist him.

On 19 October 1790 King married Mary Humphries. He was granted 30 acres at Bulanaming in 1794. By mid 1800 he had 6½ acres sown in wheat with a similar acreage ready for maize. Two years later he had 16 acres cleared. He and his wife and one servant were off stores.

Following his wife's death in March 1810, King returned to England, probably on the Atlanta which left Sydney in October 1810. He had been overseer of brick and tile makers and had been living in a government-owned house at Brickfields.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 207