People Australia

Thomas Lucas (1759-1815), formerly a glazier, was a marine in the 23rd (Portsmouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney aboard the Scarborough in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain John Shea's Company at Port Jackson as a glazier.

Lucas had a son Thomas with Ann Howard (born 29 December 1791). He enlisted in the New South Wales Corps in December 1792 as a corporal and was sent to Norfolk Island in October 1794 on the Daedalus. Discharged from the corps in 1797 he received a 60 acre land grant in August 1797.

Lucas worked as a glazier and painter at Norfolk Island. He married Ann Howard on 17 August 1801; signing the register. He was a first class settler in 1805, with a wife and four children; 31 of his acres were cultivated and he owned 26 sheep and 31 swine. He moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in September 1808 with his wife and four children on the City of Edinburgh, settling on 100 acres at Queenborough, 180 at Kingborough and 60 acres at Lennox.

Thomas Lucas died at Kingston, Tasmania, on 29 August 1815 and was buried at St David's, Hobart; his age was given as 56.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 225-26; his age was given as 56.