People Australia

Samuel Marsden (c.1769-1790) was a private in the New South Wales Corps when he arrived at Sydney in June 1790 aboard the Surprize as part of the Second Fleet. He was sent to Norfolk Island on the Kitty in February 1793 and lived with Rachel Early. They had a daughter Elizabeth in January 1784 before returning to Port Jackson in March on the Francis. Samuel returned alone to Norfolk Island with the corps in July but returned to Sydney in November 1795. He was back on Norfolk Island sometime in 1797-1798. Rachel and Elizabeth had returned to Norfolk Island in February 1796. Rachel and Samuel's relationship had ended by 1798 by which time Marsden was living with Ann Armsworth; the couple married on 19 January 1800 and had at least five children.

Marsden remained on Norfolk Island with his family until the NSW Corps was recalled in 1810. He then joined the Veteran Company in Sydney. By 1822 his family had moved to the Liverpool district. He was pensioned off soon afterwards and worked as a shoemaker until he died in February 1830. He was buried at Liverpool on 25 February 1830.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), pp 426-27