People Australia

Ann Martin (1769-1822) and Amelia Levy were found guilty on 9 January 1787 at Southwark Quarter Sessions, Surrey, of stealing silk handkerchiefs. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, they arrived at Sydney aboard the Lady Penrhyn in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Martin was charged with being drunk on 23 August 1788 and was ordered to make wooden pegs for roof shingles for a month. On 30 March 1789 she was charged with creating a nighttime disturbance and was sentenced to receive 25 lashes.

Martin was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in November 1789. She returned to Sydney in 1792 on the Atlantic. She had a daughter, Sarah, with William Miller who was placed in the Orphan Institution in 1800. In 1809 she had a son, James, with Samuel Howell who died in infancy. Ann Martin, who was sometimes recorded as Mary Martin, was buried, probably in an unmarked grave, on 2 January 1822 at St John's Parramatta; her age was given as 52.

information from

• Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 238

• C. H. McNeil, 'First Fleeter Ann (aka Mary) Martin 1769-1822', Fellowship of First Fleeters — http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/annmartin.htm - accessed 9 September 2020