People Australia

Thomas Martin (c.1764-1822), a weaver, was found guilty on 10 December 1783 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing 17 linen towels and other items from a house. Sentenced to 7 years transportation to America, he was among the prisoners who mutinied on the convict transport Mercury in April 1784. Recaptured, he was sent to the Dunkirk hulk in June 1784. He was discharged to the Charlotte in March 1787 and arrived in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Martin was ordered to receive 200 lashes on 6 September 1788 for stealing trousers from John Ferguson and trying to bribe him not to complain. He had been granted 30 acres at Prospect by July 1791. A report in 1792 concluded that he was 'a person ignorant respecting agriculture'. He married Mary Ann Hugo on 24 June 1792 at Parramatta; they had at least three surviving children.

Martin sold his Prospect grant but in 1798 received another 50 acres at Toongabbie. In 1814 and 1828 he was listed as a landholder at Parramatta. He was buried at Parramatta on 26 September 1822; his age was given as 70.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 240