People Australia

Mary Morton (c.1763- ) was found guilty on 6 January 1787 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing handkerchiefs from a shop. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, she arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Lady Penrhyn as part of the First Fleet.

It is believed that Morton was the mother of Joshua Bentley who was born on the ship on 16 November 1787. Joshua's mother was later recorded in the baptismal register as Mary Moulton and in the ship's log as Ann Moulton, which also said the child was a girl. No first fleet convict was named Mary Moulton but there was a Mary Morton.

Morton later had two children with Zachary Clark.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 254-55