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Mary Small (1758–1824)

Mary Parker (1758-1824), a servant, was found guilty on 26 April 1786 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing clothing from a washing line. (It was her second offence. In September 1785 she was sentenced to six months in the House of Correction, Clerkenwell, for the theft of two tablecloths.) Sentenced to seven years transportation, she arrived in Sydney in 1788 aboard the Lady Penrhyn as part of the First Fleet.

Parker married John Small on 12 October 1788; they had seven surviving children.

Mary Small was accidentally drowned in a waterhole near her home at Meadowbank on 4 April 1824.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 275

Additional Resources

Citation details

'Small, Mary (1758–1824)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/small-mary-18834/text36726, accessed 19 April 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Parker, Mary
Birth

26 August, 1758
London, Middlesex, England

Death

24 April, 1824 (aged 65)
Meadowbank, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Cause of Death

drowned

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Passenger Ship
Occupation
Key Events
Convict Record

Crime: theft
Sentence: 7 years