People Australia

Henry Taylor (c.1754-1804), a stocking weaver, was found guilty on 14 January 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing iron bars and railings from a building. 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 Friendship in March 1787 and arrived in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Taylor was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in February 1789. By 1791 he was subsisting two people on a two acre lot at Sydney Town and sharing a sow with Hannah Hawkins; the couple were married in the mass wedding ceremony on the island in November 1791. By December Taylor was settled on 12 acres at Queenborough (shared with Joseph Paget). Taylor sold his land to William Cross in October 1794 and was employed as an overseer. His health began to decline and by 1805 he was victualled as an invalid.

Henry Taylor died on 30 May 1806 at Norfolk Island. His wife Hannah had returned to Port Jackson by 1801; they had no recorded children.

information from

• Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 350

• Cathy Dunn, People of HM Supply Norfolk Island March 1789 (2016), p 40