Sarah Thomas (1766–1803)
Sarah Varriner was found guilty, on 7 March 1789 at the Salisbury (Wiltshire) Assizes, of stealing a leather purse containing 17 guineas. Sentenced to death (later reprieved to seven years transportation) she arrived in Sydney in 1790 aboard the Lady Juliana. She married William Kilby (her name given as Sarah Varenton) on 21 November 1790. The couple settled on 60 acres at Prospect. William Kilby dispappears from the records after 1795. He may have died with no record of his burial surviving or he left the colony.
At St John's, Parramatta, as Mary Valenda, she married Charles Thomas on 4 January 1796. In 1800 as Sarah Valenen she was recorded with Thomas on a 20 acre farm in the Hawkesbury area; they were self-supporting and had no children.
In September 1802 as Sarah Verender she received a 20 acre land grant in her own right. She was probably the Mary Thomas whose burial was registered at St Phillips, Sydney, on 13 December 1803.
* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), pp 586-87
Related Entries in NCB Sites
- Kilby, William (husband)
- Thomas, Charles (husband)
Citation details
'Thomas, Sarah (1766–1803)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/thomas-sarah-29871/text36972, accessed 15 January 2025.
Life Summary [details]
Alternative Names
- Varriner, Sarah
- Valenden, Sarah
- Varenton, Sarah
- Kilby, Sarah
- Valenda, Sarah
- Valenen, Sarah
- Verender, Sarah
Birth
1766
Painswick,
Gloucestershire,
England
Death
12 December,
1803
(aged ~ 37)
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
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.