People Australia

Maria Hamilton (c.1753- ), a lace weaver, was found guilty on 19 October 1785 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing a linen gown, nine and a half yards of linen trimming, a silk and cotton gown, a black flounced petticoat, an apron, a black silk bonnet, and 9 shillings 6 pence in money from a house. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, she arrived at Sydney aboard the Lady Penrhyn in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Hamilton married William Thompson on 24 March 1788 at Sydney Cove. On 28 August 1788 she received 25 lashes (her husband received 30) for drunkenness and insolence. The couple and their young son were sent to Norfolk Island on the Sirius in March 1790; two more children were recorded as being born on the island. William Thompson died in 1805.

Maria Thompson left Norfolk Island for Vn Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the City of Edinburgh in September 1808, possibly as an unidentified servant of Robert Nash or William Broughton. She was credited with £8 for their property and buildings on Norfolk Island. Her date of death is not known.

information from

• Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 157-58
• HMS Sirius 1786-1790 https://hmssirius.com.au/william-thompson-convict-alexander-1788-and-maria-hamilton-convict-lady-penrhyn-1788/ — accessed 7 September 2020