Free passengers on the Friends
Settlers
James and Ann Greenwood emigrated from England to settle in NSW. They sailed on the Friends with two young children, John and James. See John Greenwood See James Greenwood
1801 – 12 January, James Greenwood married Ann Gardner (also spelt Gardiner) at Christchurch, Newgate, London
1806 – Approximate birth year of son John, London
1809 – Approximate birth year of son James, Spitalfields, Whitechapel, London
1812 – Birth year of son William, Pennant Hills, NSW
1822 – Settlers, Canterbury, Children shown incorrectly as all born in the colony M
1825 – James, overseer to Mr Campbell M (Robert Campbell owned the Canterbury Estate, now a suburb of Sydney)
1828 – James, aged 50, Ann aged 49, landholder Petersham, Children: John, James, William, 5 horses, 5 horned cattle CEN
1831 – 12 January, James buried aged 52 years, Sydney
1850 – 30 November, Ann died aged 70 years, Kent Street, Sydney, buried Penrith, NSW
According to their oldest son John’s death certificate, James Greenwood was a weaver in England.
Sources:
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Son of James and Ann Greenwood
John was about five years old when he travelled on the Friends with his parents James and Ann Greenwood and brother James. See James and Ann Greenwood See James Greenwood
1806 – Approximate birth year in London
1822 – Aged 15, with parents at Canterbury M
1828 – Aged 22, with parents at Petersham CEN
1833 – 21 August, John Greenwood married Mary Ann Pickering (born NSW), St James, County of Cumberland
1851 – Lived Liverpool Road, Cumberland
1872 – 24 October, John died aged 67, Araluen, Braidwood, NSW
John was a farmer but one family history site suggests he was also a gold miner at some stage.
John and Mary Ann had 10 children: John Charles (b. 1835), James (b. 1836), William (b. 1838), Mary Ann (b. 1840), Thomas (b. 1841), Catherine (b. 1843), Edward (b. 1846), Alfred (b. 1848), Rosetta (b. 1851) and Henry John (b. 1854).
Sources:
Family history site (1)
Family history site (2)S
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Son of James and Ann Greenwood
James was about two years old when he travelled on the Friends James and Ann Greenwood and brother John. See James and Ann Greenwood See John Greenwood
1809 – Approximate birth year in London
1822 – Aged 13, with parents at Canterbury M
1828 – Aged 21, with parents at Petersham CEN
1857 – James Greenwood m. Mary McClure, Braidwood, NSW
1884 – 27 June, James died aged 75, Braidwood, NSW, buried Braidwood Cemetery
James and Mary had two children James (b. 1859) and Alice (b. 1860).
Sources:
Family history site
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Twenty-five year old Edward Smith Hall and his wife Charlotte (also nee Hall), aged 27, had been married only a few months when they set sail for NSW on the Friends. Edward had been born in London but was brought up near Falkingham, in Lincolnshire, the son of a banker. Charlotte was from Portsea, near Portsmouth.
Edward’s application to migrate had been supported by William Wilberforce and he carried a letter of recommendation to Governor Macquarie from Robert Peel, under-secretary of the Colonial Office in London. Edward requested the services of one of the convict women on the ship as a servant for the voyage. Charlotte was pregnant and gave birth to their daughter, also named Charlotte, in Sydney on 3 November 1811, just three weeks after the Friends’ arrival.
The Halls had nine children (and one stillborn) before Charlotte died on 2 August 1826, aged 43. Edward married twice more and had three more children.
After his arrival in NSW Edward received a grant of 700 acres at Bringelly. He also later held land at Lake Bathurst, Surry Hills and Moore Park. He achieved prominence in Sydney as a banker, founder and editor of The Monitor, and in several judicial positions. He helped found the charitable NSW Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence, and the Benevolent Society of NSW. Edward died in Sydney on 18 September 1860 at the age of 74.
The children of Edward and Charlotte were: Charlotte (b. 1811), Edward (b. 1813), Matilda (b. 1815), Jane (b. 1816), Mary (b. 1818), Sophia (b. 1819), Georgiana (b. 1821), Mary Ann (b. 1823) and Victor (b. 1825).
Edward married Sarah Holmes on 3 August 1831 and had two children with her: Fanny (b. 1834) and William (b. 1836).
After Sarah died, Edward remarried Emily Tandy on 2 March 1842 and had Burton (b. 1848).
Much more comprehensive biographies of Edward Smith Hall can be found at the sites listed below.
Sources:
The National Archives, Kew, England: Admiralty Records, Letter to Transport Office, ADM 108/94
HRA Vol 7, pp 349-50
Wikipedia
Australian Dictionary of Biography
National Library of Australia
www.monitorhall.org
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Son of Jane Sims (also spelt Simms)
Eighteen-year old Alfred accompanied his mother Jane and younger sister Felicia on the Friends. His mother had been appointed midwife to the colony and the family travelled at the government’s expense. His father William Sims Esq. held the position of collector of customs in London. See Jane Sims See Felicia Sims
1793 – Approximate birth year in London
1814 – Labourer, Windsor, NSW M
1817 – Sought permission to marry Mary Ann Clark, convict on Mary Ann CS
1818 – 5 January, aged 25, married Mary Ann Clark, convict, aged 26, at St Philips, Sydney, Rev. Cowper’s marriage return CS NSWBDM
1822 – Constable, Liverpool M
1825 – Landholder, Campelltown M
1828 – Aged 35, Mary Ann aged 40, settler, Airds, 100 acres, Children: William, aged 10; Mary Ann aged 7 CEN
1852 – 25 October, Alfred died aged 56 NSWBDM
Alfred and Mary Ann had two children: William George born 28 September 1818 and Mary Ann born 20 June 1821 in Liverpool. Alfred petitioned the colonial administration for a land grant that was approved in 1818 and he received in 1819. He also later requested in 1823 that he and his family could be victualled from government stores. This request was initially refused on the presumption that he and his family would have received stores for the year following his land grant. Alfred replied that he had not and that he wanted the support of stores so that he could afford to fence his property. Family history sites state he died in Queanbeyan.
Alfred’s mother had left his father in England and Alfred was not included in his father’s will when he died.
Sources:
CS: 1 December 1817, NRS 937 4/3497 p. 176; Marriage return for the quarter ending 31 March 1818, St Philips, Sydney, NRS 898 9/2652, p. 58 ; 12 May, 8 July, 4 September 1823, NRS 899 4/1835B No. 294 pp. 781-96. Reply 16 May 1823 NRS 937 4/3508 p. 324
National Portrait Gallery – William Sims
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Daughter of Jane Sims (also spelt Simms)
Seventeen-year old Felicia travelled on the Friends with her mother and older brother Alfred. Her mother had been appointed midwife to the colony and the family travelled at the government’s expense. Felicia’s father William Sims Esq. held the position of collector of customs in London. See Jane Sims See Alfred Sims
1794 – Approximate birth year in London
1811 – 2 November, advertised a day school in Pitt Street, Sydney, Sydney Gazette
1814 – Teacher at Capt R. (name unclear), Windsor M
1815 – 15 September, Felicia Sims, aged 25, m. Isaac Wood, aged 40, St Philips, Sydney, Rev. Cowper’s marriage returns CS
Isaac was a convict on a ticket of leave.
1816 – 16 July, son William Henry born Sydney
1817 – 4 June, Isaac received absolute pardon CS
1817 – 3 November, son Joseph born Sydney
1820 – Daughter Eliza born Sydney NSWBDM
1821 – Daughter Louisa born Sydney NSWBDM
1821 – 30 March, Felicia Wood died “after a severe but short illness”, aged 27, “much respected and severely lamented”; buried 2 April, Sydney Gazette
Age also given as 27 in funeral return CS
1822 – Isaac Wood, FS, schoolmaster Sydney, Children: William Henry, aged 6, Eliza, aged 4, Joseph aged 3 and Louisa aged 1 ½ (ages are incorrect) M
1823 – 14 February, Isaac died, Sydney aged 43
One family history site gives a birth date for Felicia of 6 November 1793 and christening on 1 December, in Westminster, under the name “Elizabeth Simms”, with parents named as William Simms and Jane “Stewart”. However, Jane’s maiden name was, in fact, Hobbins Wade.
In November 1811, the Sydney Gazette carried this advertisement: “Miss Sims lately from England in the “Friends” has opened a day school at 16 Pitt St for the reception of young ladies and gentlemen not exceeding 8 years old. Whole instruction in the useful branches of education and the inculcation of moral sentiments. Young ladies will have the advantage of the finest needlework and in short time become capable of preparing their own dresses.”
Felicia was aged about 21 when she married Isaac Wood, not 25 as noted on the marriage return. Isaac Wood had also opened a school, initially in Parramatta, and then in 1815 he shifted it to Sydney. He was a convict still on a ticket of leave. He had been convicted in Wexford, Ireland, in 1812 of an attempted bank robbery two years earlier, sentenced to seven years’ transportation and arrived in NSW on the Archduke Charles in 1813. According to family history sites, Felicia taught with Isaac at the school in Sydney, styled as the “Sydney Academy” at 96 Pitt Street. It was so successful that in mid 1816 they had to move to larger premises at 53 Phillips Street and then to a larger building again in Macquarie Street at the end of 1819. The school took day boys and boarders initially; then in mid 1820 it opened its doors to girls, though only for limited hours.
Isaac died just 22 months after Felicia. The two youngest children were placed in the Male and Female Orphan Schools at Parramatta in May 1825. Isaac had arranged for the older two children to be placed under the guardianship of Francis E. Forbes (a former convict and Sydney merchant who was a partner in a distillery). At the end of 1825, their grandmother Jane Sims, wrote to the colonial administration requesting passages back to England for herself and her four orphaned grandchildren, claiming that the eldest two were “most unhappily situated”. Her petition was declined. In 1828, Joseph was still in the orphan school at Cabramatta and Louisa was in the school at Parramatta; Louisa died there the following year. William was living with the Forbes family in Liverpool and Eliza was boarding with James Smith in Parramatta. Ages given for William and Eliza were in 1828 were 15 and 11 respectively, which were incorrect.
Felicia’s mother had left her father in London and neither Felicia or any of her children were included in her father’s will when he died.
Sources:
Sydney Gazette, 2 November 1811 and 31 March 1821; Sydney Monitor, 15 June 1829, p. 1 (death of Louisa)
Convict register of pardons, www. ancestry.com.au
CS: Marriage return for quarter ending 30 September 1815, St Philips, Sydney, NRS 898, Reel 6024; Burial return for quarter ending 30 June 1821, St Philips, Sydney, NRS 898, Reel 6024; (Jane Simms) 6 December 1825, NRS 897 4/1789, p. 29; (Jane Simms) 28 December 1825, NRS 937 4/3516, p. 262
Family history site (1)
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Also spelt Simms
Jane Sims travelled to NSW at the age of fifty with two adult children, Alfred and Felicia, to take up a position as midwife to the colony. Their passages were paid by the government. See Alfred Sims See Felicia Sims
As Jane Hobbins Wade she had married William Sims and went on to have six children with him in London: Arabella (bapt. 22 November 1782, St Andrews Holborn), Robert Hobbins (bapt. 18 May 1784, St Andrews Holborn), Reynard Edward (b. 1786, bapt. 1789 Christchurch, Newgate), Frederick (b. 1786), Alfred (born about 1793) and Felicia (born about 1794). Jane and William had an unhappy marriage and Jane left him to go to NSW.
1761 – 5 April, baptised as Jane Hobbins Wade at St Olave, Hart Street, London, father John Wade, mother Jane
1782 – 10 January, Jane Hobbins Wade m. William Sims Esq., St Andrews Holborn
1812 – Paid from the Police fund as midwife to the General Hospital from 10 October to 31 December 1811 – £8 19s 6p, i.e. she started work as soon as she arrived in Sydney CS
1814 – Midwife, Windsor M
1819 – Described as widow M
1822 – Jane Hobbins Sims, schoolmistress, Liverpool M
1828 – Aged 78, inmate, Ann Law’s, Homebush, Sydney Road, Concord CEN
1838 – 9 December, died aged 93 (Her correct age was 77)
William Sims worked for HM Customs for 60 years and retired as collector of customs. On 27 February 1813, two years after Jane left, he was awarded a pension of £1550 in recognition of his years of government service. At the time he made his will in 1817 he was living in Great Surry Street, Christchurch, Middlesex, probably at the same address as his daughter Arabella, who had married Thomas Watson Esq, who also worked for HM Customs. (William’s son Reynard also worked for HM Customs.) William’s will outlined a number of substantial bequests to his England-domiciled children and grandchildren only. He also made specific mention of Jane: “To Jane Hobbins, formerly Jane Wade, to whom I was unfortunately married but from whom I have many years since been divorced or separated the sum of 1 shilling upon the rousition that upon receiving the same she gives a discharge accordingly to my executors”. The will was proved on 20 November 1828, so William died some time before that date. William was painted by the artist Charles Turner and the work was published in 1816; the portrait is held by London’s National Portrait Gallery. (William also had a daughter Elizabeth from a previous marriage who married William Hodgson in London just six years after he married Jane.)
Jane did not have a successful time in the colony. Her daughter Felicia died in 1821 in Sydney. To improve her circumstances Jane opened a school for young girls in Liverpool in 1822. She expected to be given a grant of land but it was not customary to give grants to women and her application was declined. She also asked for two or three head of cattle in 1823, her situation being difficult, and having “never received any indulgences from government”. At the end of 1825, Jane wrote to the colonial administration requesting passages back to England for herself and her four orphaned grandchildren, claiming that the eldest two were “most unhappily situated”. Her petition was again declined. She was already at least in her mid sixties by that stage.
When her granddaughter Louisa Wood died in 1829, Jane placed an announcement in The Monitor that described her as “an orphan in the Institution at Parramatta, grand daughter of the late Williams Sims Esq, Collector of Customs in London under the Patent for sixty years”.
Sources:
Birth of Jane, www.findmypast.co.uk
Marriage of Elizabeth Sims to William Hodgson www.ancestry.com
Finance Accounts of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol X, 4 November 1813 to 30 July 1814, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, HM Stationery Office 1814, p. 67 (William Sims)
The National Archives, Kew, England: PROB 11/1628/297 (William Sims)
CS: Paid from police fund, 1 February 1812, NRS 898 SZ758, p. 279; School for females, 3 June 1822, NRS 897 4/1760 p. 101-101b; Request for cattle, March 1823, NRS 897 4/1770 pp. 134-5; Request for land grant, 6 September 1823, NRS 899 4/1835B pp. 797-800; Reply to land grand request, 20 January 1825 NRS 937 4/3513 p. 296; Request for passage home, 6 December 1825 NRS 897 4/1789, p. 29; Reply to request for passage, 28 December 1825 NRS 937 4/3516, p. 262
Sydney Monitor, 15 June 1829, p. 1
Morning Chronicle, London, 17 October 1859 (death of Arabella Watson)
National Portrait Gallery (William Sims)
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Charlotte Tindall (nee Thompson) was married to John Tindall who had arrived in NSW before her as a convict on the Indian in 1810. Charlotte was given permission by the authorities to join her husband in the colony and received a free passage. She sailed on the Friends with four children, John, Frances (Fanny), Thomas and Hannah.
According to family history websites, Charlotte was born in Ousebridge, Yorkshire, and had married John in Bubwith, Yorkshire in 1802. Seven years later John was convicted of burglary at the York Assizes. Described as “of Selby”, he was part of a gang that stole some sacks of linseed from a granary at Church Fenton. During the investigation a number of house breaking implements were found in his house. John was sentenced to death, later commuted to transportation for life.
1784 – 22 February, born Yorkshire
1802 – 2 December, Charlotte Thompson m. John Tindall, Bubwith
1812 – 16 January, John issued ticket of leave, www.ancestry.com
1814 – Charlotte Tindall, off stores, Windsor, wife to John (working at the mountains) M
1815 – 5 June, John issued conditional pardon CP
1820 – John Tindall, landholder, Castlereagh and Evans M
1822 – Wife of John Tindall, CP, landholder, Windsor, Children: William aged 9, George aged 7, John aged 5, Charles (stet) aged 3 M
1825 – Wife of John Tindall, landholder Windsor, Children: William aged 13, George aged 11, John aged 8, Charlotte aged 5, John (stet) aged 3, all born colony M
1828 – Aged 47, wife of John Tindall, aged 50, farmer, Evan; Children: William aged 15, George aged 13, John aged 11, Charlotte aged 8, Michael aged 5 CEN
1836 – 26 January, John died Castlereagh, NSW
1839 – 10 June, Charlotte married Thomas Mansell, Castlereagh, NSW
1868 – 18 March, Charlotte died, Liverpool, NSW
According to a local history website, Charlotte’s three oldest children, who all travelled on the Friends, died in 1815. See John, Frances (Fanny) and Thomas Tindall See Hannah Tindall
Children born in NSW were William (born 1812), George (born 1815), John (born 1817), Charlotte (born 1820) and Michael (born 1822).
Shortly after his family’s arrival in NSW John was granted a ticket of leave. However, at the end of that same year, 1812, he was convicted with another man of stealing a quantity of clover and rye grass seed. John was sentenced to 12 months on the chain gang and, according to a family history site, during this time he worked on the construction of the road across the Blue Mountains. He and five other men were ordered to return and finish the road in December 1814 and on its completion, they were to be discharged. William Cox strongly recommended them for a pardon and also recommended that they each be given a small grant of land. However, while he received the pardon, it seems that John did not receive his grant of 50 acres until 1825 after he petitioned the colonial government in 1824 and 1825.
In discussion of John Tindall on some websites, it appears that details of his life are sometimes confused with that of another John Tindall who arrived on the Guildford in 1812.
Charlotte’s second husband, Thomas Mansell, was convicted at the Worcester Assizes, 6 March 1830, of housebreaking and sentenced to transportation for life. He arrived on the Florentia in 1831. He was a blacksmith by trade, and he received a conditional pardon in 1847.
Sources:
York Assizes, York Herald, 5 August 1809
“Court of Criminal Jurisdiction” Sydney Gazette, 7 November 1812, p. 2
CS: 1825, NRS 899 4/1844C No. 805 pp. 991-4
HRA Vol. 7, p. 350 (referred to as Mrs Tyndale)
Howdenshire history site
Family history site (1)
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Children of Charlotte Tindall
According to a local history website, John was about eight years old and Fanny and Thomas were both about six years old when they travelled on the Friends with their mother and younger sister Hannah. All three older children are said to have died in 1815 in NSW. No information has been found about the death of John. See Charlotte Tindall See Hannah Tindall
1803 – 18 September, John baptised in Howden, York
1805 – Approximate birth year of Fanny and Thomas (twins)
1815 – Thomas Tindall died, aged 10 NSWBDM
1815 – 12 September, Francis Tindall died, aged 10 CS Spelt Tindale in NSWBDM
Sources:
CS Death return for quarter ended 30 September 1815, Castlereagh, Reel 6025; 2/8300
Howdenshire history site
www.familysearch.org
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.
Daughter of Charlotte Tindall
Hannah was four years old when she travelled with her three older siblings and mother on the Friends to join their father in NSW. See Charlotte Tindall See John, Frances (Fanny) and Thomas Tindall
1807 – Hannah Tindale born 29 March, Selby, Yorkshire
1820 – At Castlereagh and Evans M
1822 – 18 February, Hannah Tindall m. James Wheeler Sharland, convict, Somersetshire, at Castlereagh (Tyndal in CS, Tyndall in NSWBDM)
1822 – Wife of J. Sharland, Windsor M
1825 – Hannah Sharland, shown as born colony, wife of James Sharland, GS, Somersetshire, 1814, 14 years, (assigned to) Sir John Jameson, Evan M
1828 – Daughter Matilda Wheeler born, father James Wheeler, mother Hannah Sharland NSWBDM
1828 – 17 January, James Sharland given Certificate of Freedom 28/48, age 37, www.ancestry.com
1830 – 17 August, son William Murphy born, Nepean, father Thomas Murphy
Hannah’s first husband James Sharland was a carpenter by trade and had been convicted at the Exeter Quarter Sessions in January 1814 of larceny in a dwelling house. His death sentence was later commuted to transportation for 14 years. He was still in Sydney in 1853 when he was charged with assault in Rylstone and discharged.
Family websites record that Hannah’s oldest son William was born to Thomas Murphy, variously described as a freed convict of the Lord Sidmouth, 1819, or a fictitious name that disguised an aboriginal father from the Bangarang clan. Thomas Murphy, the convict, was an Irish silk weaver who was convicted with two other young men of burglary at the Old Bailey in 1818 at the age of 17 and sentenced to 7 years’ transportation. He worked as a stock keeper in NSW and by the time of the 1828 Census he was working as a labourer for Thomas Shadlow at Evan. He received his Certificate of Freedom (93/3717) on 19 May 1825. CF
According to family history sites, by at least 1833, Hannah was with William Newham (born 1807 in NSW) and went on to have at least eight children to him: Thomas (b. 1833), James (b. 1834), Richard (b. 1836), Hannah (b. 1838), Sophia (b. 1841), Henry (b. 1843), George (b. 1844) and Charles Thomas (b. 1848).
According to a family history site, Hannah became a (probably de facto) sister-in-law to her oldest daughter Matilda. Hannah and Matilda were both wives to Newham brothers. Matilda married Henry Newham in 1848.
Family websites cite Hannah’s death in 1880 at Carcoar in the Central Tablelands, NSW and also at Wyangla, NSW on 15 December 1879.
Sources:
CS: Marriage return for quarter ended 31 March 1822, Castlereagh, NRS 898, Reel 6025; 28 January 1822, NRS 937 4/3504A p. 399
www.familysearch.org
Family history site (1)
Family history site (2)
Family history site (3)
See here for abbreviations used for references.
Where the references NSWBDM or CS do not appear by entries for births, deaths and marriages, it means they have been sourced from the family history websites noted for each woman and may not be confirmed.