People not on board the Friends
There were frequent errors in the official records of colonial New South Wales. A number of people were shown in the records as travelling on the Friends when in fact they arrived on other vessels. As well as this, the Friends was often confused with the Friendship, which arrived in the colony in 1818. People identified as “of the Friends” who arrived in NSW on other ships were:
Convicts
Convict who arrived on the Friendship, 1818
Shown as Jane Baines of the Friends in the 1822 muster, wife of T Cooper, Sydney.
Shown as Jane Barnes of the Friends in CS 4 June 1822, seeking permission to marry Thomas Cooper
Convict who arrived on the Minstrel, 1812
Shown as of the Friends in Rev. Campbell’s return of marriages for Parramatta for the quarter ending 31 December 1813. CS
Convict who arrived on the Minstrel, 1812
Shown both as Sarah Kuffe and as Bridget Crack in the 1825 muster as on the Friends. (Farrell Cuff married Bridget Crack)
Convict who arrived on the Friendship, 1818
Shown in NSW Gaol Description and Entrance Books in 1826 on the Friends.
Convict who may have arrived on the Friendship, 1818
Shown in the 1828 TNA copy of the NSW 1828 Census arriving on the Friends and in the Australian copy of the Census as arriving on the Friendship. Mary is shown as aged 44, FS, Catholic, wife of Patrick Goulding, aged 50, ToL, Dorothy 1820, farmer, Evan. Mary cannot be identified among the Friends women.
Convict, not transported
A prisoner in Newgate in 1810 and early 1811 convicted of returning to England from NSW while still under sentence of transportation. She features in Deidre Palk (Ed.), Prisoners’ Letters to the Bank of England, 1781-1827, London Record Society, 2007. In that book , Elizabeth Ware’s letters and association with Amelia Bellars in Newgate suggest she was retransported to NSW on the Friends. Originally convicted in 1803 for passing on forged banknotes, she had journeyed to NSW on the Experiment with an infant child, leaving two children behind in England. At the end of 1809 she returned to England on the Aeolus to find her children but was arrested on board the vessel in the Thames before she had a chance to disembark. She was tried four days later and sentenced to death, which was commuted on 7 February 1810 to transportation for the remainder of her original 14-year term. Elizabeth did not travel on the Friends. Instead, she was pardoned on 29 May 1811 on condition that security was given for her good behaviour equal to the remaining part of her sentence. Her fate remains unknown.
NA: HO 13/20 pp. 340-341, 7 February 1810; HO13/22 pp. 38-39, 29 May 1811
Convict who arrived on the Wanstead, 1814
Shown in Rev. Robert Cartwright marriage returns for the Hawkesbury in January 1815 as on the Friends. CS
Passengers who arrived free
Settler who arrived on the Friendship, 1818
Both James and William Clark/e are shown in the NSW 1828 Census as arriving on the Friends but in 1817. Nineteen-year old James is shown as married and living in Windsor, and 21-year old William is shown as single and living at William Jackson’s in Windsor. Instead they came with their mother Martha Clark who arrived as a free passenger on the Friendship in early 1818 with three unnamed children. In the 1819 and 1820 musters/population counts, Martha was living with William Jackson and she is shown as Martha Jackson, of Windsor in 1820. It is more than likely that James, as well as William, is the son of Martha. Further confusion is provided in approval of Rev. Cross’ application for James to marry in 1827 that shows – incorrectly – James arriving free on the Castle Forbes, which arrived in 1820.
Sources:
CS: 14 January 1818, NRS 897 4/1740 pp. 58-67
Convicts’ application to marry, 17 April 1827, www.ancestry.com.au
Settler who arrived on the Friendship, 1818
Both William and James Clark/e are shown in the NSW 1828 Census as arriving on the Friends but in 1817. Nineteen-year old James is shown as married and living in Windsor, and 21-year old William is shown as single and living at William Jackson’s in Windsor. Instead they came with their mother Martha Clark who arrived as a free passenger on the Friendship in early 1818 with three unnamed children. In the 1819 and 1820 musters/population counts, Martha was living with William Jackson and she is shown as Martha Jackson, of Windsor in 1820. It is more than likely that James, as well as William, is the son of Martha. Further confusion is provided in approval of Rev. Cross’ application for James to marry in 1827 that shows – incorrectly – James arriving free on the Castle Forbes, which arrived in 1820.
Sources:
CS: 14 January 1818, NRS 897 4/1740 pp. 58-67
Convicts’ application to marry, 17 April 1827, www.ancestry.com.au
(nee Wilshire)
Settler who arrived on the storeship Mary, 1812
Susannah is shown in the 1825 muster as “came free” on the Friends. The Sydney Gazette of 9 May 1812 reports her arrival in Sydney on the Mary in May 1812 as Miss Wilshire. In August she married missionary John Eyre in Sydney. She is shown as arriving on the Mary in the 1814 muster and the 1828 Census.
Settler who arrived on the Margaret, 1812
Colonial correspondence published in Historical Records of Australia, Vol. 7, suggests that intending merchant and settler Walter Lang travelled on the Friends to NSW (letter from Undersecretary Peel to Governor Macquarie, 21 February 1811, p. 353). The Sydney Gazette of 9 May 1812 reports that he arrived on board the Margaret from Calcutta, via Port Dalrymple. The announcement of his marriage a month later also described him as “lately of India”. As a point of interest, his son John Lang was Australia’s first native-born novelist.
Child who travelled with convict mother Martha Thatcher on the Friendship, 1818
Sarah is shown in the 1828 NSW census as arriving on the Friends in 1818. She travelled instead with her mother and two siblings on the Friendship, arriving in January 1818. Her mother Martha died during the voyage according to the surgeon’s notes. Sarah married James Smith in 1827.
Sources:
CS: 14 January 1818, NRS 897, Reels 6041-6064, 6071-6072, pp. 55-67
Indexing error
An entry in www.ancestry.com’s index to the NSW Colonial Secretary’s correspondence up until to 1825 shows James Wilkinson as arriving “free” on the Friends. The document to which the entry refers is a list of people who have been assigned convict servants, dated 16 March 1822. The entry on the actual list is “Mr Wilkinson, Newcastle”. His name appears immediately below that of James Greenwood, who did arrive free on the Friends, and it would appear that the two entries have been confused when the index was created.
Born in NSW
Son of Grizel Johnston, convict on Friends
Several family history websites suggest that John Eddington, son of Grizel Johnston, was born on board the Friends during its voyage from England. Records for the Male Orphan School show his birthdate as 17 November 1811, which confirms he was born in Sydney after the ship’s arrival. He was the first child born to any Friends woman in the colony. See Grizel Johnston
Sources:
CS: NRS 897, 4/7208 pp. 1-2