GOUGH, Susannah

1763 - 1841  (78 years)

• Name	GOUGH, Susannah  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Born	1763	St Giles, London, England   [1, 2, 4]
  Gender	Female
  Died	24 Jun 1841	Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  	Age: 78
  Buried	24 Jun 1841	St David's Anglican, Hobart,Tasmania, Australia   [1, 4]
  Person ID	I2211	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023

  
  

  Family	GARTH, Edward,   b. 1763, London, England ,   d. 13 Dec 1823, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 60 years)
  Married	1793	Norfolk Island, New South Wales, Australia   [4]
  Children	1. GARTH, Mary Ann,   b. 14 Oct 1789, Norfolk Island ,   d. 25 Nov 1852, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 63 years)  [natural]   2. GARTH, James,   b. 30 Apr 1791, Norfolk Island, New South Wales, Australia ,   d. 4 Oct 1872, Cygnet, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 81 years)  [natural]   3. GARTH JR, Edward George,   b. 1 Sep 1794, Norfolk Island, New South Wales, Australia ,   d. 21 Jul 1873, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 78 years)  [natural]   4. GARTH, John,   b. 1800, Kingston, Norfolk Island ,   d. 16 Nov 1816, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 16 years)  [natural]   5. GARTH, William,   b. 1801, Kingston, Norfolk Island ,   d. 16 Dec 1840, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 39 years)  [natural]   6. GARTH, Susannah,   b. 18 May 1803, Kingston, Norfolk Island ,   d. 5 May 1871, Sorell, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 67 years)  [natural]   7. GARTH, Richard,   b. 1807, Kingston, Norfolk Island, New South Wales, Australia ,   d. 28 Apr 1838, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 31 years)  [natural]   8. GARTH, Elizabeth,   b. 24 Dec 1814, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 13 Jan 1853, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia  (Age 38 years)  [natural]
  Last Modified	16 Sep 2023
  Family ID	F3481	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Susannah Garth/Grates/Gough was born in 1763 and was one of the female convicts being, indicted, on the 9th August 1783, for feloniously stealing, nine one-guinea coins and one half-guinea coin, the monies of William Waterhouse and charged as having been stolen, privily from his person. Some money was found on Susannah and her accomplice, Elizabeth Dudgeon. Reports in Mollie Gillen’s Founders of Australia state ‘interestingly Susannah swallowed eight guineas which promptly made her sick and she later brought them up’. She was found guilty of stealing and sentenced to seven year’s transportation. Some reports suggest that while waiting aboard the hulk Mercury she was one of 66 prisoners who scrambled down the side of the hulk as part of the mutinous escape but was recaptured and sent to Exeter Gaol. Later she was sent to the Dunkirk hulk and from there to Friendship on the 11 March 1787. However, family history research conducted suggests, that she has at times been confused with her later accomplice, Elizabeth Dudgeon because as she was tried in 1783, the ‘mutineers’ were from the time of 1782 trials. Thus this is most likely not the Susannah Garth mutineer but her accomplice, Elizabeth Dudgeon using her name as an alias. Susannah Garth (of this story) did embark on Friendship on the 11 March 1787 bound for Botany Bay. At Rio on the 11th August, she was one of six women exchanged and transferred to the Charlotte. Later reports on arrival in the colony of New South Wales indicate Susannah’s subsequent behaviour as much improved. Immediately following the First Fleet’s arrival in 1788, at Sydney Cove, she was selected/ volunteered as one of the group of women convicts to go to Norfolk Island with Philip Gidley King. Her volunteering is believed to have been in place of Nancy Yeats/Yates, partner of Judge advocate Collins, who wished to remain behind with Collins. At Norfolk Island in 1795, Susannah married Edward Garth and over the following years seven children were born to them, with one dying at Norfolk Island. The children were five sons (four surviving infancy) and two daughters. With her husband and six children, she left Norfolk Island on 27 December 1807, for Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), by Porpoise and lived on lands at Clarence Plains and Queensborough, Tasmania. At a later time in her life Susannah had the distinction, as recorded in other family history reports in From Chains to Freedom by Thais Mason, of being the first woman to set foot on Norfolk Island (p17). This statement was made under oath when she was a witness at a hearing in Hobart in 1836. Following Edward’s death in 1723 Susannah was left a widow but his property was bequeathed to her and two sons and a daughter. She remained on the family property for the rest of her life. Susannah died on 24 June 1841 at Hobart, age given as 78. http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/edwardgarth.htm Sources: Mollie Gillen : The Founders of Australia; Thais Mason : From Chains to Freedom : A history of the Garth Bellett Family 1788-1982. — Prostitute. Tried at the Old Bailey in 1783 for stealing money. Arrived on the Friendship. Susannah was the first white European to set foot on Norfolk Island COURT TRANSCRIPT 652. ELIZABETH DUDGEON , and SUSANNAH GARTH were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 19th day of August last, nine guineas, value 9 l. 9 s. and one half-guinea, value 10 s. 6 d. the monies of William Waterhouse , privily from his person . WILLIAM WATERHOUSE sworn. I missed the nine guineas and a half on the 19th of August last, between three and four in the afternoon on Tuesday, to the best of my knowledge, I came from Plymouth the day before, I landed in Piccadilly, coming with my bundle, I made the best of my way up St. Giles's, and at the end of Banbury-street, I saw the prisoners at the bar, they called me over and asked me, whether I was Bill Waterhouse or no, and I told them yes, they knew me, and they asked me, if I would give them any thing to drink, and I said yes, and they took me into the Two Brewers in Banbury-street , and I called for a pot of ale, and after that another, and another, and another; I sent for my friend Edward Whiteham , before I was too much in liquor, he came, and we drank about four or five pots of ale; then my friend he took me out of that house, and carried me about one hundred yards further to another alehouse, the Cart and Horses, in the same street, and these girls came after me, and called me to the door and said, they wanted to speak to me, for there was a pot of ale to pay for; I left my friend with my bundle, and I went with them and said, well, then I will have another pot, never mind it, and I paid for them and we had a drop of gin afterwards; and afterwards I was so much in liquor, that she told me, if I would go and lay down upon her bed a little bit, I should be reconciled, that was the prisoner Dudgeon; they took me out of that same Two Brewers, right over there was a house, and I went up two pair of stairs, I laid myself down and she tumbled along-side of me, and the other girl sat in a chair at the foot of the bed. You did not undress yourself, did you? - No, Sir. When did you miss your money? - Before I went to sleep, she asked me for a shilling; I laid with her, Sir, that is the woman there, the little one; I was waked by two men, I cannot judge how long I slept, because I was so very much in liquor, it might be an hour, or an hour and an half; the women were gone, these were two men belonging to the house, who came and told me, I must not be there; after I paid for my reckoning, I counted nine guineas and a half in gold, and some silver, but I cannot tell how much; just before I went up with the prisoner, when the man came and waked me, I put my hand in my fob and I found I had no money, and I put my hand in my breeches pocket, and found I had only two bad halfpence and one good one; I had left my friend at the Cart and Horses and I run away to him directly, and he said, Bill hold your tongue, I will try and see about it: I am very punctual to the girls; my friend went to look for them, and he found Dudgeon under a bed in another room, and another woman a top of her; I saw the prisoner Dudgeon the same night I was robbed, and went to the Justice. Did you search her? - No, she was searched, she swore bitterly she had not the money. Court. Have you any thing more to say on this subject? - No, I have no more, only I want my money, the officer has got seven pounds two shillings and sixpence, he took from one of them; I heard a very good character of that there tall body; that is all. Prisoner Dudgeon to Prosecutor. Did I take you out of the place, or did you follow me? Prosecutor. Hold your tongue you fool, can't you, I do not want to hurt you, I only want my money. Prisoner Garth. Did not I leave the room immediately. Prosecutor. She sat at the foot of the bed in a little low chair. EDWARD WHITEHAM sworn. Do you remember being in company with William Waterhouse on the 19th of August? - Yes, this Waterhouse met these two girls and asked for me, and the prisoner Garth came for me, I went with her, and I saw Waterhouse and he was in liquor, and he had a linen bag with his clothes and things in it; I said, I do not like the company let us go; no, stop says he, I mean to be gay, I took the bag under my arm, and I got him to my own house, and I sent my own daughter with the bag into the room; he called for a pot of beer, these two prisoners came and beckoned him, and said; he had not paid for a pot of beer, he said, my dear girls, I do not mean to leave you a pot of beer to pay, and he went with them and did not return, and sometime after I heard that he was robbed: I went down after him, and found him in the street just like a mad fellow; we went to the room, and a little girl came and gave me intelligence where the prisoner Dudgeon was in a little house in the back room; I knocked at the door, and a man who was in the room, said who is there, I said, a friend, he said, you cannot come in, I said, why not; and in about 4 or 5 minutes the man opened the door; there was no light, this was towards the evening; there was a man stood by the window, and a woman and child sat on the bed, I took and turned up the bed, and there underneath the bed I found Elizabeth Dudgeon : A constable came and I gave her in charge, and there was no property found upon her, and he searched the room besides. The other was not there: Collins went and found the prisoner Garth, and brought me six guineas and a half in gold, four shillings and two sixpences, the money was left at the Justice's till they found the prisoner; I found him the same night, the money was found on Garth; and more than that she swallowed eight guineas that night, and took physick and brought them from her. Was there any promises made to her or threats? - Nothing in the world said. WILLIAM COLLINS sworn. I attend Mr. Walker's Office, the last witness informed me of a sailor that was robbed, and I went with him and searched the prisoner Garth, and I found this money in her pocket, six guineas and a half, four shillings and two sixpences. PRISONER DUDGEON'S DEFENCE. I was along with three more girls, one of them knew the prosecutor, and said, Bill how are you, says he, will you go and have something to drink, and I stood at the corner; I dare say he had ten pots of ale and then six pennyworth of gin and water; he left us for about an hour, he afterwards came out of the Cart and Horses, says her I told you, I would be there in an hour's time; he followed us to the Two Brewers: I went out of the door and went up stairs, I was so much in liquor I sat down, I remember he gave me a shilling, and he laid down on the bed, and I laid down; I never shut the door, and I got up in about an hour, and I was very sick and very dry, the shilling he gave me was taken out of my pocket, I got a pint of small beer upon trust; as for Susannah Garth , I never saw her in the room, nor did not know she was in the room. PRISONER GARTH'S DEFENCE. I never saw the man, he was not nigh me; as for the money that was found on me a first-couzen of mine came home from sea on Wednesday, and I went to the Pay Office and received it; and he said, he would give me some more; I have nobody to my character but God and you, I have not a friend in the world. ELIZABETH DUDGEON , SSUSANNAH GARTH , GUILTY Of stealing but not privily . Transported for seven years . Mr. Sheriff Taylor to Prosecutor. Take your money again my friend. Court to Prosecutor. Take care how you get into such company again; you owe the return of the money to the generosity of the Sheriff. Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. DEPUTY RECORDER. — Taken from First Fleet Fellowship webpage SUSANNAH GOUGH APRIL 22, 2015 BY CHERYL SUSANNAH’S STORY Susannah GARTH/GRAH/GRATES/GOUGH Born c.1763, died June 1841, Hobart, Tasmania. Her Crime Feloniously stealing, on the 19th day of August 1783, nine guineas, value 91. 9s. and one half guinea, value 10s. and sixpence. Susannah was drinking with Elizabeth Dudgeon and a man thought to be a seaman who had just returned from Plymouth, possibly with his wages in his pocket. The man, William Waterhouse was warned to be more moderate, but replied “I mean to be gay”. Some of his money was found on Susannah and she also swallowed 8 guineas. Her Trial Tried by the First Middlesex Jury before Mr Justice Recorder at Justice Hall in the Old Bailey at the Sessions which began on Wednesday 10 September 1783. During her trial Susannah pleaded “I have nobody to my character but God and you, I have not a friend in the world”. Sentence Found guilty of stealing, to be transported for 7 years. Convict chains as displayed in the heritage Cabmans Cottage, The Rocks, Sydney NSW (C Timbury) Susannah was taken to Newgate and embarked on the Mercury. 0n 30 March 1784. She was one of 66 convicts who scrambled down the side of the ship in Torbay when it was bought into port by mutinous convicts. Susannah was captured by the ship Helena, held in a small boat alongside overnight then the next day was taken to Exeter. She was held on the Dunkirk hulk until her discharge to Friendship on 11 March 1787 where Ralph Clarke recorded her as being 24 years old. The Voyage Susannah had become better behaved and when she was transferred, with five other women, to the ‘Charlotte’ at Rio, Clarke noted her as “one of the six very best women we have in the Ship….the(y) are the only Women that can wash amongst them”. Norfolk Island After the arrival of the First fleet at Port Jackson, Susannah was included as one of the six women convicts to form a group of 23 under the command of Philip Gidley King who sailed on the ‘Supply’ to establish a settlement at Norfolk Island. Also on board Supply was Edward Garth who had sailed on Scarborough with the First Fleet. Susannah married Edward Garth on 1795, it is not known whether they were in some way related or had known each other previously. They had 6 children while living on Norfolk Island and sailed for Van Dieman’s Land on the ‘Porpoise’ on 26 December 1807 where they settled at Clarence Plains and Queenborough. Susannah died on 24 June 1841 aged 78 years. Postscript Susannah sailed on three of the First Fleet ships: Friendship, embarked 11 March 1787 Charlotte, transferred 11 August 1787 Supply, embarked for Norfolk Island 14 February 1788 Wayne HUGHES References: Cobley, Dr John Sydney Cove 1788 The first year of the Settlement in Australia Holder & Stoughton, 1963 Gillen, Mollie , The Founders of Australia – A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1989

  
  

• Sources

  Database online. Record for Mary Ann Garth http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=pubmembertrees&h=32365303372&indiv=try Database online. Record for Edward George GARTH Jr http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=pubmembertrees&h=20308442812&indiv=try [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 21 November 2017, 09:53), entry for Susannah Gough(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LZVR-DQ7); contributed by various users. PersonID LZVR-DQ7. Susannah Gough https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LZVR-DQ7 Database online. Record for Edward Garth [S307] FamilySearch Family Tree, FamilySearch.org, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V5NL-33W : 11 February 2018, Susannah Garth in entry for William Garth, 09 Aug 1797); citing ST NICHOLAS PARISH REC AND NONCONF ,NEWCASTLE UP. Susannah Garth in entry for William Garth, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975" https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5NL-33W