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Lydia Munro

Lydia Munro

Female Abt 1771 - 1856  (~ 85 years)

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All

  • Name Lydia Munro 
    Born Abt 1771  Of, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died 29 Jun 1856  Prob., Tasmania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried St. Davids, Hobart, Tasmania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I26855  Munro
    Last Modified 14 Mar 2007 

    Family Andrew Goodwin,   b. Abt 1756, Of, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Aug 1835, Prob., Clerendon, Tasmania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 79 years) 
    Married 2 Mar 1790  St. Phillips, Sydney Town, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Mary Munro Goodwin,   b. Abt 1789, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
    +2. Sarah Goodwin,   b. 1 Dec 1791, Norfolk Island, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Dec 1871  (Age 80 years)
     3. John Goodwin,   b. 1794, Norfolk Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. James Goodwin,   b. Abt 1796,   d. 10 May 1831  (Age ~ 35 years)
     5. Lucinda Goodwin,   b. Abt 1798,   d. Yes, date unknown
     6. Margaret Goodwin,   b. 7 Jan 1800,   d. 3 Aug 1829  (Age 29 years)
    +7. Maria Goodwin,   b. 18 Feb 1802,   bur. St. Davids, Hobart Find all individuals with events at this location
     8. Elizabeth Goodwin,   b. 9 Sep 1803, Norfolk Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1887, Claremont Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 83 years)
     9. Ann Goodwin,   b. Abt 1805, Norfolk Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     10. Letitia Goodwin,   b. Abt 1808,   d. Yes, date unknown
     11. Andrew Goodwin,   b. Aug 1811, Van Deimans Land Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 Jan 1885, Victoria Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 73 years)
    Last Modified 20 Jan 2009 
    Family ID F9333  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Lydia (or Letitia) was one of the first Munros to go to Australia. She was tried at Kingston upon Thames Courthouse in Surrey, England, with a companion Ann Forbes, for the theft of ten yards of printed cloth valued at twenty shillings, from the home of John Rollinson, in Southwark's parish of St. Olave. She was found guilty and sentenced to death but reprieved to seven years transportation to Australia - but no return ticket.

      She was moved to Newgate prison to join the other women convicts being sent to Portsmouth for embarkation on the 279 ton sailing ship 'Prince of Wales'. The ship sailed on 3 May 1787 with 49 female convicts. This ship was one of 11 sailing ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip - later known as 'The First Fleet' - which sailed on 13 May 1787, to found a new colony in that southern continent known as New Holland. This epic voyage took eight months.

      Life in this desolate primitive settlement would have been precarious, especially for the women, as the following report from "Sydney Cove 1788" by John Cobley would indicate.

      "September 12, 1788 Lydia Munro and Elizabeth Cole decided to have a bathe after finishing their work. They went over the hill on the west side, and met William Boggis and John Owen, who followed them.

      Lydia Munro told them to go home, but Boggis told Owen that he would have connection with her before he went. Hearing this, Munro turned to go home herself, but Boggis threw her down among the bushes. She told him to go away, but he persisted in his sttempt, and she started screaming.

      Daniel Gordon came to her assistance and found her, with her petticoats half up and Boggis lying on her. He struck Boggis with a stick."

      Lydia's future husband, Andrew Goodwin, traveled to Australia in the same fleet as Lydia but aboard the ship 'Scarborough', which carried 208 male convicts. Andrew had been tried at the Old Bailey for an unknown offence, but was also reprieved to transportation because healthy men and women were needed to develop the new colony.

      After their marriage, they lived for some years on Norfolk Island, where most of their family was born. On 26 Dec 1807, they sailed to Tasmania, then known as Van Diemens Land, where Andrew became a farmer. They spent the rest of their lives there.

      Ref: "The Munro Australian News" - Dec 1995