Esther Howard (1757 - bef. 1789)

Born 8 Jul 1757 in St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London, England

Wife of John Randall — married 12 Feb 1788 in St Philip's Church of England, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died before 11 Oct 1789 before age 32 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Esther Howard was born in the City of London, England.

Esther Howard was a convict on the First Fleet.

Do you have any insight into the life of Esther? Please feel free to collaborate on this profile, which is a work in progress. Just make sure to source your information accurately and explain your changes

Birth

When Esther Howard (aka Harwood) was transported to Australia as a convict on the Lady Penrhyn (1787), the ships doctor, Arthur Bowes-Smyth, recorded her age as 29, which would put her birth year as circa 1757. ^[1] She was born in London to John Howard and his wife Esther on 8 Jul 1857 on Old Fish Lane. ^[2]. This street is just a few blocks from the location where she would commit the crime that had her transported to the Colony of New South Wales of the First Fleet. Very few details have yet been found of her parents, beyond these names. When she married in 1788 ^[3], she appears to have been illiterate, signing her name with an 'X'. The wedding, between her and Afro-American first fleet convict, John Randall, was one of the first weddings held in the new colony of New South Wales.^[4]

Transportation to the colony of New South Wales

On 9 Aug 1786, she was working as an 'oyster seller' in Westminster, London, not far from Buckingham Palace. On this particular evening, she was working at a bar called Wheatsheaf Inn on Tothill St, London. A man named James Potter was drinking heavily at the bar and had become quite intoxicated and purchased some oysters from Esther. The following day, he had Esther charged with stealing one silver watch (20 shillings value), two iron keys, (1 shilling value), as well as a one-half guinea, and two shillings from him. Esther maintained that the man had not paid for his oysters and left the bar, leaving the watch and money behind in the 'vault' (water closet), which she accepted as payment. However, upon the barmaid siding with the story of James and with evidence given by the pawnbroker she attempted to sell the watch, she was indicted of the crime on the 14 Aug and on the 30 Aug was sentenced to 7 years transportation on the first fleet to New South Wales at the Old Bailey. ^[5] The last she saw of England was on the 6 Jan 1787, when the ship, the 'Lady Penrhyn' left her shores. ^{[6] [7]} The Lady Penrhyn was a purpose-built slave ship built on the River Thames and its first mission was to transport 101 female convicts, 3 officers and 41 Marine Corps members. It also carried to first horses brought to the colony. ^[8] When it arrived at Botany Bay on 20 Jan 1788, Esther, along with all the female convicts of the new colony stayed aboard the ship, while the fleet attempted to identify suitable land to start the colony.^[9] Several days later, this attempt was abandoned and the fleet was moved to Port Jackson, where it arrived on 26 Jan 1788. Here the conditions were more suitable. Upon arrival, the fleet's passengers and contents were slowly unloaded. Medical tents were prioritised for the weak and ill. For many of the male convicts, their bed was a pile of leaves under the stars. A few famously fled at an instant from the camp only to perish, or later return on the brink of starvation.^[10]

Arrival

On February 6th, the female convicts were brought ashore. ^[11] On this evening, a strong electrical storm was experienced that sent officers running for the shelter of their tents, and the male and female convicts, marines and sailors to a scene debauchery and riot ensued that lasted all night as they 'cavorted in the slithery, sensuous mud'. While strict rules with severe consequences were established the next day by Governor Phillip, considering the ordeal that people went through in arriving as a convict of the colony, this one night of apparent freedom, must have felt exhilarating.^[12]

With a male to female ratio in the Colony of about 5:1, marriage between convicts was promoted, excluding the women certain officers had already claimed as mistresses, of course. Married convicts were promised comforts and privileges beyond those of single convicts.^[13]

Esther married John Randall on 12 February 1788 in the St Philip's Church of England, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ^[14][15] in one of the first marriages in the colony. John Randall was an Afro-American convict widely understood to be from New Haven, Connecticut, and after their marriage, Esther and John shared a hut with two other first fleet convict couples, John Moseley and Mary Hill, and Thomas Orford and Elizabeth Jones (Osbourne). John Moseley and Thomas Orford were also Afro-American males.

All three of the women in this "household" had been transported aboard the Lady Penrhyn. Mary and Elizabeth were arrested for pickpocketing in London on the same day and were also gaoled together at Newgate Prison, which had served as a prison in London since 1188.^[16]

Death

Understandably, however, early marriages in the colony were often "no more than a mutually advantageous liaison that ebbed and flowed with the tide of fortune" ^[17].
Esther's new and unfamiliar husband, John, was appointed as one of three official game shooters for the important men in the Colony at a very early stage of the colony. He had the task of retrieving protein sources for the early settlement. The new colony was at risk of starvation and convicts, in particular, had cause to feel concerned for their welfare, even under Governor Phillip's equal rations policy. This enabled John to access privileges envied by other convicts, such as the freedom to travel freely away from the settlement, while armed and likely alternative sources of nourishment. This was in contrast to the fortunes, not only of other convicts but others in the shared hut of convict arrivals. For example:

After losing his food ration one day, Thomas Orford stole a few potatoes from a garden and was sentenced to 2,000 lashes. His wife, Elizabeth, left him to be with John Moseley and it is not clear what happened to Mary Hill.^[18]

Esther, herself does not have appeared to have benefited much from her marriage to a man with such freedoms.
She died, single, having already reverted back to the name Howard and was buried on 11 October 1789 at Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia ^[19][20].

There are many family trees that suggest that Esther died in childbirth. However, the primary source for the speculation is not so clear about this. David Collins, a deputy Judge's Advocate in the new colony, kept a detailed account of events in the new colony. In it, he recorded.

"Of the few people who died in October (1789), (one soldier, three women, and one child,) one was an unhappy woman who had been sent on board in a state of insanity, and who had remained in that condition until the day of her death; she and another of the three women died in child-bed; and the soldier was carried off by a disorder which he brought with him into the country". ^[21]

Some speculate that the woman who died in 'child-bed' was Esther in the process of bearing John Randall's first child, however, given the benefit of other knowledge, she could just as easily have died 'unhappy with her state of insanity', in a non-descript way without any details recorded, or with the child in question also not making it through the pregnancy. Cassandra Pybus' book "The Black Founders" does not make a conclusive statement about this, merely stating that Frances was born to an 'unknown mother' in the late part of 1789 and early part of 1790.

Sources

1. ↑ Bowes-Smyth, A. (1787-1789)`A Journal of a Voyage from Portsmouth to New South Wales and China in the Lady Penrhyn', [transcription] compiled by Merchantman William Cropton Sever, commanded by Arthur Bowes-Smyth, Surgeon as being a fair copy in 1790.
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line] Name: Esther Howard Gender: Female Birth Date: 8 Jul 1757 Baptism Date: 22 Jul 1757 Baptism Place: Saint Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street, London, London, England Father: John Howard Mother: Esther FHL Film Number: 374491
3. ↑ New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Birth Certificate 28/1788 V178828 3A Groom: RANDAL, JOHN Bride: HOWARD, ESTHER District: CA [Church of England, Sydney, St Phillip's]
4. ↑ Mollie Gillen (1989) "The founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet", with appendices by Yvonne Browning, Michael Flynn, Mollie Gillen
5. ↑ Old Bailey Online ESTHER HARWOOD, JAMES WETHERICK. Theft: pocket-picking, Theft: receiving. 30th August 1786 Page 1 Page 2
6. ↑ Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England. Class: HO 11; Piece: 1; cited in Ancestry.com. Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788 [database on-line] Name: Esther Harwood [Esther Howard] Vessel: Lady Penrhyn, Scarborough, Alexander Fleet: First Convicted Date: 30 Aug 1786 Voyage Date: Feb 1787 Colony: New South Wales Place of Conviction: Middlesex, England
7. ↑ 1788-1868 Convict Records. Records kept at the New South Wales State Records Office, P.O. Box R625, Royal Exchange, NSW 2000; cited in Ancestry.com Australia, Convict Index, 1788-1868 [database on-line] Name: Esther Howard [Esther Harwood] Arrival year: 1788 Arrival State: New South Wales Trial Place: Middlesex Ship: Lady Penryn
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Penrhyn_(1786_ship)
9. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842
10. ↑ Cassandra Pybus "Black Founders"
11. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834
12. ↑ Cassandra Pybus "Black Founders"
13. ↑ Cassandra Pybus "Black Founders"
14. ↑ Marriage: Biological Database of Australia: Biographical report for John RANDALL Person ID: B#10011057101 Birth: circa 1764 New Haven CT USA Arrival: 1788 NSW per Alexander (Convict):
    "St Philip's Church of England, Sydney NSW: Church Register - Marriages; ML ref: Reel SAG 90." John Randel; signed: Signed X; Esther Howard, Signed X; Married: 21 Feb 1788; Registered at St Philips Church of England, Sydney; Richard Johnson, Chaplain, Witness: John Owles, Signed name; Witness: Samuel Barnes, Signed name [Biog Item No. 300030028]
15. ↑ Marriage: New South Wales, Australia Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages: Marriage: Registration number 28/1788 V178828 3A Groom's Family Name RANDAL Groom's Given Name(s) JOHN Bride's Family Name(s) HOWARD Bride's Given Name(s) ESTHER District CA
16. ↑ Cassandra Pybus "Black Founders" page 92
17. ↑ "Black Founders" page 92 by Cassandra Pybus
18. ↑ Cassandra Pybus "Black Founders" page 92
19. ↑ Burial: New South Wales, Australia Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages: Death: Name: HOWARD ESTHER Registration number 163/1789 V1789163 4 Father's Given Name(s) -- Mother's Given Name(s) -- District CA
20. ↑ Burial: New South Wales, Australia Registry of Burial: Burial Transcription: (Early Church Records) Reg#: 163/V4 1789; cited in Register: "St Phillips Sydney Church of England Burials 1787-1809" A list of the dead at Port Jackson in the County of Cumberland, New South Wales Name: Esther Howard Age: not listed Date of Death: not listed Date of Burial: 11 Oct 1789 Occupation: not listed Residence: not listed Minister: not listed Notes: Convict
21. ↑ An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, by David Collins