LIST 13 - DEATHS
This list presents all the known deaths of the First Generation, 1045 in all or just over half the total.
The information presented for each death includes:
date of death place of death or church of burial age at death Christian name father's Christian name father's family name mother's Christian name mother's family name parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth
parents' marital status at the time of the child's birth surname at the time of death.The list is arranged in date of death order. If there should be more than one
death on the same date or if only the year of death is known, the entries are
arranged alphabetically on the father's surname.
In this list no attempt has been made to distinguish between date of death and
date of burial, unlike baptisms, these are virtually the same.
The age at death is expressed in days if the child died younger than one month,
in months if younger than one year, otherwise in years. The years are
calculated to be rounded down, for example both a child dying at 1 year 1
month and 1 year 11 months would be listed as 1 year old at death. In several
cases the age at death cannot be calculated or even estimated because the date
of birth is unknown.
It is mainly the married women of course who would have a different surname
at death from that of her father.
The dates of death of 1045 (53%) of the First Generation are currently known.
Unfortunately the date of birth of 13 of these are unknown meaning that no estimate can be made of their age of death, most of these were infants but
Thomas Eggleton died in 1888 making him a fair age indeed.
The places of death gives a good indication as to how far and wide some
of the First Generation were dispersed in their lifetimes. Their were many
deaths in Van Diemens Land and well as several in Victoria, Queensland and New
Zealand. It was not only the other Australian colonies that they spread to.
There were very many whose death are recorded in England and no doubt many
more amongst those who left the colony to return 'home'.
Mary Moore and Margaret Murrell both died in Paris France, William Hogan
in the USA, Elizabeth Cavanagh, Joseph Feutrill, Henry Marsh, William Peat
& John Rousseau all died in the Indian subcontinent. Charles Cox died
in Fiji, Maria Brotheridge(Johnston) in Pondicherry India, Isabella Nelson
in Tahiti.
Sydney Cove was the scene of most of the distressingly high infant mortality
amongst the First Generation with 160 deaths being recorded there. Added to
which 43 infants and children died at Norfolk Island although the true figure
is undoubtedly higher given the poor state of the records from the island during
its first settlement. Particularly sad were the 12 children of the First Fleet Marines who perished
on the return journey on board 'HMS Gorgon' in 1791/1792. Military families
were to suffer a similar tragedy in 1811 when the New South Wales Corps returned to Horsham Barracks in Sussex, an outbreak of 'flu during their first English
winter decimated many fine young Australians, including at least three of the
First Generation.
Interestingly another 12 deaths at sea were recorded amongst the First Generation.
In 23 cases the place of death has not been supplied by the descendants
of the deceased, even when an exact date of death was supplied.
There are also 12 instances where the place of death is known but not the date,
most occurring overseas. Whilst interesting to record they have not been
included in the general calculations in the tables below.
Thomas Harmsworth was the first child to die in the new colony, he passed
away on the 25th February 1788 at the age of just 84 days - a sad beginning
for his Marine parents to their colonial tour of duty.There were several burials of children on the First Fleet recorded in
St Phillips Register but they have not been listed.
Alexander Ross was the first death amongst those who reached adulthood at
the age of 20 on 29th June 1800 - he had actually left the colony in 1791
after only 4 years there and died in England - he had of course arrived as
a child of 8 on the First Fleet.John Billet and his sister Mary are reputed to have died on the same day in
1877.
The person with the greatest longevity of the First Generation was Maria
Lee, who lived for 99 years 8 months and 22 days. William Small who lived
for 94 years 10 months and23 days, was the longest living male.
Mary Ann Freebody was the last survivour of the First Generation dying on 22nd
October 1899, just 69 days short of the twentieth century, at the age of 98 years and 10 months (unfortunately her exact date of birth is unknown but she
is thought to have been born in December 1800).
Catherine Shaw/Neale who was reputedly the 'oldest living Australian'
at the time of her death in August 1894, in fact wasn't, she was the fifth
oldest living Australian but this seems to have been a common epitaph given
to any of the First Generation who achieved any sort of great age!
The first table listed below shows the total number of deaths each year from
1788 to 1805 and the number dying at each age. The main point is to illustrate
the sad infant mortality of the time, since by 1805 the youngest of the first
generation would have reached the age of 5 years. During those first famine
stricken years of the colony, the slaughter of the innocents began with deaths
peaking at 49 in 1792. 187 children did not survive their first year and 277
did not reach their 5th birthday with 299 death in total. Although it must
be stated that the fates of 413children are unknown at this stage, since no
record has been found of them in any colonial documents it must be assumed
that they either left the colony or more likely died and their death went
unrecorded. In which case the death rate amongst these young colonist is
obviously much higher.
Table 13.1. - Deaths in the First 17 yearsTotal 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >9 ?
-----------------------------------------------------1788 12 10 1 1
1789 8 8
1790 9 7 2
1791 13 10 1 1 1
1792 49 30 10 5 3 1
1793 33 22 5 5 1
1794 23 16 4 2 1
1795 28 20 4 2 2
1796 19 14 1 3 1
1797 20 13 2 4 1 15:1
1798 17 13 3 1
1799 10 5 3 1 1
1800 20 13 1 1 4 1 12:1 15:2 20:1
1801 18 6 3 2 1 1 2 3
1802 7 3 1 2 1
1803 4 1 1 1 1 13:1
1804 6 2 1 1 2 10:1 13:1
1805 3 1 1 1
---------------------------------------------------299 187 40 26 7 10 4 2 3 0 4 8 8
The second table listed below shows the number dying at each particular
age. If the young colonist survived infancy and childhood they had a
very good chance of then living to a reasonable age, 276 or nearly one third,
reaching their biblical "three score and ten" or more. Table 13.2. - Deaths by AgeAge No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No. Age No.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 187 10 4 20 5 30 11 40 8 50 10 60 8 70 21 80 21 90 6
1 40 11 2 21 3 31 6 41 10 51 5 61 14 71 8 81 15 91 5
2 26 12 3 22 3 32 9 42 12 52 10 62 13 72 16 82 12 93 3
3 7 13 3 23 0 33 10 43 6 53 9 63 13 73 23 83 14 94 2
4 10 14 3 24 3 34 12 44 12 54 7 64 8 74 19 84 10 95 1
5 4 15 8 25 3 35 5 45 10 55 9 65 6 75 16 85 10 96 1
6 3 16 6 26 4 36 7 46 7 56 11 66 8 76 18 86 8 97 1
7 3 17 3 27 4 37 12 47 12 57 13 67 11 77 13 87 4 98 2
8 0 18 2 28 6 38 10 48 1 58 8 68 9 78 14 88 8 99 2
9 4 19 0 29 6 39 10 49 7 59 11 69 12 79 10 89 14 >99 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tot. 285 34 37 92 85 93 102 157 115 24
Grand Total 1024/1045
The third table listed below shows the percentage dying in each decade of
life. The first decade is the most dangerous with a 28.4% death rate. If a
child survives the first decade then the second and third are the least
dangerous with a mere 3.4% death rate. The death rate then slowly rises until
the eighth decade when it peaks at 15.2% before rapidly declining again
as one might expect. Table 13.3. - Deaths in Decade PercentagesDecade Absolute Cummulative Cummulative Cummulative
sans Infancy sans Childhood ----------------------------------------------------------------Infancy 18.7% 18.7%
First 5 Years 8.7% 27.4% 10.7%
Second 5 Years 1.0% 28.4% 11.9% 1.4%
Second Decade 3.4% 31.8% 16.1% 6.1%
Third Decade 3.4% 35.2% 20.3% 10.8%
Fourth Decade 8.9% 44.1% 31.3% 23.1%
Fifth Decade 8.0% 52.1% 41.2% 34.2%
Sixth Decade 8.8% 60.9% 52.1% 46.4%
Seventh Decade 10.1% 71.0% 64.6% 60.4%
Eighth Decade 15.2% 86.2% 83.4% 81.4%
Ninth Decade 11.0% 97.2% 97.0% 96.6%
Tenth Decade 2.4% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
If the classical definition of "average life expectancy" is defined as
the age to which 50% of the population lives then for the First Generation,
life expectancy was 44 years. However one can see from the tables that the
huge infant mortality tends to skew the figures to a very young age. If those
who died in infancy (ie less than one year) are excluded from the calculation
the average life expectancy rises to 58 years. If those who died in childhood
(ie less than five years) are excluded from the calculation the average life
expectancy rises to 61 years.
If would be interesting to compare similar figures for the mother country at the same period of time. Whilst the infant mortality is regrettable by modern
standards perhaps it may have been better than in England because of a milder
climate in the colony.
It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that civil registration
of deaths and burials commenced in New South Wales and the cause of death was routinely recorded, the various church burial registers before this time very
rarely recorded the cause of death. For a few better known people the cause
is known especially if the result of an accident, for instance George Johnston
died in 1820 as a result of a fall from a horse. In the early days of the colony
death by drowning as a fairly frequent cause of death, especially at times of flooding of the Hawkesbury river which was a reasonably frequent event.
James Beachey really let his generation down by managing to get himself hung
at Port Arthur Van Diemens Land in 1840.
There is one death which is not recorded on the list, mainly because there
has been no independent confirmation, but the descendants of John Nash
claim that both he and his father William were killed at the Battle of Waterloo
in 1815.
This list represents just over half of the total known First Generation.
What can be said of the remaining half ? In List 30 the reader will find
an analysis of the fate of the First Generation which sheds some light on
the missing half.
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name
would be made on List 1 from which the date of death would be retrieved, secondly
using the appropriate date, the death would be located on this list and finally
an alphabetical search on the name would be made on the death date if there
should be more than one entry for that date which would certainly be the case
if only the year of death were known.
Table 13.4. - Deaths - Date Unknown
Name Place Birth
-----------------------------------------------
John Hunter Kent England 1795
Mary Kent England 1797
Elizabeth King England 1797
Harriet Sutton England 1786
Maria Waterhouse England 1791
Sarah Henry London England 1797
Elizabeth McKellar Surrey England 1793
William Peat Bombay India 1799
John Rousseau Calcutta India 1799
Susannah Ruse Forest Creek Yass 1797
William James Neale Illawarra 1799
James Morgan Norfolk Island 1786
Richard John Griffiths - 1796
George Henry -
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