Date of Conviction: 24/07/1788

Age at Conviction: 27

Crime Convicted of: Theft

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Quarter Sessions (held at unknown location, Manchester)

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Mary Anne 1

Where Arrived: Port Jackson, New South Wales

Departure Date: 16/02/1791

Arrival Date: 09/07/1791

Biography: Martha was the wife of Caleb Barnett of Manchester. She stole two pieces of gold, to the value of ten pence by force from Edward Smethurst. She was sent to Lancaster as part of a group of five prisoners from Manchester. Martha was supposed to be part of the Second Fleet to sail to NSW and appears on indents but like fellow convict Mary Chadderton was held over until the Third Fleet.

She remarried John Redford (ship- Neptune) on the 21st December 1791 at Parramatta (a fellow Mancunian tried the same year as her). He was killed though being ‘speared by natives’ in 1796. in September 1797, now free and aged 36 she remarried free man and shoemaker George Fieldhouse (arrived as a soldier on ship- Queen) who owned land at Minto.

By 1805 George had started a family with a different woman so it appears the couple had separated. In 1806 Martha was employed as a nurse by a J. Marriott. In 1811 Martha had to give evidence in an inquest and appears on musters from that year. Convict musters in 1816 and 1817 declare that Martha was a widow, 1818, that she was dead and 1819 and 1821 that she was married.