Anthony Brian

  General Notes:

Biography of Anthony Brian
Second-Fleet Convict pioneer of Kissing Point
Anthony Brian (or Brion or Bryan) was born in Middlesex ca. 1760 and arrived in the Colony on 26 June 1790 as a convict in the Second Fleet <http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/ifhaa/ships/2ndfleet.htm> on the Surprize 1. He had been sentenced on 27 February 1788 at the Old Bailey, Middlesex, to transportation for seven years 2 for allegedly stealing the greatcoat of Lord Grannard's coachman, and was transported by wagon from Newgate Prison to the hulk Ceres in Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth on 12 August 1788, where he stayed until embarked on the Surprize on 30 November 1789 for the Second Fleet trip to Sydney 3. Although not as horrific as the Neptune, the death rate amongst the prisoners on the Surprize was still 14%.
Anthony married fellow Second Fleeter Elizabeth Dean </familyhistory/getperson.php?personID=I0056&tree=DavoTree> in Sydney on 3 October 1795 by Rev Richard Johnson. From the X with which both signed the register it appears that neither was literate. 4 The couple had three children:
Mary </familyhistory/getperson.php?personID=I0054&tree=DavoTree>, born 7 April 1792 at Sydney Cove, who at age 15 married Second Fleeter William Furber </familyhistory/getperson.php?personID=I0053&tree=DavoTree> on 4 January 1808;
Ann, born 11 January 1795 at Sydney Cove, and
Maria, born 27 November 1796 at Sydney Cove, who married another convict, Patrick Field.
On 19 November 1794 Anthony settled on a 30-acre farm at Eastern Farms (Kissing Point), roughly at the present site of Ryde High School and Christine Avenue, North Ryde. 5 On 18 October 1799 the land was granted to him by Governor Hunter. 6 Also about this time his marriage broke down, and Elizabeth left him for one James Evans, a Sydney carpenter, by whom she bore numerous children, the first in August 1800, before her death in 1829. 7 Evans (born ca. 1775) had arrived in the Colony in February 1792 on the Pitt. 8
By 1800 Brian was "off stores", although he was recorded as having one female (possibly an error) and 3 children "on stores", and at that time had "... had no stock". 9 By 1802 he was free, and had cleared 18 acres; 5 planted to wheat and ten ready for sowing to maize. He also had 2 hogs and 25 bushels of maize in hand. He was now recorded as having two children and a prisoner on indent with him, all "off stores". 10
Apparently he sold the farm soon afterwards, for it was sold again by a William Cox in April 1804 at auction for 21 guineas. 11
In 1814 he was recorded as a landholder with a male and a female convict, and appears on a List of Persons Receiving an Assigned Convict dated 19 February 1822. 12 He does not appear in the next Landholders Muster, also in 1822, although Flynn suggests he is incorrectly recorded under the name Arthur Brian in the 1822 General Muster.
At the time of his burial at St Anne's, Ryde, on 16 September 1826 Brian was described as a "back farmer" at Field of Mars, 13 aged 74 (but probably closer to 66).
Compiled by Ian Davidson
<http://familyhistory.davoweb.net>
Last modified 10 Jan 2007

References
1SMEE, C.J., The Second Fleet Families of Australia, Sydney, 1990
2RYAN, R.J., The Second Fleet Convicts, Australian Documents Library Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1982
3FLYNN, Michael, The Second Fleet - Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1993, p.180
4ibid, p.242
5ibid, p.282
6ARCHIVES OFFICE OF NSW, Colonial Secretary's Papers Microfiche no. 3267, "Lists of all Grants & Leases of Land and Town Allotments Registered in the Colonial Secretary's Office 1788-1809", p. 102
7FLYNN, Michael, op. cit., p.242
8MC KAY, Margaret (ed.), A Register of Pioneer Families, The 1788-1820 Pioneer Association, Sydney, 1988, Vol. 1 p. 142
9BAXTER, Carol J. (ed.), Musters & Lists New South Wales & Norfolk Island 1800-1802, Australian Biographical & Genealogical Record, Sydney, 1988
10BAXTER, Carol J. (ed.) 1814 General Muster of N.S.W., Australian Biographical & Genealogical Record, Sydney, 1987
11FLYNN, Michael, op. cit.
12ARCHIVES OFFICE OF NSW, Colonial Secretary's Papers Microfiche no. 3291, "List of Persons Receiving an Assigned Convict", p. 98
13FLYNN, Michael, op. cit.

Taken from Davoweb- http://familyhistory.davoweb.net/showmedia.php?mediaID=28&medialinkID=45

Died at "a back farm, Kissing Point, Field of Mars", buried 16 Sep 1826,
age 74, Free by Servitude Settler or Farmer, clergyman John Espy Keane. (St Anne's Register entry)

Anthony married Elizabeth Dean, daughter of William Dean and Ann Thomas, on 3 Oct 1795 in St Phillips, Sydney, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA.⁶⁴ (Elizabeth Dean was christened on 8 Mar 1765 in Austrey, Warwickshire, England ⁴⁷ and died about 28 Dec 1829 in Sydney NSW, Australia ⁶⁵.)