MUMFORD, JAMES (c1773-
James Mumford was sentenced to seven years transportation at the 25 March 1788 Warwick County Assizes for housebreaking (avoiding a death sentence which was routinely handed down for this offence). On 3rd June 1788 he was sent on board the Lion hulk at Portsmouth, age given as 14, whence he was embarked on the Scarborough transport on 29 November 1789.
Mumford worked for wages after the expiry of his sentence in 1795, but after 1802 he became a tenant farmer. He was in financial difficulty in January 1803 when his effects were advertised for sale by execution unless creditors' claims were met. In 1806 he was mustered renting 4 acres in the Hawkesbury district on which he lived alone, growing wheat and keeping 5 hogs. He was self supporting with 2 bushels of wheat and 3 of maize on hand. Around 1813 he was granted land around Airds in the Liverpool district. He was supporting a male child, aged about 6. The muster does not indicate that he was living with a woman. The 1822 muster lists him still on the 40 acre grant with 17 acres sown in wheat, 17 hogs and 6 bushels of wheat and 80 of maize in store, the farm was modestly productive. In October 1824 Mumford petitioned the Governor for an additional land grant. He stated that his son was now aged 16, and he intended to lease the farm to the boy. He described the land as badly watered. He was recommended as a sober, industrious man and a good neighbour. In 1828 he was recorded as a settler of Airds, aged 56, a Catholic. holding 40 acres, 12 of them cultivated, and employing a labourer (who was also a Catholic). In January 1829 he signed a letter of thanks to the Governor from the settlers at Airds. His death has not been traced.
Notes: Coventry Mercury 7 April 1788; Australian 20 Jan 1829; the son and his mother
have not been identified. A James Mumford was admitted to the Sydney Benevolent Asylum on
30 November 1825, but his identity has not been confirmed.
MUMFORD, WILLIAM (c1773-1814)
William Mumford was sentenced to seven years transportation at the 25 March 1788 Warwick County Assizes for stealing a greatcoat. On 30 June 1788 he was sent on hoard the Lion hulk at Portsmouth, age gives as 14 whence he was embarked on the Scarborough transport on 29 November 1789.
In 1801 Mumford was mustered as a resident of Sydney. In 1806 he was recorded as a self employed fisherman. He was living with the First Fleet convict Margaret Bunn or Burn (b.c.1762, tried Old Bailey) and one male child. She died at Sydney in 1825, outliving Mumford, whose burial was registered at Sydney on 28 March 1814. He was described as a native of Birmingham, aged 40.
Notes: Coventry Mercury 7 April 1788
Extracted from The Second Fleet by Michael Flynn