Mary (Davies/Davis) Bishop

In 1993 the Fellowship of First Fleeters fixed a memorial plaque to the headstone of Charlot Pently [sic] in the cemetery of St Peters Anglican Church, Richmond, to commemorate the life of Charlotte’s mother, Mary (Davis) Bishop, who arrived in Port Jackson with the First Fleet on 26th Jan 1788 and who died at Curryjong NSW nearly 51 years later, on 1st Jan 1839. ¹

This the Fellowship did (after considering various conflicting opinions as to the identity of Mary Bishop and her relationship with Charlotte Pentley, née Bishop) on the basis of convincing research by both Dr Mollie Gillen in her acclaimed book “The Founders of Australia” and also by Yvonne Browning, author of “St. Peter's Richmond: the early people and burials 1791-1855”.²

MRS SAMUEL DAY ?
The confusion over Mary’s identity arises largely from the hitherto unexplained marriage recorded at St Phillips Sydney on 2nd Nov 1788 between a Mary Bishop and convict Samuel Day. Mollie Gillen characterises this marriage as a “considerable complication” to the story of Mary Davis, noting that no Mary Bishop was recorded in any First Fleet document. She further establishes that Samuel Day’s long term wife was Mary Bolton, not to be confused with Mary Bishop, and that Mary Davis (Lady Penrhyn) was undeniably the mother of Charlotte Bishop. Mollie Gillen concludes: “Why Mary Davis married Samuel Day … and why she used the name Mary Bishop … remain … a mystery”.³

However, two things remain certain…
1. The name “Mary Bishop” was in use by someone in the lead up to November 1788.
2. Mary Davies/Davis per Lady Penrhyn was known as “Mary Bishop” for most of her life in the Colony. It follows that Mary Davis assumed the name Bishop soon after arrival in NSW. The logical explanation for this is she had formed a relationship with a male named Bishop soon after arrival. Furthermore, it is conceivable that the Day~Bishop marriage was recorded in error i.e. Bolton being mis-identified as Bishop and that Mary Bishop was never associated with Samuel Day.⁴ Credibility is added to this notion of “mistaken identity” by the similar circumstances surrounding these two women. Both were named Mary “B______”, were tried for similar crimes on the same day, at the same place, and were transported on the same ship.⁵ With this in mind, the simplest and most credible explanation for this “mystery” marriage is that it never took place. The question again arises ... why was Mary using the name of Bishop ?? .... a male Bishop lurking ?

MRS MARY BISHOP ?
According to authoritative sources, there were 3 male Bishops in the First Fleet; 2 were Marine Privates; the 3rd a convict. First Fleet 1788 ⁶, a transcription of the original First Fleet manifest, places Elias (Marine) on Alexander, Joseph (Convict) on Friendship, and Thomas (Marine) on the Supplementary Listing of those who arrived without a record of which ship.  The Fellowship of First Fleeters has Elias on Alexander and both Joseph and Thomas on Friendship.⁷

Joseph married Ann Dring (Lady Juliana) at St Phillips on Nov 13th 1790 and was settled by 1792 at The Ponds on 50ac.⁸ Elias married Catherine Smith (Prince of Wales) on Norfolk Island in June 1793.⁹ The only Bishop for whom there is no conflicting record of marriage is Thomas.

The tracing of land grants, memorials, entitlements and transfers has built a convincing case that Thomas Bishop was at the very least the common law husband of Mary and probably the father of Charlotte Bishop.