Sydney Female Orphan School 1801 – 1818
The Sydney Female Orphan School was set up by Governor King in 1801, was initially located in George Street, Sydney. It was the first school established using public funds, and furthermore, as a residential school to provide care for ‘orphan’, destitute, neglected and abandoned girls, it was the initial provider of child welfare provisions for children in need of care.
Thirty-one girls, not all of whom were orphans, between the ages of seven and fourteen years were enrolled in the beginning (17 Aug 1801). There are no extant admission registers, school rolls or requests for admission forms for this period of the Orphan School. The names of those thirty-one girls and the backgrounds from which they came remain unknown.
When a new building was completed near the existing residence, there was room for more girls, and by 31 Dec 1801 forty-nine girls had been received into the Institution. By 24 March 1803 there were fifty-four girls enrolled, although the capacity of the school at that time was for one hundred girls.
By 1806 …. Six Orphans have been married, and portioned with £10 each; and eleven have been bound Apprentices to Officers’ Wives’. The reference to the eleven girls who had been apprenticed indicates a role which the Female Orphan School was to play in the colony, namely the supply of servants for the ‘colonial elite’. The Female and Male Orphan Schools in New South Wales 1801 – 1850, Beryl M. Bubacz. Thesis, Aug 2007
Girls who did attend the Orphan School
Sarah ADAMS
Sarah BOCKERAH
Mary COSGROVE
Sophia Charlotte EAST
Elizabeth EDWARDS
Catherine-Caroline GREEN, admitted 1814
Margaret GREEN
Mary Ann GREEN
Mary HOGAN: Born 1 May 1796 Parramatta Ann Ryan convict Marquis Cornwallis 1796. Mary’s father was stated as Michael Hogan, Captain of the ship Marquis Cornwallis. Ann Ryan died Oct 1805. Mary aged 8 years old & her half-sister Catherine Ryan/Woodham aged 6, were admitted to the Female Orphan School. Mary married John Piper 1814 with issue of two sons. John Piper was a ship’s carpenter & on a voyage in 1818 he was never heard from again, presumed dead. Mary was now living in VDL where she had a relationship with Henry Hately resulting in three children. In 1825 Hatley sailed for NSW with their eldest son, leaving Mary with her surviving son from her first marriage & her two youngest children with Hately. Mary formed a relation ship with convict Robert Bailey resulting in a further five children. They eventually married 1846 Yass NSW. Mary died 28 Dec 1862 Jerrawa NSW. (Submitted by Kerrie Beers)
Henrietta LANGLEY, convict child Lady Penrhyn 1788. HMS Sirius Babies and Love Children.
Bertha LOVERIDGE born 1810 Sydney, at Orphanage from 1815. Gypsy Girls: Mary and Priscilla Loveridge, Royal Admiral 1792.
Charlotte LOVERIDGE, convict child Royal Admiral 1792. Gypsy Girls: Mary and Priscilla Loveridge, Royal Admiral 1792.
Prudence LOVERIDGE: born 1798 Sydney, died 1816 Sydney, Gypsy Girls: Mary and Priscilla Loveridge, Royal Admiral 1792.
Elizabeth MacKELLAR.
Sarah MARTIN/MILLER
Sarah PATFIELD (1805-1879) and her sister Elizabeth PATFIELD
Mary PEAT: b. 1790, England, arrived Royal Admiral 1792 as infant, both parents free. Her mother died Dec 1792 at Parramatta. Mary went to Norfolk Island with her father William Peat per Kitty in Jan 1793. William died on Norfolk Island Jun 1795. She returned to NSW per HMS Porpoise May 1801, Mary married 31 Aug 1803, St Johns Parramatta NSW, Lawrence Brady b. 1790 England. Marriage notice, Sydney Gazette 4 Sep 1803: On Wednesday last, at St. John’s Church Parramatta, Lawrence Brady, baker to M. Peat, spinster. She is the first young woman married from the Orphan House.
Mary Ann ROBERTS: Born 1792 – 1793 Norfolk Island. Daughter of convict Esther Roberts aka Jane Jackson Lady Penrhyn 1788 who died 1804 Sydney.
Catherine RYAN/WOODHAM: Half sister to Mary Hogan. Catherine’s mother was Ann Ryan convict of the ship Marquis Cornwallis 1796, Her father was James Woodham convict Surprize 1790. Catherine was born 20 Jan 1799, being 6 years old when her mother died in Oct 1805. Catherine formed a relationship with Joseph Herbert, son of a first fleeter, They had one daughter, Susannah in 1821. Both Catherine & Susannah died in 1829 at Parramatta. (Submitted by Kerrie Beers)
Mary SANDALL: born 1804
Elizabeth SANDLIN – SANDLING – SANDLANDS: Born 1790 Sydney. Her mother Ann Sandlin, convict Lady Penrhyn 1788, who worked as a cook at the orphanage. Elizabeth (Sandlands) married 10 September 1806, Thomas Boulton jnr who arrived in 1801 on the Minorca.
Other possible attendees
Elizabeth Boggis – Smith, born Norfolk island
Isabella Oakley/Wood from Norfolk Island, arrived in Sydney 1804.
Maria Lee – Smith from Norfolk Island, arrived in Sydney 1806.
Margaret Murrell/Carty
If you add to the list of girls who attended the Sydney Orphan School between 1801 and 1818, please email us office@australianhistoryresearch.info
