John Randall, an American man of African heritage, was sentenced to seven years' transportation at Manchester Quarter Assizes in April 1785, for stealing a steel watch chain. He arrived in Australia as part of the First Fleet in January 1788. He married Esther Howard/Harwood on 21 February 1788, but she died on 11 October 1789. He married Mary Butler on 5 September 1790; she died in 1802, after which he lived with a woman called 'Fanny', who described herself as a 'widow' in 1822.
John Randall variously worked as a game keeper to Governor Arthur Phillip and as a member of the NSW Corps, and as a constable: prior to joining the Corp, he was granted sixty acres of land, which he sold in 1800.
Source: People Australia (https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/randall-john-30314). (Sighted: 2/7/2024)
