Shortcuts :-

The father of Mostyn was Arthur (about Arthur, and a little of Mostyn)

Mostyn's burial (The Order of Service papers)

From Eire to Australia (Add the sound of bellbirds) 

 

 

Mostyn (right) and Malcolm Byrnes, in their backyard at Mayfield.

 

PRESERVING THE MEMORIES:

There is a disk available for family or friends which contains some readily available general history of "Byrnes" and many photos pertaining to Mostyn's life from the family album.  Please write for a copy of this is interested.

To contribute any information - please check at 'Tribute website':  

http://notices.smh.com.au/death/25811/notice.aspx     

Tribute Websites allow friends and family to honour the life of a loved one. Requested by the family, Tribute Websites remain online for 12 months. Friends and family can pay tribute, share photos, or express condolence by creating an entry in the guest book.

At present (10 Jan 2007) you will see that page reads as follows:

""""""""""""

Mostyn Arthur Byrnes

BYRNES, Mostyn Arthur.
1920 - 2007

Passed away peacefully on 7 January, 2007 at Strathfield.
Former long-time resident of Turramurra; retired
Commonwealth public servant; dedicated gardener; and
descendant of early farming settlers on the Nepean.

Beloved husband and devoted life companion of Doreen (nee
Steiner). Dearly loved father and father-in-law of John and
Ann.  Much loved grandfather of Juliet. Eldest son of Arthur
Gurvin Byrnes and Janet Gibson Byrnes (nee Graham). Brother
of Yvonne (Peggy) (Mrs F. Johnson); Malcolm; Gwendoline
(Mrs J Bebb); Robert (all deceased); James and Kenneth.

Relatives and friends are warmly invited to attend a funeral

service on Friday, 12th January 2007 at 2:15pm at the Castlereagh

Chapel, 1727 Castlereagh Rd, Castlereagh NSW 2749 (Near Penrith's
International Regatta Centre). After the service, burial will take
place at the adjacent historic cemetery, near Mostyn's forebears.

Further information 0409 697 337.

No flowers by request

Gregory and Carr
Gordon 9498 4455
Australian Owned


Last Update: 10/01/2007 3:00:59 PM

Leave messages or upload photos for your loved one.

Say something special or leave a photo. The notice owner can later publish these tribute messages or photos for everyone to share.
 

 

""""""""""""

 

CONTACT: John & Ann Byrnes

PO Box 121, Burwood NSW 1805

john.mail@ozemail.com.au

Ph. (02) 9747 3701

 

 

Mostyn was born in 1920 at Newcastle and passed away peacefully at or about 4:15 in the p.m. on Sunday, January 7th 2007, at Strathfield. This was in the room at Strathdale nursing home that he and wife Doreen had occupied for a number of years.   Mostyn was the eldest son of Arthur Gurvin Byrnes and Janet Gibson Byrnes (nee Graham).

Arthur as a young man went to WWI (France etc.) and there met Janet, a nurse from Doonfoot near Ayr, Scotland.  He had been invalided back to England and met her while convalescing in London.

Arthur returned to Australia after the end of the war and was followed as soon as possible by Janet.  Their children were Mostyn, Yvonne (Peggy) (Mrs F. Johnson); Malcolm; Gwendoline (Mrs J. Bebb); Robert  - all of whom are now deceased - and twins James and Kenneth.  The somewhat uncommon chosen name of Mostyn is probably a Welsh name.  We assume that his father's name Gurvin is from the town of Girvan that is also in the the west British coastal region, north of Mostyn and south of Doonsfoot.

Mostyn was a long-time resident of Turramurra; a retired Commonwealth public servant; and together with his wife, a devotee of gardening. They collected plant species from all over, and transported in the car boot many small pieces of the Blue Mountains back to form their rockeries. When not working in the garden, Mos’s other main interest was stamps and coins.

 

 

 

OUR BYRNES FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA

The descendants of

David Burns/Byrnes (1768- 1848)

&

 Ann Reffin (1783-1839)

 

Burial place of David and Ann and other early Byrnes family members, Castlereagh Cemetery.

The small Byrnes plot lies in the northeast corner of the cemetery, adjacent to this above-vault memorial where Reverend Fulton is buried.  Reverend Fulton was the chaplain at Castlereagh, formerly in charge of a parish in Derry before he was transported to Sydney for sedition.

Once appointed to the parsonage at Castlereagh, Fulton set up a school, believed to be the first secondary school in the colony.  In 1826 one of Fulton’s former pupils, Charles Tompson, published a book of poetry entitled “Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel”.  Tompson, whose father had been a convict, was born in Sydney in 1806.  He dedicated his book to Fulton.  In his first poem “Retrospect” he acknowledged with gratitude the debt he owed his former “tutor of (his) early hour”. He reflected on the happy times he had at Castlereagh and shared his feelings for the place, its beauty and “rural stillness”.

 

 

Origins - And How Many Might There Be Today?

From a pair of convicts two hundred years ago how many people may now be living?

Don't know, and have not seen anyone try to estimate it.  One imagines there are, or soon enough will be, thousands in Australia who are descended from the union of the  David [from Ireland] and Ann [from the Leistershire Wolds near Nottingham].

Their more distant-in-time ancestry can only be guessed at.  Generally a celtic plus nordic mix is the sort of guesswork engaged in.   Another possibility is for a more native clan Irish origin of David's family, in the centre of Ireland (the O'Beirne possibility).

Whatever the details, on David's side the family is certainly "Irish" and quite likely of presbyterian type Irish from the north (and therefore likely Scottish, prior to Irish); although this is only surmise, since David's roots have not yet been found back in Ireland.   In Mostyn's immediate branch there is stronger than average Scottish influence through his mother Janet, but Scottish ancestry could well be in the family from much earlier times as well.  The Ulster Scots are largely descended from Galloway and the Scottish Borders Country (where there is a large 'Burns' history), although some descend from further north in the Scottish Lowlands as well.  Although the world mostly sees them as Celts in respect of both their Scottish and Irish origin, some Ulster-Scots actually eschew being labeled "Celtic" in order to distinguish their identity from that of the Republic of Ireland.  

In Scotland the Burns are popularly considered the family of Scotland's greatest poet, and associated with the Scottish Borders and the reivers (raiders on horseback) of that area.  The Burns are believed to have been a particularly lawless 'reiving' bunch, raiding and sheep rustling, and they had a reputation for being vicious.  Border Reiver historical records generally note that, several hundred years ago, the Burn clan lived among the Scottish border areas. Their ancestors still bear their name, along with variations such as Burns and Burness.  In that area the name is generally believed to be territorial, from bourne meaning stream. It could, however, be from the Old English 'beorn', meaning warrior.

Newcastle University professor John Burn is a direct descendant of the Scottish Border area Burns, and is collecting blood for DNA studies.  ( Border Reivers website http://www.borderreivers.co.uk )

 

Professor Burn is head of the Institute of Human Genetics, which is leading the "People of the British Isles" project in northern England.


  ... one of the bad Burn'es, apprehended at last.

Professor John Burn, Posted Tuesday, 28 November 2006, john.burn@ncl.ac.uk

What do Ann-&-David descendants look like .. anything in particular?   Do they look like the Burns of Ireland, or from the Scottish Borders?   Do they even look like one another?  Here are a few of those who gathered at Castlereagh in 2006, which year was the 200th since since Ann's first child James was born, marking the beginning of our Australian family:

Some Byrnes family descendants, various surnames now, in the year 2006.

Some Irish Byrnes - Bill Byrne and wife Val.  Clan chief of the O'Byrne, Wicklow Mountains south of 

Dublin.  The government of the Republic has revived, ceremonially at least, the old clans.

 

 

 

Our Australian Byrnes family has been fortunate to have been so thoroughly traced out by Pat Curry in her book:

 

Curry, Patricia, 2000.  A Byrnes Book 1800-2000. Cranebrook, NSW: The author.  176 pages.

 

 

Pat Curry at the grave of James Byrnes, Castlereagh.

 

 

TYPIFYING EARLY BYRNES PERIOD LIFE

AT PENRITH/CASTLEREAGH AREA.

SOME FACTS GATHERED

RE THE LIFE OF JAMES BYRNES

1806-1876.

 

By Pat Curry

 
19 May 1806

Birthdate of James Byrnes, according to the headstone on his grave. His parents were David Byrnes and Ann Reffin.
4 February 1810

James’ first sister, Ann, was born at Parramatta.
23 Dec 1810

James’ parents, David and Ann, (surnames shown as Burns and Griffin), were married by Reverend Samuel Marsden at St John’s Church, Parramatta. David is believed to be about 42 years of age and Ann 27.
1813 - 1826

James’ sisters and brothers were born, John in 1813, Esther in 1815, Catherine Sophia in 1819 and Samuel in 1826. James was 20 years old when Samuel arrived.
6 August 1827

James’ future wife, a young woman named Harriet Nicholson arrived in Sydney as a convict aboard the Princess Charlotte. The shipping indent records her as 20 years old, a straw bonnet maker, native of Nottingham, charged at Doncaster with picking pockets, and sentenced to 7 years transportation. In Sydney, she was assigned to Doctor David Ramsay of Dobroyd.
19 Nov 1827

The first Byrnes’ family marriage – Ann Byrnes married William Jackson at St John’s at Parramatta. James Byrnes and Mary Campbell were recorded as the official witnesses.
November 1828

The 1828 Census of NSW recorded James Byrnes at Parramatta with his parents, sisters and brothers, all except Esther who, at the age of 13 years, was a servant working for Peter Bemi, a draftsman in the Surveyor General’s office in Sydney. This Census shows Harriet Nicholson was at Parramatta, assigned to the Reverend John Vincent, who had only recently arrived in the colony with his wife and 4 young children.
10 August 1829 James’ future wife attempted to marry. The Convict Permission to Marry records show that the Reverend William Cowper of St Phillip’s Church Sydney approved the marriage of Harriet Nicholson, not to James Byrnes, but to John Redgrave, who had arrived free per the Morley in 1823 as a 12 year old. Harriet did not marry John Redgrave. This record reveals discrepancies in Harriet’s story as told to James Rutledge in the book, Spark of Grace – History of the Methodist Church, by the Reverend Gloster Udy, (Epworth Press, 1977). That story claimed that Harriet had asked for permission to marry James Byrnes, but that her mistress would not give permission, as she was too good a servant to lose. Harriet further claimed that she and James had concocted a plan that would have her sent back to the Female Factory at Parramatta for misbehaviour, so that James could visit there and choose her for a wife. Harriet’s application to marry John Redgrave was made at Parramatta.
15 May 1830

Convict Permission to Marry records show that, 9 months later, the Reverend Yate of Parramatta approved Harriet Nicholson’s marriage to James Byrnes, with a notation added: Approval is granted provided Harriet’s employer consents, as it appears that she does not have her Ticket-of-leave as represented.

26 July 1830

James Byrnes and Harriet Nicholson were married at St John’s at Parramatta. Witnesses were William and Ann Jackson. Coincidentally perhaps, John Redgrave, whom Harriet had earlier received permission to marry, was married the same day to Ann Barnett in St Phillip’s Church in Sydney.
20 Aug 1832

James’ second sister, Esther, married John Wilkinson at St John’s Church, Parramatta. Witnesses were Robert and Mary Biddle. Where were the family members?
4 Feb 1833

James’ third sister, Catherine Sophia Byrnes, 14 years old but recorded as being 15, married convict William Harris, aged 26, at Bringelly. William Harris was assigned to Geo. Wentworth of Greendale. James and Harriet Byrnes were the official witnesses of the marriage and they are recorded as "Of Bringelly" indicating that they also lived there at that time.
21 July 1833

Esther Byrnes and John Wilkinson’s first child, John, was born near Bringelly His baptism record states that his father was a tenant farmer for Geo. Wentworth at Greendale. At this time James and Harriet Byrnes, Esther and John Wilkinson, and Catherine Sophia and William Harris seem to be all in the area recorded as Bringelly. Samuel aged 7, would have been at Parramatta with his parents, and it is not known where 20 year old John Byrnes was.
1836

NSW Post Office Directory recorded David Byrnes as a tailor at Parramatta.
19 May 1838

First evidence of any of James Byrnes’ family member in the Castlereagh area. Catherine Byrnes and William Harris’ first child, Rachel, was born at Castlereagh. William was recorded as a settler when Rachel was baptized by the Reverend Henry Fulton in July 1838.
8 July 1838

Catherine Sophia Harris nee Byrnes died at Castlereagh and was buried at Christ Church Cemetery. This was our first Byrnes family burial at this cemetery. Who cared for daughter Rachel, who was baptized the same day her mother was buried?
21 Oct 1838

James’ brother John Byrnes and Eliza Ablett married at Cobbitty near Bringelly. The witnesses at their marriage were John and Mary Ford – the Wilkinson and Ford children married each other in later years.
6 July 1839

The lease on David Byrnes’ land at Parramatta was extinguished. Perhaps James’ parents then moved to Castlereagh to live with some of their children.
26 July 1839

James’ mother, Ann Byrnes nee Reffin died at Castlereagh and was buried in Christ Church cemetery by the Reverend Henry Fulton. She was recorded as 56 years old. David was 70 years old, but youngest son Samuel was only 13. Later evidence suggests James’ close association with his brother Samuel.
29 Oct 1839

Catherine and William Harris’ baby daughter Rachel died and was buried at Christ Church Cemetery at Castlereagh. It is known that William moved to Bathurst where he married Elenor Evans in 1841.
19 Aug 1840

John Byrnes and Eliza Ablett’s first child was born at Castlereagh and named Catherine Sophia Byrnes. James and Harriet, John and Eliza, father David and brother Samuel are all there too. Esther and John Wilkinson stayed at Greendale with their 5 children. It is not known where William and Ann Jackson and their 3 children were living then.

7 Jan 1841

Spark of Grace (Gloster Udy, 1977) quotes James Rutledge’s 1840-47 Journal about Harriet Byrnes (nee Nicholson) - First there was Mrs Byrnes who led the way. This story details Harriet’s religious conversion and later her work with 3 other local women – Mrs John Lees Jnr, Mrs Gorman, and Mrs Stanton – who held weekly tea-meetings to raise funds to re-build the Wesleyan Church at Castlereagh.
1841

The Penrith Methodist Circuit Centenary Booklet (Margaret Trask, 1961) records James Byrnes and his young brother, Samuel, aged 15, as Trustees of the Methodist Church at Castlereagh.
19 Feb 1841

Caroline Deborah Jackson, 3 years, daughter of Ann Byrnes and William Jackson, was buried at Christ Church Cemetery. Was Ann living at Castlereagh or only visiting her family there when Caroline died?
24 March 1846

James’ youngest brother, Samuel, aged 21, married Eliza Lewis, aged 22, at the Wesleyan Church at Castlereagh. Eliza was the daughter of George Lewis and Sarah Fredericks of Castlereagh.
5 Aug 1847

Ann Byrnes husband, William Jackson, died at Parramatta and was buried there. There is no evidence that he ever lived at Castlereagh. Neither is there evidence that he did not.

16 Sept 1847

Ann Byrnes/Jackson remarried – to Thomas Harland, widower, at Windsor, five weeks after William’s death.
25 March 1848

James Byrnes’ father, David Byrnes, died at Castlereagh. He was buried in Christ Church Cemetery, by the Minister Reverend John Vincent, then at Castlereagh.
7 March 1854

Samuel Byrnes married for the 2nd time, to Eliza Gorman, in the Wesleyan Church at Windsor. Eliza Gorman was aged 18 years old, the eldest daughter of Sarah Lees and Henry Gorman. James Byrnes and Sarah Gorman were official witnesses to the marriage. Samuel’s first wife had evidently died although there are no records relating to her after the birth of Alfred Roy Byrnes in 1851. Family stories report that she fell from a sulky in her driveway.
1856

The Electoral List for the North Riding of Cumberland County in 1856 recorded James Byrnes as the owner of a dwelling house at Mt Pleasant; his brother Samuel Byrnes as having a leasehold property there.
1861

The Methodist Centenary Circuit Centenary booklet documents James Byrnes as a Trustee of the Methodist Church at Penrith in 1861, as well as a Class Leader at Castlereagh and Lower Castlereagh.

11 May 1865

James’ wife, Harriet, died at Castlereagh at the age of 56 years, recorded as 59 on her death certificate. She died of paralysis after one day – perhaps a stroke? Wesleyan Minister Woolnough officiated at her burial in Christ Church cemetery at Castlereagh. Records for the Methodist cemetery show that burials were occurring there at that time, but perhaps James decided to bury her with his parents and other family members in Christ Church rather than in the Methodist cemetery? Harriet’s maiden name was recorded as Parkins instead of Nicholson. James Byrnes and C Kirkparkins were the official witnesses of her burial.
1865-66

Some of James Byrnes’ nephews and nieces settled in the Castlereagh area. John and Eliza Byrnes’ daughters, Sarah and Harriet, married David and Alfred Wilkinson at Castlereagh in 1865 and 1866. David and Alfred were the children of Esther and John Wilkinson, so these couples are first-cousins. Esther ’s husband John died in 1863, after which she moved to the Rylstone area with her younger children. Henry, Alfred, and David Wilkinson settled in Castlereagh, although Alfred later moved to Sofala. Henry and David remained in the Nepean area all their lives.
29 Jan 1876

James Byrnes died after 11 years of widowhood. The cause of death is shown as 9 days of low fever. His death certificate recorded his deceased wife as Harriet Parkins rather than Nicholson. His brothers John and Samuel were the official witnesses of his death. James was buried at Christ Church Cemetery by the Reverend John Vaughan, the Church of England Minister. James’ headstone is still standing.

James Byrnes’ headstone carries the words "Erected by Jane Brownlow" around the top of it. What was her connection to him? Family stories say that she had lived with James and Harriet as a servant when a young girl, and had stayed on as James’ housekeeper after Harriet’s death.
1878

Two years after James Byrnes’ death, Jane Brownlow married Michael Long, a widower with 6 children. Family stories say they lived in James Byrnes’ house. Michael Long went on to become a prominent person in Penrith, serving 9 times as its Mayor. When Jane died in 1911, her obituary reported her as of a religious and retiring disposition, and a person who had not been separated from her home and family for 19 years.

A final interesting point. In 1911, William Freame, a noted historian, writing for the Nepean Times newspaper, recorded Michael Long’s Reminiscences of Penrith including its people. Michael named many Castlereagh families of past times, but did not mention any of the Byrnes family members. 

 

 

CLICK HERE for assorted details of other various  'sounds-like Burns' people in the early State records of New South Wales

 

 

 

Another very pertinent book in connection to Mostyn's ancestry is:

 

Merle Kavanagh, Merle, 1987.  John Lees, The Chapel Builder.

 

That book describes John Lees' life and how he came to build the first Wesleyan chapel and then donate its site (one acre of land) to the Wesleyan Methodist church.

 

 

Mostyn has been buried at this place, between his two forebears Samuel 

Byrnes and John Lees.

 

 

This introduction has been to show the Castlereagh connection.

 

Mostyn's direct paternal line is as follows (descent from Lees is through one of the wives along that line).

 

Mostyn’s direct paternal line is Arthur to William-Taylor to Samuel to David. The earliest of these, David Burns or Byrnes, arrived in Sydney as a convict from Ireland on the Friendship in 1800. Little is known of his personal life. Whilst living in Parramatta he worked as a tailor and was also a petty constable for a time. He had been forced to leave behind in Ireland a wife and six children, none of whom are known by name. In 1795 he had joined the Londonderry Militia, but soon afterwards became a deserter from that. What part, if any, he played in the failed Irish war of independence in 1798 is unknown. There is one reference to him having been tried in Dublin in 1798 as a member of the United Irishmen but nothing definitive on this has been traced. He was exiled to Australia for life and arrived on a ship mainly bearing United Irishmen or other political prisoners (some of whom had been captured during the fighting according to the journal of the wife of the ship’s captain).

Here in Australia, or more specifically in Parramatta, David married Ann Reffin. Ann Reffin had arrived on the Experiment in 1804 after having been tried in Nottingham for burglary at nearby Ruddington. Her birthplace was Walton on the Wolds in Leicestershire.

From at least 1806 onwards, Ann and David lived together at Parramatta. Their children were born in Parramatta and baptized at St John’s Church of England. It was at that church too that David and Ann were married, in 1810 by Reverend Samuel Marsden. David received land in Parramatta from Governor King in 1805 but the earliest land titles in Parramatta were poorly recorded, if at all. Later on, from 1823 to 1839, he held a lease on land (probably the same block) in Campbell Street, Parramatta.

Sometime during the late 1830s David and Ann moved to Castlereagh, where their son James Byrnes was by then resident. Son John (and his family), their daughter Catherine and her husband, and their other daughter Ann also all moved to live in Castlereagh. Their youngest son Samuel came to spend almost his entire adult life in the Castlereagh/Penrith area.

David and Ann died at Castlereagh and are buried in Christ Church Anglican Cemetery. The graves of their children James and Catherine, and of some grand-children, are also located there.

Members of David and Ann’s family became closely associated with the early development of the Methodist or Wesleyan Church in Castlereagh and Penrith. Their son Samuel Byrnes married Eliza Gorman, grand-daughter of 1804 Nepean land-grantee and ex-soldier John Lees.  David & Ann’s daughter-in-law Harriet was strongly involved in Wesleyan activities, and their sons James and Samuel became trustees of the church in 1847. The headstones of Samuel Byrnes and his sister Ann, as well as the grave of his wife Eliza Gorman, are located in the cemetery of this church.

David Burns lived to 80, his son Samuel Byrnes to 89, and two of Samuel’s children, Maria & William, to 88 and 94 years of age respectively. The 13 children of Samuel were all born at Castlereagh. Many of Samuel’s children and 96 grandchildren married members of early settler families in the area. Similarly all 8 children of David & Ann’s older son, John Byrnes, were born at Castlereagh. And John Jackson, son of David & Ann’s daughter Ann Jackson, married and raised a large family in Castlereagh, living on "The Cedars" in Jackson’s Lane near the church.

 

The children of David and Ann Byrnes

 

James (1806-96)

Married Harriet Nicholson

 

Ann (1810-79)

Married (1) William Jackson;

and (2) Thomas Harland

 

John (1818-88)

Married Elizabeth Ablett

 

Esther (1814-96)

Married John Wilkinson

 

Catherine Sophia (1819-38)

Married William Harris

 

Samuel (1826 – 1917)

Married (1) Eliza Lewis; (2) Eliza Gorman; and (3) Ellen Nicholas (nee Shaw)

[It is not certain exactly who is buried with Samuel at the Wesleyan graveyard.]

 

 

 

SOME LINKED FAMILIES

 

Families linked with David and Ann’s children:

Nicholson, Jackson, Harland, Ablett, Wilkinson, Harris, Lewis (and hence Fredericks), Gorman (and hence Lees), and Nicholas

 

Families linked with David and Ann’s grand-children:

Yeomans, Smith, Becroft, Wilkinson, Johnson, Cunningham, Ford, Dunbar, McCooey, Hamilton, Dyson, Quinn, Price, Harland, Fraser, Irwin, Wright, Dowling, Sheens, Lovell, Pullman, Hollier, Innes, Cummins, Haynes, Kirkness, and Stokes

 

Families linked with some of David and Ann’s great-grand-children (those who are descendants of their youngest son, Samuel Byrnes): 

Vaughan, Boulton, Flanagan, Parish, Richardson, McLenehan, Ness, Alfred, Hall, Mann, Dunstan, Handley, Nixon, Willett, Stanton, Collins, Ahleman, Anderson, Millen, Lenthall, Matthews, Downey, Gates, Forrester, Witcom, Lack, Hindmarsh, Viant and Miller. Also: Curry, Walker, Payne, Taylor, Brightwell, Grant, Taylor, Bunyan, Winchester, Kendall, Upton, Weir, Cassidy, Kay, Clarke, Seach, Edgar, Gilbert, Rapley, East, Mason, Graham, Pond, Guthrie, Leschke, Woodleigh, Beecroft, Lines, Stonehouse, Seymour, Smith, Wilson, Tuckwell, Andrews, Ahleman, Bayliss, Grimmond, Kingsmill, Rose, Boots, Harvey, Webb, Piper, Allan, Andrews, Curry, Mosse-Robinson and Hair.

 

NAME VARIATIONS

Spellings for David and Ann and their children vary: For Ann (or Nancy), Ralphin, Riffin, Griffin, Ruffain & Ruffian were some surname variants. And, at burial, her surname was recorded as Boyonnes. The surname of the family was variously rendered Byrns, Burn, Burne, Burns or Byrnes. It later stabilised as Byrnes.

 

 

 

POST UPRISING TRANSPORTEES

 

Persons courts-sentenced, court-martialled, or subject to general exile orders, following the 1796-1798 and 1803 uprisings were transported to NSW during the period 1797-1806.

They were transported on the ships:

The exact number sent cannot be ascertained due to the poor state of information and surviving records.  Of the above transportation voyages only the Minerva properly identified all her Rebels aboard the ship.  The higher figure estimate is 800 while the lowest figure estimated (likely incorrect and understated) is 325 men.

Peter Mayberry who has studied the Irish rebel convicts has stated "Reprisals after the Rebellions caused great ill feeling throughout the troubled lands of Insurrection Ireland. The government could not contemplate releasing those martyrs of Irish freedom back to their native land.  These Rebel remnants were transported to New South Wales with the hope that none would ever return. However a few did manage to accomplish this task."

Mayberry's database lists David Byrnes as follows:

Surname First Name Reb Ship Tried Trial Place Term DOB Native Place DOD Death Place Remarks
Byrne David   Friendship (1800) 1798 Dublin Life 1768       Tailor

David Byrne

In Ireland

Alias: Byrnes          Irish Rebel:          Religion:
Marital status:
Born: 1768       
Tried: 1798      Dublin         Sentence: Life    Former convictions:
Ship: Friendship (1800)
Crime:
Description:
Remarks: Tailor

In Australia

Spouse: m 1810 Parramatta Ann Griffin (Ralphin)
Died:      

References

1801 Muster:     1806 Muster:     1811 Muster: M
1814 Muster:     1817 Muster:     1825 Muster:     1828 Census:
Hardy - Early Hawkesbury Settlers:
Browning - St. Peters Richmond: The Early People and Burials 1791 - 1855:
Hawkesbury FHG - The Hawkesbury Pioneer Register:
Sheedy, Sidney - Manuscript in Mitchell Library MSS 1337:
McClelland - Convicts Pioneers & Immigrant History of Australia Bk 11 Vol 5:
Smee & Selkirk Provis - Pioneer Register Vol 1:
Smee & Selkirk Provis - Pioneer Register Vol 2: Y
Donohoe - Catholics of NSW: p83

Researchers

Name: Bob Sheens
Email Address: shee@one.net.au  

(In the above,  the listing of David by Donohoe as an early Catholic of NSW was an error.  Mr Sheens email address as listed is also no longer current.)

In the "A Byrnes Book", page 6, David Byrnes is noted as "Tried in Dublin on 22nd October, 1798, suspected of having taken the United Irishmen oaths".

 

What is this oath?   Here is one early preserved transcription:

 

Further Irish history