John NEWPORT, Laborer, d 6 Mar 1849 aged 91 yrs of 'old age and infirmity' in the District of Prossers Plains and Sorell, Tasmania. Registered 8 Mar 1849 by son-in-law Thomas WIGGINS, Farmer of Pittwater. [R/N 7] His true age at death was probably 77 yrs.

An interesting coincidence is that R/N 6, immediately above that of John NEWPORT, is the death of Bartholomew REARDON Farmer, aged 57 yrs, who died 1 Jan 1849 also of 'old age and infirmity'. The informant was William REARDON, Farmer, Clapsons Point who registered the death (of his brother) on 26 Jan 1849. It was to Bartholomew REARDON (son of Bartholomew REARDON a First Fleet convict) to whom John NEWPORT was assigned probably on arrival in Jan 1820 and listed on the convict record of John NEWPORT on 11 Jan 1825. Bartholomew Reardon Jnr was convicted of stealing a steer (probably in July 1825) and was sent to Port Arthur and later Macquarie Harbour. (Margaret Geeves, Reardon descendant)

John NEWPORT m Fanny SHAILER on 22 Nov 1802 at Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire, England [IGI Batch number M018381 extracted from parish records]
Could be Fanny SHAYLER chr 3 Aug 1777 Appleford, Berkshire, England d/o William SHAYLER/Mary (ELLIOT?) [IGI Batch number C036471 extracted from parish records]
Fanny NEWPORT d 9 Apr 1833 aged 63 yrs, Laborer's wife, Hobart Town. [Burial record] (b abt 1770)

John NEWPORT, Farm Laborer, aged 50 yrs, 'feloniously did steal take and drive away one sheep of the price of 40 shillings, of the goods and chattels of William SMITH', in the Parish of Highworth, warrant for arrest dated 28 Sep 1818. Witnesses: William SMITH, John LING and John POOLE.
John NEWPORT aged 47 yrs, late of the Parish of Highworth in the County of Wiltshire, was tried at Wiltshire Lent Assizes 6 Mar 1819, charged with stealing a sheep on 27 Sep 1818, pleaded not guilty, found guilty, sentenced to be hanged, commuted to 14 yrs. [Public Record Office, London, letter dated 27 Feb 1986, ASSI 23/10, ASSI 25/15/12]

John NEWPORT was transported aboard the Dromedary which sailed from Plymouth on 11 Sep 1819 and arrived Van Diemen's Land on 20 Jan 1820. [Archives Office of Tasmania letter dated 4 Feb 1986] Convicts landed to Hobart 347, to Sydney 22. Also on this voyage was Thomas HOWELL m 1826 Elizabeth NEWPORT d/o of John NEWPORT.
Description of John NEWPORT: height 5 feet 7 1/4 inches, eyes brown, hair dark to grey, complexion dark. Assigned to REARDON with Thomas JOHNSON who was tried on the same date in Wiltshire and sentenced to Life. [93, Tasmanian Gaol Book, Archives Office of Tasmania]

Convict Record
No. 45, NEWPORT John, Dromedary Tried 6 Mar 1819, Sentence 14 yrs.
11 Jan 1825 Bartholomew REARDON / Shooting at a goat : Captain GLOVER's property, no proof, dismissed.
J GORDON 27 Apr 1830 Ticket of leave / Concealing in the house where he resides at Sorell, Richard WESTGATE an assigned servant to John MORRISBY on the night of Wednesday the 25th instant and assisting the said Robert WESTGATE to escape from the Police - to forfeit his T of L and assigned to the service of Government (J GORDON, JH BUTCHER, to H G, of Jas STEELE.) [Ref CON 23/1, CON 31/29]

The wife and daughters of John NEWPORT arrived 'Free' in Van Diemen's Land before 12 Jan 1824 when the eldest daughter Susannah was married in Hobart. It is quite likely that they actually sailed with their husband and father on the Dromedary on the voyage to VDL. The practice of wives accompanying their convict husbands began with the voyage of the Royal Admiral which sailed from England on 30 May 1792 and arrived at Port Jackson on 7 Oct 1792. It was recorded that convict wives were victualled with food and clothing as for the convict women on board.
Petitions for wives to accompany their convicted husbands 1819-44 are in PC 1/67-92 held in the UK at the Public Records Office in Kew. This file would need to be checked for a petition from Fanny NEWPORT and her daughters.
In Tasmania there is no record of the arrival of the NEWPORT family and there is no record of John NEWPORT making an application to bring his family out from England. An index of such applications covers 1827-1873 which is too late.