Ann Davis

Ann Davis (c. 1758–1789) was the first woman to be legally executed in the Colony of New South Wales. She arrived in Sydney as a convict on board the First Fleet in January 1788 and was executed on 23 November the next year after being convicted of stealing clothing. The trial that led to Davis's execution was the first to involve a civilian jury in the colony, with twelve women being empanelled to assess whether she was pregnant after a jury of male military personnel found her to be guilty.

Biography Transportation Davis was born in 1758. She married William Davis. In April 1786 she was convicted of stealing eight pairs of silk stockings at a trial held at the Old Bailey in London. The stockings had a value of 8 shillings. Davis was sentenced to transportation for a period of seven years.

In May 1787 Davis departed England on board the Lady Penrhyn, one of the ships of the First Fleet that was tasked with establishing a penal colony in Australia. The ship arrived at Sydney in January 1788. The trial was completed that day, with Davis being found guilty by a jury comprising only military personnel; such juries were the norm in the colony at the time.

Davis was executed by hanging on 23 November 1789. She was drunk at the time of her hanging and two women needed to help her to stand upright. Collins recorded that Davis "died generally reviled and unpitied by the people of her own description". Writing in 2020 for the Dictionary of Sydney, Rachel Franks described Davis's execution as a "sad end".