Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW

Calculated by her age at sentencing (21) she would have been born in about 1775. Calculated from her age at death (55 inscribed on her headstone) she would have been born in about 1778.

The Old Bailey transcript:
JOHN JONES and MARTHA CHAMBERLAIN were indicted for feloniously and burglariously stealing, breaking and entering the dwelling house of John Cox , about the hour of ten in the night, on the 23d of May , and burglariously stealing therein, a man's cloth coat, value 6s. a pair of mens velveret breeches, value 7s. a man's cloth waistcoat, value 1s. a man's hat, value 10s. a woman's cotton gown, value 10s. a black silk bonnet, value 6s. and a stuff quilted petticoat, value 7s. the goods of the said John Cox.
JOHN COX sworn.
I did live at No. 22, Compton-street, at the time that I was robbed, the 23d of last month, the Saturday before Witsuntide.
Q. Were you a housekeeper? - No, a lodger.
Q. Whose house did you lodge in? - Mr. Bennett's; he lives on the opposite side of the way.
Q. Who lived in the house? - All lodgers.
Q. Are none of Bennett's servants in the house? - None at all.
Q. What part of the house did you lodge in? - The two pair of stairs, front room.
Q. Did you lodge by yourself there? - My wife and myself.
Q. No strangers lodge in the room? - No strangers at all.
Q. What was it you lost? - A coat, waistcoat, breeches and hat.
Q. When did you miss them? - When I came home, about half past ten at night; I had seen them at half past nine the same night.
Q. Where were they placed? - In my chest; it was not locked. My wife and me went out together.
Q. Who had you left in the room when you went out? - Nobody at all.
Q. How was the door of the room left? - Locked, and we found it open when we came home; my wife locked it, I stood by.
Q. How did it appear to be opened? - There was a deep impression on the side of the door, next the stairs, it is marked both ways, and likewise on the posts of the door.
Q. Did the lock appear to be forced or not? - No, the hinges appeared rather damaged; so that the door drags on the ground, but nothing to signify much.
Q. Did you miss your things immediately? - Immediately, when I came into the room.
Q. How was the chest when you came in? - The cover of the chest was down.
Q. You missed nothing but these things? - Nothing to signify else of any consequence. I found them at different pawnbrokers. The coat and waistcoat was in Bow-street, at Mr. Paine's.
Q. When did you find them there? - Monday, the 25th of May. I found the breeches at Mr. Dubree's, in Holborn, either the Monday or Tuesday following. I cannot say which. Chamberlain was stopped at the pawnbroker's.
Q. Do Jones or Chamberlain live in the same house? - No, neither of them.
JANE COX sworn.
On the 23d of May, my husband and me went out, about half past nine o'clock, and we came home about half past ten; and when we came home our room was open, and all that was in the chest was taken out; my things were a gown, a petticoat, and a bonnet.
Q. Were they in the chest? - Yes.
Q. When had you seen them there? - About nine o'clock; because I had two or three things to put in before I went out.
Q. Did you ever see them afterwards? - Yes. I was advised to go to the pawnbrokers on Monday morning, and the first pawnbroker I went to was Mr. Lee, in St. Giles's, and there I found my gown; on Tuesday there were two women detained at Mr. Harrison's, with a petticoat and bonnet.
Q. What was the gown? - A cotton gown.
Q. What was the petticoat? - A stuff quilted petticoat.
Q. The bonnet? - A silk bonnet.
GEORGE DOBREE sworn.
I have a pair of breeches that I took in of the prisoner Jones (I am a pawnbroker, in Holborn) on the 27th of May, for seven shillings; I never see him before to my knowledge, but I am sure he is the person that pledged them.
Q. To Cox. Are these the breeches that you left in the chest when you went out? - They are, and they are my breeches, and these are the breeches that I missed when I came home.
SAMUEL ABINGDON sworn.
Q. What is your business? - A pawnbroker. On the 23d of May, the women at the bar pledged a coat and waistcoat at our house, with me; I am apprentice to Mrs. Paine, Bow-street, Bloomsbury, about half an hour after nine in the morning. It was on Monday, the 25th, I beg your lordship's pardon.
Q. Had you ever seen her before? - Yes, but not lately.
Q. To Dobree. What day was it Jones brought the breeches to pawn? - The 23d of May, about ten o'clock at night.
Q. To Cox. Look at that coat and waistcoat. - They are my property, left in the chest, and took away by the time that I came back; one waistcoat produced is not mine.
ROBERT BARBER sworn.
I am a pawnbroker; I live at Mr. Harrison's, No. 5, Tottenham-court road; I have got a petticoat and a bonnet that I stopped.
Q. Who brought them to you? - Two young women; one of the name of Spencer, and the other of the name of Lilly; on Tuesday, the 26th of May.
Prosecutrix. This is my petticoat and bonnet that I left in the chest when I went out.
Q. And missed when you returened? - Yes.
ELIZABETH SPENCER sworn.
That young man that stands at the bar now, I met him in the street, and he gave me the bonnet and petticoat, and asked me to pawn it for the young woman that lodges in the house, the other prisoner; he used to come backwards and forwards to her.
Q. When was it? - Tuesday, the 26th of May.
Q. In what street did he meet you? - In Bambridge-street, St. Giles's. He said that his wife was in trouble, and he would be glad if I would go and pawn them, and get as much as I could on them; I carried them to the corner of Hanover-yard, I don't know the name, and he went away while I was in, and went to a public house.
Q. Where is Hanover-yard? - Tottenham court-road.
Q. Did any body go with you to pawn them? - Yes, Elizabeth Lilly ; she and I were going along the street when we met him.
Q. Then you were both together? - Yes.
Q. You say Jones lodges in the same house with you? - The young woman, Martha Chamberlain, did, and I have seen him come backwards and forwards to her.
Q. Where is it you lodge? - No. 3, Bambridge-street.
ELIZABETH LILLY sworn.
I know no otherwise than that Jones gave us the things to pawn, as we were going down the street.
Q. Where did you carry them to? - To the pawnbroker's, the corner of Hanover-yard.
Q. What were the things he gave you to pawn? - A petticoat and bonnet.
Q. Do you know them if you see them again? - Yes. These are them, both of them.
EDWARD TREADWAY sworn.
I am a constable. On Tuesday, the 26th of May, the prisoner Chamberlain was brought down to Bow-street; on searching of her, I found the duplicates on her of the gown and breeches; with that she said it was a young man that had gave her the duplicate; and by the description Mr. Cox thought it was one of the persons that lived in the house. We went to the house, and that was not the person; in the mean time Mr. Harrison's man came and said he had stopped two women, and I went to the two women, and Spencer said she had the things of one Jones, and I went and took Jones into custody; but before that I went to Bambridge-street and there found this crow in the room; then I went with it to Cox's room, and this instrument fits one part of the impression against the door; there had been two instruments used, and this fits one impression. Spencer took me to Jones's lodgings, thinking to find him, for she said his wife was in trouble, and when we came to Bow-street there she was in custody.
Q. When did you apprehend him? - About an hour after this, the same day, at the Turk's Head, in Dyot-street.
Q. To Spencer. Were these the lodgings of Jones to which you carried Mr. Treadway? - It was the lodgings of Martha Chamberlain ; but I see him come backwards and forwards many times to the room; I had seen him there the night before.
THOMAS MUMFORD sworn.
I went with Treadway to Dyot-street, to apprehend the prisoner. I know no more.
Prisoner Jones. On Saturday night, the 23d Day of the Month, I happened to go up to this young woman's room, and I sat down for the space of five or six minutes, and she was then doing something to that petticoat, which she said she had given her that night, and the bonnet, by one of her young men; and he had left there a pair of breeches for her to pawn, and she asked me if I would be so kind as to go and pawn them for her? which I went and pawned them, it was between ten and eleven o'clock. The pawnbroker asked me where I lived? and I could not rightly recollect the street where she lived, and I said, Tottenham-court-road. I went to her and gave her the money and ticket, and slept with her that night. Sunday morning this young man came and knocked at the door, and we both got up and put our clothes on, and when he came in he said, I think, ma'am, you do it; what he meant by it I don't know; he then asked her whether she had done what he desired? she said, yes; and she gave him seven shillings, which I received from the pawnbroker; and we sat down all three and had breakfast; and then I went, and I never see him since. On Monday I went again, and slept there that night; on Tuesday morning this young woman got up about nine o'clock, and I had but three halfpence in my pocket, I had two waistcoats and I said she might take the under waistcoat and pawn it, to get a breakfast; I was still in bed; and after she had been out some time, she sent an elderly woman to me(I was still in bed, having the head ach with drinking too much, it being holiday time) to desire me to pawn a petticoat and bonnet; and I thought it was an odd thing for me to go and pawn, and I saw these two young women, and I asked them to pawn them for me, as my wife was in trouble; and this young woman came out and said the pawnbroker had stopped them, and I went to the public house, and told the young woman where I was, and they came with the constable and took me.
Prisoner Chamberlain. James Thompson gave me the property on Saturday night, the coat, waistcoat, petticoat, and bonnet.
Q. To Cox. Was it light or dark when you went out? - We had a candle in the room before we went out.
Q. Was it light enough to distinguish a person's face? - It was not.
John Jones , GUILTY, Of stealing to the value of 39s. but not of the burglary . (Aged 22)
Martha Chamberlain, GUILTY, Of the same. (Aged 21.)
Transported for seven years .
Tried by the second Middlesex Jury before Mr. Justice LAWRENCE.

Martha Chamberlain, one of 131 convicts transported on the Indispensible, departing England in October 1795 on the ship 'Indispensible'. She was tried at Middlesex Gaol on 1 Jul 1795 and found guilty of stealing goods value 39 shillings, but not guilty of breaking and entering. Her sentence was 7 years. She was aged 21 a singlewoman, native place Parish St Giles, Middlesex. The ship arrived in the colony on 30 Apr 1796.

George Best of the parish of Parramatta and Martha Chamberlain of the parish of Parramatta were married in this church by banns this seventeenth day of Se[ int he year one thousand seven hundred and ninty [sic] seven by me Samuel Marsden
Both George and Martha signed the register with their X mark
In the presence of Joseph Souter and Mary Phillips who both sighed the register.

14 Mar 1833 Seven Hills

Coroner's Inquest.
On Saturday an Inquest was convened at Toon-
gabbee, Parramatta, before Augustus Hayward,
Esq., Coroner, on the body of Mrs. Martha Best,
who was found dead that morning, and a mark
being over one of her eyes, suspicions arose as to the
cause of her death. The circumstance being
clearly explained to the satisfaction of the Jury, a
verdict was returned of " Died by the visitation of
God."

Sacred
to
the Memory of
GEORGE BEST
who was unfortunately drowned
in crossing the Whollindary River June 26th 1823
aged 22 years
Also of
MARTHA BEST
who departed this life March 14th 1833
aged 55 years
Also of
GEORGE BEST
who departed this life July 3rd 1836
aged 73 [78?] years
Also of
MARY BEST
who departed this life December 2 1857
aged 56 years
Also of
SUSAN
the beloved wife of
WILLIAM BEST
who departed this life December 26 1865
aged 43 & 5 months
Also of
SARAH PYE
who departed this life May 11th 1882
aged 76 years
Also
WILLIAM BEST
who departed this life 3rd October 1902
aged 86 years
Peace perfect Peace
Also
HANNAH CARTER
wife of H. CARTER
and third daughter of WILLIAM and SUSAN BEST
who departed this life 19th June 1927
aged 77 years

Martha Best of Seven Hills buried 17 Mar 1833 age 55, per the ship Indispensible, free, farmer