James Lewis was born circa 1776 in Whitechapel, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom and died 1823 Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia of mortal wounds inflicted by natives.
James Lewis is shown in the records as James Lewis alias Druce. At the age of 21 years he was convicted on 25 October 1797 to 7 years transportation. He had stolen 55 yeards of printed cotton in 2 pieces valued at 4 pounds.
James sailed to the Colony of New South Wales aboard the Hillsborough which arrived at Portsmouth on 17 November 1798. Departing Portsmouth on either 10 or 23 December (sources vary) the Hillsborough arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 26 July 1799. James was one of the fortunate convicts to survive the voyage that was to prove fatal to so many others.
In the records of the voayge James Lewis is described as 5' 6½" (169cm) tall, of fair complexion, and with brown hair.
It is believed that James Lewis fathered a child with the convict Catherine Conway, a little girl, Sarah Conway, who was born on 12 June 1802 at Sydney. No father's name was recorded but Sarah was raised being told that James Lewis was her father. She took his surname and was married as Sarah Lewis in 1819.
James is next recorded as receiving wheat from the government stores on 24 March 1821. Then on 13 Jun 1822 the famous emancipist Simeon Lord was permitted to employ James Lewis for the procurement of a cargo of timber from Port Stephens. Being at Port Stephens he was not included in the 1822 muster of New South Wales. Whilst at Port Stephens he was in charge of the convicts in Simeon Lord's employ. He was made a Constable at their small settlement on Pelican Island at Port Stephens, and on 13 May 1823 made a report about the smuggling of spirits. Then in late 1823 he was mortally wounded by natives, the official report re the incident in the Colonial Secretary's Index being dated 7 February 1824 .
James Lewis & Catherine Conway never married. James did NOT marry Catherine Conway in 1807 in Hobart, Tasmania. This was a different James Lewis and he married a Susan Shadwich on that date in that place.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Sarah Lewis (1802-1886) | 12 June 1802 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 28 March 1886 Greengrove, Mangrove Creek, New South Wales, Australia | Thomas Watkins (1790-1867) |
Voyage of the Hillsborough
Master (Captain) William Hingston, Surgeon John Justice William Kunst.
The Hillsborough, a ship of 792 tons, carried 300 convicts on the 8 month voyage to Port Jackson. By the time she arrived on 26 July 1799, 95 (1 in 3) of these convicts had perished, with more dying on arrival. In a letter to the Duke of Portland by Governor Hunter of 27 July 1799, Governor Hunter reported that most of the convicts would need to be placed in the hospitals.
Governor Hunter went on to write: I am compell'd, much against my inclination, to recur to my former representations of the want of cloathing and blankets. These people have been put on board this ship with a miserable matrass, and one blanket, and the cloaths only in which they embark'd, not a supply of any kind to land them here in, and those worne on board the ship are not fit to be taken on shore; yet, ragged as they are, I cannot suffer even those things which are liable to carry infection to be destroy'd, because I have nothing to supply in lieu, the whole colony being naked. I will direct every means to be us'd for preventing the goal fever (which I understand to be the principal malady) from being introduc'd into our hospitals.
The next day Governor Hunter wrote to Under Secretary King: The Hillsborough transport, being just arriv'd in this port with a cargo of the most miserable and wretched convicts I have ever beheld, I am constrain'd to recur to my many official letters on the subject of slop cloathing and blankets. Were you, my dear sir, in the situation in which i stand, I am convinc'd all the feelings of humanity, every sensation which can occasion a pang for the distresses of a fellow creature, would be seen to operate in you with full force. Figure to yourself a ship having out of three hundred people embarked in England, and having stopped for their refreshment several weeks at the Cape Good Hope, yet having upon her voyage buried of the above number ninety five and four since landing; those who still survive are in the most sickly and wretched state, put on board the ship in England with the cloaths only in which they stood, consequently arrived here naked, where cloathing is not to be found. Nor is it possible, my dear sir, when you look back to our last general supply which was by the Sylph near three years ago and very moderate in point of quantity that you can wonder we should at this time be without.
One of the convicts on board the Hillsborough, William Noah, kept a journal of the voyage. His journal reflects the suffering endured by the convicts on the voyage. Following is a short extractfrom early in the voyage: 1st January 1799. Remainder of the convicts ordered on deck, their irons examined, and if cut some were punished with one dozen stripes, and some six dozen. We are now suffering closely from want of provisions and indeed Death would have been a welcome friend. I was not among those convicts but we all shared alike. 2nd January 1799. Tranquillity was now restored. I am certain no evil intent of the convicts had been thought of, it being the intention of the convicts only to single iron themselves, but the Captain had got to such a pitch that I thought he would have hanged some of them.