Philip Devine aka Thomas Hilton Tennant

Philip Devine also known as Thomas Hilton Tennant, was born around 1762. On March 6, 1786, he was convicted at Chelmsford, Essex, for stealing various items, including two shirts, a woman's scarlet cloak, a pair of stays, two silver teaspoons, two steel razors, and a linen pillowcase from a house he had broken into (though found not guilty of this part of the charge). Sentenced to seven years' transportation, he was initially held on the Ceres hulk from June 2, aged 26, before embarking on the Alexander as part of the First Fleet.

At Port Jackson on 16 January 1789, he was sentenced to 200 lashes for selling a shirt.

In March 1790, Philip was transferred to Norfolk Island on the Sirius, which was wrecked off the reef at Slaughter Bay near Kingston Pier. The Sirius had been the flagship of the First Fleet. Before sailing to Kingston, the Sirius had initially called in to Cascade Bay and off loaded some convicts, including Philip, and officers. Phillip had already left the ship before the Sirius hit the reef.

On 16 July 1791, Philip was punished by flogging for using seed corn for food.
He formed a relationship with Ann Doyle, a convict who had arrived on the Lady Juliana as part of the Second Fleet. Together, they had four children: Sarah (1791), Rebecca (1794), Edward (1796), and Thomas (1798). In May 1794, he was a labourer employed on jobbing work. ​His youngest son Thomas Doyle Devine is my 4th great-grandfather.

In 1805 it is believed Philip and Ann separated. Philip and his eldest son Edward went to Van Diemen's Land briefly but returned to NSW and settled on land in the Windsor district. Ann left Norfolk Island for Hobart Town in 1808 with William Parsons, taking three children with her. These children married in Tasmania and remained there to leave behind many descendants. Rebecca married into the well-known Reiby family. Edward married Rosetta Pearson and became a farmer in Richmond. They had seven children and many descendants of these still live in the district. By 1814, Phillip Devine held a land grant in the Windsor-Richmond area. He passed away on February 9, 1821, and was buried at St. John's Cemetery in Wilberforce.