Mary Hyde was 17 years old when she was convicted of theft at the Warwickshie Assizes on 21st March 1796 and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales for seven years. She arrived on the Britannia 111 in July 1798. Mary was born in Halesowen, U.K. on 19th February 1779 the daughter of Joseph Hyde and Sara Blunn.
After her arrival in Sydney Mary met and lived with Captain John Black and they had two children:- John Henry Black born 31st May 1799 and Mary Ann Black born 6th October 1801. Mary Hyde was granted an Absolute Pardon by Gov King in August 1801.
John Black and his ship "The Fly" were lost in 1802 on a voyage from Calcutta to Sydney and Mary lived with and then married in 1814 the influential and wealthy emancipist, Simeon Lord, with whom she had eight children.
Simeon died at Botany in 1840 and Mary died in 1864. Probate was granted in 1865 and valued at eleven thousand pounds. It is not known where the grave of Mary Lord nee Hyde is located.
Mary's youngest brother, Captain William Hyde/Hide, arrived in Sydney in 1828 and his children, Lucy and Augustus, married into the Lord family.