John Parry was born in 1801 and lived in St Briavels where he worked as a pit sawyer and ploughman. He was married with 3 children. He was convicted once for poaching rabbits and sentenced to three months in prison. On 10 August 1831, at the age of 30, he was sentenced to death commuted to life for breaking into a house belonging to John Hartland in St Briavels and stealing drapery. After a spell on the hulk, Justitia, he was transferred to the Katherine Stewart Forbes which set sail for Van Diemen’s Land on 27 February 1832 and arrived on 16 July 1832. On his arrival, he was assigned to work for G. Cawthorn and then to public works