Martin Kirle was baptised on December 20, 1814, in Othery, Somerset, the son of Joseph Kirle and Sarah Taylor. By his mid-20s, he was working as a blacksmith. In March 1840, he was convicted of house-breaking at Wells Quarter Sessions and sentenced to 15 years transportation. After two years on the hulks, his behaviour was marked as good, and he embarked on the convict ship Susan at Plymouth in April 1842. He arrived in Hobart on July 24, 1842, described as a 26-year-old Protestant who could “read and write a little”, tall and dark with a distinctive MK tattoo on his arm and a scar on his right side. After serving his probation period, Martin was sent to the Bothwell district, where he worked for local landholders George Green Sherwin and Isaac Sherwin, on their property, Sherwood. By 1848, he held a ticket-of-leave and was recommended for a conditional pardon the following year. Meanwhile, in County Clare, Ireland, Ann Grady was born about 1834. She had several minor convictions before being convicted in February 1850 and sentenced to 15 years transportation for arson. She sailed from Dun Laoghaire on the Duke of Cornwall and arrived in Hobart on October 27, 1850, aged just 17. Martin travelled back and forth to the Victorian goldfields in 1853, but by Christmas that year, at the age of 32, he married Ann, aged 19, at St Luke’s Church in Bothwell. Their life together was often precarious. Ann was repeatedly before the Bothwell court for drunkenness or disorderly conduct, and Martin sometimes brought the complaints himself. Their first child, Charlotte Blanche (recorded as Charles), was born in March 1855. James arrived in January 1858. George William was born in December 1859 but died at the Cascades House of Correction in Hobart in May 1861, aged only 16 months, while Ann was serving a sentence. A later child, William, born in March 1871, died at ten months old. The family lived in small rented cottages around Bothwell, with Martin listed in the rate books as a blacksmith. On November 19, 1874, tragedy struck again. While shooing fowls from his garden, 60-year-old Martin collapsed and died instantly. A post-mortem found a rupture of the diaphragm, which had forced the liver and stomach into his chest, stopping his heart. He was buried in Bothwell Cemetery. Ann survived her husband by 26 years and died at the Charitable Institution in New Town, Hobart, on December 7, 1900, aged 66, and was buried at Cornelian Bay Cemetery.

Martin Kirle, son of Joseph Kirle and Sarah Taylor.

b: abt 1814, Othery, Somerset, England; bap: 20 Dec 1814, Othery, Somerset, England; d: 19 Nov 1874, Bothwell, Tasmania; bur: aft 19 Nov 1874, Public Cemetery, Bothwell, Tasmania.

Spouse - Ann Grady.

b: abt 1834, Clare, Ireland; m: 26 Dec 1853, Bothwell, Tasmania; d: 7 Dec 1900, New Town, Tasmania; bur: 8 Dec 1900, Cornelian Bay Cemetery, Hobart, Tasmania.

Children of Martin Kirle and Ann Grady:

1. Charlotte Blanche Kirle - b: 19 Mar 1855, Bothwell, Tasmania; bap: 13 May 1855, Bothwell, Tasmania; d: 30 Sep 1944, Deloraine, Tasmania; bur: 2 Oct 1944, Carr Villa Memorial Park, Launceston, Tasmania. Spouse - Thomas McMahon; b: abt 1861, place unknown; m: 18 Jan 1882, Deloraine, Tasmania; d: 28 Jan 1943, Deloraine, Tasmania; bur: 30 Jan 1943, Carr Villa Memorial Park, Launceston, Tasmania.

2. James Kirle - b: 9 Jan 1858, Bothwell, Tasmania (13); bap: 20 Jun 1858, Bothwell, Tasmania.

3. George William Kirle - b: 12 Dec 1859, Bothwell, Tasmania; d: 11 May 1861, Hobart, Tasmania.

4. William Kirle - b: 13 Mar 1871, Bothwell, Tasmania; bap: 25 Jan 1872, Bothwell, Tasmania; d: 25 Jan 1872, Bothwell, Tasmania; bur: aft 25 Jan 1872, Public Cemetery, Bothwell, Tasmania.