We have speculated about the origins of Mary Broad the first fleet convict for decades. Her story can be read on the Braund Stories page in the article When is a Braund not a Braund?, or in Was the Grass Greener?. Mary was convicted with the surname Braund, was she really a Braund? In 2021 Charlotte Mac Kenzie published the results of her in-depth research into Mary’s story in the form of a documentary. Using sources such as correspondence between James Boswell and Edward Puckey, Mary’s brother-in-law, Charlotte has established that Mary was indeed a Broad, the daughter of William and Dorothy Broad née Julef and granddaughter of Josiah and Prudence Broad née Pope of St. Neot in Cornwall. The final sighting of Mary was in Lostwithiel, Cornwall in 1794, when she signed a receipt for her alliance from Boswell. There is also evidence that she was in St. Veep, Cornwall in that year.
