RESEARCHED BY PETER KILLACKEY CONVICT - ROBERT BALES FIRST FLEET TRANSPORTEE b. 1766 - d. ?? Robert was tried at Reading in Berkshire on the 28th of February 1785, for assault and highway robbery worth 2 shillings. He was sentenced to death but that was commuted to transportation for 14 years. He left England on the Alexander aged about 21 years old. His occupation was listed as labourer and former soldier. Described as 'near six feet high, wears his own lank hair, pitted with the smallpox, thick lips and stout made', he had been a soldier. In October 1788 he received 25 lashes for insolence. In 1806 he was listed as a schoolmaster.