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All in the family? How Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is related to an underwear thief
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ear-thief.html
His political opponents might wonder if it's all in the family.
Like many Australians, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's convict past has caught up with him.
Today it was revealed that the Premier is a descendant of a child underwear thief and a man sent to Australia for stealing a bag of sugar.
All in the family?: Kevin Rudd is descended from underwear thief Mary Wade, right
Australia's Mormon church has spent more than a year researching Rudd's family history, and presented their findings to the prime minister today.
The Mormon church, based in Salt Lake City in the United States, has long held a reputation for the excellence of its genealogical research.
It found Rudd, like many Australians, had convict ancestors - including his fifth great-grandmother who was sent to Australia at the age of 12 after originally being sentenced to death for stealing another girl's dress and underwear.
The family history reveals Rudd's fifth great-grandmother Mary Wade lived in poverty in England and survived by sweeping streets and begging. In 1788, aged about 12, she and another girl stole an eight-year-old's dress and underclothes.
Wade was caught and tried at London's Old Bailey court in January 1789 and was sentenced to be executed, but after three months she was transported to Australia with 200 other women on the second fleet.
On the other side of the family, Rudd's fourth great-grandfather, Thomas Rudd, was sent to Australia in 1801 for a seven-year sentence for 'unlawfully acquiring a bag of sugar'. He married another convict, Mary Cable, sent to Australia in 1804 for stealing cloth.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ear-thief.html
His political opponents might wonder if it's all in the family.
Like many Australians, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's convict past has caught up with him.
Today it was revealed that the Premier is a descendant of a child underwear thief and a man sent to Australia for stealing a bag of sugar.
All in the family?: Kevin Rudd is descended from underwear thief Mary Wade, right
Australia's Mormon church has spent more than a year researching Rudd's family history, and presented their findings to the prime minister today.
The Mormon church, based in Salt Lake City in the United States, has long held a reputation for the excellence of its genealogical research.
It found Rudd, like many Australians, had convict ancestors - including his fifth great-grandmother who was sent to Australia at the age of 12 after originally being sentenced to death for stealing another girl's dress and underwear.
The family history reveals Rudd's fifth great-grandmother Mary Wade lived in poverty in England and survived by sweeping streets and begging. In 1788, aged about 12, she and another girl stole an eight-year-old's dress and underclothes.
Wade was caught and tried at London's Old Bailey court in January 1789 and was sentenced to be executed, but after three months she was transported to Australia with 200 other women on the second fleet.
On the other side of the family, Rudd's fourth great-grandfather, Thomas Rudd, was sent to Australia in 1801 for a seven-year sentence for 'unlawfully acquiring a bag of sugar'. He married another convict, Mary Cable, sent to Australia in 1804 for stealing cloth.
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