In early Autumn of 1870, Bertha fell pregnant with her third child.The financial wheels had really fallen off rich Uncle Joseph's financial wagon by this stage, and Henry and his family moved to Melbourne where he eventually started his own business. Initially, though, Henry worked as an ironmonger for some years, and gave this as his profession when he registered the birth of their second son, Guy Arnold Bishop, in January of 1871.
Bertha gave birth to Guy on December 15, 1870, at their new home in Chapman Street, Hotham.(NOTE: Chapman St, North Melbourne(previously Hotham) was named after Henry Samuel Chapman, who in 1856 introduced into the Victorian Parliament a form of secret ballot now used throughout the world.)
At the age of 31, Bertha's family consisted of her husband Henry, two McCallum neices Margaret,17, and Ivy,12; and her own children Roland,4, Olive 2, and newly born Guy. Most likely nephew Gilbert McCallum was also residing back with the Bishop family, as 1870 was the year that Allan Hughan took the Pilot to New Caledonia where it sank.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Bertha's Poem for Roland.
The above poem was found amongst some old Bishop family papers in the 1980s. It was badly damaged by silverfish, and did not carry a signature, only a date- June 12, 1869. It did not require great investigative skills, however, to determine that Bertha Hughan had followed in her literary brothers' footsteps, and penned a heartfelt poem describing a mother's anquish at the possibility of losing her beloved son to sickness.
At the end of the previous year, toddler Roland had been very ill. Bertha's nephew Gilbert McCallum, from his Uncle Allan's schooner in Fremantle, wrote to his younger sister Ivy on November 23, 1868.(Ivy, of course, was living with the Bishop family at Mount Rowan in Ballarat)Part of the letter read: " I am very sorry that you and Roland have been so ill and I trust you both will get strong again. I need not say that I hope Roland is a good boy for I never knew him to be otherwise."
The first two verses are partially missing due to damage, but the rest reads as follows:
" Your earliest dawn of consciousness
My spirit joyed to see
You knew my footsteps lightest fall
And turned your eyes to me.
My nights were blest with dreams of thee
And when the morning came
With feelings born of thankfulness
My lips pronounced your name.
Twas sweet to feel you nestling close
Within my arms' retreat.
I held it as a precious boon
To guide your tottering feet.
Tis not for human tongue to tell
How my sad soul has yearned
When marking how thy cheek beneath
The pulse of fever burned.
Your life was twined around with mine
The glad hours as they went
Were sunny times and left behind
A trail of sweet content.
Twas little that I could bestow,
Mine was no plenteous store.
But oh, I gave you all my love
And I could give no more."
Olive Jesie Bishop
This photo of Olive Jessie Bishop was taken in October of 1871, when she was 2 years and 10 months old.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The year 1865 was a monumental one for Bertha Hughan Bishop in so many ways.In March she married her beloved Henry and set up house with him at Mount Rowan near Ballarat.In late October, however- a mere seven months after her wedding- Bertha found herself caring for three children after the death of her much-loved sister Jessie Mccallum.Jessie had died of pneumonia after a brief illness, caused by complications after she got her clothes soaked visiting someone who was ill and needed her help. She was only 35 years old.
With their father ill in England, the children needed a home, and it was only natural that they go to Bertha, who had helped her sister raise them from birth.The eldest, Margaret McCallum , was 12, her brother Gilbert 11 and the youngest, Ivy, was only 7.
I wonder how Henry reacted to his home being filled with children so early in his marriage? By all accounts, Bertha was a very nurturing, gentle woman who would have taken the situation in her stride.Henry, however, was made of much sterner stuff and had a very serious side to his nature.Unlike Bertha who was the youngest of nine children, Henry had only a younger brother, who had died in 1854 when aged only eight
(Henry was 13), and so had never lived with the sound of numerous children galloping around a home.Still, he must have coped, because Ivy stayed with them for many years, and was like an elder sister to Henry and Bertha's children. Margaret remained with her aunt and uncle until her marriage in 1873, and Gilbert spent time at other places as well as with the Bishops, including accompanying his Uncle Allan Hughan and family on the schooner Pilot on a pearling expedition to Western Australia in the late 1860s.
Bertha Hughan fell pregnant early in the year following her marriage, probably around the time she celebrated her 27th birthday.By the time she gave birth to her first child, she and Henry and the McCallum children were living at Mount Rowan, a small settlement just out of Ballarat.
Named Roland Oakley Bishop( the 'Oakley' was for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Oakley, although for most of his life was it spelt 'Oakleigh'),Bertha's son was born on Wednesday, October 24, 1866, at Mount Rowan, Ballarat.The doctor who delivered him was James William King ( from the Australasian Medical Directory, 1883: James William King, Ballarat, Victoria. M.R.C.S England, 1849. L.M. Anglesey Lying-In Hospital, Dublin 1846; J.P; Pub Vacc; formerly Ass. Surgeon Portlaw fact. Disp. and Res. Brixton Disp.")Henry Bishop registered Roland's birth at Ballarat on November 6, and gave the following details: Father: Henry Bishop, 26, Clerk. Born Stamford, Lincolnshire. Married March 1865, St. Kilda, to Bertha Hughan, 26, born London. He signed the informant's column with "Henry Bishop, Clerk, Mount Rowan, Ballarat, father."
The Bishop family remained at Mount Rowan, and in Autumn of 1866 Bertha fell pregnant again. This time the child was a daughter...my great-grandmother, Olive Jessie Bishop, was born at 5 a.m. on the morning of Saturday,December 19, 1868, at Mount Rowan, Ballarat, and again Dr. King attended Bertha at her delivery.
Henry Bishop registered the birth of his baby daughter on January 25, 1869, and this time gave his occupation as 'Storekeeper'.
With their father ill in England, the children needed a home, and it was only natural that they go to Bertha, who had helped her sister raise them from birth.The eldest, Margaret McCallum , was 12, her brother Gilbert 11 and the youngest, Ivy, was only 7.
I wonder how Henry reacted to his home being filled with children so early in his marriage? By all accounts, Bertha was a very nurturing, gentle woman who would have taken the situation in her stride.Henry, however, was made of much sterner stuff and had a very serious side to his nature.Unlike Bertha who was the youngest of nine children, Henry had only a younger brother, who had died in 1854 when aged only eight
(Henry was 13), and so had never lived with the sound of numerous children galloping around a home.Still, he must have coped, because Ivy stayed with them for many years, and was like an elder sister to Henry and Bertha's children. Margaret remained with her aunt and uncle until her marriage in 1873, and Gilbert spent time at other places as well as with the Bishops, including accompanying his Uncle Allan Hughan and family on the schooner Pilot on a pearling expedition to Western Australia in the late 1860s.
Bertha Hughan fell pregnant early in the year following her marriage, probably around the time she celebrated her 27th birthday.By the time she gave birth to her first child, she and Henry and the McCallum children were living at Mount Rowan, a small settlement just out of Ballarat.
Named Roland Oakley Bishop( the 'Oakley' was for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Oakley, although for most of his life was it spelt 'Oakleigh'),Bertha's son was born on Wednesday, October 24, 1866, at Mount Rowan, Ballarat.The doctor who delivered him was James William King ( from the Australasian Medical Directory, 1883: James William King, Ballarat, Victoria. M.R.C.S England, 1849. L.M. Anglesey Lying-In Hospital, Dublin 1846; J.P; Pub Vacc; formerly Ass. Surgeon Portlaw fact. Disp. and Res. Brixton Disp.")Henry Bishop registered Roland's birth at Ballarat on November 6, and gave the following details: Father: Henry Bishop, 26, Clerk. Born Stamford, Lincolnshire. Married March 1865, St. Kilda, to Bertha Hughan, 26, born London. He signed the informant's column with "Henry Bishop, Clerk, Mount Rowan, Ballarat, father."
The Bishop family remained at Mount Rowan, and in Autumn of 1866 Bertha fell pregnant again. This time the child was a daughter...my great-grandmother, Olive Jessie Bishop, was born at 5 a.m. on the morning of Saturday,December 19, 1868, at Mount Rowan, Ballarat, and again Dr. King attended Bertha at her delivery.
Henry Bishop registered the birth of his baby daughter on January 25, 1869, and this time gave his occupation as 'Storekeeper'.
The marriage of Bertha Hughan to Henry Bishop
Above:1. Page from the front of a beautiful leather-bound bible that Allan Hughan gave his sister Bertha as a wedding gift.
2. Henry Bishop, Berth Hughan's fiance at the time that this photograph was taken. It was taken on March 2, 1864, and they were married almost exactly a year later.
By the time their marriage came around, neither Bertha or Henry were at Swan Hill. Joseph Bishop had purchased the Soho Foundry at Ballarat, and Henry was working for him in the capacity of manager. Bertha was living in St. Kilda at the time of the wedding, not at Youngera as might have been expected. No occupation was given on her marriage certificate, so she wasn't living with anyone in the capacity of a governess, companion or the like. I looked around to see what the rest of her family was doing in March of 1865...Laura was living and raising her family in the Geelong district; Marion was in New Zealand with her family; Fergus was also in the Geelong area; Oscar was in Bourke; Jessie at Youngera and Robert was in Queensland. It was with Allan's family that I hit pay dirt...while Allan himself was all over the place in 1865( in March he was in Sydney, for example), his wife Phoebe and five year old daughter Ruth were living in St.Kilda.
Phoebe Hughan gave birth to her second daughter in October of 1865, so at the start of 1865 she would have been in the early stages of her pregnancy. Five years between children was a lengthy gap in the 19th century...Phoebe was an older mother- eight years older than her husband- so she may have had trouble falling pregnant or suffered through miscarriages. I imagine that Bertha would have been staying with Phoebe in the Hughan's St.Kilda home both for company and support.
On Wednesday, March 8th, 1865, at Christ Church, St. Kilda, 26 year old Bertha Hughan was married to 24 year old Henry Bishop( although of course the marriage certificate showed that Bertha was also 24, due to her slicing two years off her actual age from the time she met Henry!)
Henry's present residence was given as St.Kilda, usual residence as Ballarat. His birth place was Stamford, Lincolnshire, and his parents William Bishop, merchant, and Eliza Gilbert. His occupation was 'manager'.
Bertha's present and usual address was St.Kilda. her birth place was London, and her parents Robert Alexander Hughan, tea merchant, and Hannah Oakley.
They were married by David Seddon,a British Church of England minister who had arrived in Melbourne in 1851 and had been the first incumbent of Christ Church, St. Kilda.
Witnesses to the event were Peter Beveridge of Tyntynder and George John Arnold.
After their wedding, Bertha and Henry resided in Ballarat for several years, with Henry initially working for his Uncle. Joseph Bishop had purchased the Soho Foundry in 1864, and remained its owner for several years until business took a turn for the worse.The metal working businesses and foundries of Ballarat initially made their money from the booming mining industry- the requirements for tools, engines, boilers and other equipment were huge, and foundries such as Soho, Phoenix, Grenville and Nettles all did very well from the mining industry. As mining demands began to drop,however, foundries diversified to encompass other industries, such as railway and larger engines.
In May of 1864 the Soho Foundry turned out two locomotives that were delivered to the Southlands line in New Zealand. Joseph Bishop's foundry also made the first steam powered boat to be launched on Lake Wendouree in 1865.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Joseph Bishop's letter to Henry Bishop
Joseph Bishop’s Letter to Henry, 1862.
37 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne.
August 6, 1862.
8 o’clock P.M.
My dear Harry,
Here I am, truly a bachelor all alone. I don’t very well yet shake into the life and fancied I should like it better than I do. “Barry Sullivan” commences at the Royal on Saturday in “Hamlet”. I shall go and if I like his impersonation of that character shall go two or three times a week to see him. He is said to be a better and more finished actor than Brooke. Geo Rolfe dined with me last night to settle up per furniture, so that the house and contents are mine until 1st June 1863, then suppose I shall sell off and go to lodgings.
Mr Keep and I do not get on well together- he proposed last Saturday to pay me out, but we have had two such bad years having written off thirty four thousand pounds that my amount would be so paltry would scarce be sufficient to keep one, beside it does not answer my purpose yet. There are so many things I want to see the results of, such as-
Phoenix Company 2,500
Farnald 3,000
Corser 500
Shenstone 2,000
Fulton 1,900
Russ 1,000
Pitfield Hotel 1,000
Burringong 600
Robinson Thomas & Co 3,500
16,000
Half these hit & miss 1700 Total 17,700
Amounts are mine if they turn out all right. The first three amounts are dependent on Phoenix Co- if that does not pay they are worthless. Besides these I have my interest in three or four other mines that will, I hope, turn up something. It is pretty certain that we shall not hold together beyond our next stocktaking, unless the feeling between us is vastly different to what it has been lately. He is angry that I have engaged “Smith” as traveller, at least I think that is it. I say this to you strictly private- burn this note. Your copies of “Anna’s” note reached me on Monday. I expected she had left ‘ere this.”Tom” has not written me so cannot say what the poor fellow is doing or getting on.
Well now- about your own little matter -since I promised to say something to you about it- you will I presume not feel very well pleased with me unless I fulfil the promise. SINCERELY I would have wished not to have heard such news of you yet. You are young, have your own fortune to carrie, and not having yet scarcely set one foot on the path towards it I feel and think it would been better and more prudent to have waited another year or two before taking such an important sacred step.
Don’t you imagine I say this because it is to Bertha- the same feeling, same expression would have escaped me had it been to anyone else, unless, however, she was possessed with substantial reasons or means- which would make you independent of the feeling or opinion of any one, and what I might say would then be powerless.
By an engagement In understand it to be “engaged to be married” and to continue such an avowal for some two or three years (which in your case you must do) is in my opinion a wearing out of the very sweetness and essence and happiness that the engagement was made for.
To Bertha personally I have not the least objection- she is, I believe, a shrewd, sensible, clever girl- not accomplished as you say- but would pass better in society than many ladies who are or considered to be, and I think will make a good, careful wife. And you, my dear Harry, possess an average share of common sense, of judgement, and discernment and if you are fully and truly satisfied that you can be happy- quite happy- with Bertha Hughan as your wife, and that you feel sure and certain you can devote and bestow all your tenderness, affection and love upon her- that all your life’s care and thought will be to endeavour to make her happy and seeing her so should be, I hope will be, to you, the highest, noblest, happiest feeling man can enjoy.
In all I say I have but one only sincere, hearty and earnest wish, and that is for your prosperity, your happiness. Had you asked me first I might have said no, but if it is your wish, your choice thoughtfully and carefully considered, why should I object.
Before I take leave of this subject, there are one or two other remarks I wish to make and which I think may have escaped or perhaps not occurred to you- viz- it is the duty of every man before he selects or makes choice of a partner for life to observe well not only that the lady herself is everything his heart could wish or desire, but that her connections or relatives are of such stamp and respectability that they too are congenial to his own feelings and wishes. That rather than lessen or humble him in the scale of society, that they should rather lift up or exalt him among his fellow man.
In this respect, my dear Harry, you have in my opinion stumbled at the onset. Who but Mrs McCallum is there that as a relative of your future wife you can even respect?
The elder brother, “Oscar”, is a great scamp- a worthless vagabond, an actor, a loafer, that would if the least encouraged live upon you, eat you, smoke you, drink you up, ruin you, and care not.
Fergus you know- no punishment or privation or pain this fellow may undergo will give him half his desserts, because I look upon him as the cause of all the trouble and misery the family have for years suffered, struggled with. This wretch had an appointment as Clerk on the Bench at Kyneton, which from his degraded drunken, smoking habit he lost, and from that circumstance their troubles commenced. And what has he done or been since?Look at him now and say.
Allan and his wife you known and have yourself in my opinion truly characterized. Then there is Edmiston, his wife and three children, that will always and forever be an expense and trouble to Mrs McCallum and perhaps you.
When, my dear Harry, a man selects a wife from a large family that are poor and want help, depend upon it he will be a poor man himself and perhaps want help too. You may say and think you will avoid it, but you cannot- your wife cannot nor is it natural she should.
I am a living proof to this myself. Why, for twenty two years I have given to Mrs Hurry forty pounds per annum and for the last ten years I have given her fifty pounds.. Tot that up with only with interest and compound interest and see what you make of it. I fancy you would be deuced glad to be fingering it- I should be very pleased to grab hold of it.
Allan has sent Jacob a letter for him to get inserted in the Herald- an answer to some rubbishing epistle and on a subject that ought not to take his attention, so much more his time. Jacob said this man is “mad”- he doesn’t like the job a bit. I see by his letter he is coming to Melbourne. When here I should not be surprised that Keep will get hold of him and if so most likely the contents of his letter to me about you will be passed out. I shall then have one of his satirical laughs about you.
I am,dear Harry, Yours ever,
Jos. Bishop
Not time to write the ladies this week. I fear I shall stand badly with them."
I had a whole range of emotions running through me the very first time I read this letter back in the mid-1980s.Firstly, thankfulness that Henry Bishop had not "burned this note" as ordered to by his Uncle. Then puzzlement that Henry would not want to burn the note after Joseph wrote such scathing things about his future wife's family- Bertha would have been very hurt , one would think, if she had found the letter and read such strong insults aimed at her siblings.I thought that Both Joseph and Henry were condescending about Bertha herself..."not accomplished as you say- but would pass better in society than many ladies who are or considered to be". How uppity and snobbish...I hardly think Ironmongers and hardware merchants, wealthy as they may have been,had the right to look down their noses at anyone!
I was furious with narrow-minded old Joseph and his attack on the Hughan family- research has shown that they were all good, decent hardworking people.Certainly, they may have held more unusual professions at times, like Allan and Oscar, but I hardly think they deserved Joseph Bishop's written assault. I must admit, I was newly married myself at the time of reading the letter, and was amazed- and yes, a little cross- that my new mother-in-law agreed with the sentiments expressed by Joseph in regard to marriage and the selection of one's wife!
The letter is a priceless item to have. It is written in black ink on thin blue paper, and is in amazing condition considering that it is 148 years old.
Henry Bishop took his Uncle's advice and he and Bertha had a long engagement that lasted just over two and a half years. Bertha's mother, Hannah Oakley Hughan, had died in 1860 while she and Jessie were away in England, so on their return Bertha lived with Jessie and the children at Youngera full time.
37 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne.
August 6, 1862.
8 o’clock P.M.
My dear Harry,
Here I am, truly a bachelor all alone. I don’t very well yet shake into the life and fancied I should like it better than I do. “Barry Sullivan” commences at the Royal on Saturday in “Hamlet”. I shall go and if I like his impersonation of that character shall go two or three times a week to see him. He is said to be a better and more finished actor than Brooke. Geo Rolfe dined with me last night to settle up per furniture, so that the house and contents are mine until 1st June 1863, then suppose I shall sell off and go to lodgings.
Mr Keep and I do not get on well together- he proposed last Saturday to pay me out, but we have had two such bad years having written off thirty four thousand pounds that my amount would be so paltry would scarce be sufficient to keep one, beside it does not answer my purpose yet. There are so many things I want to see the results of, such as-
Phoenix Company 2,500
Farnald 3,000
Corser 500
Shenstone 2,000
Fulton 1,900
Russ 1,000
Pitfield Hotel 1,000
Burringong 600
Robinson Thomas & Co 3,500
16,000
Half these hit & miss 1700 Total 17,700
Amounts are mine if they turn out all right. The first three amounts are dependent on Phoenix Co- if that does not pay they are worthless. Besides these I have my interest in three or four other mines that will, I hope, turn up something. It is pretty certain that we shall not hold together beyond our next stocktaking, unless the feeling between us is vastly different to what it has been lately. He is angry that I have engaged “Smith” as traveller, at least I think that is it. I say this to you strictly private- burn this note. Your copies of “Anna’s” note reached me on Monday. I expected she had left ‘ere this.”Tom” has not written me so cannot say what the poor fellow is doing or getting on.
Well now- about your own little matter -since I promised to say something to you about it- you will I presume not feel very well pleased with me unless I fulfil the promise. SINCERELY I would have wished not to have heard such news of you yet. You are young, have your own fortune to carrie, and not having yet scarcely set one foot on the path towards it I feel and think it would been better and more prudent to have waited another year or two before taking such an important sacred step.
Don’t you imagine I say this because it is to Bertha- the same feeling, same expression would have escaped me had it been to anyone else, unless, however, she was possessed with substantial reasons or means- which would make you independent of the feeling or opinion of any one, and what I might say would then be powerless.
By an engagement In understand it to be “engaged to be married” and to continue such an avowal for some two or three years (which in your case you must do) is in my opinion a wearing out of the very sweetness and essence and happiness that the engagement was made for.
To Bertha personally I have not the least objection- she is, I believe, a shrewd, sensible, clever girl- not accomplished as you say- but would pass better in society than many ladies who are or considered to be, and I think will make a good, careful wife. And you, my dear Harry, possess an average share of common sense, of judgement, and discernment and if you are fully and truly satisfied that you can be happy- quite happy- with Bertha Hughan as your wife, and that you feel sure and certain you can devote and bestow all your tenderness, affection and love upon her- that all your life’s care and thought will be to endeavour to make her happy and seeing her so should be, I hope will be, to you, the highest, noblest, happiest feeling man can enjoy.
In all I say I have but one only sincere, hearty and earnest wish, and that is for your prosperity, your happiness. Had you asked me first I might have said no, but if it is your wish, your choice thoughtfully and carefully considered, why should I object.
Before I take leave of this subject, there are one or two other remarks I wish to make and which I think may have escaped or perhaps not occurred to you- viz- it is the duty of every man before he selects or makes choice of a partner for life to observe well not only that the lady herself is everything his heart could wish or desire, but that her connections or relatives are of such stamp and respectability that they too are congenial to his own feelings and wishes. That rather than lessen or humble him in the scale of society, that they should rather lift up or exalt him among his fellow man.
In this respect, my dear Harry, you have in my opinion stumbled at the onset. Who but Mrs McCallum is there that as a relative of your future wife you can even respect?
The elder brother, “Oscar”, is a great scamp- a worthless vagabond, an actor, a loafer, that would if the least encouraged live upon you, eat you, smoke you, drink you up, ruin you, and care not.
Fergus you know- no punishment or privation or pain this fellow may undergo will give him half his desserts, because I look upon him as the cause of all the trouble and misery the family have for years suffered, struggled with. This wretch had an appointment as Clerk on the Bench at Kyneton, which from his degraded drunken, smoking habit he lost, and from that circumstance their troubles commenced. And what has he done or been since?Look at him now and say.
Allan and his wife you known and have yourself in my opinion truly characterized. Then there is Edmiston, his wife and three children, that will always and forever be an expense and trouble to Mrs McCallum and perhaps you.
When, my dear Harry, a man selects a wife from a large family that are poor and want help, depend upon it he will be a poor man himself and perhaps want help too. You may say and think you will avoid it, but you cannot- your wife cannot nor is it natural she should.
I am a living proof to this myself. Why, for twenty two years I have given to Mrs Hurry forty pounds per annum and for the last ten years I have given her fifty pounds.. Tot that up with only with interest and compound interest and see what you make of it. I fancy you would be deuced glad to be fingering it- I should be very pleased to grab hold of it.
Allan has sent Jacob a letter for him to get inserted in the Herald- an answer to some rubbishing epistle and on a subject that ought not to take his attention, so much more his time. Jacob said this man is “mad”- he doesn’t like the job a bit. I see by his letter he is coming to Melbourne. When here I should not be surprised that Keep will get hold of him and if so most likely the contents of his letter to me about you will be passed out. I shall then have one of his satirical laughs about you.
I am,dear Harry, Yours ever,
Jos. Bishop
Not time to write the ladies this week. I fear I shall stand badly with them."
I had a whole range of emotions running through me the very first time I read this letter back in the mid-1980s.Firstly, thankfulness that Henry Bishop had not "burned this note" as ordered to by his Uncle. Then puzzlement that Henry would not want to burn the note after Joseph wrote such scathing things about his future wife's family- Bertha would have been very hurt , one would think, if she had found the letter and read such strong insults aimed at her siblings.I thought that Both Joseph and Henry were condescending about Bertha herself..."not accomplished as you say- but would pass better in society than many ladies who are or considered to be". How uppity and snobbish...I hardly think Ironmongers and hardware merchants, wealthy as they may have been,had the right to look down their noses at anyone!
I was furious with narrow-minded old Joseph and his attack on the Hughan family- research has shown that they were all good, decent hardworking people.Certainly, they may have held more unusual professions at times, like Allan and Oscar, but I hardly think they deserved Joseph Bishop's written assault. I must admit, I was newly married myself at the time of reading the letter, and was amazed- and yes, a little cross- that my new mother-in-law agreed with the sentiments expressed by Joseph in regard to marriage and the selection of one's wife!
The letter is a priceless item to have. It is written in black ink on thin blue paper, and is in amazing condition considering that it is 148 years old.
Henry Bishop took his Uncle's advice and he and Bertha had a long engagement that lasted just over two and a half years. Bertha's mother, Hannah Oakley Hughan, had died in 1860 while she and Jessie were away in England, so on their return Bertha lived with Jessie and the children at Youngera full time.
Joseph Bishop's letter to Bertha Hughan.
Above: Joseph Bishop, son of Joseph Bishop and Eleanor Barnes, and eldest brother of Henry Bishop's father William. This photo was taken in c. 1862-3, around the same period that he wrote the following letter to Bertha.
" 37 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.
May 20, 1862.
My Dear Bertha,
Oh how CRUEL and UNKIND of you to say you hate me. What is to become of me if I lose your kind, affectionate, pretty approving smile. How can I be happy if Bertha frowns? I know I have been negligent indeed. I am an unmitigated scamp to allow your two kind letters of 12th February and 26th March to remain so long unanswered, but never did I think however great my faults that with my dear Bertha it would be an unpardonable one -neither is it.Come, let me beg you will write me one of your nice interesting notes and say you forgive me.There..you will- then I shall be happy.
I have ten thousand thanks and KISSES in store for you for the kindness and attention you bestow on my dear Harry. Bye the bye you have kisses in store for me when I come to Wirlong-shouldn't I like to have a peep at you.
I notice how nicely you describe the amusements of Harry and yourself viz- cribbage,viste(??), walk, fish etc.That is all very well and right- he should indulge in such past times occasionally, but please young lady to bear in mind that I want and beg you will encourage all you possibly can his soon obtaining a thorough knowledge of sheep and their management. He has his living to get, his way to make in the world, beside which I may want him to be of use or render some service to this "nasty old buffer" who is sometimes seized with the notion that he will require some such aid in his old days.
So you want me to send my portrait do you? Well, you just can't have it- tisn't to be had.You never saw such an old villainous looking prize fighting sort of chap in your life.- Harry will tell you. What do you think of his? I presume he has one with him to show you.
Have you heard from Mrs Edmiston lately? She has written me once only since I left N.Z. I fear Mr. Edmiston will lose his appointment with Webb, Panthon & Co on account of their failure, and I cannot imagine where in Duneden he can procure another one.
We have have had Mrs Stafford and Mrs Treacy gossiping with us this evening. It is now 12 p.m and my budget for tonight is threadbare, but for even this brief scrawl. I do hope you will write me particulars of the passing events of Wirlong. Waiting which I am, my dear Bertha, Yours truly,
Joseph Bishop."
Now...is it just me, or does this letter display a blatantly "flirty" nature??? I would swear that old Uncle Joe, who was in his early fifties, was indulging in some playful flirting with 23 year old Bertha.I wonder if he suspected that his beloved nephew and Bertha had fallen in love, and if indeed Joseph had his eye on Bertha as a wife for himself? He had a very negative reaction a few months later to Henry's news of his engagement to Bertha, and it was two years later in 1864 that Joseph had an arranged marriage to a woman in her early twenties.
Enough for this evening...tomorrow we deal with the infamous letter that Joseph Bishop wrote to Henry giving his reaction to his nephew's engagement to Bertha.
The leading characters in Bertha's Love Story...
Above are the people who were at Youngera 1861-1862 when Bertha Hughan and Henry Bishop started their courtship.
Top: Bertha Hughan
Second: Henry Bishop.
Third: Jessie Hughan McCallum.
Bottom: Peter Beveridge.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The trip back to England, 1858-1861.
The McCallum party, including newborn Ivy Jessie and her aunt, Bertha Hughan, arrived in England in July of 1858. Whilst overseas, the McCallums and Bertha travelled throughout England, France and Scotland, presumably visiting family and friends as well as taking in the sights. Bertha bought back beautiful crystal scent bottles embellished with ormolu filigree and decorated with eglomised Grand Tour miniature portraits of Paris. They were passed down to me by way of her eldest daughter Olive and then to Olive’s granddaughter Margaret Oakley, my mother.
No family stories have passed down as to what exactly the McCallums and Bertha did during their 2 1/2 years away, beyond "visiting family and friends".Alexander McCallum's health had not been the best, and when it came time to leave and sail back to Australia, he chose not to accompany his family and remained in England.
There was obviously more behind the story than just Alexander's ill health...it was quite amazing that Jessie returned to Australia with three young children to continue to run Youngera alone, with the assistance of her brothers Allan and to a much lesser extent Fergus.One would have thought that the logical thing to do would have been to sell Youngera and for the McCallums to remain united as a family in England.For Jessie and the children to travel back to Victoria and never see Alexander again was extreme to say the least.
I may have an extremely good imagination, but I have always wondered about the relationship between Jessie Hughan and her neighbour Peter Beveridge from Tyntynder Station.His relationship with Jessie McCallum is certainly an interesting one. There was only four years age difference between them,as opposed to the 30 years between Jessie and her husband, and they perhaps would have had a great deal more in common than Jessie and Alexander. Jessie was still in her teens when they first met, and Peter was only 21 years old. There are several photographs of Peter Beveridge in collections belonging to Bertha Hughan- in fact, before I had seen a photo of Peter Beveridge I had assumed that the man who faced Jessie McCallum on opposing pages in Bertha’s album from the 1860s was her husband, Alexander.I think it is telling that as far as we know, there are no photographs of Alexander McCallum at all in any of the Hughan family albums. There was also a large portrait in a gilded oval frame of Peter Beveridge, which came to me through the family of Bertha Hughan's daughter Olive Bishop.
At the very least there was a very strong friendship between Jessie and Peter, and he visited Youngera often when she and Bertha returned to Youngera from England.He was visiting Youngera in 1862 when a wonderful photograph- the circumstances of which is explained in the following paragraph- was taken.
Two photographers in 1862 decided to take a voyage down the Murray River from Echuca to Adelaide, photographing everything from Murray River scenery to homesteads and their occupants. George Burnell and Edward William Cole ventured forth on January 1, 1862, and we are fortunate that along the way they stopped at McCallum’s ‘Youngera Station’ and captured a wonderful moment in time.
The photo, featured above in a very poor photocopy, is called 'Wirlong, Murray River' and features six people standing outside the McCallum's homestead, which was named Wirlong. Wirlong himself is in the photo- a young aboriginal man who was born on the land encompassed by Youngera Station.In the foreground is Henry Bishop, a 20 year old Englishman not long arrived in the Colonies. He had been staying at neighbouring Tyntynder Station with Peter Beveridge, who is standing next to him. Allan Hughan, Jessie's brother who helped manage Youngera in her husband's absence, is the last major figure in the photo, holding his 3 year old niece Ivy McCallum. Barely seen, standing in the doorway in the shade of the deep verandah, is Jessie McCallum.Bertha most likely would have also been staying at Wirlong, but there is no sign of her or the two eldest McCallum children, Margaret and Gilbert.
If my frivolous imaginings can ramble on for a little longer...convention would have made it so difficult for Jessie and Peter if there was more than friendship felt between them. Peter did not marry until late in life, long after Jessie's death, and Jessie was separated from her husband and living in relative isolation at the age of 29 or 30. Alexander McCallum was not dead nor were they divorced, so Jessie would not have been free to legally pursue a relationship with any man. The strict Scots Presbyterian faith of the Hughans, McCallums and Beveridges would also have served to keep any 'wayward' affections in check.
While this sadly romantic scenario has been conjured by me in a "What if??" train of thought, another relationship was developing at Youngera in the early 1860s that in no way is a figment of my imagination.
Henry Bishop was born on January 22, 1841, at Stamford in Lincolnshire, the elder of two sons born to William Bishop, a glazier and plumber, and Eliza Gilbert, his wife.The family lived for many years in St. Pauls Street, Stamford, where Henry and his brother Charles, who was five years younger, attended a nearby school.Charles died in August of 1854, when Henry was 13. He had just started his education at Bambury College(a college of Oxford University) when, in September of 1859, his father died at the age of 50.
With the breadwinner of the family gone, Henry's studies were called to a halt and he returned to his mother in Stamford to decide on his future.His life line came in the form of an uncle, Joseph Bishop, the eldest brother of his father who had emigrated to Australia with his wife Mary Ann in 1854 per the ship 'South Carolina'.
Joseph was a very wealthy hardware merchant, and he and his wife Mary Ann, who was also his first cousin, were childless. It was arranged for Henry Bishop to come to Melbourne and work for Joseph, who had been widowed in 1858.
Henry Bishop arrived in Melbourne per the ship 'Orwell' on May 4,1861.The McCallums had arrived back in Melbourne per the Themis in January of the same year.Henry, aged 20, settled in with his uncle at 37 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, and joined him at work in his hardware business.
I have a letter written by Joseph Bishop on December 19, 1861, to Jessie McCallum at Youngera, and it reads as follows:
37 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.
December 19, 1861.
My dear Mrs. McCallum,
Pray accept my warmest best thanks for the hearty manner your kind invitation is given for Henry and myself to visit you. I am not so certain about my trip to England- therefore am doubtful whether I do "leave my boy" should I be fortunate enough to get off.
I shall feel quite happy and comfortable as to the care and watchfulness that you, my dear Mrs. McCallum and Bertha and Allan will bestow upon him- bless the dear boy, how sincerely I hope he will be pleased with the change.Will write you a longer note- my correspondence today is like your mailman calling All aboard- time is up. bye bye From Yours Ever,
Joseph Bishop."
I don't know if this invitation was ever taken up by either Henry or Joseph, but Henry certainly made his way to Swan Hill in 1861-62, because he stayed for a long period with the Beveridge brothers at Tyntynder Station, learning how to become a gentleman sheep farmer.
Here on the Murray River Henry met Bertha Hughan, and many years later Henry would tell his grandsons how at the very moment that he set his sights on the blue-eyed Bertha he swore "That's her...that's my wife!"
The young couple spent a great deal of time together, which prompted Joseph to write to Bertha in May of 1862. This letter is fascinating, and I will reproduce it in the following blog.
Three different birth dates...
Three different dates for Bertha's birthday...her birth certificate showing January 26, two of the three birthday books that give January 1st as the date, and finally the section of Allan Hughan's Royal Caledonian papers that give his sister's birthdate as January 19.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Bertha's birthday!!
It was with great excitement today that I realised the importance of the date...26th January, 2009. No, not because it is Australia Day, or because it is my 24th wedding anniversary, but because, according to Bertha Hughan's official birth certificate, it is her 170th birthday today!!!
I certainly wasn't aware, when I was sweltering through a scorching Australia Day wedding at Yarrawonga in 1985, that it was my great-great grandmother's birthday. And even now, the 26th of January is just one of three dates that I have for Bertha's birthday.
Her birth certificate states that she was born on "Twenty sixth of January, 1839'. The admittance form of her brother Allan to attend the Royal Caledonian School in 1844 gives Bertha's date of birth as January 19, 1839. And, finally, the birthday books of three members of Bertha's family all have her birthday as being January 1st, and in two cases the entry was in the handwriting of Bertha herself.
Of course when presented with three birth dates from three different sources, I have to accept the one which is an official document...in this case, her birth certificate.
As a young women, Bertha decided to take two years from her actual age, and from that moment on always gave her year of birth as 1841. I have a feeling this decision came as the result of her falling in love, at the age of 22, with a young man of 20...a whole two years younger than her! I feel quite sure that Henry Bishop, her future husband,did not know of this ruse...it was a little well-kept secret between Bertha, her immediate family and now, more than a century and a half later, us!!!
I have no idea, however, as to why she would change the actual day of her birth from the 26th of January to the 1st of January.
I certainly wasn't aware, when I was sweltering through a scorching Australia Day wedding at Yarrawonga in 1985, that it was my great-great grandmother's birthday. And even now, the 26th of January is just one of three dates that I have for Bertha's birthday.
Her birth certificate states that she was born on "Twenty sixth of January, 1839'. The admittance form of her brother Allan to attend the Royal Caledonian School in 1844 gives Bertha's date of birth as January 19, 1839. And, finally, the birthday books of three members of Bertha's family all have her birthday as being January 1st, and in two cases the entry was in the handwriting of Bertha herself.
Of course when presented with three birth dates from three different sources, I have to accept the one which is an official document...in this case, her birth certificate.
As a young women, Bertha decided to take two years from her actual age, and from that moment on always gave her year of birth as 1841. I have a feeling this decision came as the result of her falling in love, at the age of 22, with a young man of 20...a whole two years younger than her! I feel quite sure that Henry Bishop, her future husband,did not know of this ruse...it was a little well-kept secret between Bertha, her immediate family and now, more than a century and a half later, us!!!
I have no idea, however, as to why she would change the actual day of her birth from the 26th of January to the 1st of January.
Back to Bertha's story...
We find Bertha as an eleven year old girl in her newly adopted country, fresh off the ship and in new accommodation in Melbourne with her mother Hannah and sisters Marion and Jessie.Her brother-in-law Arthur Paton, who travelled with them on the Culloden, would have been very keen to reunite with his wife Laura Hughan Paton, having only spent a short week with her after their marriage, prior to her boarding the ship Tasman in 1849 and sailing off to Melbourne. It had been more than a year since Arthur and the Hughans had seen Laura, so I imagine that the reunion was an emotional one.
When Laura had sailed out on the Tasman, her occupation had been stated as 'nursery maid', and I believe that this was her employment in Victoria upon her arrival. She may even have been employed in London as a nursery maid for a family travelling out to the Colonies, to assist them on the ship, and could have remained with them until her husband arrived.
I think that her sisters Marion and Jessie may have wanted to follow the same employment path. In a letter written by the Bishop of Melbourne and quoted in a London newspaper, he wrote:
" The testimony of all who have visited the Immigrant Depot, where they were received on landing, concurred in representing them as by far the most promising company of females which had yet been landed here. The fact that all, with the exception of two out of three sisters wishing for places as nursery governesses, have been hired within 2 days of their arrival, shows them also to have been well chosen with respect to the wants of the colony."
The only groups of three sisters to travel on the Culloden were the Hughan girls and the Burney sisters- Eliza, Esther and Margaret.The latter were all employed at the highest wages offered to any of the Culloden women-twenty five pounds each per year- but unfortunately only one of the three employers of the sisters was given.
It is not known how long Bertha and her family remained in Melbourne. Laura and Arthur quickly settled in the Geelong district, and Hannah Hughan lived there in the 1850s as well. Both Jessie and Marion ended up living at Kyneton, and Jessie was still there when she married Alexander McCallum in Melbourne in July of 1851.
Marion married a Kyneton storekeeper named Henry Aulert Edmiston, who had sailed out to Victoria from England the previous year on the same ship as Laura Hughan. Kyneton was a relatively new town in 1850, but growth was booming as it had become a supply town to those passing through on their way to the goldfields.Henry Edmiston asked Marion to marry him, and although they married in the Presbyterian Church in Melbourne in January 1852, they were both living at Kyneton at the time.
I imagine that young Bertha would have spent most of her time with her mother, whether that had been at Melbourne, Geelong or Kyneton. It is known that she spent a great deal of time with her sister Jessie who lived on a very remote sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill.Bertha would have provided much welcomed company for her sister, as well as being a help when her niece and nephew, Margaret and Gilbert McCallum, arrived in 1853 and 1854 respectively.
When the McCallums went to England for a brief trip in 1855-56, Bertha remained in Victoria, but when they went again in 1858, she went with them on board the ship 'Royal Charter'. Aged 19, Bertha would have been of great assistance in occupying Gilbert and Margaret, especially as Jessie was more than half way through her third pregnancy whilst on the voyage.The baby, Ivy Jessie Mccallum, was born on board the Royal Charter whilst she was crossing the Irish Sea
When Laura had sailed out on the Tasman, her occupation had been stated as 'nursery maid', and I believe that this was her employment in Victoria upon her arrival. She may even have been employed in London as a nursery maid for a family travelling out to the Colonies, to assist them on the ship, and could have remained with them until her husband arrived.
I think that her sisters Marion and Jessie may have wanted to follow the same employment path. In a letter written by the Bishop of Melbourne and quoted in a London newspaper, he wrote:
" The testimony of all who have visited the Immigrant Depot, where they were received on landing, concurred in representing them as by far the most promising company of females which had yet been landed here. The fact that all, with the exception of two out of three sisters wishing for places as nursery governesses, have been hired within 2 days of their arrival, shows them also to have been well chosen with respect to the wants of the colony."
The only groups of three sisters to travel on the Culloden were the Hughan girls and the Burney sisters- Eliza, Esther and Margaret.The latter were all employed at the highest wages offered to any of the Culloden women-twenty five pounds each per year- but unfortunately only one of the three employers of the sisters was given.
It is not known how long Bertha and her family remained in Melbourne. Laura and Arthur quickly settled in the Geelong district, and Hannah Hughan lived there in the 1850s as well. Both Jessie and Marion ended up living at Kyneton, and Jessie was still there when she married Alexander McCallum in Melbourne in July of 1851.
Marion married a Kyneton storekeeper named Henry Aulert Edmiston, who had sailed out to Victoria from England the previous year on the same ship as Laura Hughan. Kyneton was a relatively new town in 1850, but growth was booming as it had become a supply town to those passing through on their way to the goldfields.Henry Edmiston asked Marion to marry him, and although they married in the Presbyterian Church in Melbourne in January 1852, they were both living at Kyneton at the time.
I imagine that young Bertha would have spent most of her time with her mother, whether that had been at Melbourne, Geelong or Kyneton. It is known that she spent a great deal of time with her sister Jessie who lived on a very remote sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill.Bertha would have provided much welcomed company for her sister, as well as being a help when her niece and nephew, Margaret and Gilbert McCallum, arrived in 1853 and 1854 respectively.
When the McCallums went to England for a brief trip in 1855-56, Bertha remained in Victoria, but when they went again in 1858, she went with them on board the ship 'Royal Charter'. Aged 19, Bertha would have been of great assistance in occupying Gilbert and Margaret, especially as Jessie was more than half way through her third pregnancy whilst on the voyage.The baby, Ivy Jessie Mccallum, was born on board the Royal Charter whilst she was crossing the Irish Sea
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Needlewomen of the Culloden
I will pause now for a moment in Bertha's story, and include a brief deviation away from my Hughans as I indulge my own interest in the needlewomen of the Culloden. While I had from the Victorian Public Records website a list of the needlewomen on board the Culloden, I didn't know what had happened to them after their arrival in Victoria. Researching via Google produced a little information on several of the women, but on the whole I knew nothing beyond their names.
Last week I was lucky enough to find an article published in England that gave each woman's initials and where they were employed once they got to Victoria. Armed with the passenger list, it was easy to put a whole name to each set of initials, although I had trouble with two women whose initials were "C.P"- I can't differentiate between Caroline Parsons and Catherine Ann Pain.
By the way...one of the best under-utilized resources for online genealogy in my opinion is the one offered by Australian State Libraries ( at least NSW and Queensland State Libraries that I know of-other states would have to check).All residents of NSW, for example,are eligible to become members of their State Library. Country members, such as myself, apply for membership by mail, and once your membership card arrives, you have full access to many wonderful online resources..all you need to do each time you access the site is type in your membership number and password.This gives instant access to the most wonderful collection of online newspapers from England, including the London Times archive. There are many other resources available on this site, but the newspapers collection is where I have made my most fabulous discoveries.Much of the information that I discovered on the Female Emigrant Scheme and the Culloden needlewomen all came from the State Library Of NSW British Newspapers Collection, 1600-1900.
Of the 36 needlewomen who sailed on the Culloden, 28 were actual needlewomen who at some period of their lives had been servants or had become acquainted with some branches of household or farm service. Of the remainder, two were teachers( both acting as sub-Matrons),and the remaining six charwomen and out of work servants.
Because the Culloden women were the first to leave England, there were several reports conducted as to the success of the venture. The first report was concerned with the total of 409 women who emigrated under the scheme in 1850. Of these only six might be classified as middle class by occupation- three governesses and three teachers. Of the 409 women, 38 individual case histories were looked at, of which 16 had suffered the familiar experience of steep class decline following the death of a father, loss of family fortune or other causes usually identified with what was known as 'genteel poverty'.
The Morning Chronicle, a London newspaper, published a list of the Culloden women, identified only by their initials, on Wednesday, November 27, 1850.I have added further information when known.
"From the following account which has been furnished to us of the present circumstances of the emigrants by the Culloden,most of whom are now settled in Melbourne and its vicinity, it will be seen how wide is the contrast between the wretchedness of their former lot and their condition and prospects in their new home- where, in addition to the wages which they have obtained, they are provided with an abundant supply of the necessaries and comforts of life.The annexed table is, it will be perceived,arranged with reference to the metropolitan districts from which the young women were respectively selected.For obvious reasons we only give the initials of their names.
Information given was: First column: Initials of name. Second Column: Description at home. Column three: Employment obtained in Australia.
HOLBORN and WESTMINSTER DISTRICTS.
Margaret J. Landells/ Infant school mistress. No earnings./ engaged by Major Newman, J.P.of South Yarra for twenty pounds a year.
Marion Hughan/needlewoman, earning one shilling a day/Living with her mother in Melbourne.
Jessie Hughan/ needlewoman one shilling per day/ Living with mother in Melbourne.
Bertha Hughan/ a child/ living with her mother in Melbourne.
Elizabeth Fenwick/ Needlewoman, earning 3s, 6d a week/ Engaged by Mr. Bell of Melbourne for 14 pounds a year.Married 1853 to Arthur Davies.
Alice Fenwick/ needlewoman, young/ Engaged by Mr. Larrydon of Loddon River at 7 pounds per year.Married James Wyatt, 1854.
Matilda G. Walker/ servant, occasional employment, earning about ten shillings a week/ Engaged by Mr. Pohlman of Richmond for 16 pounds per year.
Ellen Walker/ servant/ engaged by the same at the same rate.He promises she shall have a situation near her sister.
Charlotte Savage/ needlewoman, five to six shillings per week./Engaged by Mrs Mackenzie of Collingwood at twelve pounds a year.
Lucy M. Edwards/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mr. Fytte, of Melbourne, for twelve pounds a year. She wrote to her father back in England:
“The ship when it was rocking afforded me great pleasure for to see the things rattling about ; plates and dishes rattling; the children crying; the girls a going into fits; the Captain a giving orders; the Matron ordering the girls to be quiet because of the Captain.”
Lucy also reported that events didn’t go as smoothly as reported upon arrival at Port Phillip:
“ We came ashore at night on account of there going to be a mutiny with the sailors and the captain, because he would not give them their discharge when they came and asked him, so they all struck and would not do anything so he sent for the police constables and he kept them on bread and water until a great many of them ran away.”
Lucy Malcolm Edwards married Edward Miram Camplin in 1851.
Jane Holland/ servant, out of place/ engaged by Mr Westley, of Melbourne, for 12 pounds a year.
Eliza Burney/ Needlewoman, 2 to 5 shillings per week/ Engaged at 25 pounds per year.
Margaret Burney/ needlewoman, 2 to 5 shillings a week/ Engaged at 25 pounds per year.Married Henry Simmons Trapp, 1854.
Esther Burney/ needlewoman earning 2 to 5 shillings per week/ engaged by Mr. Bell, auctioneer, of Melbourne, at 25 pounds a year.Married John Skandon, 1860.
Elizabeth Tuck/ waistcoat maker, 4 to 6 shillings per week/Engaged by Mr Beer of Richmond for 20 pounds per year.
Anne Coates/ braider, earning six shillings per week/ At depot. Since engaged. Particulars not known.
Eliza Coates/ braider, six shillings per week/ Engaged by Mr. Brodie of Richmond for 16 pounds per year.
Ann Ferguson/needlewoman out of work two months/ Engaged by Mr. Foxton of Melbourne for 14 pounds a year.
Emma Fletcher/Needlewoman, 3 shillings per week/ Engaged by W. Smith Esq, of South Yarra, at 14 pounds per year.
Ellen Ellis/ lace-transferrer,only occasionally employed,utmost earnings 5 shillings a week/Proceeds to Sydney where she has relations.There was a scandal after the Culloden docked, with the Captain. Ferguson, trying to seduce Ellen off the ship in Port Phillip.She later joined her sister-in-law in Sydney, who was a druggist.
SOUTHWARK DISTRICT.
Christina Tisdall/ widow, tailoress, 4 shillings a week/Engaged on board the ship Culloden as stewardess, to wait on the ladies, at 21 pounds a year.
Elizabeth Randall/ servant, paid part of her passage money/ Engaged by Mrs Butterfield of Melbourne at 14 pounds a year.
Rachael E. Cox/servant, nine pounds a year/ Engaged by John Orr Esq, of Melbourne, at 18 pounds a year.
Catherine Ann Pain)/ belt stitcher, 3 to 5 shillings a week/ Proceeds to Port Stephens via Sydney to join friends there. She arrived in Sydney on 10th August 1850 and 10 days later married Thomas Paten at St James Church, Sydney. Thomas was employed by the Aust Agricultural Co. in the Port Stevens area where they lived for several years until they moved to the Tambaroora goldfield near Bathurst. Catherine died at Tambaroora in 1871 and Thomas stayed there until his death in 1894.(information from descendant Mark Paten, May 2010).
Fanny Hickmott/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mrs Simmons of Melbourne at ten pounds a year. Some of the letters written back to England were published by the Fund to encourage other girls to emigrate. Fanny's letter as published read in part:“It is a good place for all maids to come to for they are sure to get a husband. I am not married yet, but I shall be before long- before you get this- to a young man who came out on the same ship. There was a mother and four sons and four daughters, and this is one of the sons that I am to have, and _____ is to have another and ____ is to have a third. If you can, prevail on my sisters to come to me, and all shall be done both by me and Richard that can be done to make them happy.”
SHADWELL.
Elizabeth Henwood/ servant, out of place/ engaged by Mr. Palmer, of Melbourne, at 12 pounds per year.
E.J.???/shirtmaker earning 2s to 2s 6d a week./ Engaged by Mr. Bickerton,a passenger (with his family) on the ship Culloden,wages not stated.NOTE: No woman with initials 'E.J' was on the Culloden passenger list. However there was an Elizabeth Ireland who wasn't matched up to a set of initials, and I believe that this could be 'E.J'
ST. GEORGES, EAST.
Eliza K. Cornwall/bootbinder, 2 shillings a week/ engaged by McKenzie of Collingwood,at 10 pounds per year.
Matilda S. Read/ servant, mother a needlewoman/ Engaged at Club Hotel, Melbourne, wages not known. Matilda Read, who had been a servant in London before emigrating on the ‘Culloden’, was one emigrant of whose letter home to her family was published:
“We have been here now about ten months, and I have had very good situations, the last of which I left to be married.
I was married on the 5th of January last to Mr Charles Servante, brother to ‘Little Jane’, as you call her.(NOTE: Charles Copsey Servante also came out as a passenger on the Culloden in 1850) I have been very comfortable since, and am very contented. Jane has a comfortable good place, and twenty pound a year wages.” (This Jane was Jane Elizabeth Servante who was a fellow emigrant on the ‘Culloden’, and she married William Mills in Melbourne in 1852.)Matilda and Charles had a typically large family in the Kyneton district- Matilda b & d 1852 aged 5 months; Charles b 1855; Henry b 1857;Athelinda b 1858;George b 1860; Edgar b 1862;Arthur b 1864;Frederick Read b 1866 d 1867; Matilda Elizabeth b 1868;Frank Edward b 1870 d 1878.
Matilda would have been in Kyneton at the same time as the Hughan siblings Fergus, Jessie and Marion.
Margaret Thompson/ needlewoman without work/ Engaged by Mr. Larrydon of Lodden River at 12 pounds a year.
Jane Hunt/ widow.Shirtmaker, 2s6d a week/Engaged by Francis Waidley Esq of Melbourne at 15 pounds a year.
Jane White/ weekly governess, 5 shillings a week./ Engaged by Mr. Murchison, J.P., of Goulburn River,at 16 pounds a year.
Ellen S. Broughton/ stockmaker/ Engaged by J.A. Henriquies Esq at 16 pounds a year.
Caroline Dennis/ collar stitcher, 4 shillings a week/ Married at Melbourne to Mr. James Walford, an intermediate passenger by the Culloden, who is about to proceed to Hobart Town.
Jane Elizabeth Servante/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by family of Mr. Palmer, a passenger by Culloden. Wages not known.
Caroline Parsons / needlewoman/ Engaged by Mr. Angel,of Melbourne,at ten pounds a year.
Emma Madgeley/ needlewoman, 5 shillings per week/ engaged by Mr Walters of Melbourne for 9 pounds a year.
Rosanna Stone/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mr. McMullane of Melbourne at 12 pounds a year.
Jane Leavett/housemaid, out of place, mother a lace worker/Engaged by John Orr Esq of Melbourne at 18 pounds a year.
NOTE: The name 'Mr. Larrydon' appears twice as having employed two women...I can find no trace of this name or anything like it anywhere in the world, let alone Victoria!
In my Googling of this past five minutes I found the following disparaging comment about the poor needlewomen,in a book written by an emigrant named Ellen Clacy:
"Sydney Herbert's needlewomen" bear but a bad name; and the
worst recommendation a young girl applying for a situation can give, is
to say she came out in that manner--not because the colonists look down
on any one coming out by the assistance of others, but because it is
imagined her female associates on the voyage cannot have been such as
to improve her morality, even if she were good for anything before.
Last week I was lucky enough to find an article published in England that gave each woman's initials and where they were employed once they got to Victoria. Armed with the passenger list, it was easy to put a whole name to each set of initials, although I had trouble with two women whose initials were "C.P"- I can't differentiate between Caroline Parsons and Catherine Ann Pain.
By the way...one of the best under-utilized resources for online genealogy in my opinion is the one offered by Australian State Libraries ( at least NSW and Queensland State Libraries that I know of-other states would have to check).All residents of NSW, for example,are eligible to become members of their State Library. Country members, such as myself, apply for membership by mail, and once your membership card arrives, you have full access to many wonderful online resources..all you need to do each time you access the site is type in your membership number and password.This gives instant access to the most wonderful collection of online newspapers from England, including the London Times archive. There are many other resources available on this site, but the newspapers collection is where I have made my most fabulous discoveries.Much of the information that I discovered on the Female Emigrant Scheme and the Culloden needlewomen all came from the State Library Of NSW British Newspapers Collection, 1600-1900.
Of the 36 needlewomen who sailed on the Culloden, 28 were actual needlewomen who at some period of their lives had been servants or had become acquainted with some branches of household or farm service. Of the remainder, two were teachers( both acting as sub-Matrons),and the remaining six charwomen and out of work servants.
Because the Culloden women were the first to leave England, there were several reports conducted as to the success of the venture. The first report was concerned with the total of 409 women who emigrated under the scheme in 1850. Of these only six might be classified as middle class by occupation- three governesses and three teachers. Of the 409 women, 38 individual case histories were looked at, of which 16 had suffered the familiar experience of steep class decline following the death of a father, loss of family fortune or other causes usually identified with what was known as 'genteel poverty'.
The Morning Chronicle, a London newspaper, published a list of the Culloden women, identified only by their initials, on Wednesday, November 27, 1850.I have added further information when known.
"From the following account which has been furnished to us of the present circumstances of the emigrants by the Culloden,most of whom are now settled in Melbourne and its vicinity, it will be seen how wide is the contrast between the wretchedness of their former lot and their condition and prospects in their new home- where, in addition to the wages which they have obtained, they are provided with an abundant supply of the necessaries and comforts of life.The annexed table is, it will be perceived,arranged with reference to the metropolitan districts from which the young women were respectively selected.For obvious reasons we only give the initials of their names.
Information given was: First column: Initials of name. Second Column: Description at home. Column three: Employment obtained in Australia.
HOLBORN and WESTMINSTER DISTRICTS.
Margaret J. Landells/ Infant school mistress. No earnings./ engaged by Major Newman, J.P.of South Yarra for twenty pounds a year.
Marion Hughan/needlewoman, earning one shilling a day/Living with her mother in Melbourne.
Jessie Hughan/ needlewoman one shilling per day/ Living with mother in Melbourne.
Bertha Hughan/ a child/ living with her mother in Melbourne.
Elizabeth Fenwick/ Needlewoman, earning 3s, 6d a week/ Engaged by Mr. Bell of Melbourne for 14 pounds a year.Married 1853 to Arthur Davies.
Alice Fenwick/ needlewoman, young/ Engaged by Mr. Larrydon of Loddon River at 7 pounds per year.Married James Wyatt, 1854.
Matilda G. Walker/ servant, occasional employment, earning about ten shillings a week/ Engaged by Mr. Pohlman of Richmond for 16 pounds per year.
Ellen Walker/ servant/ engaged by the same at the same rate.He promises she shall have a situation near her sister.
Charlotte Savage/ needlewoman, five to six shillings per week./Engaged by Mrs Mackenzie of Collingwood at twelve pounds a year.
Lucy M. Edwards/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mr. Fytte, of Melbourne, for twelve pounds a year. She wrote to her father back in England:
“The ship when it was rocking afforded me great pleasure for to see the things rattling about ; plates and dishes rattling; the children crying; the girls a going into fits; the Captain a giving orders; the Matron ordering the girls to be quiet because of the Captain.”
Lucy also reported that events didn’t go as smoothly as reported upon arrival at Port Phillip:
“ We came ashore at night on account of there going to be a mutiny with the sailors and the captain, because he would not give them their discharge when they came and asked him, so they all struck and would not do anything so he sent for the police constables and he kept them on bread and water until a great many of them ran away.”
Lucy Malcolm Edwards married Edward Miram Camplin in 1851.
Jane Holland/ servant, out of place/ engaged by Mr Westley, of Melbourne, for 12 pounds a year.
Eliza Burney/ Needlewoman, 2 to 5 shillings per week/ Engaged at 25 pounds per year.
Margaret Burney/ needlewoman, 2 to 5 shillings a week/ Engaged at 25 pounds per year.Married Henry Simmons Trapp, 1854.
Esther Burney/ needlewoman earning 2 to 5 shillings per week/ engaged by Mr. Bell, auctioneer, of Melbourne, at 25 pounds a year.Married John Skandon, 1860.
Elizabeth Tuck/ waistcoat maker, 4 to 6 shillings per week/Engaged by Mr Beer of Richmond for 20 pounds per year.
Anne Coates/ braider, earning six shillings per week/ At depot. Since engaged. Particulars not known.
Eliza Coates/ braider, six shillings per week/ Engaged by Mr. Brodie of Richmond for 16 pounds per year.
Ann Ferguson/needlewoman out of work two months/ Engaged by Mr. Foxton of Melbourne for 14 pounds a year.
Emma Fletcher/Needlewoman, 3 shillings per week/ Engaged by W. Smith Esq, of South Yarra, at 14 pounds per year.
Ellen Ellis/ lace-transferrer,only occasionally employed,utmost earnings 5 shillings a week/Proceeds to Sydney where she has relations.There was a scandal after the Culloden docked, with the Captain. Ferguson, trying to seduce Ellen off the ship in Port Phillip.She later joined her sister-in-law in Sydney, who was a druggist.
SOUTHWARK DISTRICT.
Christina Tisdall/ widow, tailoress, 4 shillings a week/Engaged on board the ship Culloden as stewardess, to wait on the ladies, at 21 pounds a year.
Elizabeth Randall/ servant, paid part of her passage money/ Engaged by Mrs Butterfield of Melbourne at 14 pounds a year.
Rachael E. Cox/servant, nine pounds a year/ Engaged by John Orr Esq, of Melbourne, at 18 pounds a year.
Catherine Ann Pain)/ belt stitcher, 3 to 5 shillings a week/ Proceeds to Port Stephens via Sydney to join friends there. She arrived in Sydney on 10th August 1850 and 10 days later married Thomas Paten at St James Church, Sydney. Thomas was employed by the Aust Agricultural Co. in the Port Stevens area where they lived for several years until they moved to the Tambaroora goldfield near Bathurst. Catherine died at Tambaroora in 1871 and Thomas stayed there until his death in 1894.(information from descendant Mark Paten, May 2010).
Fanny Hickmott/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mrs Simmons of Melbourne at ten pounds a year. Some of the letters written back to England were published by the Fund to encourage other girls to emigrate. Fanny's letter as published read in part:“It is a good place for all maids to come to for they are sure to get a husband. I am not married yet, but I shall be before long- before you get this- to a young man who came out on the same ship. There was a mother and four sons and four daughters, and this is one of the sons that I am to have, and _____ is to have another and ____ is to have a third. If you can, prevail on my sisters to come to me, and all shall be done both by me and Richard that can be done to make them happy.”
SHADWELL.
Elizabeth Henwood/ servant, out of place/ engaged by Mr. Palmer, of Melbourne, at 12 pounds per year.
E.J.???/shirtmaker earning 2s to 2s 6d a week./ Engaged by Mr. Bickerton,a passenger (with his family) on the ship Culloden,wages not stated.NOTE: No woman with initials 'E.J' was on the Culloden passenger list. However there was an Elizabeth Ireland who wasn't matched up to a set of initials, and I believe that this could be 'E.J'
ST. GEORGES, EAST.
Eliza K. Cornwall/bootbinder, 2 shillings a week/ engaged by McKenzie of Collingwood,at 10 pounds per year.
Matilda S. Read/ servant, mother a needlewoman/ Engaged at Club Hotel, Melbourne, wages not known. Matilda Read, who had been a servant in London before emigrating on the ‘Culloden’, was one emigrant of whose letter home to her family was published:
“We have been here now about ten months, and I have had very good situations, the last of which I left to be married.
I was married on the 5th of January last to Mr Charles Servante, brother to ‘Little Jane’, as you call her.(NOTE: Charles Copsey Servante also came out as a passenger on the Culloden in 1850) I have been very comfortable since, and am very contented. Jane has a comfortable good place, and twenty pound a year wages.” (This Jane was Jane Elizabeth Servante who was a fellow emigrant on the ‘Culloden’, and she married William Mills in Melbourne in 1852.)Matilda and Charles had a typically large family in the Kyneton district- Matilda b & d 1852 aged 5 months; Charles b 1855; Henry b 1857;Athelinda b 1858;George b 1860; Edgar b 1862;Arthur b 1864;Frederick Read b 1866 d 1867; Matilda Elizabeth b 1868;Frank Edward b 1870 d 1878.
Matilda would have been in Kyneton at the same time as the Hughan siblings Fergus, Jessie and Marion.
Margaret Thompson/ needlewoman without work/ Engaged by Mr. Larrydon of Lodden River at 12 pounds a year.
Jane Hunt/ widow.Shirtmaker, 2s6d a week/Engaged by Francis Waidley Esq of Melbourne at 15 pounds a year.
Jane White/ weekly governess, 5 shillings a week./ Engaged by Mr. Murchison, J.P., of Goulburn River,at 16 pounds a year.
Ellen S. Broughton/ stockmaker/ Engaged by J.A. Henriquies Esq at 16 pounds a year.
Caroline Dennis/ collar stitcher, 4 shillings a week/ Married at Melbourne to Mr. James Walford, an intermediate passenger by the Culloden, who is about to proceed to Hobart Town.
Jane Elizabeth Servante/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by family of Mr. Palmer, a passenger by Culloden. Wages not known.
Caroline Parsons / needlewoman/ Engaged by Mr. Angel,of Melbourne,at ten pounds a year.
Emma Madgeley/ needlewoman, 5 shillings per week/ engaged by Mr Walters of Melbourne for 9 pounds a year.
Rosanna Stone/ servant, out of place/ Engaged by Mr. McMullane of Melbourne at 12 pounds a year.
Jane Leavett/housemaid, out of place, mother a lace worker/Engaged by John Orr Esq of Melbourne at 18 pounds a year.
NOTE: The name 'Mr. Larrydon' appears twice as having employed two women...I can find no trace of this name or anything like it anywhere in the world, let alone Victoria!
In my Googling of this past five minutes I found the following disparaging comment about the poor needlewomen,in a book written by an emigrant named Ellen Clacy:
"Sydney Herbert's needlewomen" bear but a bad name; and the
worst recommendation a young girl applying for a situation can give, is
to say she came out in that manner--not because the colonists look down
on any one coming out by the assistance of others, but because it is
imagined her female associates on the voyage cannot have been such as
to improve her morality, even if she were good for anything before.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Bertha arrives in Australia, 1850.
Above: My great-great grandmother, Bertha Hughan Bishop.
Before each needle woman was accepted as a passenger on the first ship to sail, she had to obtain what was called an 'emigration outfit'-without it she was declined as an applicant. This consisted of 6 shifts; 2 flannel petticoats; 6 pairs of stockings; 2 pairs shoes; 2 gowns; 2 pair sheets; 16 towels; 10 pounds of soap; warm cloak or shawl; 1 bonnet; 1 hair comb and 1 brush." All of this had to be contained in a box not exceeding 24 inches in length and 18 inches in height.
In newspapers from London to Australia there were various detailed reports of the send-off of the first contingent of needlewomen, some of which I have mentioned already in my report of Hannah Hughan. Even the Perth Gazette ran a small story: " On Monday, the first detachment of the distressed needlewomen of the metropolis for whose benefit the Hon.Sidney Herbert, M.P, started a public subscription,embarked at Gravesend in the ship Culloden,Captain Ferguson, for Port Phillip, NSW.(Note: Victoria's separation from NSW was still to come-in 1851-, so Port Phillip was officially classified as 'NSW').They numbered 38 including Matron and sub-matrons, and were conveyed to Gravesend, from Blackwall,by the Satellite steamer.Mr and Mrs Sidney Herbert, the Hon.A. Kinnaired and Mrs. Kinnaired, Mr. Higgins, Mr Thackary( author of 'Vanity Fair') and a party of Ladies and gentlemen interested in the welfare of the emigrants, accompanied them to the ship.
Numbers appeared sorrowful and many wept at the position in which misfortune had placed them; but others looked smiling, happy and contented and all were most grateful to their generous benefactors.With tears of thankfulness they pressed the proffered hands of Mr and Mrs Herbert at parting and as the steamer left the Culloden,the crew uniting with the emigrants gave their benevolent friends three hearty cheers."
Each girl was given her own Bible and prayer book, and a collection of books was donated to make a small library for their 'amusement' during the long voyage.
Although Bertha sailed with the needlewomen and was included in the passenger list with them, she was not counted as one of the 36 needlewomen of the Female Emigrant Scheme's first shipment( nor was her mother). Her sisters Jessie and Marion were, however, and would have been involved in the activities supervised by Hannah Hughan and her two sub-matrons to occupy the needlewomen during the voyage.There were sixteen rules that Hannah, as the Matron, had to enforce.One of them was:
"You are to make it your daily endeavour to collect around you in the afternoon all the young women, and while they are employed in needlework, you should propose that some of those best qualified should read to the rest occasionally."
Educational training was, as far as possible, to be conjoined with needlework. The matron, Hannah,was required to arrange her charges into classes, for the purpose of scriptural and general reading, with instructions in writing, arithmetic and geography.In this task she would have been glad to have her two sub-matrons, both of whom were teachers, to assist her. A large amount of calico had been put on board, supplied by a large city house at cost price, with models of shirts generally used in the colonies, and whatever a needlewoman made during the voyage was to be delivered to her on landing.
After a journey of 119 days at sea, the Culloden arrived at her destination on July 5th, 1850. The Port Phillip Herald of July 6, 1850, reported "She has on board 36 females( needlewomen) and a number of agriculturalists with their families. No sickness of any description appeared on board. The vessel came into port exceedingly clean, and the passengers very healthy." In the 'Shipping Intelligence' section further on, it reports "Arrived July 5, Culloden, ship, 726 tons, H. Ferguson commander, from London, and off Plymouth 8th March". It names passengers, and ends the list with "36 females(needlewomen); Mrs Hughan, matron."
The story has passed down through the family how on the first night of their arrival, the Hannah and her girls had to sleep on the beach where they had docked until accommodation could be found, presumably the next day as they had been landed during the night to avoid trouble that was brewing between the captain and his crew.
I assume that it wasn't just the Hughans who were in this predicament, and that the needlewomen and perhaps the other passengers had to camp out under the Southern Cross as well.
They were all landed on the evening of Friday, July 5, but their engagement by local employers did not begin until the following Monday when they were able to present themselves at the Immigration Depot.
I have sourced so many newspaper reports of arrival and employment of this initial batch of Female Emigrants,from Glasgow to New Zealand, and England to Perth and Hobart, and every single one was glowing in their praise and support of the needlewoman. All except one, that is...upon reprinting a positive article that had appeared in other publications regarding the good class of the Culloden emigrants and their subsequent successful employment, the Editor of 'Reynold's Weekly News' from London made his own addition in brackets: " ( By advices received from Port Phillip, we are enabled to state that the above account is false in almost every particular; the greater proportion of the young women sent out by Mr Sidney Herbert are without situations, and several, unable to procure them, have abandoned themselves to prostitution. - Ed)"
This publication seemed to regularly take to task politicians and the Government, and keenly support the poor and the underdog, so it is my opinion that this lone voice of criticism was using his paper to undermine the Female Emigration Scheme of Sidney Herbert, of which he did not agree.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Bertha Hughan, my great-great grandmother.
Bertha Hughan was born on Saturday, January 26, 1839, at 3 Goldsmiths Row, Haggerstone, London. Her mother Hannah Hughan, formerly Oakley, registered her birth on February 28, and gave the information that Bertha's father was Robert Hughan, a grocer.
Bertha was the last of nine children, and surprisingly for that time, none were lost in infancy or childhood.Bertha was the only child to be born in London-her eldest three sisters were born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and the other five siblings at Colchester, Essex. It was her father's lack of business sense that made him leave failed ventures as a tea dealer and grocer behind him in a series of bankruptcies and head with his family to London to seek work.
The form completed by Robert to request admission for his son Allan into the Royal Caledonian School in 1844 stated that the family had been in London since 1838.
The 1841 census has Robert and Hannah Hughan living in Blacklands Street, Chelsea.Six of their eight children were living with them- Laura, 18( is written as 'Sarah'); Marion 16, Robert 12; Jessy 8; Allan 4 and Bertha 2. Eldest child Malvina, was living away from home in Bethnal Green and employed as a teacher; Fergus was living at the Royal Caledonia School as a student and Oscar was a servant for a young woman in St. Marylebone.
In September of 1844,( his death certificate says September 23, his grave stone September 22!) when Bertha was only five and a half years old,her father Robert died in their home at 96 Westbourne Street, Belgrave, of "chronic meningitis with effusions; plexus choroides granulated right with cyst."
Despite the grief involved with losing a husband and father,I can't imagine that the family income would have suffered much, as for several years the only income coming in was that made by Hannah and her daughters through taking in needlework. They remained at the same address for a time- 96 Westbourne Street- which was a very good address in a wealthy part of London.
When Bertha was eight years old, in 1847,an event took place which would change her life forever. On the evening of Friday, June 11, 1847, her 19 year old brother Robert showed a severe lapse in judgement and stole a watch, guard chain and two seals from his employer, Noah Stanford. Robert had been employed by Stanford for a month, as a servant at the latter's newly established eating house in Queen Street, Pimlico.He was tried on June 14, and sentenced to ten years transportation.
Despite their recent poverty, the Hughans considered themselves to have come from very good Scottish stock, and Robert's convict status would have devastated them.He wasn't transported immediately- for two years after his conviction he spent time at four different English prisons. Initially he was at Newbank Prison in London, then was sent to Millbank, another London prison.From there he was sent to Northampton House of Corrections, then finally in 1849 back to Millbank briefly followed by a week in Portland Prison , Dorset, from where he embarked for Queensland on June 4, 1849.
The Hughan family had been fragmented even more by the marriage in Beirut, Lebanon, of eldest daughter, Malvina Hughan,a missionary,to John Lord,and by the departure of eldest son Oscar to Canada and the U.S.
Hannah desperately wanted to immigrate to Australia with her remaining family, but financially was unable to do so. A saving grace appeared in her life in the form of Sir Sidney Herbert,a generous and charitable promoter of emigration.
The 'Fund For Promoting Female Emigration' was organized and run by Sidney Herbert and Lord Ashley, largely in response to a series of articles on London's poor that were written by Henry Mayhew and published in London newspapers in 1849. Needleworkers and dressmakers were considered to be most morally endangered by their extreme poverty, so when Herbert and Ashley set up their emigration scheme it received good support and press for almost four years while it lasted.
One of the most novel ideas of Herbert's emigration scheme was the leasing of a 'Home' in Hatton Gardens where the prospective emigrants would lodge for some weeks prior to their departure. Not only were they taught what were considered essential domestic skills for their prospective employment in Australia, but they were very keenly watched for any flaws in character. This 'weeding-out' process allowed the Scheme committee to send the very best girls and women that they could, although Sidney Herbert himself admitted that sometimes the most careful selection processes could not prevent some morally corrupted women from obtaining free passage.
Somehow Hannah Hughan and several of her daughters became involved with this scheme at its inception. The very first ship carrying needle workers for the Female Emigration Fund left England for Victoria in March of 1850, and Hannah and her girls were on board.
In 1849, two Hughans had already left for Australia, arriving within days of each other but on opposite sides of the country.
Twenty one year old Robert had sailed on the Mount Stewart Elphinstone on June 4th 1849, bound for Moreton Bay, Queensland after diverting to Ireland to pick up some political exiles.The ship arrived on October 31, 1849. His sister Laura Hughan,26, sailed on the ship 'Tasman' on June 18,1849 and arrived in Port Phillip, Victoria,on October 28, 1849.
With brother Oscar in Canada and America, and eldest sister Malvina overseas or perhaps dead( I can't pinpoint her death beyond being between 1849-50),by early 1850 11 year old Bertha was living in London with her mother and sisters Jessie, 16, and Marion, 25. I have no idea where to locate Fergus and Allan at this time. Aged 19 and 13, either or both could have been working away from home, although I believe that Allan was at the Royal Caledonian School as Fergus had been before him.
A newspaper article published in London in 1850 gave some insight as to Hannah Hughan's selection as Matron to the first shipment of girls for Sidney Herbert's scheme:
" The immediate charge of the emigrants has been entrusted to a matron strongly recommended to the committee by the British Ladies' Emigration Society. This person, the widow of a tradesman, was in very distressed circumstances,and having failed in the attempt to support herself and her daughters by needlework, was desirous of emigrating, but was totally without means to defray the expense of the passage.
The committee, therefore, assigned a passage to her daughters,and employed her services as matron, her own passage-money being provided through the intervention of some charitable persons interested in her case.She appears from her age and disposition to be most competent for the task she has undertaken. She will receive a small gratuity at the end of the voyage, in the event of her duties being properly performed."
I was so excited to discover this article- I thought I had found every newspaper reference to the Culloden and her passengers there was to be found online, but thankfully I was wrong.
And so we leave Bertha for the moment...about to embark on a voyage across the seas to her new life in the Colonies.
And the original by Lindt...
This is what I imagine to be the original photo..Lindt took several portraits of Bertha Hughan over the years.
Another Hughan stamp but only a copy.
This is one of three identical copies that I have of this photo. Two carry the Hughan stamp on the back, and the other is by Melbourne photographer Lindt. The subjects are Bertha Hughan Bishop and one of her children-I've always believed it to be her eldest daughter Olive, but as it is undated there is no absolute proof of the child's identity as yet.
Allan's stamp but Allan's photo???/
This is a photo of my great-grandmother, Olive Bishop, who was a niece of Allan Hughan through her mother Bertha Hughan and Allan being siblings.I have three copies of this photo...one has the oval Allan Hughan stamp on the reverse; one has the date 1878 written, and the other is completely lacking in any photographer's marks or handwriting at all.
There are also photos of exactly the same style taken of her elder brother Roland and younger brother Guy- I would stake my life that they were taken at the same sitting in 1878.I just don't feel confident that Allan was the photographer-would he have been able to make copies from originals sent to him? I would love to know.
Photo of Ada Josephine Edmiston, 1883
This photograph is dated February 10, 1883, and has the initials 'A.J.E' on the reverse. She is Ada Josephine Edmiston, the niece of Allan Hughan. Her mother was Marion Agnes Hughan, Allan's sister. Unlike the other later cdv's of Allan's, which are on dark yellow/cream card, this photograph is the only one of his which I have that uses a pink card.
Ada was born in 1854, and so would have been 29 years old in this photo.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Photo of Roland 2
This photo of Roland seems to be a cropped copy of the one previously discussed.It is this photo that gives the year as 1881 and Roland's age as 15 ( he was born in Ballarat in 1866)
More Allan Hughan Photographs...
This is a photo of Allan Hughan's nephew, Roland Bishop( the son of Allan's youngest sister, Bertha Hughan Bishop). It was taken in 1881, when Roland was 15 years old. I have no record of Roland or any other members of his family going to Noumea to visit Allan and his family, nor of Allan travelling to Melbourne to visit them. Still...this photograph is proof that the meeting between Uncle and nephew, or photographer and subject, definitely occurred in 1881.
Phoebe Hughan's death certificate.
The copy that I have of Phoebe Berry Hall Hughan's death certificate is a very poor one- faint and in some places unreadable. the information that I have been able to obtain from it is as follows:
On 3rd August, 1900, at Bay View House, Tempe, Phoebe Hughan, female,(can't make out age); cause of death cerebral embolism, 3 days, cardiac failure 24 hours. Last seen by medical attendant A.J. Vause,2nd August.
Parents: Unknown Hall, unknown.
Informant: Certified by A.J Vause, manager, then written underneath 'Aline Laura Hughan,daughter', and an unreadable address.
Buried: 5 August, 1900, at Rookwood Cemetery.
Born: Warwickshire, England (NOTE: Incorrect-Phoebe was born in Cambridgeshire); twelve years in NSW.
Marriage details: Unknown place of marriage and age. Husband Allan Ramsen Cunningham Hughan (NOTE: Incorrect: 'Ramsay' not 'Ramsen')
Children of marriage: Minnie 30; Aline 28, three females deceased.
There is a faint notation on the left hand side of the certificate with corrections. One seems to be adding the middle name 'Berry' to Phoebe Hughan's name. Another states her age was 71 and not 72, and that Minnie's age was 33 not 30.It then states that the informant was Aline Laura Hughan.
Thus ends the long saga of the family of Allan Ramsay Cunningham Hughan. All that is left to do now is post a few photos that are marked with Allan Hughan's stamp, but which I perhaps doubt were actually taken by Allan. And then...finally...I come to the last child of the Hughan family...number nine, my great-great grandmother, Bertha Hughan.
On 3rd August, 1900, at Bay View House, Tempe, Phoebe Hughan, female,(can't make out age); cause of death cerebral embolism, 3 days, cardiac failure 24 hours. Last seen by medical attendant A.J. Vause,2nd August.
Parents: Unknown Hall, unknown.
Informant: Certified by A.J Vause, manager, then written underneath 'Aline Laura Hughan,daughter', and an unreadable address.
Buried: 5 August, 1900, at Rookwood Cemetery.
Born: Warwickshire, England (NOTE: Incorrect-Phoebe was born in Cambridgeshire); twelve years in NSW.
Marriage details: Unknown place of marriage and age. Husband Allan Ramsen Cunningham Hughan (NOTE: Incorrect: 'Ramsay' not 'Ramsen')
Children of marriage: Minnie 30; Aline 28, three females deceased.
There is a faint notation on the left hand side of the certificate with corrections. One seems to be adding the middle name 'Berry' to Phoebe Hughan's name. Another states her age was 71 and not 72, and that Minnie's age was 33 not 30.It then states that the informant was Aline Laura Hughan.
Thus ends the long saga of the family of Allan Ramsay Cunningham Hughan. All that is left to do now is post a few photos that are marked with Allan Hughan's stamp, but which I perhaps doubt were actually taken by Allan. And then...finally...I come to the last child of the Hughan family...number nine, my great-great grandmother, Bertha Hughan.
Phoebe's stay at Bay View House.
Above is a copy of information on the first page of Phoebe Hughan's medical file from Bay View House. I would never have made it available here if it were not for the fact that no-one descended from Phoebe and Allan Hughan is alive today, thus diminishing the need for privacy re. medical records, albeit those from over 100 years ago.
It is interesting to note that the number of Phoebe's children is given as 'four' and not 'five', and that her religion was 'Church of England' when in reality she was a devout Protestant.
Notes on her admission are as follows:
" The patient is well developed of medium habit and nervous temperament, eyes clear and bright, countenance pale and anxious.
The physical examination of the vascular and respiratory systems reveals nothing unusual and the same may be said of the abdominal viscera. Pulse 78, small and firm.Tongue coated and indented. Skin warm and moist.No marks of violence.
This attack came on about three months ago when delusions of suspicion and fear developed themselves. She thought a brother-in-law with whom she was not on good terms was following her about with the intention of injuring her, when as a matter of fact the gentleman was not living in the neighbourhood.She asserted that certain destitute people were begging about the streets and were not what they represented themselves to be, but the brother-in-law in disguise.
She asserted that poison had been mixed with her food. And, while residing at P___ Hotel in Sydney she said that someone was concealed in a vault beneath the building and intended to blow the place up with gunpowder or dynamite. She actually refused to return to the hotel on this account.
She asserted that a price was set upon her head to the extent of some thirty thousand pounds by the Catholic Clergy and that paid spies were following her about from place to place and she would change her costume frequently in order to lead them astray.
Memory and understanding fair. No history of epilepsy. She has had two previous attacks, the first one occurring some twelve years ago.
History as to cause doubtful. Previous habits active and temperate. Family history reveals nothing.
No special treatment or restraint previously.
November 17: Very excitable and restless. Full of delusions of persecution.
November 24: Much the same.
December 1: The same.
December 8: The same
December 15th: Somewhat more tranquil.
January 23, 1890: About the same.
January 30th: No improvement mentally.
March 16: General health fair.No improvements mentally.
May 13: Much the same mentally. Somewhat indisposed bodily-constipation.
June 10th: General health good, no improvement mentally.
September 9: Much the same mentally.
1891:
February 18th:general health good, but very changeable in disposition. Very pugnacious, refusing food at times. Mentally not at all improved.
April 23: No mental improvement
June 7: No changes.
August 17: No changes.
October 25: No improvement.
December 22: Much the same.
1892.
July 2nd: No improvement mentally, at times violent and excited. Has been complaining of pain in her back of late and has remained in bed more than usual. Eats well, temp normal.
October 9: Much the same.
December 12: The same.
1893.
March 5: No change.
June 24: No change
September 19: the same
December 31: No change.
1894:
Feb 26: No change
March 1: Some congestion of right eye.
March 6: Eyes all right.
April 30: No improvement mentally.
July 7th: The same.
October 28th: Was very noisy last night and a patient named Emma Lewis sleeping in the same dormitory tried to make her keep quiet but she refused to do so. Two nurses were in the room and before they could interfere Lewis shook Mrs Hughan by the shoulders but not to hurt her, although Mrs Hughan was highly indignant and said Lewis had struck her. There was no sign of injury whatever. Mrs Hughan is frequently very excited and abusive. No further trouble occurred during the night.
November 12: General health good. No improvement mentally.
1895.
February 9: Much the same.
May 24: No improvement mentally, excited occasionally.
August 12: The same.
December 16: No change
1896.
March 10:Somewhat ___able.
June 18: the same.
September 24: Still very weak.
December 19: Somewhat strong physically. No improvement mentally.
1897.
January 9: About the same.
April 10: No improvement mentally.
July 19: The same.
September 5: No change
December 12: The same.
1898.
February 18: No improvement mentally.
April 19: No change
June 14: Much the same.
August 23: The same.
November 12: General health good. No improvement mentally.
1899.
February 12: General health fairly good. Fretful and irritable at times.
April 27: The same.
July 15: No change mentally, but general health not so good.
September 20: Rather weak and feeble.Mentally the same.
November 12: About the same.
1900.
January 15: Still very feeble physically and somewhat more tranquil mentally.
April 10: About the same.
July 28: No improvement mentally. Somewhat weak physically. Remains in bed as a rule until dinner time.
August 1st: Had an attack of vertigo during which she fell to the ground but without injuring herself beyond a slight bruise on left forehead. Nurse Kennedy was close by her at the time and attended to her. She was placed in bed and appeared to be doing well until next morning when symptoms of cardiac failure set in. There was difficulty in swallowing but no apparent paralysis. The patient gradually became worse. Pulmonary congestion ensued and the patient died at 5:30 a.m on 3rd August 1900 in the presence of Nurse Puddephatt. Nurse Freeman was also in attendance.
August 3rd: Died.
Cause of death: Cerebral embolism 3 days; cardiac failure 24 hours.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back to Phoebe Berry Hall's story...
When I left Phoebe to go gallivanting after her brother Tom, she was acting as the governess for the Maudsley family in Lambeth, Surrey, aged 23.By the time she was 28,her only sister Kate had died and her brother Thomas had contracted tuberculosis and sailed with his wife for warmer climes in Australia.
As I mentioned in the previous blog about Thomas Prior Hall, I believe it was his presence in Melbourne that made Phoebe decide to immigrate herself.He was ill, his wife had given birth to a daughter and lost her three weeks later, and was pregnant with twins. Phoebe would have been a Godsend in this situation, and she arrived on the ship Swiftsure just prior to her twin nieces being born.
Within two or so months of her arrival in Melbourne, Phoebe had lost her brother to tuberculosis and one of the little twins, Annie. I can't find what happened to the other twin, Catherine. She does not appear in the death index in the Victorian BDMs, nor in the St. Kilda Cemetery Index like her father and sisters Annie and Maria.I also looked for her in England, figuring that she must have gone back with her mother, but cannot find her there either.
Phoebe Hall's sister-in-law Mary Ann must not have remained in Australia for long, as in September of the year following her husband's death, she remarried in England (another doctor, Frederick Mason).
Phoebe didn't marry Allan Hughan until August of 1859, and at that stage she was living in Emerald Hill, which was the old name for South Melbourne. I have to find out how she lived between April 1857 and August 1859. Her marriage cert states that her occupation at the time of her marriage was 'Professor of Music"- presumably she made a living by giving music lessons to Melbourne's more wealthy families.
Since Richard Poulett Harris had emigrated to Hobart with his small sons and daughter Charlotte in March 1857 and didn't marry until July 1858, I wonder if his sister-in-law Phoebe was called upon to help him care for the boys.
Whatever the case, Phoebe and Allan Hughan met and, despite an age difference of eight years in favour of the former, were married on August 8, 1859, at Emerald Hill, Melbourne, according to the "forms of the Presbyterian Church Phoebe was 30 years old, but gave her age as 28, and Allan Hughan was 22.At the time of their marriage, Allan was the "superintendent of a squatting station" which was Glenloth Station at Avoca, and his wife was a "Professor of Music" living at Emerald Hill.Witnesses to the event were Allan's sister Marion A. Edmiston and Somebody (can't decipher the signature!) Dodgson. The minister was Alexander Ramsay, who presided over several Hughan religious occasions in Australia.
Beneath the marriage certificate is a notation which reads :"I, Allan Hughan, do hereby declare that I am a member of the Protestant Denomination. Married at Emerald Hill, Melbourne.
I have dealt with Phoebe's married life until her husband's death in 1883 in my chapters on Allan Hughan...the birth of their first child Ruth in 1860; the 1867 death of their second daughter Marion on exactly the same day and in the same house as Phoebe laboured to give birth to her third daughter, Minnie; Phoebe's pearling trip with her husband and daughters Ruth and Minnie along the coast of Western Australia on Allan's schooner 'Pilot'; the ship wreck of said 'Pilot' near New Caledonia in 1870, and the family's decision to establish their lives at Noumea thereafter.
Phoebe took up teaching again in Noumea, both of music and the Protestant religion, and participated in musical concerts and performances.She gave birth to two more daughters, Aline and Rose, and suffered more heartache when baby Rose died aged only four months.
I wonder what she thought as a mother when her eldest daughter Ruth married a man the same age as her father in 1881? This sort of arrangement was far more common in that time period, so Phoebe very well may not have thought twice about the event.
In 2008, I was able to obtain Phoebe's medical records from when she was admitted to an institution in Sydney, NSW, and it stated that her first attack of "nerves' had occurred in c. 1877. I have no idea what - if anything- may have prompted this episode. The only thing I can find of importance which happened that year was the return to Sydney of 11 year old Barcroft Boake, the son of a photographer friend of Allan's who had been living with the Hughans in Noumea since 1875.
Another previous attack prior to 1889 was mentioned, but no year given.
In 1883 Phoebe Hughan lost both her eldest daughter Ruth and several months later her husband Allan..after 24 years of marriage, Phoebe was left a widow at the age of 54, with two of her five daughters left to comfort her- 12 year old Aline and 16 year old Minnie.
Phoebe and her girls remained in Noumea for several years after Allan's death, with Phoebe earning her living, I presume, by continuing to give music lessons. Sydney shipping records show that in 1882 Mrs and Miss Hughan had travelled from Noumea to Sydney on the ship 'City of Melbourne'( in different months-Phoebe in April and one of her daughters in May), and also on November 14, 1889, per the 'Birksgate'. This date is very significant, because on November 16, 1889, Phoebe Hughan was admitted to Bay View House at Tempe, Sydney, which was a private mental institution.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thomas Prior Hall-brother-in-law of Allan Hughan
Despite Thomas Prior Hall being in no way related to me, and his featuring in this story being due to the tenuous link of him being the brother of Allan Hughan's wife Phoebe, I found his tale a very interesting one to research, and so will include it here.
I believe that Thomas contracting tuberculosis whilst in his early thirties could have been the catalyst that prompted Phoebe's emigration to Melbourne.Thomas was a surgeon in Melbourne, married with babies appearing at close intervals, and his failing health could very well have been the reason for Phoebe deciding to leave England and set sail for Melbourne herself.
But..to start at the beginning. Thomas Prior Hall was born in 1823 at Cambridge, to brewer father William Hall and his wife Charlotte Prior.In the 1841 census, at the age of 17, Thomas Prior Hall was noted as living in the home of Doctor Isaac Newton in High Street, Knaresborough, Yorkshire, as his apprentice.
The following census in 1851 had Thomas at East Burgholt in Suffolk with the Bruce family, and stated that he was a graduate of London University.The London Times newspaper of November 1, 1853,stated the following:
"Royal College of Surgeons: The following gentlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations for the diploma, were admitted members of the college at the meeting of the Court of Examiners on the 28th ult:-....Mr Thomas Prior Hall..."
The following month, Thomas married the widow of another surgeon. The Times reported the event thus: " Marriages: On the 26th inst., at St. Pancras Church, by the Rev. C. Hart, assisted by the Rev. R.D. Harris, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, T.P. Hall Esq, to Mary Anne, widow of the late Francis Drake Esq, of East Bergholt, Suffolk."
Mary Ann was the daughter of James Hardy Nunn and Mary Ann Bridge (married 1815, Toppesfield, Essex)James was the owner of 800 acres of land in Essex, around Great Yeldham, and in the census returns of 1851 and 1861 stated that he employed around 50 labourers.Other siblings of Mary Ann included Anna, Thomas, Maria, Eliza and William Francis.Maria married the Reverend Benjamin Puckle in 1850, and her eldest brother Thomas Partridge Nunn studied at Oxford and became a Reverend, marrying Julia Emma Claxton in 1846. It was Thomas Partridge Nunn who officiated at the marriage of his youngest sister, Eliza Nunn, when she married George Edward Tompson Esq, of Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk,a solicitor, in 1847.
Mary Ann Nunn's first marriage was to Francis William Drake, the son of well-known doctor and author Nathan Drake and his wife, Ursula Rose, from Hadleigh in Suffolk. Mary Ann and Francis were married in 1843, and their son, Francis Nathan Drake, was born the following year. He was born on May 26, 1844, at East Bergholt, Suffolk, and from that moment becomes a bit of a mystery.
I cannot find him in the census return of 1851...by then his father had died, and his widowed mother was living back at home in Toppesfield, Essex, with her parents.She was 31 years old, and her son Francis would have been almost seven.
When Mary Ann's mother-in-law Ursula Drake died in December of 1851,aged 77, she made mention of her grandson Francis in her will:-"My grandson Francis Nathan Drake, son of my late son Francis William Drake dec." She gives direction for "the mother of the said Francis Nathan Drake" to be given money to go towards his 'maintenance and education', without mentioning Mary Ann by name.Francis Nathan Drake pops up in the 1861 census, staying with his aunt and uncle Harris( his mother's sister, Anna, married solicitor George William Harris of Hampstead).Francis was employed by his Uncle George's firm, 'Messrs Harris and Morton" as an articled clerk, and in 1867 the London Times reported that he had passed his final examinations at the Incorporated Law Society and received a prize. The 1871 census showed Francis as a visitor at the Harris home in Colchester Rd, Halstead, unmarried and aged 26. The last trace I have found of Francis Nathan Drake is his death in the March 1/4 of 1876, at Bath, Somerset.Incidentally, his maternal grandfather, James Hardy Nunn also died in Bath in 1863, as did his mother and her second husband in 1888.The latter was born in Bath, and after their marriage he practised as a surgeon in Walcot.
Mary Ann Drake married her second husband, Thomas Prior Hall on December 26, 1853, at Old Church, St. Pancras, London.The notice in The Times of Thursday December 29, 1853, read:
"Marriages: On the 26th inst. at St. Pancras Old Church, by the Rev. C. Hart, assisted by the Rev. R.D Harris, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, T.P Hall, Esq, to Mary Anne, widow of the late Francis Drake Esq, of East Burgholt, Suffolk."
The previous month there had been a notice in The Times to the effect that the Royal College of Surgeons had, following him undergoing the necessary examinations for the diploma, admitted Thomas Prior Hall as a member of said College.(November 1, 1853, 'Times')
I imagine that Thomas Hall had met Mary Ann Drake while he was at East Bergholt (remembering that he was living there in the 1851 census, and that Mary Ann and her first husband had lived there after their marriage).
According to the death certificate of Thomas Hall, he had been in Australia for only 15 months before he succumbed to t.b, and had been diagnosed with the disease two years previously. He died in April 1857, so the diagnosis of tuberculosis would have been made in about 1855, and his arrival in Melbourne c. January 1856. There was an entry for one family in the shipping records which got me excited... Thomas and Mary Ann Hall coming into Victoria per the ship 'Medway' in January 1855.The entry is for Thomas, 36; Mary Ann 34 and Charlotte 1. There is no mention of a Charlotte in Thomas's Australian family, although it would have made sense if a daughter born back in England was named 'Charlotte' after Thomas's mother. The ages are about right, but the ship arrived 12 months before Phoebe Hall, who was the informant on the death certificate, stated that they arrived.
Thomas and Mary Ann Hall had three daughters- Maria Louise Hall, born in Windsor, Prahran, on February 21, 1856, and twins Annie Louise and Catherine Maria on March 13, 1857, at St. Kilda. Unfortunately, baby Maria died aged only three weeks, of exhaustion and dysentery, on March 21, 1856.
Thomas's sister, Phoebe Berry Hall, arrived in Melbourne on the ship 'Swiftsure' in March 1857, and within weeks was faced with a tragic situation. On April 30, 1857, her brother, Thomas Prior Hall,finally fell victim to pulmonary phthisis at the age of 34, after fighting it for two years.He was buried in the St. Kilda Cemetery.
Living with the family in St.Kilda, Phoebe would have been able to help her sister-in-law cope with the shock of losing her husband, and with the other sadness which was to come.Four days after Thomas Hall passed away, the elder of his twin daughters, Annie Louise,gave up her tenuous grip on life and died, aged 21 days. the cause of her death was 'general debility since birth', and she was also buried in the St.Kilda Cemetery.Phoebe Hall acted as informant on the birth certificates of the twins, as well as registering the deaths of both her brother and niece.
I have been trying to discover what happened to Thomas Prior Hall's wife, Marianne/ Mary Ann Nunn, who had been the widow of surgeon Francis William Drake at the time of her marriage to Thomas Hall in 1853. I couldn't find her or surviving twin daughter Catherine Maria in shipping records as having returned to England after Thomas's death, but finally found a reference in a "Gentleman's Magazine" of 1858 which had the entry: " September 16: At St. James, Piccadilly, London, Frederick Mason, Esq, of Bath, to Mary Anne, widow of T.P Hill Esq and daughter of James Hardy Nunn Esq. of Great Yeldham, Essex." I know that Mary Anne was the daughter of James Hardy Nunn of Essex, so I presume that "T.P Hill" is a misprint of "T.P. HALL". Like her other two husbands, Frederick was a doctor. There is an entry in the Vic shipping records for a Mrs and Miss Hall leaving Melbourne for Liverpool in May of 1857 on board the ship 'Great Britain', but nothing else even comes close to being Mary Anne and her baby.
I believe that Thomas contracting tuberculosis whilst in his early thirties could have been the catalyst that prompted Phoebe's emigration to Melbourne.Thomas was a surgeon in Melbourne, married with babies appearing at close intervals, and his failing health could very well have been the reason for Phoebe deciding to leave England and set sail for Melbourne herself.
But..to start at the beginning. Thomas Prior Hall was born in 1823 at Cambridge, to brewer father William Hall and his wife Charlotte Prior.In the 1841 census, at the age of 17, Thomas Prior Hall was noted as living in the home of Doctor Isaac Newton in High Street, Knaresborough, Yorkshire, as his apprentice.
The following census in 1851 had Thomas at East Burgholt in Suffolk with the Bruce family, and stated that he was a graduate of London University.The London Times newspaper of November 1, 1853,stated the following:
"Royal College of Surgeons: The following gentlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations for the diploma, were admitted members of the college at the meeting of the Court of Examiners on the 28th ult:-....Mr Thomas Prior Hall..."
The following month, Thomas married the widow of another surgeon. The Times reported the event thus: " Marriages: On the 26th inst., at St. Pancras Church, by the Rev. C. Hart, assisted by the Rev. R.D. Harris, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, T.P. Hall Esq, to Mary Anne, widow of the late Francis Drake Esq, of East Bergholt, Suffolk."
Mary Ann was the daughter of James Hardy Nunn and Mary Ann Bridge (married 1815, Toppesfield, Essex)James was the owner of 800 acres of land in Essex, around Great Yeldham, and in the census returns of 1851 and 1861 stated that he employed around 50 labourers.Other siblings of Mary Ann included Anna, Thomas, Maria, Eliza and William Francis.Maria married the Reverend Benjamin Puckle in 1850, and her eldest brother Thomas Partridge Nunn studied at Oxford and became a Reverend, marrying Julia Emma Claxton in 1846. It was Thomas Partridge Nunn who officiated at the marriage of his youngest sister, Eliza Nunn, when she married George Edward Tompson Esq, of Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk,a solicitor, in 1847.
Mary Ann Nunn's first marriage was to Francis William Drake, the son of well-known doctor and author Nathan Drake and his wife, Ursula Rose, from Hadleigh in Suffolk. Mary Ann and Francis were married in 1843, and their son, Francis Nathan Drake, was born the following year. He was born on May 26, 1844, at East Bergholt, Suffolk, and from that moment becomes a bit of a mystery.
I cannot find him in the census return of 1851...by then his father had died, and his widowed mother was living back at home in Toppesfield, Essex, with her parents.She was 31 years old, and her son Francis would have been almost seven.
When Mary Ann's mother-in-law Ursula Drake died in December of 1851,aged 77, she made mention of her grandson Francis in her will:-"My grandson Francis Nathan Drake, son of my late son Francis William Drake dec." She gives direction for "the mother of the said Francis Nathan Drake" to be given money to go towards his 'maintenance and education', without mentioning Mary Ann by name.Francis Nathan Drake pops up in the 1861 census, staying with his aunt and uncle Harris( his mother's sister, Anna, married solicitor George William Harris of Hampstead).Francis was employed by his Uncle George's firm, 'Messrs Harris and Morton" as an articled clerk, and in 1867 the London Times reported that he had passed his final examinations at the Incorporated Law Society and received a prize. The 1871 census showed Francis as a visitor at the Harris home in Colchester Rd, Halstead, unmarried and aged 26. The last trace I have found of Francis Nathan Drake is his death in the March 1/4 of 1876, at Bath, Somerset.Incidentally, his maternal grandfather, James Hardy Nunn also died in Bath in 1863, as did his mother and her second husband in 1888.The latter was born in Bath, and after their marriage he practised as a surgeon in Walcot.
Mary Ann Drake married her second husband, Thomas Prior Hall on December 26, 1853, at Old Church, St. Pancras, London.The notice in The Times of Thursday December 29, 1853, read:
"Marriages: On the 26th inst. at St. Pancras Old Church, by the Rev. C. Hart, assisted by the Rev. R.D Harris, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, T.P Hall, Esq, to Mary Anne, widow of the late Francis Drake Esq, of East Burgholt, Suffolk."
The previous month there had been a notice in The Times to the effect that the Royal College of Surgeons had, following him undergoing the necessary examinations for the diploma, admitted Thomas Prior Hall as a member of said College.(November 1, 1853, 'Times')
I imagine that Thomas Hall had met Mary Ann Drake while he was at East Bergholt (remembering that he was living there in the 1851 census, and that Mary Ann and her first husband had lived there after their marriage).
According to the death certificate of Thomas Hall, he had been in Australia for only 15 months before he succumbed to t.b, and had been diagnosed with the disease two years previously. He died in April 1857, so the diagnosis of tuberculosis would have been made in about 1855, and his arrival in Melbourne c. January 1856. There was an entry for one family in the shipping records which got me excited... Thomas and Mary Ann Hall coming into Victoria per the ship 'Medway' in January 1855.The entry is for Thomas, 36; Mary Ann 34 and Charlotte 1. There is no mention of a Charlotte in Thomas's Australian family, although it would have made sense if a daughter born back in England was named 'Charlotte' after Thomas's mother. The ages are about right, but the ship arrived 12 months before Phoebe Hall, who was the informant on the death certificate, stated that they arrived.
Thomas and Mary Ann Hall had three daughters- Maria Louise Hall, born in Windsor, Prahran, on February 21, 1856, and twins Annie Louise and Catherine Maria on March 13, 1857, at St. Kilda. Unfortunately, baby Maria died aged only three weeks, of exhaustion and dysentery, on March 21, 1856.
Thomas's sister, Phoebe Berry Hall, arrived in Melbourne on the ship 'Swiftsure' in March 1857, and within weeks was faced with a tragic situation. On April 30, 1857, her brother, Thomas Prior Hall,finally fell victim to pulmonary phthisis at the age of 34, after fighting it for two years.He was buried in the St. Kilda Cemetery.
Living with the family in St.Kilda, Phoebe would have been able to help her sister-in-law cope with the shock of losing her husband, and with the other sadness which was to come.Four days after Thomas Hall passed away, the elder of his twin daughters, Annie Louise,gave up her tenuous grip on life and died, aged 21 days. the cause of her death was 'general debility since birth', and she was also buried in the St.Kilda Cemetery.Phoebe Hall acted as informant on the birth certificates of the twins, as well as registering the deaths of both her brother and niece.
I have been trying to discover what happened to Thomas Prior Hall's wife, Marianne/ Mary Ann Nunn, who had been the widow of surgeon Francis William Drake at the time of her marriage to Thomas Hall in 1853. I couldn't find her or surviving twin daughter Catherine Maria in shipping records as having returned to England after Thomas's death, but finally found a reference in a "Gentleman's Magazine" of 1858 which had the entry: " September 16: At St. James, Piccadilly, London, Frederick Mason, Esq, of Bath, to Mary Anne, widow of T.P Hill Esq and daughter of James Hardy Nunn Esq. of Great Yeldham, Essex." I know that Mary Anne was the daughter of James Hardy Nunn of Essex, so I presume that "T.P Hill" is a misprint of "T.P. HALL". Like her other two husbands, Frederick was a doctor. There is an entry in the Vic shipping records for a Mrs and Miss Hall leaving Melbourne for Liverpool in May of 1857 on board the ship 'Great Britain', but nothing else even comes close to being Mary Anne and her baby.
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