Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The 1880s.

The decade encompassing 1880 to 1890 is one in which very little is known about the Bishop family.That Bertha had no more additions to her family of six is certain, as is the fact that they continued to reside in Melbourne. Henry continued to represent other ironmongers and hardware merchants as a representative salesman, but he also started to run his own importing business under the name 'Henry Bishop & Co.'His business address was " 79 Bourke Street East ( next to Theatre Royal)"
The education of their children was of paramount importance to both Bertha and Henry. Eldest daughter Olive was educated at Fitzroys Ladies College, where on December 19, 1887( her birthday) she won the History Prize.There is a record from December 1884 stating that Guy Bishop came 12th in a class of 23 in the "Lower School, Upper First" examinations of Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne.It is not known whether Roland also attended the school, although I imagine that he would have. I have a Grammar School straw boater and different hatbands which belonged to one of the two brothers during their school days.
When Roland finished school he went into business with his father, managing the Hobart branch of Henry Bishop & Co. The other children would have all been at school during the 1880s, although niece Ivy McCallum, who was like an older sister to the Bishop children, married from their home in South Yarra 1885.
The address given on Ivy's marriage certificate as her usual address was Punt Hill, South Yarra. A letter written to Bertha in June of 1893 was addressed to "Mona Place, Punt Road, South Yarra", so the Bishops were living at South Yarra for at least eight years, probably more.Mona Place is still in existence, off Punt Road,in South Yarra, but the area has been redeveloped.
Ivy McCallum after her marriage to Henry Robley settled in neighbouring suburb Toorak and their family was raised in the family home 'Tremaine', Toorak.
Living in South Yarra made it easy for the Bishop boys to attend Melbourne Grammar School, as the school had been situated there since 1858.
Bertha's brother Fergus McIvor Hughan and his family lived not too far away in Hotham, but Fergus died in 1887 of pneumonia, aged 53.Of her other brothers, Allan had died in Noumea in 1883, and brothers Oscar and Robert were interstate in NSW and Queensland respectively.
Roland was the first of Bertha's children to leave home when he went to Hobart to manage his father's Tasmania branch, but Guy and her four daughters remained at home for the duration of the 1880s.

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