Bertha's final years

As the last decade of the 19th century dawned, Bertha Hughan Bishop was about to turn 51 years old. The portrait photo above is the last known photo of Bertha, and was most likely taken in the 1890s.The colour of her hair suggests early to mid 1890s rather than late as I have a lock of Bertha's hair from around the time of her death in 1898, and it is very silvery-grey in colour.

After many years of renting houses, the Bishops finally purchased their own family home in the suburb of Oakleigh.They named it 'Fairmount', and it was situated in Stamford Road. Stamford was Henry Bishop's birthplace, and I don't known if it was a coincidence that the Bishops found themselves living there, or if Henry, in his capacity as Town Clerk of Oakleigh in the 1890s, used his influence to have his street named after his native city.
'Fairmount' is pictured above. There are three women standing on the verandah, but it is difficult to pick out who they are. One is an older woman dressed in black and wearing an old-fashioned hat, but it doesn't appear to be Bertha.Next to her is a tall and willowy woman who looks like Olive, but could be her sister Daphne who was of similar appearance.
In 1894, the first of the Bishop children got married. It was Bertha's elder son, Roland, and he married Maria Celia Hughes from Tasmania.Roland was 27 years old (although his marriage certificate says 26), and his wife Maria was not 30 as she stated on the marriage certificate, but 37! I don't know if Roland knew of this deception...it certainly may have explained why the couple had no children.
I can't imagine that Henry Bishop was happy with his son's choice of bride...I think his line of thinking tended to go along with that of his Uncle Joseph Bishop's, and considering that Maria's father was Stephen Hughes, an Irish convict who had been sent to Tasmania for theft, I have a feeling that he wouldn't have been very appreciative of convict blood mixing with Bishop blood!
Bertha was a very maternal woman, and I wish that she could have welcomed grandchildren before her death. This wasn't to be, however...although Roland married in 1894, he and Maria had no children, and none of her daughters married before Bertha's death.
In about 1896, Bertha fell ill. Her symptoms were most likely abdominal-related, as her eventual cause of death was given as 'carcinoma of the omentum and exhaustion, 2 years duration.' (This can also be related to ovarian cancer).
Bertha's daughters would have cared for her throughout her illness,particularly Myrtle as she was a nurse, and Daphne who later became a registered nurse.Myrtle, however, was embroiled in her own drama during 1898...as well as coping with her mother's terminal illness, Myrtle did the unthinkable (as far as her father was concerned)and became pregnant without the supposed prerequisite of a husband.
It is very doubtful whether Bertha knew of the 'trouble' Myrtle had got herself into, as she died in late January 1898 when Myrtle would have only just conceived, or been only a week or two pregnant. Straight-laced old Henry would have been horrified, but I'm sure Bertha would have been a calming influence on the situation, had she been around to calm the waters.
Unfortunately, she wasn't. On January 25, 1898, at her home 'Fairmount' in Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Bertha Hughan slipped away, just one day before her 59th birthday.She was the fifth of the nine Hughan children to die...Malvina, Jessie, Allan and Fergus all predeceased her.
Surprisingly, Bertha's doctor, Dr. R.H Morrison, had not attended her since January 11, some two weeks prior to her death. I wonder if this suggests that her death was sudden, or if at that late stage of her disease there was simply nothing medically that her doctor could do.
Sadly, on the day that her family should have been celebrating Bertha's 59th birthday, they were burying her in the Melbourne Cemetery.(Except for the fact, of course, that for some unknown reason,Bertha had always celebrated her birthday on the 1st of January !)
Bertha was laid to rest in the elaborate Bishop grave with Mary Ann Bishop, the first wife of old Uncle Joseph Bishop who had died in 1858. The grave is located in the Melbourne General Cemetery, C of E section. In later years Bertha's son Guy would also be buried in this grave.
At the time of their mother's death, the Bishop children were aged as follows:
Roland 31; Olive Jessie 29; Guy Arnold 27; Violet Bertha Malvina 24; Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine 20 and Daphne Lorna Josephine 19.
Although the recognised family poet, Fergus McIvor Hughan, had died in 1887, eldest brother Oscar stepped up to the plate and wrote the following verse for his much-loved sister:
" BERTHA
Gone to thy rest at last, meek patient soul
The dearest flower that blossomed for a space
Within the now dead garden of my heart
Hath shut its petals 'gainst the gracious dew
Which rose like an incense from our steadfast love.
The joyous laugh, pure as the blackbird's song
Whose mate is building in the apple boughs
Is hushed for evermore, for evermore.
The light of thy dear eyes in darkness hid
And I alone, on life's bleak starless waste
Stumble and fall, robbed of thy guiding hand.

Like drowning swimmer by mad billows tossed,
A bleeding sacrifice, to expectant rocks
To which I cling, with feeble loosening hold.
Waiting amid the strife, thy whispered "Come".
Yet not of all sweet comfort am I reft,
For oftentimes, when in the glowing west
The day in purple cerements lies in state,
Waiting the closing of night's sepulchre,
An unseen presence, as of echoed prayer
Shuddering adown some dim Cathedral isle,
Fills up all space, embracing soul and sense.

And swift as passage of electrical flame
The bruising burden of the tired heart
Is lifted up, and the blue-eyed gentle Peace
Singing Hope's Anthem, fills the vacant place,
And then I know that thou art with me still.
And what men name as "Death" when loved ones fade,
Is but the waking up from troublous dream,
The putting off the soiled, unseemly rags,
That flutter round Earth's sorrow laden guest
For robes of richer wool, within whose folds
The soul lies down, a journey near God.

Oscar Hughan.
Balmain, February 14, 1898."

The Bishop's local newspaper, The Oakleigh and Fertree Gully Times, published a brief obituary for Bertha on Saturday, January 29, 1898:

" Again it is our regretful duty to chronicle the death of an Oakleigh resident in the person of Mrs Henry Bishop, of "Fairmount", Stamford-road. The deceased lady had been ill for between nine and ten months, suffering from a complication of ailments, which her naturally hopeful disposition enabled her to combat until the last ten days, when she gradually succumbed and died of exhaustion on Wednesday last.
Her remains were interred in the family grave at Melbourne General Cemetery on Thursday, the funeral, in compliance with the wishes of the deceased, being conducted privately.The funeral arrangements were carried out by G.D Sansion and gave every satisfaction.
The deceased lady, although not officially connected with any local body, was well-known and esteemed by many of the residents for her kind and thoughtful disposition and perfect ladylike manners. Her sympathies extended beyond their central object, the home, and were unostentatiously shown in many acts of private benevolence.
She leaves, in addition to her husband, a family of four daughters and two sons to mourn their loss. Doctors Morrison and Grant were most attentive during Mrs. Bishop's illness."

The same issue carried the following death notice:
" Death.
BISHOP- On the 25th January, at her late residence "Fairmount', Stamford-road, Oakleigh, Bertha, the dearly beloved wife of Henry Bishop, youngest daughter of the late Robert Alexander Hughan, Esq, of Creetown, Kirkcudbright, Scotland, and London, England, and Hannah Oakley Hughan, "The Chase", Colchester, England."

One of Bertha's grandchildren, Gordon Oakley, who was born ten years after she died, wrote the following description of his grandmother:
" Bertha was a clever woman- she had an appreciation of nice things and a judge of values. She had a very good sense of humour and was a wonderful optimist- Henry was often pessimistic."