New Addition- the will of Allan Hughan, 1883.

Letter from Daphne Bishop to Norma Robley

Photo of Daph as a young woman

Above: Daphne Bishop as a young woman prior to her leaving for England.

The final child- Daphne Lorna Josephine Bishop.

Daphne Lorna Josephine Bishop, known all of her life simply as "Daph", was born on August 8, 1878, at Inkerman Street, St. Kilda.Her parents were noted as being 38 year old accountant Henry Bishop, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, and Bertha Hughan of London. Of course, Bertha's age was given as 38 when in reality she was 40.
Daph was the baby of the Bishop family- her brothers Roland and Guy were aged 11 and 7 at the time of her birth, and her three elder sisters Olive, Vi and Myrtle were 9, 3 and 1.
Daphne grew up in South Yarra and Oakleigh and was educated at Springfield Lodge, a Ladies' College in Murphy Street, South Yarra.One of her report cards from 1887, when she was almost nine years old, is in the following blog.
Daphne was twenty years old when her mother Bertha died in 1898. As the youngest daughter, she kept house for her father when her sisters Vi and Olive were married and left home.It must have been liberating for her when her father Henry relocated to Mulwala, NSW, to live with Olive and her husband Harry Oakley in c. 1906-7.
Daphne found herself free to pursue her career as a nurse, and she began her training at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, eventually graduating as a nurse and midwife.
The electoral roll for 1909 states "Daphne Lorna J. Bishop, 53 Powlett Street, East Melbourne, nurse."
The roll of 1914 has Daphne at Alfred Hospital, Prahran, home duties.

During the early stages of World War 1, Daphne delivered an infant for a wealthy woman named Mrs. Williams, and after the birth of the child she was engaged by the Williams family to travel with them to England in the capacity of a specialist nurse for the baby.
This information, as given by my grandfather Norman Oakley before his death in 2000, is supported by shipping records found at findmypast.com and Ancestry.com.au. In the database "U.K Incoming passenger lists 1878-1960", I found Miss Daphne L. Bishop arriving in Plymouth on April 25, 1915, per the ship 'Orsova'.Also on the same ship were Mr and Mrs Gerard Williams and male infant.
Findmypast.com showed records for Gerard Williams and his wife leaving London on January 16, 1914, sailing first class to Sydney.Further investigation reveals a possible name for Mrs Gerard Williams...on June 1, 1910, at Westminster,England, Annie Blake, daughter of William John Blake, married Gerard Williams, son of William White Williams.
When the fighting intensified, Daphne surrendered her position with the Williams family and worked in the casualty ward at the Woolwich Arsenal until after the War ended in 1918.
She loved England and remained there for some years after the War, taking up private nursing. As a member of a Nurses' Agency, Daph was employed by a number of England's top society families.
In 1931 Daphne returned to her homeland. She lived for a time in Mulwala with her sister Olive and the Oakley family, and also in Melbourne for a period before finally settling down in Sydney.
The 1936 electoral roll finds Daph living with her sisters Violet and Myrtle at 31 Dalton Street, Mossman, and her occupation is 'nurse'.
Daph was a kind and compassionate woman, and a dedicated nurse. Her nephew, Gordon Oakley, wrote:
" Daphne nursed Mother, Violet and Myrtle in their final illnesses, and earned the grateful thanks of all descendants".
Her eldest brother Roland Bishop thus described her in a letter:
" She is such a dear, lovable old thing, and rather worries about my condition."

Daphne Lorna Josephine Bishop never married, and died in Sydney on May 5, 1969, at the age of 91 years.
In a following blog is an undated letter written by Daphne to her cousin Norma Robley in which she discusses being diagnosed with breast cancer and the surgeon's decision to remover her breast. Because the letter is undated, we do not know if the operation was successful, or if it was in fact breast cancer that finally claimed a wonderful woman's long and very worthwhile life.

The Fifth Bishop Child- Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine Bishop

Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine Bishop was born on May 5, 1877, at the historical address of "The Hermitage", Jolimont (part of the residence years previously of Governor LaTrobe). Bertha was 38 when she gave birth to Myrtle, and her husband Henry was 36.Their other children were aged ten(Roland),eight (Olive); six (Guy) and three (Violet)
Not much is known by this researcher about Myrtle. Her younger sister Daphne attended the Ladies College at Springfield Lodge, Murphy Street, South Yarra, so it is likely that Myrtle also was schooled there as there was only 15 months difference in their ages.
Myrtle had an illegitimate son named Lindsay Grant, and she also took the name 'Grant' herself to try to avoid the scandal associated with unmarried mothers back then. I have no idea of the significance of the name 'Grant', and whether it was associated in any way with the name of Lindsay's father.
When researching Lindsay's birth, I was amazed to discover that he was not in fact the first child born to Myrtle, and that she had had another son in 1898 when she was 21 years old.
Eric Bishop was born on September 21, 1898, at 47 Molesworth Street, Hotham. There are no details given in relation to his father, and his mother was stated as being Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine Bishop, nurse, 21, born Jolimont.No doctor attended the delivery, and the two women who attended Myrtle were Mrs Bentley and Mrs Walker. Myrtle's sister Violet, who was 24, registered the baby's birth the following day.
There had never been any mention of this child in family records that I had been given, and I soon discovered why... the poor little fellow had died aged only three months, on December 29, 1898.
His cause of death was given as "Inflammation of the stomach and small intestines, verdict at inquest held on 30th December 1898". Eric Bishop was buried on January 2, 1899, at the Melbourne Cemetery. His grandmother Bertha Hughan Bishop had been buried in Melbourne Cemetery just under twelve months before in the Bishop family grave purchased by Joseph Bishop in his days of wealth, but it is certain that poor little Eric would not have been afforded the privilege of being laid to rest here. His was an unmarked grave, and although it may sound callous I am sure that his grandfather Henry Bishop would have viewed his illegitimate grandson's demise as the end of an unfortunate and scandalous series of events.
Henry Bishop wrote his will in October of 1899, and Myrtle was completely omitted...her name was not even mentioned. She was obviously being punished for the unforgivable sin of having a child out of wedlock in the most blatant way Henry knew how...in part his will read:
" I give the sum of one hundred pounds to each of my children hereinafter named viz Roland Oakleigh Bishop, Olive Jessie Bishop, Guy Arnold Bishop, Violet Bertha Malvina Bishop and Daphne Lorna Josephine Bishop." It was as though Myrtle didn't even exist.
Henry also detailed the distribution of various pieces of family silver and mementos, again ignoring Myrtle. He must have had a change of heart by 1902, though, as a document handwritten by Henry and dated April 15, 1902, reads "the foregoing list of Silver is as originally intended to be divided and distributed notwithstanding that it is otherwise expressed in my will. It is my wish that it shall be divided as per this list. Henry Bishop."
The list showed that her father had bequeathed Myrtle one gravy spoon marked 'B', one sauce ladle marked 'B', 2 tablespoons not engraved, 6 tea spoons engraved 'B', one dessert spoon engraved 'JSB', one caddy spoon engraved 'B', and a Bendigo medal, March 22, 1882, of Davis Machine.

I feel so sorry for Myrtle. She must have been terrified of what her father would say when her pregnancy became obvious. Her mother had died in January of 1898, probably just prior to Myrtle having suspicions that she may have been pregnant.
As Myrtle did not give birth to Eric at the family home of 'Fairmount', I assume she had been forced to leave by Henry- he was certainly a man who would not have tolerated even the slightest hint of scandal associated with his family.Myrtle's sister Violet registered the baby's birth, so we can assume that Myrtle had the support of at least one of her sisters.
Investigating the events around Eric's death lead me into a subject of research that I had been totally unaware of...the practice of "boarding out babies". This was the process by which mothers who could not look after their own baby, whether it be through being unmarried like Myrtle, or deserted by a husband, or just having to work for a living and not having anyone to look after a newborn child,left their child full time with a woman who was paid for the child's care and lodging.
There must have been respectable woman who did a fine job of looking after other women's children, but unfortunately the opposite was true in so many instances that an inquiry was launched and a registry of supposedly qualified women set up to monitor the boarding out of these babies.
Not all 'nurses' were of good character. Some sold children in their care. Others disappeared with deposit money, simply abandoning babies. Some watered down milk fed to babies, causing malnutrition and some like the infamous Frances Knorr who was an unregistered nurse, strangled babies, buried them and moved on to other premises.Because it was the law to register illegitimate babies within 3 days of their birth, women with unregistered babies were not inclined to go to the police if their baby disappeared.
Desperate mothers were known to abandon their children after boarding them out and infanticide increased during the depression of the 1890's. Not all mothers using the boarding out system were from working class families. Well to do unmarried mothers 'went away' for a while to the country and after the birth of their baby they 'returned', the child being boarded out...out of sight, out of mind. In cases like Myrtle's, the death of the baby in care was probably viewed with a sigh of relief that the 'problem' had disappeared and life could resume as usual without the threat of the discovery of an illegitimate child hanging over the family.
While researching boarded out babies in the 1890s in the Melbourne newspapers of the time, I was amazed at the number of inquests held on babies who had died whilst under the full time care of women who were not their mothers. Baby Eric Bishop's inquest report was very short:
"Mr Buzulich, J.P., held an inquest at the morgue this morning on the body of a boarded out infant, which died at North Melbourne on the 29th.Dr. Renate, who made a post mortem examination of the body, stated that the cause of death was inflammation of the stomach and intestines.A verdict to that effect was returned."
-Port Phillip Herald,Saturday, December 31, 1898.

Other reports, however, received huge coverage, with headlines like "The Barmaid's Baby. It was Boarded Out. And untimely Died. Coronial Inquiry.Death from Exhaustion"; and "Boarded Out-The child was Doomed".
Unmarried mothers were often desperate so they answered the adverts placed in newspapers by seemingly reputable people. Getting rid of a child in this way had obvious advantages to the mother - it was simple, quick and legal with few questions asked. The mothers had no real alternatives. Abortion was illegal and the back street abortions that were carried out were a very high risk alternative, sometimes resulting in severe hemorrhaging or even the death of the women or prosecution and imprisonment if she was found out. Abandonment of a child or children was similarly illegal and little sympathy was extended by the courts to women who abandoned their children.
The inquests I read revealed that the main cause of death of boarded out babies in the Melbourne area
tended to be dietary related...they were simply not fed appropriately and died of either malnutrition or, like Eric Bishop, inflammation of the digestive system from being given milk not suitable for an infant. Causes of death ranged from "Exhaustion due to imperfect nutrition" to "inflammation caused by unsuitable food" .As well as babies being fed raw cow's milk, they were also given "meat juice" and concoctions of brandy and barley water when they responded unfavourably to the milk or meat juice...it is a wonder that there weren't even more infant deaths amongst these boarded out babies!

Like her siblings Roland, Violet and Daphne, Myrtle ended up living in Sydney. Her son Lindsay was born c. 1910, place unknown, when Myrtle was aged about 32.
Myrtle Grant was found in the NSW electoral rolls of 1930 and 1936. In the former she was listed as "Myrtle Grant,Hotel Manly, housekeeper", and in the second "Myrtle Grant,31 dalton Road, home duties." This last address rang a bell with me, and sure enough it was the same address as the 1936 electoral roll entry for Violet Bishop Ramsden- the two sisters were living together.
It appears that Lindsay was actually named 'Walter Lindsay', but was always known as 'Lindsay'.

Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine Bishop Grant died in 1942 and her death was registered in the Marrackville District. Her only child Lindsay Grant died in 1975, and his death was registered in the Mossman district of Sydney.

The Ramsden's Castlecrag Home, c. 1927.

This photo was taken in c. 1927, at the home of Violet and Harold Ramsden in Castlecrag. Cropped in the top photo are the Bishop siblings:- Roland, Olive ,Violet and Myrtle.
Bottom: L to R: Lindsay Grant, son of Myrtle Bishop; Roland Bishop; Olive Bishop Oakley; Violet Bishop Ramsden; Myrtle Bishop Grant; Ivy McCallum Robley and a man whom I thought was Harold Ramsden, but whom Judith Laging has identified as her grandfather Henry Robley.

The Ramsden Family

Above: The Ramsden family...Violet and her husband Harold, and their two daughters Enid and Margery.

Violet and Harold Ramsden had two children- elder daughter Enid Bertha Jean was born in Prahran on December 4,1902, and younger daughter Margery Ida was born at Elsternwick on August 27, 1904.
Only one sister married...in 1954, in Sydney, Enid Ramsden, aged about 52, married John Kilton Andrews. She died on March 16, 1976.
Margery never married, and died just six months after Enid, on September 26, 1976.

I have traced Violet in the electoral rolls, but Harold has proved to be a real mystery...after showing up in the Prahran electoral roll of 1903, I can't find him ever again in other electoral rolls.
1903: Harold Ramsden 226 Chapel Street, Prahran, clerk
Violet Ramsden as above Home duties

1930: Violet Bertha Malvina Ramsden 50 Third Avenue,Willoughby, florist
Margery Ida Ramsden as above saleswoman
Enid Bertha Jean Ramsden as above clerk

1936: Violet Bertha Malvina Ramsden 31 Dalton Rd, Warringah Home duties
Margery Ida as above shop assistant.

In the Sands Directory of Sydney, 1910, I found Harold J. Ramsden living at Military Road, Vaucluse, but after that reference, nothing until his death in 1943 in the Drummoyne district of Sydney.Violet, however, appears as Mrs Violet Ramsden in the Sands Directories of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927. Her address in each instant is "186 Princes Street", with no suburb specified.
Judith Laging, whose father was Violet Bishop's second cousin, wrote the following in a letter to me re. the Ramsden family:
" The photo(appearing in next blog)was taken in 1927 at Violet's and Harold's. The house is an early house at Castlecrag, the first of three subdivisions of Willoughby designed by Walter Burley Griffin and his wife. This was just the type of huge land deal/ development that would have interested Roland, although it was Violet and her husband who were friends of Walter and Marion Burley Griffin and who invested in the development and lived there. Olive and Gran (Ivy McCallum Robley) stayed with the Ramsdens whenever they came to visit Sydney.
The land on the North Shore was obtained by not telling a British Company's shareholders that a bridge was going to be built over the Sydney Harbour, so they sold it to Burley Griffin and business associates for a price more cheaply than would have been the case.
There were thirty shareholders, with shares one thousand pounds each.Roland later lived in nearby View Street, Woollahra.
The early Castlecrag houses leaked and people moved out and it was a very new concept, but I'd have lived there at the drop of a hat!All the houses were designed of local stone with native plants only- just bush and natural boundaries, and of course the cliffs and the harbour views- good place for Roland's boat."

I have no idea how long Violet and her family lived at Castlecrag, or why Harold did not appear with them on electoral rolls and in directories.There was never any suggestion that he and Violet ever separated, and in the above photo Harold is posing happily with his wife and teenage daughters.
Harold Ramsden died in 1943, aged about 68 years.Violet died four years later in 1947, aged about 73 years.

UPDATE: In March and April of 2011, I was fortunate to be able to make contact with Alison Ball, a fabulous researcher who had developed a website relating to her family history, a great part of which dealt with the Ramdsen family. Alison, like me, did not know anything of Harold Ramsden's circumstances prior to his death, but with two of us working on the mystery, we solved the case before a week had passed. Firstly, a little about Harold himself (information gratefully obtained from
http://www.wisdomdays.com/ and from Alison via email):

Above: Harold Ramsden (Source: Private collection of Alison Ball)

Harold John Ramsden was born in Victoria in 1875, the eldest son born to Frederic Ramsden and his wife Sarah Deans. At the time of his marriage to Violet Bishop in 1900, Harold was working as a telegraph operator, and living in South Yarra. There is an entry on the Electoral Roll for 1903 that states:

Ramsden: Harold. 226 Chapel Street, Prahran, clerk

Ramsden: Violet. 226 Chapel Street, home duties.

Sometime over the next few years Harold moved his family to Sydney, and he appears in the 1910 Sands Directory as living at "Warrawee", Military Street, West Side, Vaucluse.

Harold was employed at the Pyrmont Post Office as a telegraphist during the War years, and in 1918 applied and was accepted to be one of the Australian men who volunteered to go to England as a munitions worker. The National Archives of Australia provided the following information about this scheme:

"...men enlisted under a joint Australian Commonwealth - Imperial Government scheme for providing skilled Australian workers to British war industries during the First World War. Under this scheme the volunteers would receive free passage to Great Britain, an allowance for travel time, a special allowance for the duration of service, and eventual repatriation to Australia. Married men also received a separation allowance, but were required to allot a portion of all their earnings to dependants. In return for the above the men were expected to work in whatever industries they were directed to by the British Board of Trade, and under the prevailing conditions and wages for the duration of hostilities. Government newspaper adverts appeared in August 1916, and the first party of 76 workers departed Australia in September. Groups continued to be recruited and sent at intervals, with the eventual number of workers under the scheme totalling just over 5,000. "

It seems strange that a 42 year old father of two young daughters would leave them and his wife to work in England, especially since it meant surrendering a secure job at the Post Office. There is evidence, however, that Harold was perhaps not of the healthiest mental state when this decision was made...he had for a period of time prior to this been treated for "nerves" by a Dr. Macreadie of Macquarie Street.

All did not go smoothly with Harold's planned new life...despite his luggage being forwarded to Adelaide from the Victoria Barracks in Sydney where he had taken it, Harold himself did not follow. In fact, for several months he disappeared from view, leaving a distraught family wondering about his safety and the police conducting interstate searches trying to find some clue of his fate.

Articles appeared in various newspapers, including the following which was published in Queanbeyan Age and Observer on January 18, 1918:

"MUNITIONS WORKER MISSING.

After having enlisted as a munition worker for England and his luggage had been entrained for Adelaide, Harold John Ramsden, 42, who was employed as a telegraphist at the Pyrmont Post Office, disappeared, and the police have not been able to find him. Ramsden was reported missing from his home on November 15 last year, but he returned a day or two afterwards, and did not say where he had been to in his absence. At that time he was employed at the Post Office, but shortly afterwards he resigned his position. A few days later he volunteered for munition making, and he took his baggage to Victoria Barracks. He should have entrained that day for Adelaide, en route for England, but his baggage was returned from that city, where the authorities say that he did not answer the roll call.

The missing man was of a morose disposition, and very melancholy. He was of the opinion that nobody wanted him, and that he would be better out of the road. He had been under Dr. McCreadie, of Macquarie Street, Sydney, for some time, and had been treated for nerves.

  Although the police have made a thorough search in Sydney, they have not been able to find any trace of him, He is 5ft 8in high, of medium build, medium complexion, brown hair, going bald in front, had a dark ginger moustache, brown or hazel eyes, and a scar under his right eye.

Ramsden was employed some time ago in the Federal Capital Territory, and was president of a branch of the Political Labour League."

On the same day, the Sydney Morning Herald published a shorter piece:

"MISSING FROM HOME.

Harold John Ramsden, 42, who was lately employed as a telegraphist at the Pyrmont Post Office, has been reported to police as having been missing from his home since Christmas. The missing man had volunteered as a munition maker, and had made preparations for his trip to England. His luggage was conveyed to Adelaide, but was later returned owing to the owner having not claimed it."

Above: Perth, January 17, 1918.

Poor Violet must have been absolutely distraught, and thinking that the very worst had happened to her husband considering that he was already having suicidal thoughts prior to his disappearance. The pressure applied on her by the District Pay Office at Victoria Barracks for her to pay back the four pounds and nineteen shillings advance which had been made to Harold would have only added to her distress. Violet wrote the following letter to explain her situation, and fortunately reason prevailed and the amount was written off the books.

" 186 Princes Street, Sydney.

To Mr Sinclair,

Victoria Barracks.

Sir- My husband, Harold J. Ramsden,on the 3rd of January last left Sydney with a number of workers en route to England, but did not leave Australia. Every effort was made to trace him but failed, and I was approached by someone whose name I cannot just now recall who asked me to refund a sum of money which had been paid to my husband by the Military Authorities. Some weeks since my husband returned home and has from that day been an inmate of the Mental Hospital at Darlinghurst.

I am now writing to ask you if it is possible to have the amount written off the books. 

Faithfully yours,

 V. Ramsden."

It seems as though Harold Ramsden remained in psychiatric care from this point in 1918 until his death in 1944. This certainly explains why he never again appeared in a street directory...it was always Violet by herself. In 1925 Violet Ramsden was listed in a Sands Directory as living at 186 Essex Street, Sydney, and her occupation as 'dressmaker'. In 1930 she was earning a living as a florist from Rowe Street, Sydney, whilst living with her girls at 50 Third Avenue, West Side,(off Edinburgh Road) which was her home on the Castlecrag estate.

 Violet's nephew, my great-uncle Gordon Oakley, once stated that although he had met Violet and his cousins, Enid and Margery, he had never even seen his uncle, Harold Ramsden. He said that Harold had resided in a nursing home or similar, and that this left Violet and the girls in a 'straightened' financial situation.

Harold John Ramsden died in 1943 at the age of 68. The following death notice was published in the Argus on November 19, 1943:

"RAMSDEN. On November 14 (suddenly), Harold John, beloved husband of Violet Bertha Ramsden, and loving father of Enid and Margery, of 31 Dalton Street, Mossman, Sydney. (Privately cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium).

Violet died four years later...

"RAMSDEN: Violet Bertha Malvina- July 12, 1947, at her residence, 31 Dalton Road, Mossman, widow of Harold John Ramsden and loving mother of Enid and Margery, and sister of Daphne and Olive and aunt of Lin Grant, aged 73 years. Melbourne papers please copy."- Sydney Morning Herald, July 14, 1947.