text:
Matches 51 to 100 of 1,355
|Linked to
|Synnot, Richard Walter (I8280)
|Martin, Rev. Robert (I8277)
|Synnott, Walter (I8084)
|Davenport, Edward (I7843)
|Weller, Roy Douglas (I7833)
|Pohlmann, Christina (I7217)
|Pohlmann, Jochim (I7131)
|Boyland, Reginald (I7078)
|Watt, David Bruce (I6173)
|Sherd, Janet Maude (I4448)
|Hancock, Samuel Robert (I4447)
|Login, John Mouritz (I4207)
|Mitchell, Mary (I2548)
|Mitchell, John (I2547)
|Faithfull, Winifred Margaret (I2277)
|Jacombs, John Edward (I1509)
|Family F766
|Family F1591
|Family F1905
|Family F1913
|Family F2185
|Family F2353
|Family F2772
|Family F3007
|Family F3063
|Family F3689
|Family F3788
|Family F3887
|Family F4231
|Family F4247
|Family F4470
|Family F4974
|Family F5258
|Family F5378
With grateful acknowledgements to Chrissie Macken for her research and Warwick Leeson for his knowledge.
Rudolph was born in Eastbourne, England on 6 Mar 1886. He eventually grew to be over 6 feet tall.
There is a photo of him as a baby with his parents, apparently on a flying visit to Queensland. The photographer was William McGuire, Elite Studios, Maryborough. McGuire closed this studio in May 1886 - so Rudolph and his parents must have left England very soon after his birth if the photo was taken in Queensland less than 3 months later. Or perhaps McGuire took the photo at a later time, and used his Maryborough card stock to attach the photo.
He left the Catholic faith because he was disenchanted with the Catholic priesthood. Apparently he saw some priests urinating in the street outside a wine establishment, wrote a letter to the church but never heard back - so he voted with his feet and left the Catholic faith.
Rudolph Alphonso had a very large family in Brisbane and their descendants are mainly based there today with some exceptions.
Roma Scott Richardson (daughter of Albert Vincent) comments but is probably paraphrasing Muriel (daughter of Rudolph):
"... Ruie [Rudolph] had a baritone voice and knew the whole of the opera Maritana ..."
|Richardson, Rudolph Alfonso (I3318)
P. Hore Synnott Pedigree (1913), page 15:
'Walter of Ballybrennan = Mary Masterson dau of Sir Thomas Masterson.'
Mary Masterson, daughter of Sir Thomas Masterson, should not be confused with her niece Mary Masterson, daughter of Sir Richard Masterson. Both Marys married a Walter Synnot, one the uncle of the other.
|Masterson, Mary (I10603)
There is a record of a James Martin, born in Ireland abt 1758-1759, being in prison in Middlesex in 1792-1793. He was 5 ft 8 in tall with grey eyes, black hair and sallow complexion. This is unlikely to be the same James, as the prisoner was sentenced to transportation.
James Martin, Surgeon, formerly of the ship Nimrod, was on the List of Lunatic Seamen and Marines, &c, of the Surgeon to the Institution at Hoxton. He was received into the asylum on 21 Jun 1807.
James' first wife Jane has been included on flimsy evidence. She is recorded on the 1804 baptism entry of Thomas Martin, son of James and Jane. The baptism was at the Sion Chapel, Union St, London, the same place where James and Mara's' 4 sons Robert, James, Thomas and Charles Henry were baptised in 1818. There is also a burial for a Selina Martin in 1807 - she is presumed to be a child of James and Jane because of the name Selina Sarah - uncommon, and the name of James' sister.
The burial transcriptions for the Greater London Burial Index and the England & Wales Non-conformist burials, both on findmypast.co.uk, both give Selina Sarah's burial date as 6 Oct 1804 and her age at death as 7 months. However, Greater London says she was born 1804 and Non-conformist says 1803. There is a similar one-year discrepancy in the Non-conformist record for Thomas Martin (died 1807), presumed to be Selina's brother. It seems likely that Thomas and Selina were both born abt Mar 1804 i.e. they were twins.
In The London Gazette in 1813, James gave notice that on 23 Oct 1812 he had presented his petition to the Court of Relief for Insolvent Debtors at 6 Carey St, Lincoln's Inn, praying to be discharged from custody, and to have his future liberty against the persons named as his creditors on the schedule annexed to the petition. That Court had ordered that the matter be heard in the Court at the Guildhall of the City of Westminster on Thursday 2 Dec 1812 at 9am. That Court saw fit to dispense with James serving the creditors on the schedule, who were listed in the Gazette, the Times and the Traveller, 'of which my said creditors hereinbefore named are hereby required to take notice.'
The creditors were:
Thomas Hughes, Percival-street, Northampton-square, builder;
William Shepherd, Eagle-street, Piccadilly, artist;
Mr Tyler, Broad-street, St. Giles, broker;
Matthew Wigham, High Holborn, apothecary;
Robert Newbury, Gibraltar, merchant;
Mt Joseph Parke, Gibraltar, merchant;
John Miller, Bowe-street, Covent-garden, bookseller;
Mr Barnard, Skinner-street, Snow-hill, printer;
Thomas Parke, Cheapside, shawl-manufacturer;
Donald Gibson, Gibraltar, merchant;
Mr Holland, War Office;
Mr Horzeizen, Foreign Office, surgeon;
Mr Hardy, Gibraltar, jeweller;
Proth and Santag, Gibraltar, taylors;
Mrs Clarke, Gibraltar, upholsterer;
Mr Batho, North-street, Red Lion-square, taylor;
Mrs Laver, Orange-street, Red Lion-square, tin manufacturer;
Mr Gathony, Lombard-street, watchmaker;
Mr Webb, Holborn-hill, linen-draper;
Messrs Brown & Co, Fleet-market, glassmen;
Messrs Smith and Pace, Shoreditch, spirit-merchants;
Mr Chalpont, Lower Smith-street, Southampton-square, butcher;
Mr Selby, Upper Charles-street, Southampton-square, attorney;
James Barclay, Esq. Kenton-street, Brunswick-square, Gentleman;
Mr Poole, Little Queen-street, Holborn, shoemaker;
Mr Williams, late of Eyre-street-hill, grocer;
Mr Smith, Eyre-street-hill, grocer;
Mr Starton, Newgate-street, cutler;
Mr Mills, Old-street, blind manufacturer;
Mr Warn, Lower Smith-street, Northampton-square, cheesemaker;
Mr Eustace, Lower Smith-street, Northampton-square, baker;
Beaumont and Wilson, Aldersgate-street, hatters;
William Gould, late of Ashby-street, Northampton-square, victualler;
William Martin, Old-street-road, smith;
Elizabeth Browne, late of Holborn-hill, milliner.
It seems that James was unable to afford the necessities of life, as most of the debt related to suppliers of everyday items of food and clothing and housing.
'James Martin, formerly of Gibraltar, and late of Northampton-square, Clerkenwell, in the county of Middlesex, surgeon' was still on a list of prisoners in the King's Bench prison in the County of Surrey on pages 2555-2631 of The London Gazette of 23 Dec 1813.
But James must have been released from prison, and was able to return to his vocation as a surgeon, working as Assistant Surgeon in the 1st West India Regiment and then the 5th Regiment of Foot, according to The London Gazette, London, England of 17 Jun 1817:
'5th Regiment of Foot, Assistant-Surgeon James Martin, from the 1st West India Regiment, to be assistant-Surgeon, vice Heathcote, deceased. Dated May 29, 1817.'
In 1825, still working as an Assistant Surgeon, he moved to the 9th Regiment of Foot. The London Gazette, 15 January 1825 advised:
'Assistant-Surgeon John Johnston, from half-pay 9th Foot, to be Assistant Surgeon, vice James Martin, who exchanges. Dated 6th January 1825.'
|Martin, James (I12366)
'Johanna de Rupe [Roche] a widow. Her first husband was Wm. le Hore of Ballyshelane, & she was dowered with 1 mess & 80 acres there from her first husband. After his death the lands reverted to Henry the brother & next heir of Wm. le Hore.'
Footnote after above text: A.
Source record A : The Memoranda Rolls of the Irish Exchequer, P.R.O.D.
Footnote to Ballyshellane: 'Ballyshelin, Taghmon. see p. 100 for epitome of Mem: Roll 21 Ric II.'
|de Rupe, Johanna (I7978)
Annie was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne according to her marriage certificate, or Sunderland according to her death certificate and the birth certificate of her son Gerald which gave her age as 24 on 9 Jul 1861, indicating that she was born between Jul 1837 and Jul 1838. Her marriage in Feb 1857 at age 18 indicates a birth date Feb 1839-Feb 1840. Her burial record indicates that she was 61 when she died in Aug 1900 i.e. a birth date Aug 1839-Aug 1840.
By using these sources, plus the 1841 and 1851 census (see below), the most likely birth years are 1836 and 1837.
Annie's parents were Michael Lane and Maria nee McSweeney. Michael Lane was a civil engineer of some note. Annie was fluent in French and went to school in Belgium which may explain why she is not in the UK census in her father's household or at school.
Annie's death certificate of 1900 states that she had been in Victoria for 45 years. That places her immigration at 1856. In 1855, there is an Ann Lane (single, aged 19) arriving in May into Melbourne on the Blue Jacket from Liverpool as an unassisted passenger. She was travelling alone, with no-one of the name Lane, McSweeney or Hanify on the passenger list.
No 1841 or 1851 UK census records have been found for an "Ann/Annie Marie/Mary Lane" born in Sunderland in the 1836-1839 date range. Nor has a birth record for 1839 been found. However, a Mary Lane born in 1836 in Sutherland, Durham is in the 1841 census in Sunderland.
The group of people in the residence (probably a boarding house) was:
George Warren 48 teacher;
Catherine Blakey 40 Independent (probably "of independent means");
Mary Lane 5; and
Jane Prudhoe 15 F.S. (probably a family servant).
It seems likely that a child would be listed immediately after the adult who cares for her, so Mary was probably in the care of Catherine Blakey.
In 1851 there is a Mary Ann Lane (born in Sunderland, Durham) at school in a convent age 15 in Bristol near Bath.
The importance of this census information is in determining the year of birth for Annie which seems to fit 1836, a year before formal civil records were kept in England and matches her age on some of the birth certificates of her children, and not 1839 which is used in many iterations of family trees.
The Ann Lane on the Blue Jacket matches the two census records for age. Her age on the birth certificate of her son Gerald Michael agrees. So the Blue Jacket passenger and the 2 census entries are most likely Annie. She is also the person that Bill Page-Hanify's researcher had previously identified as the most likely match.
On 19 Sep 1861, Annie Hanify advertised for a general servant. The address given was Greenmount house, Octavia Street, St Kilda.
When Annie's husband Michael died in 1871, Annie was the sole beneficiary of the will. There is a Hanify family story that Annie taught piano after Michael's death. Ethel Mary and her daughters (at least) were proficient at the piano. The piano is still in the Page-Hanify family. Built about 1872/1873, it is a black Richard Lipp baby grand upright. It still has the brass candelabra. It used to be in the house of Cecil and Boronia Page-Hanify, and before that belonged to his parents Gerald and Kittie.
Annie lived with her daughter Ethel in Melbourne until her death and it seems likely that Annie's personal items were left with Ethel's family.
|Lane, Annie Maria Josepha (I1697)
Michael was born 29 Sept 1832 in Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. He emigrated to Victoria, Australia on the barque El Dorado departing from Dundee on 23 January 1853 and arriving at Port Phillip Bay on 30 April 1853. He is listed as a passenger in the Galway newspaper the Galway Packet.
He held a variety of Government appointments between 1853 and 1859:
His first official appointment on 26 May 1853 was as a Clerk, Her Majesty's Customs. He was also appointed as a Coast Waiter and Searcher at the Belvoir Station, River Murray. He was promoted to Sub Collector 16 Nov 1854, the latter at an annual salary of £400 (according to Wikipedia, a Coast Waiter is a customhouse officer who superintends the landing or shipping of goods for the coast trade). At the 1854 appointment, he was also noted as a Clerk of Petty Sessions, Melbourne.
He was appointed Postmaster at Belvoir by the Postmaster General on 1 Jun 1856 at a nil annual salary.
He was appointed by the Governor as a Chinese Protector on 19 Jul 1858 at an annual salary of £250. He is also noted as being a Coast Waiter and Searcher at £500 per annum.
He was appointed Clerk of Petty Sessions, Melbourne by the Governor in Council on 9 May 1859 at an annual salary of £600. He resigned from position of Coast Waiter & Searcher May 1859.
Michael married Annie Maria Josepha Lane on 18 Feb 1857 at Beechworth. Beechworth is about 20 miles from Wodonga (original name Belvoir), it was a goldmining area and Michael would have been going there in his position as Protector of Chinese. Beechworth had a population of over 5000, so it is likely that Annie went there as a governess or music teacher. The best man at Michael John and Annie's wedding was Robert O'Hara Burke. He was the local policeman in Beechworth and came from Galway but his claim to fame was his disastrous 'Burke and Wills' expedition attempting to cross Australia from south to north.
Michael and Annie had a family of six children, only Mary Kathleen (1859-1986) died young. By the mid-1860s the family was living in St Kilda, Melbourne.
In Feb 1863 Mr M. J. P. Hanify was on the list of contributors (including Hon. John O'Shanassy and Captain Sinnott) to the debts of St Patrick's Grammar School. He paid £5 5s. In Mar 1863 Mr Hanify was elected an honorary member of St Patrick's Society. Mr Hanify was on the Committee of Management for a Grand Bazaar to be held on 3 Feb 1864 in aid of the funds of the House of the Good Shepherd. Mr O'Shanassy was also on the committee, and Mrs O'Shanassy was to preside at a stall.
Michael was not forgotten in his homeland of Ireland. He was described as a worthy representative of "this once illustrious Milesian family (O'Hanify)" by N. Kilcogan in Dublin, 1864 when giving the ancient history of the family in Ireland.
Michael was the Clerk of Courts at Ararat 1868-1870, according to Bailliere's Postal Directory. The Gazette of 8 Jan 1869 appointed M. J. P. Hanify, clerk of courts, Ararat, to also be clerk of petty sessions at Landsborough. It appears that this period of employment preceded the report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly dated 1 Jun 1870 on his case, and that his position actually terminated in 1869.
On 25 Jan 1869 The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser advised that a clerk of Petty Sessions named Hanify had been suspended for not executing a debt warrant against himself.
Papers regarding the dismissal of M. J. Page Hanify, clerk of courts at Ararat, were first laid upon the table of the House (the Legislative Assembly) on 18 Feb 1869. Mr Wilson noted that a large number of his constituents considered that Mr Hanify was entitled to have his case inquired into.
A report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly to inquire into the case of M. J. P. Hanify, due to be submitted to the House on 10 Apr 1870, was delayed because Parliament was adjourned. The Telegraph newspaper noted that the report was substantially in Mr Hanify's favour and recommended that his dismissal be cancelled, and that he be reinstated in the position from which he was previously displaced through the probable political actions of certain members of the then Government.
On 12 Jul 1870 the Legislative Assembly debated a resolution to the effect [ref The Argus 13 Jul 1870 page 7]:
On the item of £560 16s. 2d., retiring allowance to Mr. M. J. P. Hanify, late clerk of courts (who shall be deemed not to have been dismissed from the public service, but to have been permitted to resign his office, and upon the 8th February, 1869, to have resigned accordingly), in accordance with the reports of the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly on his case, dated 1st June, 1870.
An amendment striking out the words in brackets was put, and passed by 18 votes to 15. The vote was then agreed to.
A newspaper obituary indicates the high regard in which Mr Hanify was held:
It is with sincere regret that we have to announce the death of Mr M.J.P. Hanify, so long connected with the public service of Victoria. He died on Tuesday at Ararat, after a lingering illness, attributable to a severe cold in the first instance; but which would have scarcely proved fatal but for the accompanying pressure of mental anxiety.
A native of Clifden County, Galway, we believe Mr Hanify arrived in the colony sixteen years ago, and was shortly afterward appointed Collector and Justice of the Peace at Belvoir. Having officiated there for several years he was transferred to Melbourne at his own request, and acted as Clerk of Petty Sessions for a considerable period. Subsequently removed to Ararat, an unfortunate misunderstanding brought him into collision with the head of his department.Suddenly, without anything like adequate notice or investigation, he was compelled to retire from the service. Serious was the pecuniary loss thus sustained, he felt the more keenly the undeserved imputation upon his character, and he never rested till he had vindicated his character himself to the complete satisfaction of a board of enquiry, in virtue of whose report he was allowed to retire honorably, the arrears of his salary being paid up.
In the meantime, however, care, suspense and worry had done their work, so that when attacked by a severe cold he fell too easy a victim. Mr Hanify was about 40 years of age. He had all the ardour, impulsiveness and generosity of the Celtic nature. So long as he possessed the means, no victim of misfortune appealed to him in vain, especially if hailing from the dear old country; and his exertions in raising the Donegal Relief Fund some years ago averted starvation from many an Irish home. Warm-hearted and well-meaning, his memory will long be cherished by his many friends.
Michael died on 7 Feb 1871 in Ararat, and his body was transported by rail to Melbourne. His burial service was held on the 9th and he was buried the following day.
|Hanify, Michael John Page (I1696)
Biography of Elizabeth Druhan/Sister Mary Placid/Dame Elizabeth Placid Druhan (1876-1953)
collated by Rex Sinnott, New Zealand, 15 September 2012
ONE of the most ancient of Wexford families is the Druhans, who have had many centuries of association with Our Lady's Island. This link was only broken as recently as 1968, when Dermot Druhan, then head of the family, sold the historic pilgrimage island to the church authorities of the Diocese of Ferns. Thus the church regained possession of the island which was granted to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine by the Norman lord, Rudolph de Lamport, almost 900 years ago.
The O'Druhans were territorial chiefs of Our Lady's Island at the time of the Norman settlement. The family is noted for its distinguished service to the Catholic church. In the fifteenth century two of its members were abbots of St. Mary's, Ferns: Thomas O'Druhan from 1438 to 1460 and Dermot O'Druhan appointed in 1474. During their abbacy, the tithes of Our Lady's Island were owned by the Abbey of Ferns.
Dr. Daniel O'Druhan was Vicar Apostolic of Ferns from 1624. He was the first counter-reformation head of the diocese, having fled from Wexford during the persecution of 1581. From 1581 to 1587 he studied in Salamanca and returned to Ireland in 1591. After his appointment as vicar apostolic he re-organised the Church in the Diocese of Ferns, disguising himself under the name of James Walsh.
The most noted member of this family in modern times was Dame Elizabeth Placid Druhan, daughter of Daniel and Ellen (nee Sinnott) Druhan of Our Lady's Island, Broadway, County Wexford. Daniel and Ellen married in 1872. Elizabeth, born on 4 September 1876 and named Eliza, was their third child.
Elizabeth Druhan and her sister and cousin [1] left Our Lady's Island at an early age with their great-uncle, Dom Placid Sinnott, O.S.B., one of the founders of Downside Abbey, whose family lived at Bunarge, Carne. He had advised their parents to send the girls to the Benedictine Abbey at Ypres in France to be educated with a view to joining the order. The future Abbess entered the Order of Benedictine Dames at the age of 14 and was professed at the age of 19, receiving the name of Sister Mary Placid. When her great-uncle was leaving her, he foretold that she would return to Ireland after twenty years with some members of her community to establish a new Convent in Ireland. The prediction came true.
On 20 August 1894, at the Irish Benedictine Abbey at Ypres, Belgium, High Mass was sung, a sermon preached by the Dean of Ypres and a ceremony of the clothing of two choir novices took place. The young ladies who received the monastic habit were Mdlle. Germaine de Grammont, a member of the well-known French ducal family of that name, and Miss Druhan, a grand niece of the Rev. Dom Placid Sinnott, O.S.B., of Downside. The novices received the names of Sister Ignatius and Sister Placida respectively.
Catherine Druhan
Eliza's sister Catherine became Sister Mary Evangelista of the Order of Notre Dame, Namur, where she died some years later; her cousin, Dame Mary Aloysius, O.S.B., was also in Ypres but died at Macmine, Co. Wexford – she had arrived there with members of the Order before 1920. Her aunt, Sister Mary Francis Gertrude, was a member of the Order of the Poor Clares at Alma Park, Manchester.
The wartime existence of the Benedictine nuns at Ypres are well reported in The Glorious Madness: Tales of the Irish and the Great War: First-hand accounts of Irish men and women in the First World War (Turtle Bunbury, 2014) in the chapter "The Irish Dames of Ypres". Extracts follow:
The Irish Dames of Ypres
At least seven of the 15 Benedictine nuns who remained in Ypres after the departure of the German Dames were Irish. Dame Placid came from County Wexford, as did her cousin Kate Rossiter aka Dame Aloysia. Dame Patrick was certainly Irish, but from where is unknown. Sister Mary Winifred started life as Dublin-born Emma Hodges, and may have been related to the well-known Dublin booksellers. Sister Romana king, who would join the group in their flight from Ypres, is also thought to have been Irish.
The second bombardment of the city of Ypres began on the afternoon of 28 October. Not everyone took it as seriously as they perhaps should have done. When a bomb blew out the windows of a house on Rue Notre-Dame, the owner gamely ordered the glazier to come and fit new ones.
That night, Dame Teresa found just enough light to scribble in her diary:'The German shells fell on the town to-day. The first fell in the sleepy moat just outside the ramparts. We have now to live in our catacombs; even the sanctuary light is out, and the chapel no longer contains the Blessed Sacrament.'
The main concern for the Prioress was to remove the 84-year-old Lady Abbess from harm's way. She assigned this task to 38-year-old Dame Placid, aka Elizabeth Mary Druhan, who was born at Our Lady's Island in County Wexford, where the O'Druhans were territorial chiefs at the time of the Norman invasion. She took her name from her mother's uncle, Dom Placid Sinnott, OSB, one of the founders of the Benedictine monastery, Downside Abbey.
On 30 October, Dame Placid left the convent along with the three most vulnerable women: the paralysed Lady Abbess, the elderly Dame Josephine and 73-year-old Sister Magdalene Putte. The Lady Abbess did not want to go. As Dame Columban put it, the poor woman was so 'moved when the news was broken to her that it took four women to carry her downstairs.' With the aid of a carriage that the Prioress had managed to borrow, Dame Placid escorted her small party eight miles west to the small town of Poperinge - or 'pops as the British called it - where they were received into the convent of La Sainte-Union, together with several other refugee communities.
Meanwhile, as the bombing intensified in Ypres, the Priores and the remaining Irish Dames dragged their carpets, armchairs and 'straw-sack' mattresses down to the cellar. As some priests were by now staying with them, the cellars were divided into male and female quarters.
The mood was sombre in Poperinge, but the Irish Dames did what they could to resume their normal routine, making badges, praying and reciting the Benedictine grace before and after meals. They began visiting the wounded, which gave them an 'insight into human misery which we should never have had'. Men laid out for amputation, men with missing jaws, men with broken eyes. They fed them pear slices and tried to raise their spirits. When they died, as so many did, they offered 'De Profundis' for the repose of their souls.
Dame Josephine did not survive. The 80-year-old Jubilarian, who had implored St Patrick to oust the Germans from Belgium, succumbed toa combination of shock and exhaustion.
a few days after her funeral - during which a German bomb exploded nearby - Dames Placid, Columban and Patrick ventured on a 'decidedly dangerous' mission back into Ypres to assess the damage to their convent. They passed the 13th century Cloth Hall of Ypres; one side of the great Gothic building was destroyed and most of its life-sized statues were maimed and mutilated. Their convent was badly damaged but still standing and Dame Patrick managed to salvage a 200-year-old silver crozier.
As the trio made their way back to Poperinge, a British cavalry unit passed them by and asked who they were.
'we are English nuns from the Benedictine Convent of the Rue St Jacques,' answered St Columban.
'We are no such thing', interjected Dame Patrick. 'We are Irish Benedictines!'
'Irish!' laughed the soldiers. 'So are we'.
They were duly escorted back to Poperinge by what sounds like a detachment from the connaught Rangers who sag 'Tipperary' as they marched.
The British commandant in Poperinge had many things on his mind, one of which was a conviction that elderly Benedictine nuns should not be in a war zone. He placed three ambulances at their disposal, and so the 14-strong community, including their Lady Abbess, set off through heavy rains and bitterly cold winds for Bolougne, where they boarded a ship for England.
In 1915, the Irish Dames did their best to celebrate 250 years since the founding of their order in Ypres. When Scholastica Bergé, the resilient Lady Abbess, passed away in 1916, Dame Maura Ostyn, the Prioress, stepped into her place. She was invested with the same silver crozier that the nuns rescued from the convent on their return trip.
In November 1920, the Lady Abbess negotiated the purchase of the 'silent and forlorn' Kylemore Castle from the Duke of Manchester. Under her watch, the Benedictine community expanded to 24 nuns, who ran a farm that bred prize cattle, as well as a boarding school that continued until 2010.
In thanksgiving for their safe delivery from Ypres to Kylemore, the Lady Abbess also recruited ten local men to erect a large statue of the Sacred Heart halfway up Dúchruach Mountain. It reminded the Benedictines of the soldiers of all the soldiers who had worn their badges along the Western Front.
At the time of her death in 1940, the Lady Abbess was the only nun in Ireland entitled to wear a jewelled ring and to carry a crozier.
Dame Elizabeth Placid Druhan
Sister Mary Placid was elected Abbess of the Benedictine community, Kylemore, Co. Galway, in April, 1941, following the death of Lady Maura Ostyn, the Mother Prioress. She was the first Irishwoman to hold the office in one hundred years, since Lady Abbess O'Byrne who died in 1840. She was blessed and installed Lady Abbess of the Benedictine Abbey of The Irish Dames of Ypres, Kylemore Castle, County Galway in the Abbey Chapel on 17 April 1941 by the Most Rev. Dr Walsh, Archbishop of Tuam. Her brother, Robert Druhan, of Messrs McHugh and Druhan, drapers and outfitters, North Main St, Wexford, attended the Pontifical High Mass and the installing ceremony. At that time, many cousins of the Druhan family were members of religious orders in convents in Ireland, England and America.
The new Abbess, known as Dame Elizabeth Placid Druhan, was a niece of the late Rev. J. Druhan, C.C., Glenbrien, and the late Rev. T. Murphy, Chaplain to the Presentation Convent and St John of God Convent, Wexford, and Secretary to the late Most Rev. Dr. Browne, Lord Bishop of Ferns. She was also an aunt of Mr Dermot Druhan of Our Lady's Island.
Four years later, Dame Placid celebrated the golden jubilee of her profession. Solemn Pontifical High Mass was celebrated in the Abbey by the Archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, who read a telegram from Cardinal Montini, then Acting Papal Secretary of State, conveying the Holy Father's felicitations to the Lady Abbess. The sermon during the Mass, referring to the Benedictines' history and that of the convent at Ypres, was preached by the late Very Rev. Canon Cunningham of Clifden.
Under Dame Elizabeth's rule at the abbey, the community prospered and increased in numbers.
The Right Rev. Dame Elizabeth Placid Druhan, O.S.B., Lady Abbess of Kylemore Abbey, died at the Abbey on 6 April 1953. Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at the Abbey at 11am the following day, with the funeral service immediately afterwards.
The Free Press, 26 April 1941, page 5
The Irish Times, 7 April 7 1953
The People, 11 April 1953
Kylemore Abbey website: http://www.kylemoreabbey.com/bc_abbesses.asp
Hilary Murphy, Families of County Wexford 1986
Death Record 2631931- Renvyle, Clifden, Co. Galway: Elizabeth Druhan
[1] The sister was probably Catherine, 4 years younger than Elizabeth. Her other sisters, Anastasia (1911 census) and Margaret (1901 and 1911 census), remained in Ireland.
Baptised as Eliza, known as Elizabeth, later Lady Abbess of Kylemore Abbey - ref SIN677, Hilary Murphy to Rex Sinnott 31 Aug 2012. The cousin was a Rossiter, and is assumed to be Catherine Rossiter (born 1866) who is the only known daughter of Michael Rossiter and Margaret (Sinnott).
|Druhan, Elizabeth Mary (I3997)
We very deeply regret to announce the death, on Friday morning, of the Very Rev Loughlin Canon Druhan, P.P Sutton's Parish, at the venerable age of 78 years. Canon Druhan was in failing health of some years, and recently had been confined entirely to his residence. He was born in Cushinstown Parish, and was cousin of the celebrated Most Rev James Warren Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin – the "great Dr Doyle" as was known the world over.
Father Druhan pursued his studies in St Peter's College and in Maynooth, where he passed a brilliant course, and was ordained by the Most Rev Dr Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, at Pentecost, 1849. Father Druhan's first curacy was Gorey, where he remained till transferred to Litter in 1858. He was then transferred to Taghmon in May, 1862, from which parish he was promoted to the pastoral charge of Tomacork in 1872. In 1879 he was promoted to the pastoral charge of Sutton's Parish, and was raised to the dignity of Canon in 1884. Canon Druhan was a clergyman of great and varied learning, as were so many of the clergy of his period. He was an eloquent and impressive preacher, and his devotion and zeal in the discharge of his duties of his sacred office won for him the undying affection of his parishioners. In Gorey and in Taghmon, in which he spent many years, the warmest regard is cherished for the good soggarth.
In Tomacork, where he spent seven years as parish priest, canon Druhan did not spare himself to bring about many much needed reforms. Shillelagh Union boardroom always a seat of bigotry, engaged his attention for a long period. He was instrumental in having the first popular guardians elected to the board, and in providing Catholic nurses for the poor of the union hospital. This was no small achievement in the Shillelagh of a quarter of a century ago. Canon Druhan also had a vast deal of up-hill work to accomplish as regards the moral tone of the district. An essentially Orange stronghold, poor Catholic servants and others were victimized in alarmingly large numbers, when Canon Druhan took over the pastoral charge. Like the true priest that he was, he at once applied himself to the duty of protecting the then helpless victims of Orange brutality, and soon proved a very terror to evil-doers, upon whom he did not spare the most scathing denunciations. His memory …
[the last few lines at the end of the obituary are omitted – they are of no importance]
|Druhan, Loughlin (I4683)
William Albert Richardson, also known as Albert Richardson, was born on 17 Jun 1839 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, the second child of William and Ellen Richardson nee Hirst. His older sister Sarah Jane was born in 1837. Another sister, Ellen Hirst Richardson, was born in Mar 1845. Their mother died in Apr 1845, and the infant Ellen died shortly after. William Albert's father remarried in 1847, to Eliza Berry.
In the census of 1851, William Albert and his sister Sarah Jane were not recorded as being with their father at Huddersfield. Sarah Richardson of Huddersfield was at St Mary's School in 3 Blossom Street, Micklegate, York. The whereabouts of William Albert on census night is not known.
William Albert was part of the Richardson family that emigrated to Victoria, Australia on the ship Ajax in 1853.
Between 1863 and 1866 William Albert had travelled overseas returning to London. During this time it seems he also studied at the Milan Conservatory of Music because he was described as returning from Italy to join W. S .Lyster's company when he made his debut on 6 January 1866 to appear as the Count in "Il Trovatore" [The Argus Sat 29 June 1878]. He was described as having studied under Furtado and Garcia in The Argus. He made his debut in Melbourne but then travelled with the Lyster Company to Hobart, Tasmania.
How did William Albert finance his travels and overseas studies? Sarah Jane may have prevailed on her wealthy husband to sponsor her brother abroad. There is no doubt that she was extremely fond of her younger brother. Sarah Jane later witnessed her brother's wedding and assisted at the birth of her niece, Edith Ellen Beatrice, in 1871. She named one of her children after him, William Albert who sadly did not survive past infancy. He could have been sponsored by W.S. Lyster or his brother Fred on the basis of a commitment to return and join the W. S. Lyster opera company. Fred Lyster made a similar offer to singer Edward Armes Beaumont in Melbourne but Beaumont turned him down.
He described himself as having "studied the art of singing under Manuel Garcia, Gaetano Nava and Sims Reeve, the famous English tenor." [Brisbane Courier 16 Sept 1898.]
William Albert later described himself as having been the musical director to the Melbourne Operatic Society and Melbourne Lyric Club but when exactly is not known. See Brisbane Courier 5 October 1898.
He became a member of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1868, giving his address as 75 Spring Street Melbourne. Another reference is to Palermo House, 13 Spring Street. This was said to have been directly opposite the Victorian Parliament House. The rear of 73 and 75 Spring Streets backed on to Laings lane so this may help pinpoint the site from old maps.
The next major street running parallel to Spring Street was Stephens Street, now renamed Exhibition Street. Stephens Street had a large number of brothels. A house in Little Lonsdale Street has been recreated in an interactive display contained in the Melbourne Museum to show what life would have like living in a nearby area.
William Albert became a philanthropist. He gave such a large donation to the Melbourne Lying In Hospital [now the Royal Melbourne Hospital] that he was made a life governor in 1869. Other opera singers from Lyster's troop were also made life governors of the Hospital for the same reason.
William Albert also personally organized concerts to raise money for St. Mary's Church in Williamstown using his own pupils as performers. 500 persons attended one such concert. This was characteristically generous of the man and a pattern he repeated throughout his life.
William Albert advertised his pupils' tenth grand operatic concert for 9 November 1870 to raise funds for the Melbourne Ladies Benevolent Society. Miss Mackereth, the pupil of Mr. C. E. Horsley, played a duet on the pianoforte with her teacher.
William Albert described himself as being musical director to the Melbourne Operatic Society and Melbourne Lyric Club but when exactly is not known. See Brisbane Courier 5 October 1898.
He became a member of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1868, giving his address as 75 Spring Street Melbourne – close to the end of Collins Street but probably where the underground railway exits from Parliament Station into parkland.
He gave such a large donation to the Melbourne Lying In Hospital (now the Royal Melbourne Hospital) that he was made a life governor in 1869. Other opera singers from Lyster's troop were also made life governors of the Hospital for the same reason.
William Albert also personally organized concerts to raise money for St. Mary's Church in Williamstown using his own pupils as performers. 500 persons attended one such concert. This was characteristically generous of the man and a pattern he repeated throughout his life.
William Albert advertised his pupils' tenth grand operatic concert for November 9 1870 to raise funds for the Melbourne Ladies Benevolent Society. It is particularly interesting to note the presence of a Miss Mackereth, the pupil of Mr. C. E. Horsley, playing a duet on the pianoforte with her teacher. This is likely to have been Ellen Harriet as the oldest unmarried daughter.
However Mrs. Albert Richardson later advertised her services as a pianoforte teacher, the pupil of Mr. C. E. Horsley in 1879. Very interesting to note the preparedness of the Mackereth ladies to go out and earn their keep in what must have been a very circumscribed society.
In 1870 William Albert married Mathilde Mackereth. He was 31, she was 17. He described his father as a "gentleman" and Mathilde as a "lady" in their marriage certificate, note the importance of having respectable antecedents. She was the second eldest daughter of James and Henrietta Lucia Mackereth nee Schumacher. The marriage witnesses were Mathilde's parents and William Albert's sister Sarah Jane Sinnott.
Albert Vincent Richardson, (William Albert's son), told his daughter Roma:
"Grandfather opened a feed and grain shop in Melbourne (of which he knew nothing) and promptly lost all his money and William Albert then had to keep two families."
William Albert did not marry until 1870 so the reference to "two families" and a failed business might be out of synchronization. In 1866 The Argus reported that William Richardson had become insolvent but this was while he was operating a hotel.
On 13 December 1877 William Albert announced the first performance of the opera, Maritania by the Opera di Camera. The list of performers/ artists included "Miss Richardson" probably Hilda Margaret born 1848, "Elly Sinnott" probably Ellen Margaret Sinnott born 1857 and "Miss Mackereth" probably Ellen Harriet born 1851. According to social convention, the eldest unmarried daughter was referred to as Miss [surname], the next eldest unmarried daughter had their first names specified: refer Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice where Miss Bennett (the eldest daughter, Jane) and Miss Elizabeth Bennett are introduced to other characters.
According to Millicent Hespera Richardson (William Albert's youngest daughter), William Albert and Mathilde Mackereth first met at the Philharmonic Society in Melbourne. "It was love at first sight and they idolized each other all their lives." Both played musical instruments but only William Albert sang. He played the harmonium and she played the piano. There is an oral family tradition that "one of William Albert's two sisters played the cello", since Sarah Jane died early, it must have been either Hilda Margaret or Mary Ellen, both of whom would have lived long enough to be associated with this memory.
For a short time William Albert also briefly conducted the choir at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1876. This is and remains the premier Cathedral in Melbourne. This was a great honour. The Richardson family lived close to the Cathedral, having moved the short distance from Spring Street to Alfred House in Evelyn Place, East Melbourne (a tiny lane way still in existence off Nicholson Street). Alfred House does not appear to be still there.
In 1879 William Albert Richardson published The Art of Singing in Melbourne – cribbing the idea from one of these tutors who had published a similar treatise at an earlier time.
In 1870 the Richardsons were living at 75 Spring Street, Melbourne. According to Albert Vincent's daughter Roma, "After [William] Albert Richardson married Mathilde, [William] Albert and Mathilde stayed for some time with the Mackereths in Adelaide." But the Mackereths were based in Victoria by then and so were the Richardsons, having babies.
William Albert and Mathilde had children born in Victoria:
Edith Ellen Beatrice born in 1871 [Spring Street]
Florence Matilda born in 1872
Albert Vincent born in December 1874
Charles Leo "Charlie" born in 1876
Harold Wilfred "Fred" born in 1877.
Possibly Jane born? Died 1878.
In 1878/9 William Albert Richardson announced his "retirement" and plans to leave Melbourne and resettle his family in Adelaide. Roma may have been referring to this period of time, as Henriette Lucia and her spinster daughter Ellen Harriet returned to live in Adelaide after the death of James Mackereth in 1880.
There is a listing of passengers traveling by ship from Melbourne to Adelaide in 1879.
The W. S. Lyster Opera Company disintegrated around this time after the death of its founder so perhaps the decision was an economic one.
Perhaps a clue is contained in the dedication in the flyleaf of a set of musical hymn scores which states:
"To Professor Richardson
From St Laurence's choir
North Adelaide,
Easter Sunday 1880."
The South Australian Register of 20 Nov 1879 advised of Mr Albert Richardson's Students' First Grand Operatic Concert, to be held on 2 Dec 1879 at the Town Hall in Adelaide. Albert and Mrs Richardson were among the artists taking part in the programme. Tickets were available, inter alia, from Mr Richardson's residence, Wakefield Street.
On 9 May 1882, the Richardson family attended a Grand Operatic Concert in Launceston Tasmania. This was a farewell concert for Albert and Mrs Richardson.
According to the Launceston Examiner of 10 May 1882, 'Mr Richardson must have been extremely gratified at the large audience which testified to the esteem in which both Mr. and Mrs Richardson were held by the citizens of Launceston. Mr Richardson has taken a prominent part in the musical world of Launceston during his 12 months' stay here, and is now leaving on account of ill-health, his medical man advising a warmer climate.'
It is surprising that no children appear to have been born between 1878 and 1883 to William and Mathilde. Millicent Hespera Richardson was born in 1883 on the way to England from Adelaide on board the ship Hesperus.
The family settled in West Kensington, London first where William Albert subsequently described himself as "having been the musical director to the West Kensington Amateur Opera Company, London". This statement confirms the family oral tradition that the Richardsons first settled in London upon arrival.
William Albert sang with the Carl Rosa's Opera Company in England. Rosa had established an English singing opera company and an Italian singing opera company and William Albert Richardson passed himself off as Alberto Riccardi for that purpose.
During his career in England, William Albert taught singing in the following distinguished families – Countess Rosebery, Lady Brabazon, Viscount Hampden, Lord Edward Cavendish, Countess Tolski, Viscount Canterbury, Lady Cavendish Bentinck, General Sir Gerald Grahame, Admiral Sir William Hewett, General North, Sir William Grantham, Lady Peel, Lady Leigh, General Stedhall. [See advertisement in the Brisbane Courier]
Richardson claimed familiarity with a large number of operas: Faust; Dinorah; Semiramide; Lucrezia Borgia; Trovatore, Traviata, Favorita; Ernani; Un Ballo; Le Prophete; L'Afriaine; Les Huguenots; Masaniello; Lucia; Rigoletto; Noxxe di Figaro; Der Freischutz; Somnambula; Martha; Lurline; Maritana; Bohemian Girl; Rose of Castille; Lily of Killarney; Don Pasquale; Puritani." [Brisbane Courier]
Opera singers of Richardson's time were placed under extraordinary pressure to memorise a large number of operas and turn over their repertoire more rapidly than their contemporaries of today. It was a stressful occupation made even more intense by risk of fires from special effects in crowded theatres. Some theatrical performers over-indulged themselves in alcohol to enable them to overcome the effects of stage fright – not Albert Richardson but another female cast member of the opera leading to public incidents on stage on two or three occasions.
William Albert also wrote two operas himself: The Maid of Aragon and Kenilworth. He may have been influenced to do this by another contemporary who appears to have also tackled the same subject matter as Kenilworth but more research needs to be done on this aspect.
During their time in England, the Richardson family travelled all over the country. The Richardson home in Eastbourne was originally two storey –since their time, another storey has been added to it. It was the last house on the left where Upperton (sp) Gardens runs into Enys Road.
Rudolph "Ruie" Alfonso Richardson was the only Richardson child born in England – at Eastbourne - in 1886.
After England, Roma thinks the family returned to Adelaide. Madoline Lillian Richardson was born in 1891 in Adelaide. There does seem to be another large gap between 1886 and 1891 when no children appear to have been born. Roma said:
"In Adelaide, William Albert Richardson conducted St Peters' choir, organized concerts and taught singing."
RICHARDSON FAMILY: ADELAIDE TO NEW ZEALAND: Edith E.B. Richardson stays in Auckland
Roma thinks the Richardsons' next move was to New Zealand by ship where William Albert continued his musical activities including a production of the opera Mauritania both at Auckland and Dunedin. If she is correct, this contradicts William Albert Richardson assertion on his arrival in New Zealand in 1893/4 to have come straight from London. Shipping records may help clarify.
It was not uncommon for Opera troupes to take their family on tour with them. Madame Fanny Simonsen and her husband Martin Simonsen traveled with their 11 children and could well have been the model for the Richardson family. The Simonsens were German Jews from Hamburg. They first arrived in Victoria in 1876 on board the Mariposa with one child in order to give concerts together: she sang and he was a gifted violinist – (later they gave evidence against the drunken captain of the Mariposa.)
W.S Lyster asked them to join his opera troupe, bringing them into direct contract with William Albert Richardson who was also a member of the troupe at that time. Later when the Simonsen established their own opera company, William Albert toured with them to New Zealand. Two of the Simonsen girls married early both at age 16 and these marriages did not last.
The marriage of Edith Ellen Beatrice Richardson to New Zealander Herbert Robert Hampton occurred in 1895. The marriage was strongly opposed by the groom's widowed mother Mary Jane Hampton who objected to the Catholicism of the bride. Mary Jane was strongly Presbyterian being a transplanted Mancurian to New Zealand. Sadly Mary Jane severed all contact with her only son and his new wife. It is not known whether they ever reconciled before Mary Jane's death in 1905. Interestingly Bert Hampton only converted to Catholicism on his deathbed in 1916. [The religious schism continued into the following generation when Edith's son Herbert Ivan took an Anglican for his bride.] In 1906 the Hampton family, now increased by Herbert Ivan " Ivan", Horace Royale and Zoe Olga, returned to Australia, spending approximately a year and a half in Brisbane, Queensland where it is assumed they met their Richardson grandparents for the first time.
WILLIAM ALBERT RICHARDSON AND FAMILY IN NEW ZEALAND: by Rex Sinnott 7 Sep 2012
There are no clear references in New Zealand newspapers to Albert being in New Zealand before 1876. There are no other known sources that place him in New Zealand during that period.
Albert toured New Zealand from February to September 1876. There is no indication in newspaper articles on the Simonsen company whether Albert's family – wife and 4 young children - accompanied him. They are not listed with Albert as passengers on the s.s. Arawata from Melbourne to Dunedin.
On 29 February 1876 the s.s. Arawata left Melbourne with the Simonsen Opera Company, including Albert Richardson, on board. It arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand on 6 March. The opera company opened its Dunedin season on 11 March, with "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein", with Mr Albert Richardson described as a first baritone. In "Lucia di Lammermoor", Albert played the part of Henry Ashton. "Maritana" followed. Madame Simonsen led part of the troupe (including Albert) on a brief season in Auckland in mid-March, then the season in Dunedin resumed with "Lucrezia Borgia" with Albert playing Duke Alfonso, then "Lucia di Lammermoor". The season finished on 8 April with "The Hermit's Bell" with Albert described as "the popular baritone, Mr Albert Richardson".
Simonsen's Christchurch season started on 12 April with "Lucia di Lammermoor", Albert again playing the part of Henry Ashton. A review of "Il Trovatore" on 20 April said that Albert was not at all successful as the Count – he was altogether too tame and his voice did not have enough power. Perhaps it was due to the misfortune of interpreting an unsuitable character.
Albert's next role was as Bellamy, a Sergeant of Dragoons, in "The Hermit's Bell" which opened on 26 April, followed by "Lucrezia Borgia","Il Trovatore" and "Sonnambula". In "Maritana", reviewed by the Press on 3 May, Albert acted the part of Don Jose "fairly well" but "his voice was in no way equal to the occasion."
The Simonsen company travelled to Wellington on the s.s. Otago for a 24 night season commencing on 20 May with "The Hermit's Bell". Next was a 4-night season in Nelson, commencing 12 August. As usual, Albert Richardson and Henry Hodgson were the primi baritoni.
Simonsen's Auckland season at the Theatre Royal opened on 14 August with "Lucia di Lammermoor". On 18 August, "Maritana" was performed with Albert as Don Jose. According to the Daily Southern Cross, he dressed the part "magnificently" and received an encore for his song "In happy moments". However, his incorrect tone interfered with his success in other parts of the opera. "La Perichole" followed on the 19th.
Martin Simonsen appeared in court on a charge of using abusive and insulting language towards Michael Raphael, the general agent of the company, at Auckland on 21 August. Albert was called as a witness. He had seen only part of the disturbance, but he heard Mr Simonsen, who was in a very excitable state, call Mr Raphael a d—liar. He also assisted in restraining Mr Simonsen from hitting the complainant with a stick. Simonsen was bound over to keep the peace for 3 months, and to pay the costs of the case.
"The Hermit's Bell" was performed on 25 and 26 August, with Albert again taking the part of Bellamy, a Sergeant of Dragoons. The New Zealand Herald said that Albert "acquitted himself creditably".
At the final performance of "La Fille de Madame Angot" on 4 September, Albert announced during an intermission that a popular season would commence the next evening with "The Grand Duchess". "Faust" followed, with Albert taking the part of Valentine. Next was "Il Trovatore" with Albert as Count di Luna, "La Fille de Madame Angot:, "The Marriage of Figaro", "The Hermit's Bell", "Norma" and "Maritana".
The musical part of the service at St Patrick's Cathedral on 10 September was unusually full. Madame Simonsen, Albert Richardson and Henry Thompson of the opera company assisted.
On 13 September a farewell supper for the Simonsen Opera Company was held at Host Avey's Park Hotel in Auckland. After several toasts and speeches, Mr Simonsen proposed the health of Albert Richardson who, he was sorry to say, had been compelled to disconnect himself from the Company by urgent private affairs. He had endeavoured to induce Mr Richardson to remain as his talents as a musician, his thorough reliability and complete acquaintance with his business rendered him invaluable. He had never met a more complete gentleman. The chairman, Mr Stoneham, among frequent expressions of assent confirmed every statement as to Mr Richardson's good qualities made by Mr Simonsen. The toast was drunk with musical honours.
Mr Richardson acknowledged the toast, expressing his regret at being obliged to sever his connection with a company, with every member of which he had been on such friendly terms. He trusted to meet them again soon in Victoria, and wished them a prosperous career.
On 19 September the Evening Post noted that Albert had arrived in Wellington on his way back to Melbourne, his engagement with Mr Simonsen having expired. Mr Richardson was to rejoin the company in Melbourne in November. The Evening Post also noted that Mr Raphael, Simonsen's agent, had been unable to arrange a Wellington season so the opera company was to proceed from Nelson to Christchurch.
The cast of Simonsen's production of "Faust" for 17 October in Christchurch included Albert as Valentine. This is odd, as Albert's had left the company in September after its Auckland season. The advertisement in the Press for "Faust" listed Mr M. L. Raphael as its agent – also odd as his connection with the company was apparently at an end at the time of Martin Simonsen's court case in Auckland in August.
1877 – 1892
There is no solid evidence that Albert was in New Zealand between 1876 and 1893. A "Mr. Richardson" played the part of Danier in Simonsen's opera "Girofle Girofla!" at venues throughout New Zealand between November 1882 and March 1883. Some of these performances also featured "Signor Riccardi", likely to be Tom Riccardi. The Simonsen troupe also played 2 cricket matches during their 1882/1883 tour – Mr Richardson was not much of a batsman. Bowling figures were not recorded.
In Dunedin in early April 1893, Albert announced his arrival from London and started advertising as a teacher of singing and voice production, under the name of Mr Albert Richardson (Signor Alberto Riccardi of the London Music Profession). He sought pupils in voice production and artistic singing. Albert described himself as a professor of the art of singing. He gave impressive credentials, both as an opera singer in England and Australia and as a pupil of well-known music teachers. The earlier advertisements were varied, each showcasing particular facets or achievements of Albert's singing career. Albert claimed to be qualified as an instructor in Italian and English singing. He received pupils at his rooms at the Octagon. Albert continued advertising for pupils until August and possibly later.
Albert's wife Mathilde and daughter Beatrice were with him in Dunedin – so was Vincent, at least by June 1894, when he performed in "Maritana".
In early May, Albert announced his intention to give a series of students' grand operatic concerts for the encouragement and introduction of talent. Pupils would be trained for the concert and operatic stage at his rooms at the Octagon. About this time, Mathilda and Beatrice were teaching pianoforte at View Street, Moray Place.
In July Albert notified meetings of a new musical society, described as musical theory, sight singing and choral society. The meetings were at Albert's residence at View street, Moray place. Members' fees were ten shillings and sixpence, to be paid quarterly in advance.
In early September Albert announced his first Grand Operatic Concert in Dunedin, to be performed on 25 October in the Garrison Hall. A magnificent programme was said to be in rehearsal, comprising selections from a range of operas. Some of them had been performed by the Simonsen company in 1876 on Albert's previous visit to New Zealand. The programme included duets by Albert, and a solo and duets (not with Albert) by Beatrice. Albert was the conductor, and the accompanists were Albert and his wife.
The concert was not well attended, due to some people with bookings being caught up in a shipping delay. The concert received a generally favourable review from the Otago Daily Times. Beatrice was said to have a nice soprano voice, but rather thin in quality. Albert's duets were greatly enjoyed, the performers receiving a recall for the second one. The duet "Oh, Maritana" was tastefully sung by Miss Richardson and Mr Blenkinsopp. The duet "My sufferings and sorrows" by Miss Richardson and W. Woods was heartily appreciated.
Albert placed a notice in the paper thanking patrons for attending, and announced that, in response to numerous requests, he would continue the series of "high-class concerts for the elevation of musical taste and the introduction of talent". He also responded to requests, by people who missed the concert, to repeat it. He declined to do so, but stated that he would instead include several pieces from it in his second concert.
Albert resumed taking pupils in Dunedin in January 1894. He offered to prepare students for the concert stage, as well as giving private lessons in voice production, development and artistic singing. Lessons were at his home at View Street, Moray place. Also in January, Mr W. Lillicrap advertised in the Southland Times for music pupils, his credentials were that he had been a pupil of Albert Richardson.
In early February Albert advised that he would shortly give his second Grand Operatic Concert at the Garrison Hall, comprising selections from a number of operas.
In early March he announced the first chorus rehearsals for a production of the opera "Maritana". He also sought a limited number of pupils for the operatic stage, to appear in operas shortly to be produced. By early May, rehearsals were progressing satisfactorily. The probable cast included Beatrice Richardson, and at the final performance Albert was to take the part of Don Jose – a character in which he had achieved much success in Australia with the Lyster Opera Company. The Otago Daily Times noted that Albert had been the first to produce a grand opera with amateurs in character in Melbourne, with "Maritana" being performed by members of his operatic club.
"Maritana" opened on 20 June at the Princess Theatre, for a four night season. Beatrice played the principal role of Maritana, and Albert conducted. On the second and fourth night, Vincent Richardson played the part of the King of Spain.
The Otago Daily Times review of the opening night noted that attendance at the opera was "decidedly satisfactory" given the competition from a series of concerts on the same week. The opera had its amusing points, but there were also very many creditable points about it. The orchestra and chorus preformed well. With more power, Beatrice would make a good Maritana, but she conscientiously and earnestly strove for success, and gave a performance which was quite commendable, as far as her physical attributes would permit. She sang sweetly, and received (but declined) one encore.
The review of the second performance noted the capital attendance, and that the audience was appreciative, with frequent and spontaneous applause throughout the evening. Blemishes common in amateur productions were conspicuous by their rarity.
The review of the third night gave it a warm commendation. Beatrice, in the title role, acted with grace and abandon, while her singing was likewise of a satisfactory character.
In mid-August, the Otago Daily Times reported that Albert was said to be engaged on the score of a new grand opera to be entitled "The Maid of Arragon".
However, by September Albert was in Christchurch, and had commenced teaching at Belmont terrace, Oxford terrace.
On 25 September Albert gave public notice that he was not Signor T. Riccardi of Sydney, who had appeared in New Zealand in "Pinafore". "Mr Richardson has been known for the last ten years in London as Signor Alberto Riccardi, and under that name has sung at the Royal Albert Hall, Crystal Palace and Her Majesty's Theatre concerts, London. Mr Albert Richardson has only appeared in Grand Opera."
By mid-October Albert was in Auckland, offering tuition in voice production and artistic singing, at 303 Victoria Arcade. By mid-November he was receiving pupils at his private residence at "Tichmount", Wellesley-street East. He used the name Signor Alberto Romani, rather than Riccardi – possibly to avoid confusion with T. Riccardi, also an opera singer.
In February 1895, rehearsals started for "Maritana". The Auckland Star noted that Mr Richardson had produced this and other operas in London, Melbourne and Dunedin. Albert advertised for principal and chorus, also for people interested in joining his musical theory, sight-singing and choral society (cost - ten shillings a quarter, in advance).
In March, Albert announced the inauguration in Auckland of a series of Grand Operatic Concerts, on the same scale as his concerts over the previous 15 years at Melbourne, Adelaide etc.
By April, the "Maritana" rehearsals were progressing satisfactorily. There were to be 2 full casts of principals. Beatrice Richardson and Madame Florence Anderson were cast as Maritana, and Vincent Richardson and A. Horton Busby as Don Jose. The opera was to be produced at the Opera House on 1 July and the rest of that week.
In June, the Observer noted that Miss Beatrice Richardson, who earned golden opinions of her impersonation of Maritana in Dunedin and Melbourne, would make her debut in grand opera in Auckland.
The Evening Star review of the opening night considered the production "fairly successful", but was not appreciated as much as it might have been, as "Maritana" had been staged frequently by travelling companies with the best singers seen in Auckland. Mr Richardson conducted the orchestra ably, and Beatrice performed well, with one of her songs being encored. She "spoke her words naturally and distinctly, and did not appear to be so much affected with nervousness as some of the others did".
The review of the second night noted that the production, by a new cast of amateurs, showed much improvement on the opening night. The acting was not as good, but the music was on the whole a great deal better. Vincent Richardson as Don Jose was more successful with his singing, in which he did excellently, than his acting. On the whole he made an interpretation of the part of Don Jose that was a feature of the performance.
The third night's performance was immeasurably better than the previous two. There was another large attendance. Beatrice Richardson, in the title role, made a very successful and acceptable interpretation.
The Observer considered that the production of "Maritana" by amateurs was very much to Mr Richardson's credit, and had positive comments on Beatrice and Vincent. The title role alternated between Beatrice Richardson and Florence Anderson, both of whom were very successful. It seemed that there had been a deliberate and organised attempt to discredit the show, but from a musical point of view, there was much in it to enjoy.
On 8 July, Albert announced that "by unanimous request" there would be farewell performances on 9 and 10 July. However, these performances were postponed due to Albert's indisposition. Later that week, Albert announced that "The Bohemian Girl" was in rehearsal and that "Maritana" would be re-staged with new principals and an augmented chorus.
"Maritana" was re-scheduled for 10 and 12 August, and then two Grand Final Performances on 30 and 31 August. He cast included Beatrice (on the 31st), Vincent (both nights), and also Mr Hampton (both nights) as the Marquis in his first appearance on stage.
The Auckland Star reported that the final performance was well attended, the opera was well produced throughout, with the singing and acting being very creditable. The Observer gave a more detailed review. The two final performances played to large and enthusiastic audiences.
"On Saturday night, Miss Beatrice Richardson, as Maritana, was in splendid voice, and achieved a brilliant success, her artistic singing and vivacious acting being the feature of the performance. Mr Vincent Richardson, as Don Jose, and Mr Archie Kent, as Don Caesar, were also heard at their best, and, by their splendid performances, contributed in no small degree to the success of the opera ". Also: "Mr Hampton as the Marquis, and Mr W. H. Tucker [should read W. H. Fricker - Herbert Robert Hampton's first cousin, who probably facilitated the meeting of Edith Richardson and Hampton by getting him into the opera company] as the Alcade, were all thoroughly successful in their respective roles; and lastly Mr Albert Richardson conducted throughout with conspicuous ability. ... Altogether, Mr Richardson may be heartily congratulated on the entire success of his arduous undertaking, and the very substantial patronage accorded during the eight performances of Maritana is a proof that the musical public of Auckland were highly pleased with what they saw and heard."
On 10 September he announced, with regret, that the rehearsal and social for "The Bohemian Girl" was postponed until next week, in consequence of serious illness in his family. On 21 September, the Observer noted the resumption of rehearsals the following week, and indicated that "The Bohemian Girl" would, in all probability, be followed by "Maid of Arragon", the music of which was composed by Mr Richardson in London several years earlier. Several airs from it had already been sung in London and Melbourne by eminent artists, and had achieved great popularity. The Observer also noted the probability of Beatrice Richardson appearing shortly at the Melbourne Exhibition Concerts, as she had recently received a very lucrative offer of engagement from one of the leading impresarios in that city.
Albert continued to advertise his musical theory and sight singing classes in September, held at his residence in Wellesley-street East. The last advertisement was on 28 September.
The Sydney Morning Herald of 25 Jan 1896 reported:
'Mr. Albert Richardson, who in days gone by was the principal of Lyster's Opera Company, since which time he has appeared with leading English opera companies, has returned to Sydney with the object of settling here as a teacher. Mr. Richardson studied at the Milan Conservatorium, where he took the name of Signor Alberto Ricardi, by which he was subsequently known, and he also studied his art under Sims Reeves, Manuel Garcia, Gaetano Nava, Sir Michael Costa, and other famous teachers.'
His departure was also noted in the Auckland Star in February 1896, noting that Albert had left Auckland, his home for the last 12 months or so, to pursue his career as a teacher of singing in Sydney. There is no mention of "The Bohemian Girl" or "Maid of Arragon" being performed, or any reason for the move. Perhaps the serious family illness was a factor.
There is no known evidence of Albert returning to New Zealand after 1895. His legacy continued through his pupils. From June to October 1896, a Miss Phillips advertised in the Ohinemuri Gazette for pupils for singing and voice production lessons. Her credentials included being a past pupil of Signor Alberto Riccardi.
Roma thinks that after New Zealand, the rest of the Richardson family returned to Melbourne where their home was situated in Collins Street, near Spring Street. [This could be a mistaken reference to 75 Spring Street which was probably near the corner of Collins Street where the family had lived earlier but she may well be correct.]
Albert Vincent Richardson told Roma that William Albert Richardson owned part of Queens Walk which was demolished in order to build the original Melbourne City Square (not Federation Square). If true, this may be verified by rate books.
He also told her that William Albert Richardson had also owned a large tract of Yarra River frontage at Hawthorn. This land is prime real estate today. Again, this has not been proved.
It is possible William Albert had amassed a large land property portfolio based in Melbourne. His mentor, WS Lyster, had also done extremely well for himself, investing in land and perhaps he had influenced William Albert in this regard. The name of Lyster's house Narre Worron is commemorated in the suburb of Narre Warren in Melbourne today and Lysterfield was named for him as well.
However the land boom of the 1880s which created "Marvellous Melbourne" as the decade was christened by Australian historian Michael Cannon was thereafter followed by the financial crash of the 1890s.
In about 1898 William Albert, Mathilde and some of their children settled in Brisbane.
William Albert subsequently confided to his son Albert Vincent that he had made a poor investment in Sydney, NSW and lost money on this deal. He was never able to muster sufficient funds to leave Brisbane and return to Melbourne as Albert Vincent urged him to do.
There seems to be an increasing sense of desperation in the classifieds advertising William Albert's services as a singing teacher – seeking to impress by dropping the names of his titled English clients suggests business might have been slow in what must surely have been a cultural backwater compared to Sydney or Melbourne.
Roma comments but is probably paraphrasing Muriel (daughter of Rudolph):
"The family all had stacks of personality, humour, charm and musical talent. Ruie [Rudolph] had a baritone voice and knew the whole of the opera Maritania. Edith was a pianist and a soprano. Milly was a pianist and a soprano. Of the family, Milly appeared to have had the least ability to sing but her father who was devoted to her persevered in her training and she developed a pleasing voice and sometimes sang in concerts."
In Brisbane, the family lived at
- Wickham Terrace where William Albert gave lessons to students;
- The Mansions near Parliament House
- Macintyre Street, Wooloowin
- Beaconsfield Terrace
- Brunswick Street New Haven (later demolished for office blocks)
- 179 Vulture Street South Brisbane
- 15 Deighton Road, South Brisbane (with Millicent only after her brothers had all left.)
In Queensland, William Albert Richardson's activities were based around music, teaching singing, composing, conducting choirs, producing operas and organising charity concerts as he was always concerned to develop local talent. He was also music journalist for the Brisbane Courier Mail.
Ruie's side of the family had the Mauritania score and Milly had a book of songs composed by her father.
Again Roma comments:
"William Albert Richardson had loads of charm and confidence, a fine baritone singing voice and a beautiful speaking voice. He lived for music but did not have practical skills. He did not set great value in money but spent it freely."
It is likely that William and Mathilde suffered at least two tragedies in their lives: the premature deaths of daughters, Florence Matilda and Madoline Lillian.
The circumstances of where and when Florence Matilda died are not yet known. The story of Madoline Lillian is particularly tragic. In 1905 14 year old Madoline Lillian died in the Goodna asylum, Queensland of pneumonia and epilepsy. Her parents were listed as unknown on her death certificate. She was buried in the hospital grounds but her grave site is most likely to have been disturbed and relocated. It is likely that the medical file of her admission and subsequent treatments is still in existence.
Edith Ellen Beatrice was widowed early in 1916 and remarried Alfred George Dean Hooper in 1923. Edith was particularly close to her granddaughter Patti (Elaine Magnusson by her daughter Zoe) and grandchildren Margaret and Leigh (by her son Horace).
Albert Vincent remodelled the garden in his Warrigal Road home based on his idealized memories of Eastbourne. He is buried with his wife in Box Hill Cemetery close to the grave of his baby daughter Audrey and surrounding by relatives from his wife's side of the family.
Charles Leo was in the military in South Africa (where he married Maud Peel) and Canada (where his 3 children were born), then practised as an accountant in Canada. The family moved to California, USA, where he and Maud died.
Harold's wife Alice Norah died in 1927 and he married Veronica "Vera" Healy in 1928. There was a significant age difference between Harold Wilfred and his second wife and another son and two daughters were born. It is not known whether there was any contact with the children from the second marriage after Harold's death.
Millicent Hespera never married but lived with and took good care of her parents until they died and her own eyesight failed her. She worked as a typist and also as a teacher in Brisbane.
Rudolph Alphonso had a very large family in Brisbane and their descendants are mainly based there today with some exceptions.
Mathilde died on 17 Feb 1926 at Lady Lamington Hospital, Brisbane. William Albert died on 11 Aug 1927 at his home at Deighton Road, Dutton Park, Brisbane. They are buried together at Dutton Park Cemetery in Brisbane.
"A good marriage and a close-knit family" seems to sum up William Albert Richardson's situation: -
"Theatrical people had lives very different from other people. They moved constantly, often over vast distances and from country to country. Even when they were settled, they worked at night and slept in the day – hours not conducive to a stable family life with anyone other than fellow actors. There were enormous hazards in this life. Theatre history is littered with suicides in lonely rooms, loss at sea, miscarriages, still births, infant deaths, divorces, infidelities. A good marriage and a close-knit family was the best guard against these dangers….These family maps overlap the geographical ones, adjusting themselves to the changes brought by the serendipity of adventure, the lure of gold, large-scale political movements and ambitions, and improvements in transport and communications."
From Desley Deacon, Location! Location! Location! Mind maps and theatrical circuits in Australian transnational history. Presidential Address to the Australian Historical Association Conference July 2008.
|Richardson, William Albert (I1768)
Sarah Jane started school at St Marys Convent School (known as Bar Convent) in 1847.
St Mary's School was run by the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Catholic teaching order, commenced by Mary Ward who wanted her girls to be highly educated and independent thinkers. The order promoted a special devotion towards Mary. In Australia the order is still associated with teaching and in Melbourne is closely associated with Mandeville Hall and the Loreto order of nuns. School records for St Marys Convent School exist - they tell us that she started school in 1847, but not when she left. Sarah Jane's old alma mater still exists at 17 Blossom Street, Micklegate and its alumnae are identified as "Bar Convent girls".
In the census of 1851, Sarah Jane and her brother William Albert were not recorded as being with their father and step-mother in Huddersfield. Sarah Richardson of Huddersfield was at St Mary's School. The whereabouts of William Albert on census night is not known.
Sarah was part of the Richardson family that emigrated to Victoria, Australia on the ship Ajax in 1853.
On 4 November 1854 Sarah Jane Richardson, aged 17, wed Captain William Sinnott, aged about 49. She identified her father's occupation as watchmaker. This was a scandalous marriage as the groom had been married up until a short time previously. Six months mourning was regarded as the conventional time before a widow or widower could remarry: William and Sarah Jane married after about two months. There is no known reason for such haste.
The marriage took place in the Presbyterian Church in Geelong, some distance from Melbourne, with both parties attesting that they were members of that faith. They were Roman Catholic.
The absence of any member of the Richardson family from the ceremony suggests an elopement. The under-aged bride needed the consent of her father to marry before 21. Instead she lied and said she was 22 years old. She may have put up her age previously in order to find work as a governess. Employing a 22 year old would have been preferable to employing a 17 year old girl.
In The Argus of 6 November 1863 a Mrs. Sinnott of Hillside Cottage, Courtney Street, Hotham advertised for a servant who can milk a cow.
When Sarah Jane's daughter Maude Miriam Sinnott married in Sydney, Maude's aunt Mary Ellen Richardson was a witness, indicating ongoing contact between the two branches of the Richardson and Sinnott families.
Both Sarah Jane Sinnott and Eliza Richardson appear to have been living in Emerald Hill in the late 1850s and it is likely that they would have supported each other through their pregnancies. Eliza had three children between 1856 and 1861, all died young. One of them, Bernard, was buried in the Sinnott family grave confirming Sarah Jane's continuing influence within the Richardson family.
On 17 February 1855 a Madame King announced she would give a Grand Dress Ball in Emerald Hill, "tickets to be obtained at Mr. Richardson's 34 Swanston-Street, Melbourne; and of Professor King, Dorcas street, Emerald Hill; also of Mrs Sinnott, Clarendon-street". Obviously father and daughter were working co-operatively and one can assume that the young married mother enjoyed a good ball.
Sarah's brother William Albert travelled and studied overseas between 1863 and 1866, including London and Italy where he probably studied at the Milan Conservatory of Music. He may have been financed by Sarah Jane prevailing on her wealthy husband to sponsor her brother abroad. There is no doubt that she was extremely fond of her younger brother. Sarah Jane later witnessed her brother's wedding and assisted at the birth of her niece, Edith Ellen Beatrice, in 1871. She named one of her children after him, but sadly he did not survive past infancy.
Poor Sarah Jane Sinnott had thirteen pregnancies in 17 years of married life. Her last child was a still born baby. Sarah Jane died on 23 Sep 1872. Her death entry reads: "[illegible] following operation for delivery of a still born child". The date of the funeral service was 23 September 1872 – mother and child were buried the same day in the Sinnott family grave at Melbourne General Cemetery.
There is only one known portrait of Sarah Jane - by J. Botterill, photographer, who had a studio at 19 Collins St East, Melbourne 1870-1874. This is the address on the back of the portrait, indicating that it was taken near the end of Sarah Jane's life.
|Richardson, Sarah Jane (I77)
William's origins are uncertain. He was in Huddersfield by the mid-1830s. The 1841 census gave his birth place as Yorkshire, the same as his wife Ellen and children Sarah and William. In the 1851 census, William's birthplace was given as Durham in Durham.
William's first wife – Ellen Hirst
William and Ellen married in Huddersfield at St Patricks Cathedral (Roman Catholic) on 20 Jul 1836, and at St Pauls Church (Church of England) the following day. He was 30 years of age and she was 20. Marriage notices in the Leeds Intelligencer and Leeds Times confirm that Ellen's father was Mark Hurst (sic) and note that William was shopman to Mr Bates, silversmith. This was probably Joshua Bates, silversmith and jeweller of Newstreet, Hudderfield who died in 1841.
Their first child Sarah Jane was born in 1837, and the second child William Albert in 1839.
By 1841 William was a clock and watch maker at 51 Westgate in Huddersfield. By 1845 he was at 16 Market Place, as a watch and clock maker, jeweller, silversmith and optician.
William and Ellen's third child Ellen Hirst Richardson was born on 26 Mar 1845. Her mother Ellen died on 7 Apr 1845, and the infant died a short time later.
If there were any other children born to William and Ellen, i.e. between William Albert in 1839 and Ellen Hirst in 1845, it is clear that they did not survive infancy.
William's second wife – Eliza Berry
William remarried in 1847. His second wife was Eliza Berry. They had three children in Huddersfield, Hilda Margaret, Mary Ellen and Theresa Clare, but Theresa Clare did not survive infancy.
By the census of 1851, William was a prosperous watchmaker/jeweller and the Richardson family was living in Market Place in Huddersfield. The 1851 census records two hands working for him in his shop and a young Irish girl as a servant.
In the early 1850s gold was discovered in Victoria, a colony located on the Eastern seaboard of Australia. Gold stimulated a flood of emigration. Gold may have been a personal inducement for William Richardson to come to Australia but the death of infant Theresa Clare may have been the push.
In June 1853 William and Eliza Richardson travelled on board the ship Ajax to Australia with Sarah Jane, Albert, Hilda, and Mary. They were unassisted - they were not travelling under any bounty scheme sponsored by the government so they must have had their own financial resources.
In 1854 there was a rebellion in the gold fields of Ballarat, in Victoria, over the cost of mining licenses imposed by the government. There was a "battle" between the government troopers and the miners who had built a temporary wooden fort to defend themselves, known as the Eureka Stockade. If William Richardson had planned to chance his luck on the gold fields, news of the bloodshed and difficulties experienced by the miners might well have discouraged him. In any event there was money to be made out of the swarms of prospectors heading to Victoria.
The 20 Jul 1853 edition of The Argus newspaper announced the opening of William's shop at 34 Swanston Street in Melbourne, with William described as "a practical watchmaker" who would "repair watches and jewellery of every description with care and despatch." William worked at Swanston Street while living with his family in Emerald Hill (now South Melbourne.)
On 4 November 1854 William's daughter Sarah Jane, aged 17, wed Captain William Sinnott, aged about 49. She identified her father's occupation as watchmaker.
When Sarah Jane's daughter, Maud Miriam Sinnott married in Sydney, Sarah Jane's half-sister Mary Ellen Richardson appears to have been listed as a witness, indicating that contact continued between the two branches of the Richardson family.
Eliza had three children between 1856 and 1861, all died young.
On 28 June 1854 William Richardson, watchmaker and jeweller, 34 Swanston-Street advertised on behalf of AH for "A Capitalist" "to meet with a Brewer from London, of Ales, Single Porter and Stout, to start a Brewery, in consideration of being allowed a share of the profits for his services. Satisfactory testimonials can be produced from the first houses in London." Eliza's father's had been a maltster, and his family had a long history in brewing, so perhaps this was an attempt to advance the family in Australia. It may also explain William's ill-fated decision to get into the hotel business later.
More children were born to William and Eliza Richardson but sadly, none of them survived past childhood:
John Berry born 1856 died 1856;
Bernard born 1858 died 1861; and
Eliza Harriet born 1861 died 1862.
The Richardson family struggled financially in Melbourne. John Berry Richardson was buried in a pauper babies' grave in 1856. Bernard was buried with the Sinnott family. It is not known where Eliza Harriet was buried.
The Argus of 12 June 1856 announced:
"Australian Club House and Boarding House North Melbourne – WM. Richardson desires to inform the public that he has become the proprietor of that house, so proverbial for its superior comforts. Each gentleman has a separate bed-room, a [thing] very rare in this colony."
"W.R. would call attention to all who would wish the comforts of an English home at a moderate charge. It is convenient for diggers, being on the great outlet to the diggings."
"Terms - £1 5s per week."
"Good stabling for Twelve Horses."
The previous year, the Australian Club House of North Melbourne advertised itself as having "Eighty well ventilated bedrooms" with its rates set at 35 shillings per week. Richardson increased the rates.
This house has an unusual history, being brought from England in a prefabricated state. It was nicknamed Noah's Ark. It later became a school run by the Hair family and there was a description of its unusual design contained in an article written by J. Alex Allan entitled "Noah's Ark and Mrs. Hare":
The line of expansion of the town in the early decades was towards what was now North and West Melbourne, and a syndicate of business men saw in the prevailing house-hunger the chance for an original speculation. They secured the land at the corner of Courtney- Street and Blackwood-street, and erected thereon – it would seem in 1853 - a curious structure of wood and galvanized iron, made to their order in England, imported in sections, and put together on the spot. The building fronted Blackwood- street, the entrance being near the corner of Courtney- street. The caretaker's quarters lay to the right of the doorway as one entered along the eastern end. The whole of the remaining floor space was occupied by a large communal dining-room, surrounded on the north, south and west sides by small sleeping-cubicles, each with its separate door. Spacious kitchens and store rooms, with great coppers for bulk cooking, lay at the back or west end, and communicated by doors with the dining-room, throughout which ran two long dining-tables running parallel to each other from end to end of the large saloon, with gaps at convenient places for the waiters to pass through. Round the walls, at the height of twelve feet, ran a balcony, off which opened a second tier of cubicles. Two gangway-like stairways – one at the south-east angle, near the entrance, and one at the north-west corner, gave access from the ground floor to the balcony. Each cubicle had its little window, and there were, therefore, two rows of these small square openings running round the outer walls. Small wonder that the local wits, discarding its dignified title of "The Australian Club House", refused to call the quaint structure anything else but "Noah's Ark."
The Richardson family advertised their house in Emerald Hill for 5 pounds rental a week in 1856 and went to live on the premises. William Richardson, former watchmaker, was there from 1856 until 1862 and paid rates of 290 pounds in 1855 for a wood building as boarding house, saloon, 75 sleeping closets, kitchen and stables.
In 1861 William Richardson became the licensee of the Caledonian Hotel, located in Jeffcott Street west, in Melbourne, behind the Flagstaff which was the historic landmark of Flagstaff Hill (and gives its name to Flagstaff Railway Station in the underground railway system today).
The Argus of 12 Mar 1857 notified a sale by auction on 16 Mar 1857 of a leasehold property, known as the Australia Club and Boarding House, by order of the mortgagee. The property was subject to a lease to William Richardson commencing on 12 Jan 1857 for 2 years, at a rental of £501.
On 1 Aug 1859, the Age newspaper of Melbourne carried a notice dated 13 Jul 1859 requesting William Haig M.D, a member of the Municipal Council, to stand for the Legislative Assembly. Among the electors of the district of Emerald Hill who signed the notice were William Sinnott and William Richardson.
William Richardson was one of 14 signatories to a notice dated 1 Oct 1859 at Hotham, calling a public meeting, to be held on 19 October, for matters relating to the Municipal Council for the district of Hotham.
William Richardson was one of the 17 ratepayers of Hotham who were signatories to a notice dated 29 May 1860 calling on the Chairman of the Municipal Council to call a meeting to consider the expenditure of rates and the schedule of public works as passed by the Council.
A meeting was held on 28 Nov 1860 at the council chambers, Queensbury St, to elect 3 Town Councillors for the Municipality of Hotham. About 30 ratepayers voted by show of hands, votes received being Mr W. L. Campbell 28, Mr W. Richardson 25, Mr J. Barwise 24, Mr R. Reed 4. Mr Reed demanded a poll, which was set down for 8am-4pm on 29 November.
There are references in The Argus to Richardson's Caledonian Hotel throughout the early 1860s. The Hotel advertised regular quadrille dances (ladies not charged for their attendance) at which the piano and violin were advertised as being played.
A description of the Caledonian Hotel up for sale in 1878 suggests it was "commodious and old- established hotel doing a steady business for upwards of 22 years." So in 1856 it would have been newly built, in the outskirts of town. By 1878 the neighbourhood is described as an "improving neighbourhood" (which makes one really wonder what it was like twenty years earlier):
"The house is substantially built of bluestone and brick, with cemented front. It is situated near the intersection of Jeffcott and King Streets in a very improving neighbourhood."
The quarterly licensing meeting for the City of Melbourne was held on 3 Sep 1861. Among the transfers granted was the Caledonian Hotel, Jeffcott Street, to William Richardson from James Cleghorn.
In 1861 and 1862 three year old Bernard and 18 month old Eliza Harriet died at the Caledonian Hotel. The family was particularly sensitive about Eliza Harriet's death: her death notice spelt out that she died of "dysentery brought on by teething."
Bernard Richardson was buried in the Sinnott family grave confirming Sarah Jane's continuing influence within the Richardson family. Little Eliza Harriet's final resting place is yet to be found. Melbourne General Cemetery is the most likely place but they were unable to find any record of her.
William the watchmaker turned publican became insolvent due to "depression in trade, sickness in family and pressure of creditors." This is published in The Argus on 14 Feb 1866. He was then 60 years old. The Argus of 9 Jul 1866 announced that William Richardson had been discharged from insolvency in the Insolvency Court on 6 July.
Albert Vincent Richardson, (William Albert's son), told his daughter Roma:
"Grandfather opened a feed and grain shop in Melbourne (of which he knew nothing) and promptly lost all his money and William Albert then had to keep two families."
William Albert did not marry until 1870 so the reference to "two families" and a failed business might be out of synchronization. It is unclear how this business failure fits with the 1866 hotel-related insolvency.
In 1878 Eliza Richardson died from complications arising out of a strangulated hernia. She was 55 years old. In the probate documents, she was described as a wife (not a widow) but her husband William is stated to be living in East Melbourne - Eliza died at Napier Street, Emerald Hill. He might have been living with the Sinnotts in Powlett Street, East Melbourne. At the time of her death, Eliza Richardson owned two "run down" properties. Her estate was distributed between her two daughters, Hilda Margaret and Mary Ellen and her granddaughter Phoebe (Hilda Margaret's daughter.)
Her husband William Richardson was not listed as the executor of her will, possibly suggesting either estrangement or lack of legal capacity – he would have been aged 72. The fact that the properties had been allowed to run down suggests estrangement. Eliza may not have had access to the handyman skills of William Albert's father in law, James Mackereth.
It is not known what happened to William following his discharge from bankruptcy, or when he died. Searches in Australia and England have been inconclusive. He is not buried with Eliza, who has a large and impressive headstone in Melbourne General Cemetery.
When his son William Albert took his family from Adelaide to England in 1883, the passenger list has Mr and Mrs W.A. Richardson and five children, plus a Mr W. Richardson. Perhaps this is William on a final trip "home".
|Richardson, William (I75)
Background to Julius Jensen Bak and his family
Julius Jensen-Bak was Danish. In Denmark, until about 1850-1870, most ordinary people used patronymics instead of surnames. Patronymics are made from the Christian names of a person's father, followed by "sen" (= son) or "datter" (= daughter). Thus, Jens' (citizen) son Julius would be Julius Jensen.
Patronymics were abolished by law in 1826. The authorities wanted people to use family surnames instead. However, the custom was continued by the Danish population and was dispensed with only slowly.
Julius Jensen-Bak and Christina Helene Pohlmann married in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia in 1888. The key moment in the history of the family was the 1899 death by drowning of their daughter Julia Augusta at 7 years of age, at the same time as her mother.
It appears that, following this tragedy, the children were farmed out to relatives in Queensland and N.S.W. This was a major family upheaval, the details of which have not been fully established.
James settled in far north Queensland, so prima facie evidence would say he was placed with a Queensland family. It appears that Christina Helena also stayed in Queensland. Anna, Maria and Nancy all married in Sydney.
Julius was known as "Jensen-Bak" and that appears to be his correct title. However, over the years the "Jensen" was usually presented as a second given name. This was certainly true with Australian Army records and other official records. However, Julius, his wife Christina and daughter Julia are all recorded as "Jensen" in the Maryborough burial register.
Julius Jensen-Bak (1857-1921):
According to family-based information held by John Goodwin, Julius was born in Denmark about 1860 in Fjellerad (Fjeldrad), Northern Jutland, Denmark or Tjellerach, Germany. Aalborg is the nearest large town to Fjellerad. It seems likely that the name of Tjellerach is a poor transcription of Fjellerad as no town named Tjellerach (either in Denmark or the old Prussian disputed Danish territories of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein) can be found. According to Wikipedia in Dec 2013, Fjellerad is a village in Himmerlandsbanken with 393 inhabitants (2013), 17 km south of Aalborg. The city is located in North Jutland and belongs to the municipality of Aalborg . Fjellerad is located in Gunderup parish.
The search for Julius' origins in Denmark is difficult, and has considerable risk of error. There is only one Julius Jensen born about 1857 (the year commonly used on the few relevant family trees on the internet) in the Aalborg area with parents fitting the broad description of a father with the surname of Jensen-Bak and a mother named "Anne Dorothea". This family was found on www.familysearch.org. If this is the right family, Julius has 9 siblings, all with the surname Jensen except one whose full name is "Jensen Back". The father's surname varies - Jensen (5 times), Jensen Back (3) and Jensen Bach (2). The mother's surname is Paulsen except for the first born child (Jens Jensen in 1850) where she is name "Ane Dorthea Paulsdr", indicating that the patronymic system was still in use. To date, there is no corroborating evidence that this is the family where Julius Jensen-Bak belongs.
The supposed family of Jens and Ane Dorthea is:
Jens Jensen: born on 30 Apr 1850 in Denmark, baptised on 13 May 1850 at Gunderup in Aalborg, North Jutland, Denmark;
Maren Jensen: born on 12 Nov 1851 in Denmark, baptised on 26 Dec 1851 at Gunderup;
Mariane Jensen: born on 15 Mar 1853 in Denmark,baptised on 25 Apr 1853 at Gunderup;
Mariane Jensen: born on 7 May 1854 in Denmark, baptised on 10 Sep 1854 at Gunderup;
Julius Jensen-Bak: born on 4 Jun 1856 at Fjellerad, Gunderup;
Ane Caroline Jensen: born on 21 May 1858 in Denmark,baptised on 21 Nov 1858 at Gunderup;
Jensen Back: born on 12 Apr 1860 at Gunderup, baptised on 12 Apr 1860 at Gunderup;
Christian Jensen: born on 16 May 1861 in Denmark, baptised on 9 Jun 1861 at Gunderup;
Niels Peter Jensen: born on 26 Apr 1863 in Denmark, baptised on 30 Oct 1864 at Gunderup;
Nielsine Rasmine Jensen: born on 4 Feb 1865 in Denmark, baptised on 4 Feb 1866 at Gunderup.
On 10 Sep 1878, Julius arrived at Hervey Bay, Queensland aboard the ship Hershel. Grouped with Julius Jensen (age 21) on the passenger list were three other Jensens - Kristian Peter (19), Niels Ch (19) and Christine (25). None of these three match the names of Julius's supposed siblings, although Christina could be the same person as Mariane born in 1854 (to avoid confusion with the Mariane born in 1853) and there is just enough time for twins to have been born (but no baptism registered) in 1859. The 4 Jensens were all single, according to the Maryborough rations register 1875-1884.
A possible marriage for the Niels Ch [Christian] on the Herschel is to Jensine Marie Laurisen in 1882. Among the six children born to this couple, as recorded on the Queensland birth index, are daughters Pouline and Anna Dorthea. These could be named after Julius' mother Ana Dorthea Poulsen - perhaps she was Niels Christian's mother also?
A possible marriage for the Kristian/Christian Peter on the Herschel is to Elizabeth Collett in 1887.
None of their 12 children have names associated with Julius's family.
Nothing is known of Christina Jensen, except that she was named in the Maryborough rations register as a passenger on the Herschel in 1878, so she may have lived in Maryborough.
Ten years after arriving in Queensland, on 18 Feb 1888, Julius married Christina Pohlmann at the Lutheran Church in Maryborough, Queensland. Witnesses were William Bertram and Mary Pohlmann - possibly Christina's cousin, daughter of Jochim Pohlmann. From this marriage, six children were born between 1888 and 1897. He was working as a labourer when their daughter Maria Elisabeth was born in 1893.
At the Police Court, Maryborough on 25 May 1888, the Municipal Inspector sued Julius Jensen for driving without lights and for refusing to give his name when demanded by the Inspector. Julius was fined £1, with £1 1s professional costs and 3s 6d costs of the Court on the first first offence, and £2 with £1 1s professional costs and 3s 6d costs of the Court for the second offence. The fines were to be paid within 3 days, or in default levy and distress. The magistrate stated that he would deal very severely with anyone who came before him in future for refusing to give their names when demanded by the Municipal Inspector.
Julius placed a notice in the Maryborough Chronicle on 7 Jun 1895, advising that a social dance was to be held in the Scandinavian Hall on the same day. Refreshments would be available. Admission for gentlemen was 2s, ladies were to be admitted free.
At the Police Court, Maryborough Chronicle, on the morning of 31 Dec 1896, Christian Jensen summoned her husband Julius Jensen, a wood carter, to find sureties to keep the peace towards her, as he had declared and threatened to break every bone in her body. Christina stated her own case, Julius retained counsel. after the evidence on both sides had been heard, the case was dismissed.
On Friday 13 Aug 1897, Julius Jensen was summoned to the Maryborough Police Courtsummoned on a charge of wife and child desertion. A summons had been served on 10 Aug, and as he did not appear the Bench ordered that a warrant be issued for his arrest. He appeared at the Police Court later that day. His counsel satisfactorily explained his not appearing, after which an adjournment was granted until Saturday.
On the following day at the Police Court, the adjourned case of wife desertion preferred by Christina Jensen was called. Counsel for the defendant informed the Bench that the complainant had written a letter asking that the case be withdrawn. The Police Magistrate granted the request.
Maryborough Chronicle 23 Jun 1897 - case of wife desertion withdrawn
The Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser of 10 Oct 1899 listed subscriptions given in aid of the Maryborough Hospital on Hospital Saturday. At Brennan's Corner, Julius Jensen gave £5 15s. 6d.
Perhaps Julius had a premomition of disaster. For his wife Christina and their daughter Julia drowned on 17 Nov 1899 on the family property at Teebar Road, Marianna, resulting in the break up of the family soon after. It seems, on the death of his wife, Julius was unable to care for his children and the circumstances of his death in 1921 would indicate he had little on-going relationship with them.
Court hearings in May 1900 show a sorry tale of neglect and child abuse by Julius, which led to the break up of the family.
from the Maryborough Chronicle of Tues 15 May 1900:
Annie Jensen (aged 12), Christina Jensen (10), James Jensen (5), and Mary Jensen (8) were before the Court as neglected children.
Sergeant Clulow prosecuted, and the father of the children was present.
Acting-Sergeant J. P. O'Brien, deposed:
Know the children in Court; in consequence of a complaint accompanied Constable Costello to Jensen's place at Marianna, on Sunday last; found three of the children at Pohlman's place, over a mile away;
Christina said...."My father beat me yesterday morning, and struck me on the head with his fist, knocking me down; he also struck me across the back with a hoe, and my arm and back are sore where he struck me; father said the next time he would knock my head off"; she further said, "on several occasions previous to this he knocked me down and kicked me with his boots;" she said she did not want to go back as she was frightened her father would beat her again.
Annie complained of her father's ill-treatment; she said that he stuffed a rag down her throat once and nearly choked her; she did not want to go back, being frightened that her father would beat her;
Mrs Pohlman, at whose house he found the children, said that on several occasions when the children came to her place and complained of their father having beaten them she undressed them and found black marks on their backs and shoulders; on Sunday she found black marks on the arms of Christina; Christina further said that the scratches on her face were done by her father who caught her by the hair of the head, scratched her face, and threw her on the ground; Annie told him that her father beat the baby about a month ago with a cane and left black marks all over it; before leaving Pohlman's, Jensen arrived in a cart with the youngest child; took possession of all the children;
in explanation of the beating of his children Jensen said "I am not responsible at times; I know I beat them too severely sometimes".
Conclude from his saying that, and from my general knowledge of him for the past three years that he is not altogether right in his head.
Went inside Jensen's house; the clothing was poor, but it was clean; there were two beds in the house; there was only one old single blanket, and the rest of the clothing was old bags; there was not furniture in the house; the nearest place is three quarters of a mile off; Jensen has been in the Maryborough hospital; produce certificate from Dr Garde, which showed that Jensen was in the hospital in October, 1899, suffering from dementia, and was hardly in a fit condition at that time to have full charge of children; the mother of the children was dead, drowned on the 17th November last, with another child, in a waterhole at Marianna; there is no one else to look after the children but Jensen, and I don't believe he is fit at time to look after them.
By the Bench: The children on several occasions have had to leave home and seek shelter elsewhere, owing to the violence of the father.
Jensen interjected that he had been too good to the children; a father could not have children without beating them; they would not do what he told them.
Sergeant Clulow asked for an adjournment of the case until Wednesday for further evidence, and in the meantime the police would see that the children were properly card for.
From the Maryborough Chronicle of Thu 17 May 1900:
The four neglected Jensen children were again before the Court.
Sergeant Clulow conducted the case, and the father of the children was in Court.
Further evidence was called as follows:-
Mary Pohlman deposed: Am a married woman, and live near Yengarie; know Jensen and his four children; about 11 o'clock last Sunday morning the two elder girls and a boy came to my place; Christina told me that her father had hammered her, and kicked her with his boots; examined her and found markes on her arm and back; her right cheek was slightly swollen and scratched; Annie told me that she was frightened her father might kill her; before this he beat the baby until she was black and blue; the children are frightened of him; don't think he is a proper person to kook after the children as he cannot control his temper; wanted to take one of the children out of pity; other neighbours would do the same, only we are all afraid Jensen would bother us.
By the P.M.; The children are fairly well dressed, and they look healthy, people give the children clothes.
By Jensen; The children did not complain that you did not feel them.
Mary Louisa Ellis deposed: Reside with my husband in Albert Street; know Jensen and his children; before November last the children were at my house; they had hardly any clothes on them; clothed the four girls, one of whom is since dead; my husband has a selection alongside Jensen; a man named Adams looks after fit; he has not complained of Jensen ill-treating his children but often hears them screaming; knew the deceased Mrs Jensen; she frequently complained to me that the father would not buy the children clothes; she told me that he would not give her food.
The police called no further evidence.
The P.M. said he would not deal with the children that day, and would remand them for some days to enable him to communicate with the Home Secretary.
Sergeant Clulow thought it would be hardly safe to allow him to have the children back again, as he might have to be sent to the hospital at any time.
The P.M. said some course would have to be taken for the protection of the children. He then explained to the father that the children would be kept until the Home Secretary had been communicated with. He was going to see what could be done, as he was fully convinced in his own mind, from the reports of the police and from cases which occurred here last November, that the father was not treating the children rightly. He felt he should not be doing right in allowing the children to go back. They would be kept at the expense of the State until the Home Secretary decided what was to be done with them.
The case was then adjourned to allow the Home Secretary to be communicated with.
Maria may have gone to live with relatives in NSW, possibly her mother's sister Marie Elisabeth and her husband John Ramage Campbell. The other four children, Anna, Christina, James and Nancy, were admitted to the Diamantina Orphanage in Brisbane on 20 Jul 1900. It appears that they did not live there, but boarded with various families:
Anna - to Mrs Webb, later transferred to Mrs Affleck;
Christina - to Mrs Hargreaves (note that Christina later took the name Hargreaves);
James - to Mrs Pedersen; and
Nancy - to Mrs Pedersen, later transferred to Mrs Mickelson.
Marie Elisabeth is not with her siblings in the orphanage register, although she is one of the 4 "neglected children" in the court hearings - Nancy was not included in the court list. It is possible that Marie Elisabeth (Mary) left the family before the court hearings, even before the drowning. Her name in the "neglected children" list of 15 May 1900 could be an error - it is the only time she is referred to in any document, and her name should be third on the list, not last, based on her age. Perhaps the name "Nancy" was mis-read as "Mary", and the age adjusted to fit Mary.
Julius' occupation was given as shoemaker and farmer - perhaps he had been a shoemaker in Denmark.
The children were all discharged by the orphanage on 23 Jul 1903, the register does not say where they lived after that.
Their discharge may be related to a warrant for Julius's arrest for non-payment of maintenance of his children. The Queensland Police Gazette of 1903 at page 58 states:
ROMA STREET, BRISBANE: A warrant has been issued by the Brisbane Bench for the arrest of Julius Jensen Bak, charged with failing in an undertaking with the Secretary for Public Instruction, Brisbane, for the payment of 12s. per week for the maintenance of his children in the State Orphanage, being now indebted to the sum of £80. Offender is 50 years of age, 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, sandy complexion, beard, and moustache; sullen appearance; a German, speaks broken English; a farmer. Supposed to be at Gosford, near Sydney, New South Wales. - O. 647. 2nd March, 1903.
As Federation in Australia commenced in 1901, extradition from NSW to Queensland would have been in it's infancy and probably poorly administered. There is no obvious reason why a person from Maryborough would target Gosford as a destination. Although on the railway line, it seems an odd place to choose, especially if one is hiding from the law. Newcastle or Sydney would have been a safer refuge.
Perhaps Julius paid up, or perhaps he was imprisoned - he was on the 1905 Queensland electoral roll as a labourer living at Tooley Street in Maryborough. This is no guarantee, of course, that was actually there in 1905. On the 1908 roll he was still a labourer, but living at Woongool Road, Tinana. A Julius Jensen left Sydney on 12 Apr 1907 on the S.S. Sonoma, arriving at Honolulu on 30 Apr 1907. He arrived in San Francisco on 8 May 1907, travelling with his brother-in-law, a Mr Neilsen of Harlan, Iowa. There is also a curious listing of a Julius Jensen Bak arriving 10 Apr 1907 at San Francisco from Panama on the ship City of Para - this person was classed as an alien and refused entry. It is unclear if either of these people is the right Julius. But if the latter was Julius, perhaps the U.S. medical examiners discovered a problem that led to his exclusion - his treatment of his children some years before indicated mental health issues. The diagnosis of dementia for Julius was probably wrong - it is unlikely that he would have lived for so long afterwards. The symptoms are more consistent with a brain tumour.
By 1910, Julius was a farmer in Queensland. The Queensland Government Gazette of 17 May 1910 names Julius Jensen and describes a brand registered to him as "3 g 5", the certificate number as 50881, describes the run or farm where the brand is to be used as "care of H. Clayton, Gonara" and the nearest post town as Tinana.
Both the 1913 and 1919 electoral rolls describe Julius as a farmer living at Dunmora. Dunmora, Marianne and Teebar were originally large properties, west of Maryborough, taken up in the earliest days of Queensland Settlement. The names still apply, but the properties are much reduced in size.
His burial entry indicates that he was living at Teebar when he died.
His obituary in the Maryborough Chronicle of 29 Aug 1921 reads:
The police are advised on Saturday [27 Aug 1921] that the body of an elderly man, named Julius Jensen, a settler at Dunmora, had been discovered on a bed in his hut that morning. Investigations made later in the day revealed that Jensen, who was about 60 years of age, had been dead probably for a fortnight. The body which was much decomposed was removed to the morgue and a post-mortem showed the death was due to natural causes. The deceased's wife and a daughter aged 7 [Julia Augusta] met their deaths in 1899 under tragic circumstances. The mother at the time was drawing water from Marianna Creek, Teebar Road, when the child fell into the creek and in an attempt to rescue her, both mother and child were drowned. Following this the children – one boy and three girls were adopted by various persons, are now grown up. Two reside in the district and it is believe (sic) the other two are in N.S.W.
The funeral will leave the morgue at 11 o'clock this morning for Maryborough Cemetery.
Julius died intestate. He was buried in Maryborough Cemetery (plot B640) on 29 Aug 1921, in a joint grave with his late wife Christina Helena and their daughter Julia.
A Statutory Notice to Creditors by the Official Solicitor to the Public Curator, Brisbane,dated 17 Oct 1921, appeared in the Maryborough Chronicle of 24 October 1921, page 7. It advised that creditors of Julius Jensen Bak, late of Dunmora, who died on or about 14 Aug 1921, should send their claims to the Public Curator, Brisbane on or before 20 Dec 1921. After that date, the Curator would distribute the assets of the deceased among the entitled parties, but having regard only to claims of which he had been notified.
There is an unusual postscript to Julius' death. His daughter Anna's 1912 marriage entry said that he was deceased. Anna's sister Christina was a witness to the wedding. When Julius' daughter Maria married at 17 years of age in 1911, consent was given by the Guardian of Minors. This implies that her father was dead. Julius' death seems to be generally accepted by three daughters and, as Nancy Annette was the baby of the family, she too was probably of this belief.
Maria's brother James, on his WW1 enlistment on 17 Sep 1914, gave next of kin as J. Bak of Yungarie Qld.
If J. Bak is Julius, as seems likely, it would indicate James was aware his father was alive. If this is true, it would seem only the daughters thought he was dead. Prima facie evidence would suggest the Campbell's were the ones that spread the lie, in order to protect Maria (and possibly her sisters) from being contacted by Julius. It seems that the legacy of Julius' neglect, and possibly abuse, was his estrangement from his daughters for more than the last decade of his life.
|Jensen-Bak, Julius (I6354)
Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) names Eward's brother Mark as "The only son", but this is clearly incorrect, according to the St Michan baptism register, which has 3 children - Anne, Mark and Eward - the latter baptised 25 Jul 1699.
|Synnott, Eward (I8913)
Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) and P. Hore Synnott Pedigree (1913) have no entry for this child of Marcus and Jane. Her name is taken to be Maria Marcia born 1819: most family trees have only one child, born either 1819 or 1821, with there being several name variants, and with either person married to Alexander Rowley Miller. As there appear to be 2 definite birth dates (3 Jan 1819 and 3 Mar 1821), it is likely that both children existed, but that Marcia (1819) died young and Marcia (1821) was given a same or similar name.
Apart from Maria Marcia, all the siblings are in the will of Mary (died 1869).
Maria Marcia (b. 1819) is not known to have married or to have had any children.
|Synnot, Maria Marcia (I8298)
Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) gives 10 Jan 1862 for the marriage of Mary Jane Cumberland Synnot and David Boswell Reid.
The marriage date should most likely be 10 Jun 1862, as in Henry Swanzy The Families of French of Belturbet and Nixon of Fermanagh (Alex Thom & Co Ltd, Dublin, 1908). The Australian Marriage Index reg. no. is 1863/1146, indicating a registration in early 1863.
|Synnot, Mary Jane Cumberland (I9104)
Burke's Irish Family Records (1976) gives her name as Helen Mary. It is Helena Mary in the Civil Registration Index (births), and in
David Synnott In Quest of Gentility, Part 2 (unpublished, Sark, Channel Islands, 2004), a history of the family of Thomas Synnott and Mary Petronella Hunt.
|Synnott, Helena Mary (I10707)