Cousins and Relationships
Cousins
It is very easy to research Family History simply
by following one straight direct lineage, but in the early days of colonisation
in any of the Colonial Outposts that had their beginnings with English and
European settlers , there were not so many choices once they landed, to go
about their lives, and attend social gatherings in order to chose their life
partner.
Choice was limited.
Siblings from one lineage married siblings from another. These relationships resulted in many cousins. Those cousins also married many of those
lineages, and so it goes.
In the future researchers trying to establish where
their links are, will expect to see those links immediately. Unless some sort of documented evidence is
available, research is extremely difficult.
Writing family stories and keeping diaries has been
an enormous benefit to those undertaking contemporary research, and to provide
additional proof when establishing one's lineage.
In the case of "Cousins", there are so
many crossing over of family lineages, it can be difficult to follow, unless an
expanded family tree is available. There
are of course still a lot of people who live in UK who are hoping to find one
shred of evidence of their relations who were shipped across the water when
King James granted the rights to the merchants of London to establish the
settlement at Jamestown.
Hopefully the Bacon/Cobbe family will also be able
to unravel some of the missing links they have in regard to Martha Cobbe from
County Laois in Ireland.
This is about some cousins that many may have no
idea they were related to. It is also as
a tribute to someone who would have been more than happy to share stories with
us in October.
Henry Westbrook married Sarah Brocoli and had two
sons,
Dr James Westbrook 1790 - 1839 m Elizabeth Chapple
1794 - 1869
Dr Samuel Westbrook 1795 - 1866 married Mary Mason
1799 - 1855
Both came to Australia.
1. Dr James
Westbrook had a son Thomas
1.1 Thomas married Fanny Elizabeth Lempriere
1.1.1 Their son Hedley Westbrook 1868 married Isabelle Abbott 1867
2. Dr Samuel
Westbrook had a son James Horatio Westbrook
2.1 James Horatio Westbrook married Margaret
Bacon
The Lempieres
Thomas Lempriere 1755 married Harriet Allen 1770
L1 Thomas James Lempieres married Charlotte Smith
L1.1 Fanny Elizabeth Lempieres married Thomas
Westbrook
L2 Harriet
Anne Lempriere 1800 - 1836 who married
Charles Abbott 1800 - 1851
L2.1 Charles Orr Abbott 1831 - 1887 who married
Charlotte Everest 1833 - 1913
L.2.1.1 Lucy Abbott married Frederick Charles
Bradshaw
L.2.1.1.1 Their daughter was Charlotte Bradshaw m
David Reid Bryce
L2.1.1.1.1 Their son
married the daughter of Claude and Jean Shone.
L2.1.2 Isabelle Abbott married Hedley Westbrook
The Bradshaws
Frederick Charles Bradshaw was the son of John
Bradshaw and Maria Bacon
His brother John Thomas Stanley Bradshaw married
Isabella Mary Bowden the daughter of Thomas Bowden and Sarah Ann Bradshaw the
daughter of William Bradshaw and Mary Jane Gunn
His sister Ada Mary Bradshaw married Copeland
Cobden Bradshaw who was the son of William Bradshaw and Louisa Elwin.
Copeland Cobden Bradshaw's sister Emily Louisa
Bradshaw married William James Young who was the son of James Henry Young and
Frances Ann Hurburgh.
James Henry Young was the son of Captain William
Young and Rebecca Bradshaw/Jillett
Frances Ann Hurburgh's brother James Mackie Hurburgh married Mary Hannah Bradshaw who was the daughter of William Bradshaw
and Lousia Elwin and the sister of Copeland Cobden Bradshaw.
Their daughter Evaline Isabella Jane Young married
Walter Allen Shone 1868 - 1941
He was the son of Thomas Allen Shone and Eliza Cockerill
His brother Stanton Henric Shone married Lulu
Mezger Hurburgh
Lulu's sister Evaline Hurburgh married Clarence
Louis Bradshaw who was the son of Alfred Henry Edward Bradshaw and Margaret
Spelman. Edward was the son of William
Bradshaw and Mary Jane Gunn.
Walter Allen Shones' brother Alfred Shone married
Florence Blakeney their son Claud Edward Shone married Jean Florence Strutt.
Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 - 1928), Tuesday 5 August
1884, page 3
ROSS. (FROM OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT.)
DECEASE OF MR JAMES H. WESTBROOK.
I deeply regret to have to announce the death of Mr James Horatio
Westbrook, after a long and painful illness, aged 59 years. Mr Westbrook was
for many years Warden of Ross Municipality, which office he filled for some
years with ability and uprightness. He was an honorable man, liked and
respected by all who knew him. He breathed his last on Sunday, and the
interment takes place in the Church of England Cemetery to-morrow (Tuesday).
August 4.
Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Wednesday 21
December 1932, page 8
OBITUARY.
Mr. F. C. Bradshaw, Queenstown.
Tho death occurred at the Lyell District Hospital, Queenstown, yesterday
morning of Mr. Frederick Charles Bradshaw, an old resident of the Lyell field.
The late Mr. Bradshaw, who was 70 years of age, had been in ill health for the
last three months, and had been an inmate of the hospital for some time.
He first came to the Lyell district 35 years ago, and was employed by
the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co as a boiler hand. Following the
installation of the Lake Margaret electric power scheme, Mr. Bradshaw was
appointed to take charge of the power plant at the sub-station at the works, a
position he filled up to the time of his illness. The late Mr. Bradshaw was
twice married. His first wife was Miss Worrall, of Victoria, who died over 30
years ago. He later married Miss Abbott, of Hobart, who survives him. He leaves
a family of three daughters - Mesdames Alan Murray (Queenstown), D.R. Bryce
(Hobart) land Bryant Colman (Hobart). A brother, Mr. George Bradshaw, who
formerly lived at Queenstown for many years, is living at Hamilton.
The late Mr. Bradshaw was a son of the late Mr. F.
Bradshaw, who was the proprietor of a flourmill at Oatlands in the early
days. The funeral will take place
to-morrow, afternoon
Thomas James Lempriere
Thomas James Lempriere (1796–1852) artist and
government official, was born on 11 January 1796 at Hamburg, Germany, where his
father, Thomas Lempriere, a Jersey banker and merchant, was working. An
adventurous early life included being imprisoned with his father by Napoleon at
Verdun in 1803, although the 7-year-old boy was soon returned to his mother,
Harriet née Allen, in England. He served the Commissariat Department in France, Flanders and the West Indies (1815–16), then was employed in the counting house of cousins, T and W March and Co, London. Under their auspices, Lempriere sailed for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the Regalia, arriving in Hobart in 1822 to commence his own business. Following a short and unsuccessful period as a merchant, he joined the Commissariat Department and remained in its employ until his death at sea on 6 January 1852 en route to Aden, having been invalided home to England from a post in Hong Kong.
A shipboard romance resulted in his marriage to Charlotte Smith in 1823, and their large family was born over twenty years from 1824. Lempriere was prominent in the development of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land, but his Hobart business failed and by September 1825 he was insolvent. He rejoined the Commissariat Department and as well as working in Hobart Town, his duties took him to posts at the major penal settlements in Van Diemen's Land: Macquarie Harbour, Maria Island and Port Arthur. He served at the last in 1833-48 and there wrote his account of the penal settlements which was published in parts in the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science (Hobart Town 1842-46).
Another
painting from Macquarie Harbour
Portraiture was Lempriere's forte and comprises the major part of his work. His best-known portraits are probably the early ones of his commandant at Port Arthur, Captain Charles O'Hara Booth, and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte, but Lempriere's diaries document many others, a good percentage of which survive, largely with the families for whom they were painted.
He planned the Port Arthur church, took services there and was a prominent Mason. From his time at Sarah Island, Lempriere collected fish specimens for the marine naturalist, Sir John Richardson, and mammals, birds and insects for William Swainson, to whom he was introduced through a gift of Swainson's Naturalist's Guide. Lempriere formed a museum at Port Arthur in 1837 and kept tidal and meteorological information, and a skate named in his honour (Raja lemprieri) testifies to his scientific interests.
Lempriere played the bugle horn and key bugle and was a Francophile and inveterate diarist.
Reminiscences Grandmother Dobson
Granny was the youngest of eleven brothers and sisters, the children of Thomas Lempriere, and was born at Port Arthur. Thomas Lempriere was a British Army Officer, who later entered the diplomatic service. Then he came to the young colony of Tasmania. He hated Port Arthur, and asked to be sent to some other place, a request that was eventually granted. He died at Aden when travelling to England, and his tomb is in Aden cemetery. His wife died early also, and Granny was brought up by her eldest brother and his wife. The Lempiere motto is Eagles do not bring forth doves. All who knew Granny would understand that. But she was not all eagle - she was devout, loving and compassionate.
Nevertheless there was no doubt about her energy and fighting qualities. It was a family joke that she was the President of nearly everything! The Victoria League; Alliance Françoise; National Council of Women and so on, in fact she was President of both the Tasmanian and the Australian Branch; and a Vice-President of the world body. She also became the Australian Chief Commissioner of the Girl Guides. There was nothing she would not tackle.
For all the good works and they were many, our grandmother was a formidable woman. Even the Duke of Clarence, when Prince of Wales, had to suffer a rebuke when he made an uncalled for remark to her at a ball at Government House Hobart. Kaiser Wilhelm II was also surprised by her at a function at Potsdam. No woman had ever dared to object to anything he said until Granny spoke her mind. I do not know what subject he raised, but his opinion did not agree with Granny's ideas, and she had no hesitation in telling him so! How The all Highest felt I do not know, but I gathered that he behaved impeccably like the gentlemen he was. One feels that after the fawning German women, he enjoyed a woman who would really talk to him, especially a subject of his formidable uncle, Edward VII. [anecdote about Kaiser and Queen Victoria omitted here]
Granny had a fascinating scrapbook of cartoons in which she figured. In one of them she was chasing Sir George Reid in Sydney, singing 'I'll have Georgy Porgy on a sour apple tree' but I cannot recall what her row with him was about. The Sydney Bulletin was the perpetrator of a very choice cartoon. At the time Granny was campaigning for a sewerage system in all cities. During her visit to Sydney she gave a picnic for prominent people somewhere on the shore of the Parramatta River. The cartoon showed the party reclining on the grass with a night-cart standing by. Each bucket bore the label of some choice food, and the carton was captioned Mrs Dobson's Picnic.
Granny was a great traveller. She had been to every continent and numerous countries. She crossed from Japan, took the Tran Siberian Rail to Moscow, and trained on to St Petersburg. She also visited Alaska. Sometimes her journeys were in connection with some organisation - the National Council of Women was one - and sometimes for other reasons, family and so on. Granny could make herself understood in several languages, but in German she was fluent.
On one visit to England she received news that Grandpa was very ill in a hospital in New Zealand, and that the doctors had decided he would not recover. Granny took every shortcut to reach him. There was no air travel in those days. He was still alive when she arrived. She took charge, brushed the nurses aside and tended him day and night until she had pulled him through. When he was out of danger, the doctor in charge told her it was she who had saved his life. She was a fitting mate for the old battler.
In spite of her political and social activities, and running various societies she found time to make good use of her abilities as an actress and musician of high amateur status. Hobart in spite of having the oldest theatre in Australia still in use, was off the beaten track, and players and singers seldom made the trek south to Hobart.
Granny and Mr A G Webster, who founded the well known firm bearing his name, put on a play in which they both appeared and for which they drilled the other players. Granny told me that Mr Webster had the most expressive face she had known and that in comedy scenes she often found it hard to stop herself from laughing. But her greatest achievement was in staging some of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. She coached all the singers in her drawing room both in their singing and acting.
Our amazing grandmother was a very good chess player. When playing against young people, or any poor player, she would start without her queen, a big handicap indeed. On board ship she played a lot, and was never beaten. On one voyage after calling at Naples, the Captain told her that a friend of his, who had just joined the ship, was a very keen chess player, and would she be kind enough to give him a game. They had a good tussle and he won. Only then did the Captain reveal that she had been playing against one of the European champions. There was laughter in which Granny joined and she was congratulated on the fight she had put up.
Granny was so talented that she had successes in two other fields - panting and cooking. Conrad Martens was delighted when she showed him many of her watercolours and he said he would give her a dozen of his in exchange for a dozen of hers. What higher praise could anyone expect than that? Six of the dozen he gave her were signed. The other six were not, and it is supposed that two or three of these were by his most advanced pupils.
As to the cooking Granny had a way of coaxing the well known chefs around Europe into giving her the recipes of dishes and sauces she had linked when dining in restaurants. As she was a good cook from a young age she easily learned to translate the recipes into the finished articles and she taught her own cooks (each cook that she had) to handle the job properly. At one point she failed to find a good enough cook in Hobart and asked my mother to find one in Sydney and bring her down when we made our annual visit, which was nearly due. This woman was good, too good, for she realised the value of Granny's recipe book; and when she left her place a few years later, it was found to be missing, but it was so difficult to prove that she had stolen it so nothing was done.
One of the Governors of Tasmania was without a wife, and he felt he needed a hostess when he gave a ball or any other public functional Government House, so he asked Granny to act as hostess on those occasions which she did.
When the Duke of York, who became George V later on, visited the Australian colonies, his study at Government House was furnished from Elboden Place, as it was then named. You will remember that in the drawing room, there was a lovely Italian walnut writing table with brass fittings. This was Granny's own, and was one of the pieces loaned for the Duke's study.
Granny had an autograph book of most of the famous people who visited Australia. Mark Twain asked Granny where he could obtain some leg irons that were plentiful at one time at Port Arthur.
This she managed to do. In her autograph book he wrote, as far as I remember - Dear Mrs Dobson, Thank you for the leg irons of my dear departed grandfather.
Source
http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/csr/information_and_resources/significant_tasmanian_women/significant_tasmanian_women_-_research_listing/emily_dobson/reminiscence
Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Monday 28 September
1953, page 12
REMINDER OF EARLY DAYS
LAUNCESTON - Hither to unpublished copies of manuscripts left by Thomas
James Lempriere, onetime Commissioner-General to the forces in Van Diemen's
Land, will be on sale in Tasmania shortly.
Copies' of the manuscripts will be included in a sesquicentennial volume
to be published by the Northern branch of the Royal Society. The volumes will
be sold at a price sufficient to pay for their printing. -
The manuscript-the copies of which were obtained by the branch chairman
(Mr. K. von ] Stieglitz) from the Mitchell Library, Sydney, deal with life ' in
the Island's early penal settlements.
Lempriere, who made a careful study of prison life, classified the three
main penal settlements thus- Maria Island, educated type of prisoner; Macquarie
Harbor, for real bad hats; Port Arthur, a model prison.
A magistrate for the territory of Van Diemen's Land, Lempriere described
in his manuscripts the regulations of those establishments. He also remarked on
the effect .produced on the convicts by the discipline they' underwent.
Lempriere, who was an artist as well as author, left several water colours,
and it is hoped to use a reprint of one of these in the volume.
His Biography
Thomas
James Lempriere, (1796–1852) by W. F. Ellis
This article was published
in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, (MUP), 1967
In 1822 T. J. Lempriere emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in the Regalia. In Hobart Town on 29 May 1823 he married Charlotte Smith; they had twelve children. He received a grant of land and became a merchant and foundation shareholder of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land. He was joined by his parents and sisters in 1825 when, with his father, he formed a merchant business in Hobart Town trading as Lempriere & Co., which failed in 1827. He left the company in 1826 for employment in the Commissariat Department as a storekeeper at the penal settlements on Maria Island and Macquarie Harbour. In 1831 he was transferred to the commissariat headquarters at Hobart as a clerk.
He was promoted deputy assistant commissary general on 20 January 1837 and assistant commissary general in December 1844. On 25 May 1846 he was also appointed a coroner for Tasmania. He was recalled to England in 1849 for immediate transfer as assistant commissary general in Hong Kong. After a brief service there he was invalided home in 1851 but died on the voyage on 6 January 1852. He was buried at Aden.
Lempriere was a regular diarist and gathered his observations of the convict stations at which he served for publication under the title 'The Penal Settlements of Van Diemen's Land'. This was published in part in the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science during 1842 and 1846 and later issued in full by the Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1954. His artistic talent was well known and he was commissioned to paint landscapes and the portraits of many prominent settlers. He also maintained a keen interest in natural history and was prominent among the early collectors who provided specimens of Tasmanian animals and plants for study in England.
Nephews and Cousins
Using
this display is easier to follow the cousin lineage
His
father was Arthur Abbott
Arthur Valentine Rutherford Abbott was a Politician
in West Australia His family were all
in the legal profession.
He served as an Independent Nationalist
in 1939, from 1943 Nationalist then Liberal from 1945 and Liberal and Country
League
Enlisted Perth Australian
Imperial Force (AIF) 26 May 1916
Embarked for United Kingdom 14 February 1917
Served with 10th Australian Field Artillery Brigade as gunner until August 1917
Then served with Australian Flying Corps; air mechanic until February 1918
2nd Lieutenant promoted to Lieutenant May 1918—instructor Discharged 29 December 1919
Practised law with firm of Abbott and Abbott until 1952, firm amalgamated with Robinson and Cox
Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 1 October 1935
On active list 2 September 1939, Reserve 7 June 1940 and active list again 27 April 1942, served as Squadron Leader, staff and administration officer
Discharged 24 September 1945
Director of Coventry Motors Replacements Ltd, City Motors Ltd and Major Holdings Ltd
After leaving Parliament continued as associate with Robinson and Cox
Embarked for United Kingdom 14 February 1917
Served with 10th Australian Field Artillery Brigade as gunner until August 1917
Then served with Australian Flying Corps; air mechanic until February 1918
2nd Lieutenant promoted to Lieutenant May 1918—instructor Discharged 29 December 1919
Practised law with firm of Abbott and Abbott until 1952, firm amalgamated with Robinson and Cox
Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 1 October 1935
On active list 2 September 1939, Reserve 7 June 1940 and active list again 27 April 1942, served as Squadron Leader, staff and administration officer
Discharged 24 September 1945
Director of Coventry Motors Replacements Ltd, City Motors Ltd and Major Holdings Ltd
After leaving Parliament continued as associate with Robinson and Cox
He married the daughter of
another WA MP William Edward Marmion.
West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Wednesday 3 April 1907,
page 6
A DETERMINED SUICIDE. A YOUNG MAN SHOOTS HIMSELFE
Deep regret was expressed in military and legal circles yesterday when
it be. came known that Mr. Harold W. Abbott, a lieutenant in the 11th
Australian Infantry Regiment. and a solicitor practising at Pingelly. had
committed suicide. Shortly after-8 o'clock yesterday morning. Mr. Russell. the
caretaker of the King's Park bowling green discovered the body of a man lying
out the ground, face downward, among some scrub in close proximity to the green
and he immediately notified the police. Constable Bake proceeded to the spot.
and he reports that he found the deceased lying on his left side. with a bullet
wound in the right temple. A revolver, loaded in five chambers, and with a discharged
cartridge in the sixth, was clenched in the right hand underneath the body. 'There
was nothing on the body to indicate the, reason for self-destruction, nor were
the police able to discover any cause.
Mr. Abbott attended the annual course of training for the military
forces. and when it terminated on Monday evening he appeared to be in the best
of health and spirits. He was about 30 years of age, and a brother of Mr. A. F.
Abbott, the well-known Perth practitioner. An inquest was opened yesterday
afternoon before Mr. J. C. 'Brickhill, J.P., Acting-Coroner, and a jury of
three. Evidence of identification was given by Mr. W. H. Jones, the licensee of
the Royal Hotel, where the deceased was staying, and the inquest was adjourned
to half-past 2 o'clock on Monday next.
Dr Charles Thomas Abbott
Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931),
Friday 15 October 1926, page 15
Dr.
Charles Thomas Abbott died at his residence, George-street, Payneham, on
Thursday, At the age of 68. He was bom in Hobart, and went to America to
continue his medical studies. He graduated at the Louisvilie
University, Kentucky, and entered practice at San Francisco. Dr. Abbott
suffered heavy financial loss as a result of the earthquake in that city in
1906. After 16 years in America he returned to Australia, and practised at Woodside,
on the West Coast, and in Victoria. Of late years he had been living in
retirement. He left a widow and two sons. Dr. Nigel Gresley Abbott, of
Tasmania. and Mr. Charles Lempriere Abbott, the well-known Adelaide solicitor.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 12
September 1906, page 7
DR. ABBOTT'S LECTURE.
Great interest is being taken in the lecture to be given by Dr. Charles
. T. Abbott in the Town-hall on Monday evening next, in the presence of His
Excellency the Governor and the Lady Pauline Strickland. Dr. Abbott is the
eldest son of the late Mr. Charles O. Abbott, of Sandy Bay, for many years the
highly-respected accountant of the V.D.L. Bank in its palmy days. He is also
one of the many old Hutchins School boys who have been a credit to the land of
their birth, and who have done well to advertise our little island in far-off
lands. Dr. Abbott had settled in San Francisco, and was one of the 900 doctors
who had large practices there, but who, in the space of a few seconds, lost
practically every-thing they possessed, and will now be obliged to begin life
over again.
Some of the doctors still remain in the ruined city, in the hope that
better days will come, and Dr. Abbott would probably have been one of them,
being blessed with the proverbial Tasmanian pluck, but that the terrible shock
so seriously affected Mrs. Abbott's health that they were obliged to leave the
fated city. Tasmanians are ever ready to rally round a comrade in distress, and
it is hoped that a crowded house on Monday evening will prove that, although
Tasmania is small in size, its people are large in their sympathy and kindness
of heart. The pleasure of the lecture will be enhanced by a display of
limelight views of San Francisco as it was and as it now is; also by musical
items by Miss Irene Gillon and Mr. Haywood's clever choristers. Tickets for the
lecture are obtainable at Messrs. Walchs'. Toplis's, Gould's, and Drake's.
Sons of Dr Charles Abbott - 1858 - 1926
SIR
Charles Arthur Hillas Lempriere
Abbott B.A. LL.B. M.H.A
SIR CHARLES ARTHUR HILLAS LEMPRIERE ABBOTT / QC.
B.A. LLB. / Attorney General of S.A. 1944-1946 / Judge of the Supreme Court of
S.A. 1946-1959 / Grand Master of The Grand Lodge of Freemasons 1950-1952 / Born
31.10.1889 Died 14.9.1960 / And of his wife / GLADYS ROSE ABBOTT / Born
19.9.1890 Died 23.7.1964
Dr Nigel Abbott, was a medical doctor who was
involved with the conservative Nationalist Party (a precursor to the Liberal
Party)—Abbott senior was an endorsed Nationalist candidate for the seat of Franklin at the 1934 Tasmanian state
election, but
failed to nominate by the deadline.
His son was
Nigel
Drury Gresley Abbott
AM (29 March 1920 – 13 November
2011) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal
member of the Tasmanian House of
Assembly from
1964 to 1972, representing the seat of Denison. Tasmania's first Minister for
Road Safety, he resigned from the Liberal Party to stand as an independent after failing to get his road
safety measures approved by the party.
Abbott was born in the town of Clunes, near Ballarat in
Victoria. He moved to Tasmania with his family when his father, a doctor,
started a medical practice in the Huon Valley. He was educated at
a public high school in Geeveston,
then at the Anglican private school Hutchins in Hobart, and
completing his secondary education at St Peter's College, Adelaide in 1937.[2] Following his father into a medical career, Abbott studied the first year of a medical degree at the University of Tasmania before moving to the University of Adelaide in South Australia, from where he graduated MBBS in 1944. During his studies, he played six games of Australian rules football for South Adelaide in the SANFL.[3]
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 15 July
1930, page 2
TASMANIAN 103 YEARS OLD
Death of Mr. H. F. Westbrook Son of First Civilian Medical Practitioner
During the last week-end the death occurred of Mr. Henry Fookes
Westbrook, at Murrumbeena, at the age of 103 years and eight months (writes
S.C. in the "Age"). He was regarded as Australia's oldest male
native. Probably the oldest native woman is Mrs. Catherine Woods, of Young
(N.S.W.), who was born at Colac nearly 105 years ago.
The son of Dr. Samuel Westbrook, Tasmania's first civilian medical
practitioner, Henry Fookes Westbrook was born in Elizabeth Street, Hobart, on
November 4, 1826. His uncle (Dr. James Westbrook) was also one of Tasmania's
first doctors, whilst his brother-in-law (Joseph Downward) was at one time
superintendent of Port Arthur prison hospital. When the first Hobart Town
Cricket Club was formed Mr. Westbrook was a boy of six. This club was
Australia's pioneer cricket club, for there were none on the mainland then. In
1840 Mr. Westbrook joined the club, which played the first international game
contested in this country. Then known as the Break o' Day Club, it defeated an
eleven drawn from the crew of the visiting British ship Hyacinth and a recently
arrived English regiment of soldiers.
The Break o' Day Club was fortunate in having the first English
professional brought to Australia (by name Marshall) to instruct its players,
and young Westbrook, under his tuition, became a good cricketer. In-deed, it
was his boast that he was never once clean bowled.
When the Henty brothers left Launceston to settle at Portland, young
Westbrook was a little chap of eight years. When Batman sailed from Launceston
in the Rebecca and signed the historic treaty on the banks of the Plenty, he
(Westbrook) was nine, and he was but 11 when Sir John Franklin arrived in
Hobart to become Governor. Sir John Franklin later achieved fame as an Arctic
explorer. In one year alone, when Mr. Westbrook was 18, no fewer than 15,000
prisoners arrived. He remembered watching the chain gangs of convicts
constructing the road between Hobart and Launceston, and dared not offer any of
them tobacco, for if it were discovered in their possession, the penalty was a
flogging at the triangle. He also remembered the Port Arthur penal
establishment, some of the ruins of which remain to-day, and when it was broken
up in 1877.
In the Derwent in 1847 no fewer than 47 vessels engaged in the whaling,
industry were anchored. Mr. Westbrook remembered them, for Hobart was at that
time one of the principal whaling ports of the world. The Derwent Whaling Club
offered a prize of eight dollars (Mexican or Spanish coinage) to the first
person reporting the presence of a whale in or near the river. Going in for
squatting, Mr. Westbrook became manager of Parker's station at Cressy, and
later was made overseer on William Grubb's run. During that time Tasmanian
stone was sent to Melbourne to build the Elizabeth Street Post Office - then,
of course, the G.P.O. When Lanne, the last of the Tasmanian male aborigines,
died, Mr. Westbrook was about 43, and he was about 50 when Truganinni - the
last female Tasmanian black - passed away.
At the age of 85 Mr. Westbrook arrived in Melbourne, in 1911, and lived
for many years at Heidelberg with one of his married daughters, Mrs. Olive
Nielsen. Eight of his family of eleven children are living, and are scattered
about in the different States. Up to the time of his death he often travelled
unaccompanied between Heidelberg and Malvern.
Whilst on the subject of centenarians, it is interesting to recall that
Mrs. "Granny" Smith, of Boorowa (N.S.W.) who was born at Goulburn in
the same State, is still alive, aged nearly 103. In December, 1927, Mrs. Ann
McLean, then the oldest woman in Victoria, died at Cheltenham at the great age
of 107. At 104 years Bendigo's oldest woman died two years ago, and (at the
time) New Zealand's oldest inhabitant (Elizabeth Rore) passed away in March
last at the great age of 107. But the oldest man in the Dominion at the time of
his death was Dennis Ryan, who died two years age, aged 104.
Death of Harry Fookes Westbrook
The son of Dr. Samuel Westbrook, Tasmania's first civilian medical
practitioner, Henry Fookes Westbrook was born in Elizabeth Street, Hobart, on
November 4, 1826. His uncle (Dr. James Westbrook) was also one of Tasmania's
first doctors, whilst his brother-in-law (Joseph Downward) was at one time
superintendent of Port Arthur prison hospital. When the first Hobart Town
Cricket Club was formed Mr. Westbrook was a boy of six. This club was
Australia's pioneer cricket club, for there were none on the mainland then. In
1840 Mr. Westbrook joined the club, which played the first international game
contested in this country. Then known as the Break o' Day Club, it defeated an
eleven drawn from the crew of the visiting British ship Hyacinth and a recently
arrived English regiment of soldiers. The Break o' Day Club was fortunate in
having the first English professional brought to Australia (by name Marshall)
to instruct its players, and young Westbrook, under his tuition, became a good
cricketer. In-deed, it was his boast that he was never once clean bowled.
When the Henty brothers left Launceston to settle at Portland, young
Westbrook was a little chap of eight years. When Batman sailed from Launceston
in the Rebecca and signed the historic treaty on the banks of the Plenty, he
(Westbrook) was nine, and he was but 11 when Sir John Franklin arrived in
Hobart to become Governor. Sir John Franklin later achieved fame as an Arctic
explorer. In one year alone, when Mr. Westbrook was 18, no fewer than 15,000
prisoners arrived.
He remembered watching the chain gangs of convicts constructing the road
between Hobart and Launceston, and dared not offer any of them tobacco, for if
it were discovered in their possession, the penalty was a flogging at the
triangle. He also remembered the Port Arthur penal establishment, some of the
ruins of which remain to-day, and when it was broken up in 1877.
In the Derwent in 1847 no fewer than 47 vessels engaged in the whaling,
industry were anchored. Mr. Westbrook remembered them, for Hobart was at that
time one of the principal whaling ports of the world. The Derwent Whaling Club
offered a prize of eight dollars (Mexican or Spanish coinage) to the first
person reporting the presence of a whale in or near the river. Going in for
squatting, Mr. Westbrook became manager of Parker's station at Cressy, and
later was made overseer on William Grubb's run. During that time Tasmanian
stone was sent to Melbourne to build the Elizabeth Street Post Office - then,
of course, the G.P.O. When Lanne, the last of the Tasmanian male aborigines,
died, Mr. Westbrook was about 43, and he was about 50 when Truganinni - the
last female Tasmanian black - passed away.
At the age of 85 Mr. Westbrook arrived in Melbourne, in 1911, and lived
for many years at Heidelberg with one of his married daughters, Mrs. Olive
Nielsen. Eight of his family of eleven children are living, and are scattered
about in the different States. Up to the time of his death he often travelled
unaccompanied between Heidelberg and Malvern.
St George's Church
Hobart
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 14
May 1938, page 17
HISTORY OVER A CENTURY
St. George's Church Celebrates 100 Years Of Worship
WELL-KNOWN HOBART LANDMARK
One of the most beautiful church buildings in Hobart is the central
figure in centenary celebrations which will begin tomorrow. St. George's,
Battery Point, is a notable landmark, with its tower rising high above the
dwellings which now hem it in. One hundred years ago most of the scanty
population of that period lived near the waterside, in association with which
they derived their livelihood. The greater portion of Battery Point was
unoccupied, and with-out roads. A rough track ascended to Kermode's Hill, where
St. George's Church now stands.
The church was opened for Divine service on Whitsun-day, in June, 1838,
when Archdeacon Hutchins administered the Sacrament. Its history goes back to
1834, when a subscription list was instituted for a building fund for the
erection of a church. The site was purchased for £250.
The site, as described by the Hobart Town "Courier" of October
14, 1836, occupied a commanding eminence between the battery and Luckman's new
windmill, which is seen in old photographs of St. George's. The trustees of the
property were Messrs. James Grant, Thomas Smith, Robert Kerr, and Gamaliel Butler,
the transfer being dated February 16, 1836.
The plans for the church are said to have been copied from those of St.
Pancras Church, London, and the architect was Mr. James Blackburn. Tenders were
called in the "Courier" on May 6, 1836, and the successful tenderer
was Mr. John Wright, at an amount of £2,479. The Government of the day
contributed £1,229. The foundation stone was laid on October 19, 1837, by Col.
George Arthur; this was the his last public function as Governor of Van
Diemen's Land.
The stone cannot now be identified, and it is assumed either that it did
not bear an inscription or that this was engraved on top of the stone, as is
known to have been the case with other early foundation stones.
The late Mr. W. R. Butler, who witnessed the ceremony, verified that
coins and papers of the day were placed under the stone, which was laid in the north-east
corner.
The church was consecrated on May 26, 1838, by the first and only Bishop
of Australia (the Rt. Rev. Dr. W. G. Broughton) assisted by the Ven. William
Hutchins, first Archdeacon of Van Diemen's Land, and the Rev. William Bedford.
Completion of Church
The tower was left unfinished, because the authorities in England took
exception to the proposed cost. It was delayed further in the hope that a peal of
bells might he added. Unfortunately, the necessary funds were not made available,
and the tower was completed in its present shape in July, 1847. The front of
the church, however, was unfinished, there being no porch or side rooms,
although an examination of the masonry suggests that the side walls already
were extended to their present length.
Following action taken at a special meeting of parishioners on July 21,
1862, under the chairmanship of the Rev. G. Banks-Smith, to consider the
question of completing the church, "The Mercury" of June 3, 186x
recorded:
"St. George's Church. The improvement has been effected: the front
of the church is now uniform, and the completion of the porch is only necessary
to render the building one of the most beautiful in Hobart Town. The additions
to the church consist of a class and meeting room, and a vestry room, both of
which are lofty and lighted by a large window in the Egyptian style of
architecture, the latter (vestry) communicates with the church by a door. The
cornices at each end of the front are construct-ed of very beautiful and
elaborate, though chaste, stonework, also in the Egyptian style, and the area
in front of the entrance will be adorned with choice flowers and shrubs, which
will be planted at the proper season."
The church completion fund was kept open, and at a meeting of
churchwardens and seat-holders on January 10, 1888, the tender of Messrs.
Seabrook and Reynolds, for £637 was accepted. Mr. Robert Huckson was the
architect, and the plans were drawn by a parishioner, Mr. Hedley Westbrook, who
now resides at Bellerive. The large stones for the Grecian Doric columns were
obtained from the quarry at the rear of the present Municipal Hall at Bellerive.
Mr. Robert Hutchison was clerk of works, and the porch was built under his
supervision.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954),
Wednesday 31 July 1946, page 16
The writer of the article on "Spirit of Tasmanian Pioneers" is not certain of the date of the laying of the foundation stone of old St. David's Church. The following is a copy of an entry made by the Rev Robert Knopwood on the cover of his prayer book, signed by him in 1827, presented by him to Mrs William Rumney, and now owned by and in the safe custody of the Diocese:
"The foundation stone of St. David Church, Hobart Town, was laid with due form the 19 th February, 1817, by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor Davey, Lieut, RM, in honour of the late Lieut Governor Collins, Lieut-Col RM, and founder of the settlements of VD Land."
The last paragraph agrees with the statement in the gazette of Sept. 23, 1820, as to the reason why it was called St. David. When a boy. I attended a service held in old St. David. The name of the present cathedral was then being built alongside, so it could not have been built on the old church site.
According to Archdeacon Barrett's "History": "St. George's Church. Sorell, was commenced in 1826 and completed in 1828. It was a large stone building with galleries on three sides for prisoners. It was used till 1879. Then, being unsafe, it was pulled down and the present building on a smaller scale erected in 1883." It is built within the area enclosed by the old church foundations and is only 63 years old, not "a century church" as stated. .
HEDLEY WESTBROOK. Bellerive.
A Special Cousin
Since
2010 we have been very fortunate to meet a very large extended Jillett Family.
People
that we, as descendants of Thomas Jillett had no knowledge of at all. The reasons were all to do with some brothers
not liking their sister's choice of husbands.
Now
perhaps those sisters may have also formed their own set of opinions, but it
was enough to ensure that their offspring never met nor had any inkling of
those who shared their DNA.
It
took a pile of rubble to break down those barriers. In the North of Queensland, Julie thought she
had no extended family, my father in law never met any of his Jillett
cousins. His mother had some sort of
"grudge" with her brothers and uncles, over her perception and story
that her father did not leave her any money in his will.
Well
that was totally incorrect, in fact both girls did rather well. Another was that she was brought up by the
step mother and didn't get on. That also
was not correct. She may very well not
have like the step mother, who her father married a short time after his wife
died in 1918 of the Influenza.
All
her uncles also married a second time later in life.
The
rift was so marked that Dale did not know of his uncle, and when the whole lot
was passed on, I assumed the uncle was his great uncle. The Family in Queensland were known as The
Jillett Brothers. That was my
excuse!
But
that is all in the past and we have connections with both Thomas's daughters,
which is fantastic.
And
resemblance? well who would ever have thought that two girls around the same
age, 3rd cousins, could look almost identical., and with the exact same
mannerisms and facial expressions. We
did a double take, our granddaughters did not even notice the difference.
Among
those cousins we have met we two in Hobart who were cousins twice over. Trying to piece that together was always a
bit difficult.
A
descendant of the Jilletts married a descendant of the Shones.
The shadow over old Macquarie House
There is renewed anger over another major
modern high-rise building project impacting on a historic site in central
Hobart. This time it’s a 10-storey tower blocked envisaged to climb above old
Macquarie House (set back from 151 Macquarie Street and 3 Victoria Street). Macquarie House was built in 1815, becoming a striking landmark in an early Hobart Town still of mostly ramshackle structures. It was not only the settlement’s first brick home but the first three-storey building in Van Diemen’s Land.
This grand manor was built for surgeon-turned-businessman Thomas William Birch, and to borrow from a well-known cliche, he would probably be turning in his grave at the prospect of the new tower dominating what was once his domain. Turning, that is, in wherever his remains might be . . .
For thereby hangs a fascinating but chilling tale from our early times. It’s recorded in David J. Bryce’s 1997 book Pubs in Hobart from 1807 (Macquarie House later became such an establishment, although upmarket from your usual pubs of the day).
When Birch died in 1821 he was buried in St David’s Cemetery, and a terrible deed followed.
Bryce tells us that the night after the burial, the grave was broken into, the robbers taking not only the other contents but removing Birch’s body as well. An advertisement in the Hobart Gazette of December 8, 1821, offered a big reward, of one hundred pounds, for the discovery and conviction of the burial bandits.
“Whereas the Vault, wherein the Remains of the late Thomas William Birch, Esq., were yesterday deposited, was last night, or early this morning, broken into, the body removed from the Coffin, and its Habiliments, the Coffin Plates, etc., feloniously stolen and carried away, the above Reward will be given to any person or persons by whose means or information the offender or offenders may be brought to Justice - to be paid by us, the undersigned, on his of their Conviction.”
It was signed by the Executors, Robert Knopwood (the colony’s notable, some say ignoble first priest, Bobby Knopwood) and J. T. Watson.
Habiliments were dress or clothes, so the robbers got away with everything of Birch. Were they caught? Bryce said history did not relate if the generous reward provided had the desired result.
Birch, born in 1774, had arrived in 1808 as a medical officer on a French whaler, and although he became one of three surgeons in the town it seems he didn’t pursue this to any great extent but turned his attention to other pursuits, initially whaling. He was the first Tasmanian settler in this lucrative business, with the brig Sophia, which he used for whaling and sealing. He also became a merchant, importing cargoes of goods, which he sold for high profit, as well as exporting oil and sealskins.
He had been given a land grant of three acres-plus in the town, and it’s worth contemplating that these grounds extended from Murray Street to Harrington Street and right down to the Hobart Rivulet (its water providing supplies for domestic use).
The imposing home he had built on this extensive property was called Birch’s Castle, because it originally had battlements and on the flat roof Birch mounted cannons, aimed at the Derwent. As he remarked: “Well, it might keep the French off a bit, if they come to these parts.”
He was also credited with introducing currants and gooseberries to the colony - those Froggies weren’t going to get their hands on his berries, let alone make a land grab.
Birch was not only a leading merchant and ship owner but also a shrewd building and land speculator - at times he leased his “castle” to Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell, and to Australia’s Governor-in-Chief, Lachlan Macquarie, who stayed there in mid-1820 while making an inspection tour of Van Diemen's Land. He regarded Government House as too decrepit for his use.
In 1827 Macquarie House became the Macquarie Hotel (“Genteel and commodious accommodation. For Gentlemen and Private Families. Superior Wines and Spirits”) later a boarding house, and a school.
The new building is proposed to engulf Macquarie House. The Australian Heritage Places Inventory of historic cultural significance regards it as a rare remnant of an old Colonial Georgian building in the Hobart CBD. Here we have been given yet another reminder of the importance of our early built heritage, and how now, more than ever, such heritage needs protection.
The Old Bear
The new building is proposed to engulf Macquarie House. The Australian Heritage Places Inventory of historic cultural significance regards it as a rare remnant of an old Colonial Georgian building in the Hobart CBD. Here we have been given yet another reminder of the importance of our early built heritage, and how now, more than ever, such heritage needs protection.
http://www.tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/article/the-shadow-over-old-macquarie-house
The man referred to is David James McKay Bryce. He wrote and researched the pubs of Hobart.
That should have been rather easy, considering nearly every member of the Jillett/Bradshaw family early settlers had at one time held the licence of a pub or two around Tasmania.
David passed away in 2015.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 9 May 1882,
page 1
THE SHIP HOTEL.
When the ancient structure which impeded to a great extent the traffic
between Fleet-street and the Strand, London, and which was one of the many old
piles of buildings so dear to the heart of Londoners, was pulled down in the
spring of 1878, many a pang of regret was felt, and thousands of people
assembled to witness its demolition. It was felt that one of the links in the
chain which bound old London to new London had been broken, never to be
repaired. So it will be in Hobart, when the old Ship Hotel buildings are pulled
down to give place to more ornamental and more modern premises.
Since the Ship Hotel was first erected, it has been the principal
hostelry in the city, and could the walls thereof speak, they could tell many a
story of joy or sorrow, of hope or despair. Many thousands of people have
entered the door of the old Ship, and partaken of the refreshments which were
sold therein ; and in what are termed "the good old days," many a
young immigrant who landed in Tasmania with his £500 or £600 has entered the
Ship Inn and spent it all before leaving again. In those days a few hundreds of
pounds, unless they were carefully looked after, speedily vanished from tho
hands of the inexperienced. In looking back through the long vista of years,
which stand between the foundation of this colony and the present day, many
objects intervene and obscure the vision of the enquirer, and render hazy and
imperfect any picture of the past.
But when the cobwebs of age have
been swept from the face of the picture of the past, it presents many features
of more than ordinary interest to the present generation. Few persons are now
alive who were in Tasmania when the Ship Hotel was built, and no one can give a
clear or authentic account of "the building of the Ship."
Early in the history of this colony, 1810-12, Lieutenant Edward Lord,
who at one time was Commandant of Van Diemen's Land, owned many blocks of land
in Hobart (then Hobart Town), and amongst others a block at the corner of
Elizabeth-street and Collins-street, where the Ship Hotel now stands. On this
piece of land was erected a weatherboard house, situated back from the street,
and surrounded by a well-kept garden, which some people say was the first house
in which Edward Lord resided. The facts relating to the disposal or otherwise
of this block, at this period, are somewhat contradictory. By some old
Tasmanians it is held that Lieutenant Edward Lord had the weatherboard house
pulled down, and erected at the corner of the street a dwelling-house, which is
the present main building of the Ship Hotel.
Others, and among them a gentleman now resident on Battery Point, who
came with his parents to Hobart from Norfolk Island in 1807, when he was eight
years old, and whose memory is unimpaired, contend that a Mr. Ingle, who was
Lieutenant Edward Lord's secretary and agent, was presented by Mr. Lord with
this piece of land as a reward for some service he had rendered that gentleman.
When the house was built it was occupied by Mr. Ingle as his private residence,
and whether originally his own or not, became his subsequently.
The first brick house built in Hobart was that known as Ingle Hall,
situated at the corner of Macquarie and Argyle streets, and now occupied by Mr.
Butler as a boarding-house. It was built in 1810, or thereabouts, and was for a
time the residence of Lieutenant Edward Lord. It was subsequent to this,
therefore (probably in 1817), that Mr. Ingle built his private residence, which
ultimately became the Ship Inn. At this period of the history of Hobart few
buildings of any importance had been erected. Elizabeth-street was the
principal street of the town, but Collins street, although marked out, was not
formed. On the corner where now stands the All Nations Hotel stood a small
weatherboard store, in which a gentleman, who was one of the earliest arrivals
in the colony, started business as a store-keeper, and where he laid the
foundation of a fortune, which his grandchildren and great grandchildren are
now reaping the benefit of.
Between Mr. Ingle's house, now the Ship Hotel, and this store, situated
right in the middle of Collins-street, was a small weatherboard house, in which
lived a man named Oliver Smith, who subsequently was appointed the first
postmaster of Hobart, previous to the appointment of Mr. J. T. Collicot, who
was an auctioneer, and carried on business in Murray-street, near to where the
Derwent livery stables now are. In the Hobart Town Gazette of Saturday,
November 1, 1817, is published a " list of houses yet standing (upon the
line of streets) and which are to be removed," and among them is the name of Oliver Smith. This house was
pulled down, and Oliver Smith received for the land on which his house was
built a grant of land from the Governor. After residing in his private
residence for some time Mr. Ingle left it, and let it to a man named Began, who
turned it into an inn, under the style of the Ship Inn. Shortly after-wards Mr.
Ingle went to England.
The exact date when the license was taken out is not known, but it must
have been subsequent to 1818, for in the Gazette of Saturday, October 3, 1818,
is the following " list of publicans who are duly licensed for keeping of
Public houses Vending of Wines, Spirits and Beer, in the several districts of
the County of Buckinghamshire."
Thomas W. Stocker, Derwent Hotel ; George Armytage, Plough Hotel ;
Thomas Ranson, Carpenters' Arms ; J. Lord and T. Clark, Dusty Miller ; Chas.
Connolly, Bricklayers' Arms ; Francis Barnes, Hope Hotel ; John Eddington,
Bird-in-the-Hand ; Maria Sargeant, Calcutta Hotel ; Joshua Fergusson,————; T.
L. Richardson, New Inn ; Richard Wallis, Cat and Fiddle ; George Hopwood, City
of London Arms.
The Ship Inn must therefore have been licensed subsequent to the
publication of this list, but the exact date cannot be ascertained. At this
period of the history of the colony Elizabeth-street was not level at its
junction with Collins-street as it is now, but sloped more rapidly from the
brow at Macquarie Street to the rivulet, which at that time ran much nearer the
Ship Hotel than now.
In after years the street was
made more level, and at the side of the Ship Inn was raised some three or more
feet. A small bar connected with the Ship Inn and called the bar tap was
situated on the basement of the Inn, having an entrance from Elizabeth-street,
but in consequence of the levelling of the street, steps had to be made down
from the present footpath into the bar. This doorway with the downward steps
still remains, although the tap has been done away with many years.
In front of the Ship Inn was erected a large flagstaff, from the top of
which the Union Jack of old England was unfurled to the breeze. In these good
old times the captains and officers of the " ships—there were no steamers
then—in the harbours, clad in their blue coats and brass buttons, with their
kneebreeches, blue hose, and buckled shoes, used to gather round the
"Ship" bar and tell yarns and drink grog. All the new arrivals, at
least the majority of them, used to congregate there, and make it their residence
until they got settled, and a roaring business was carried on, and the Ship
established for itself a name which it has never lost to the present day.
After Mr. Began had successfully carried on business for fully 12 months
he retired in favour of Mr. Copeland, and in the Hobart Town Gazette of October
11, 1821, it is stated that a license was granted to Mr. Henry Copeland. This
gentleman did not carry on business much more than a year, when a Mr. Allwright
became landlord. The next mention of the Ship Inn in the Gazette is in an issue
of January 10,1824, when it was stated in a local that " on Saturday last
the Agricultural Society held their annual meeting at the Ship Inn in Hobart
Town, when the president and other office-bearers were re-elected for the
ensuing year."
The license taken out by Mr. Allwright was on the 25th January, 1824,
transferred to Mr. Benjamin Morris. After three years' residence in what had by
this time become the principal hostelry in Hobart, he resolved to give it up,
and on the 11th August, 1827, inserted the following notice in the Gazette:-
"Benjamin Morris begs leave to return his most grateful thanks to his
friends and the public, for their very liberal patronage.
During the past three years he has occupied the Ship Inn, and being now
about to leave tho above concern, has to request that those who stand indebted
to him will liquidate their respective accounts forth-with," etc., so that
it would appear that even in those days it was customary to "chalk
up" a drink, and have to be reminded that payment for the same was
necessary. Mr. Charles Day was the next occupant of the Ship Inn, and the
following announcement appeared in tho Gazette of September 29, 1827
:—"Mr. Charles Day having entered upon this establishment, takes leave most
respectfully to solicit the kind patronage of his friends and the public,"
etc. Mr. Day was not alone in his pro-proprietorship of this hotel, but had a
partner named Mr. George Wise. Messrs. Wise and Day had previously been in
partnership, and carried on business as ginger-beer manufacturers, near the
Wellington Bridge, almost on the same spot which Mr. Weaver's chemist shop now
stands. During Messrs Wise and Day's regimé many alterations and improvements
were made to the hotel.
The billiard room was then upstairs, at the corner looking down
Elizabeth-street. There are many citizens of Hobart who can remember playing
billiards in this room, which was small, and at one end there was not space
enough to allow the players to use their ordinary cues, and they had to play
with a short cue, termed the "broomstick." Messrs. Wise, and Day
seeing the disadvantage of this, had the wall taken down, and re-built about
2ft. further out on the verandah. This addition caused a very peculiar
formation of the side of the upper portion of the building next
Elizabeth-street, which persons who have walked round the upper verandah could
hardly fail to observe.
Not long after this the new billiard room in Collins-street was built,
and the old billiard room converted into a sitting and a bedroom. Strange to
say, the bar of the hotel was originally in almost the same spot as the bar
recently used by Mr. Hadley. In those days publicans were closely watched by
the police, and those who broke the law were taken before the magistrate and fined.
The houses were all closed at 10 o'clock, and no one was admitted after that
hour unless he was a lodger. Many gentlemen now alive can remember the
landlord of the Ship Hotel going round at 10 o'clock, and saying,
"Gentlemen, I must now close and you will have to go, unless you intend to
take a bed and stay all night." Some would take the hint and go, but
others, wishing to spend an hour or two more in their host's comfortable
bar-parlour, would enquire the price of a bed, put the money down, and then
leave when they liked.
After several years of prosperity, during which the superiority of the
Ship Hotel was fairly established, Messrs. Day and Wise dissolved partnership,
and Mr. Wise for a time carried on business himself, after which he retired
there from. The Ship Hotel then passed into the hands of Mr. John White, but he
only held it for a few months, after which he went out to O'Brien's Bridge, and
carried on business as a tanner in conjunction with a Mr. Grant. Mr. John
Providence Lester became landlord of the Ship after Mr. White left it. As
landlord of the Ship Mr. Lester made many friends, and succeeded in a few years
in laying by a good pile of golden guineas. He was a brother of Mr. Joseph
Lester, who at one time kept the White Horse Hotel, Liverpool-street, now owned
by Mrs. Williams, and who erected those buildings, at the corner of Murray and
Bathurst streets, now occupied by Mrs. Eady as a boarding establishment.
After retiring from the hotel Mr. J. P. Lester went to Glenorchy, where
he bought what is now Mr. Stephen Wright's house, known as The Grove, and
resided in it. Mr. Lester's license was transferred to Mr. Joshua Anson, who
had previously kept an hotel in New Norfolk, and who was the grandfather of the
Messrs. Anson Brothers, photographers, Elizabeth street. In either Mr. Anson's
or Mr. Lester's time the bar was removed from the front room back to a room
facing Elizabeth-street. It was formed in crescent shape, in one corner of the
room, and entrance was gained to it by going along the passage from the front
door and turning to the right. From the end of the bar to the front wall a
partition was erected, and behind it were placed sofas and chairs for the
benefit of customers. Out of this room a door led down a few steps into a
bedroom, which was partitioned off from what was recently known as the long
dining room.
Entrance was also obtained from the bar room into a small office
situated in the basement of the building. It was from the Ship Hotel that
coaches used to start for Launceston and elsewhere, and crowds of spectators
used to gather on the verandah of the hotel and footpath in front, to witness
the departure and arrival of the mail coaches. The post office was built on the
opposite corner, being the structure now called the All Nations Hotel, Mr. John
Russell, landlord.
After Mr. Anson died, the business of the hotel was carried on by his
two maiden sisters, and on the 4th February, 1861, the license was transferred
to Mr. Walter Butler. This gentleman, who had originally kept an hotel in
Williamstown, Victoria, had been settled in Hobart for some time, and lived in
the house in Elizabeth street now occupied by Mr. W. G. Macmichael. When Mr.
Butler entered the Ship Hotel be gave up keeping the bar tap already referred
to, and let it. In May, 1861, Mr. Moxham kept the bar tap, but in 1862 it
changed hands, and Mrs. Waters sold beer in it until 1864, when Mrs. Bizzett
became the lessee. After a time it passed into the hands of Mrs. Parsons, and
was at last closed, and used as a storeroom. Although the license was not
granted to Mr. Butler until February, 1861, he entered into possession in
January of that year, and paid Miss Julia Anson £1,025 for the goodwill of the
business and the fixtures.
He took the premises on lease for
11 years, but retired before the term had expired. During the time Mr. Butler
was landlord the business of the Ship fell off considerably, owing to the
depressed state of the country at the time, and Mr. Butler's venture, instead
of being financially a success, was a failure.
On the 24th May, 1869, the
hotel, after standing empty for some time, was transferred from the assignees
of the estate of Mr. Walter Butler to Mr. Charles Edward Hartam. Previous to
this Mr. C. E. Hartam and wife kept the White Swan Inn,now the Central Hotel
(Mrs. Green's). Then he was the landlord of the Royal Hotel (Mr. Eady's), and
afterwards of the Criterion Hotel (Mr. Harris').
For twelve months Mr. and Mrs. Hartam lived in private, it being their
intention to proceed to England, but getting the opportunity of purchasing the
Ship Hotel from the heirs of the original proprietor, Mr. Ingle, who had died a
wealthy man in London some time previous, at a very low figure, they did so,
and once more resumed business as hotel-keepers. Mr. Hartam made a great
alteration in the interior of the hotel. The floors were levelled, and the bar
was removed to what was recently the pantry of the hotel.
Under Mrs. Hartam's careful superintendence, the business of the hotel
increased daily, and the " Ship" ultimately became once more the
leading hotel in Hobart, Mr. Hartam was so confident of the future prosperity
of Hobart that in 1876 he contemplated pulling down the Ship Hotel, and erecting
upon the block of land buildings similar to those occupied by the Derwent and
Tamar Insurance Co. and Messrs. Butler, McIntyre and Butler's offices, at the
corner of Macquarie and Murray streets.
In fact, he had entered into arrangements with Mr. Rippon Shields, who
is at present engaged in the erection of the Colonial Mutual Insurance
Company's offices, to do so, but Mrs. Hartam being summoned to her long home
left Mr. Hartam a widower, and knocked all his schemes on the head. When Mrs.
Hartam died, Mr. Partridge, who came to Hobart a stranger from London,
purchased the hotel premises, but ultimately sold them to Mr. John Clay Hadley,
who became landlord in October, 1876, the license being transferred on the 6th
November, 1876, to Mr. Charles Edward Hope, for Mr. Hadley, and ultimately to
Mrs. Hadley. In accordance with his terms with Mr. Hadley, Mr. Partridge built
a number of bedrooms on the site till then occupied by the stables.
Mr. Hadley had the front parlour next to the billiard room converted
into the bar, and during his reign the whole of the inside of the hotel was
done up afresh. Mr. Hadley soon became very popular, and entered heart and soul
into the sports of the island. In 1881 the directors of the Bank of Van
Diemen's Land resolved to build large and handsome premises in the centre of
the town, and after casting about for a suitable site, they chose the block on
which the Ship Hotel stands.
Mr. Hadley was communicated with, and, after talking the matter over, a
bargain was struck in October of last year. Mr. Hadley agreed to let the bank
have the land and buildings thereon, from the corner of the street to the
billiard room entrance on the one side, and to the Insurance Company's offices
on the other side, possession to be given on the 31st March, 1882.
About 14 days ago the " Ship " buildings were sold to Mr.
Cronly, who will in a day or two commence to pull them down. Time and the hour
running through the roughest day have, as it were, brought the good old
"Ship" to the edge of the grave, and in a few days its well known
walls will be levelled to the street. What memories bright and sad, what
associations happy and the reverse, are called up by a perusal of the above
brief and imperfect sketch. Many can look back with pleasure, and think of the
hours they spent within tho precincts of the "Ship's" comfort, able
walls, talking politics, and discussing mining, social, or sporting topics ;
and of the friends they have met and the acquaintances they have made. But, on
the other hand, how many can look back to days of—-but why awaken the buried
memories of bygone years, rather let forgetfulness enshroud what of the past we
would not like to recall.
A landmark familiar to the eyes of almost all Tasmanians[1]
1878/79
, and well-known to many residents in the adjoining colonies will soon
be no more, and when the last brick is pulled down one more link will be
snapped in the chain binding Tasmania of the present with Van Diemen's Land of
the past.
Bryce’s notes on the “Ship Hotel” in Collins
Street had the following information::
Licensees 1893 Cundy, W. 1894 Barber, G W.
1915 Paice, J.
“The present street level bar of the “Ship Hotel”
was once the billiard room of the original “Ship Inn” which was demolished to
make way for the new Bank. When making alterations they tried to raise the
floor with jacks, and unfortunately it shifted, killing a man and injuring
several others.
In 1893, the licensee advertised: ‘First class
accommodation; Charges 6s.6d. per day.’”
The bank
building was demolished in 1960. Currently there is a café at the location
(Central Café Bar) with the name “Ship Hotel” inscribed in the façade to
remind us of the historic pub
David J.
Bryce, Pubs in Hobart, Rosny
Park Tasmania: Davidia Publishing 1997, pp 146-147
Access restricted to the
Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office History Room, 91 Murray Street, Hobart.
Access can also be given at Launceston LINC - see staff at Level 1 service point
Access can also be given at Launceston LINC - see staff at Level 1 service point
Family
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