Ellen Butler was the daughter of Gamaliel
Butler and Ann Venables
Butler,
Gamaliel (1783–1852) by
J. N. D.
Harrison
This article was published
in
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966
Gamaliel Butler (1783-1852), lawyer, was born
on 17 December 1783 at Hounslow, England, the third son of John George Butler,
corn merchant, and his wife Ann, née Venables. Articled in 1801 to a cousin,
Benjamin Goode of London, Butler was admitted to the rolls in London in 1808,
and practised in Watling Street for eighteen years. Encouraged by reports from
his brother-in-law, Edward Paine, who had emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in
1820, Butler and a partner invested £10,000 in a cargo of sugar for sale in the
colony.
News
of Paine's drowning and anxiety as to the outcome of his investment decided
Butler on visiting the colony. He arrived in Hobart Town with his wife, in the
Prince
Regent in July 1824, secured the disposal of the sugar, and was admitted as
a practitioner in the Supreme Court, although he intended to return to England.
Impressed with the colony's potential and the success of his practice, he
decided to remain.
He applied for the customary land grant,
became a director of the Bank of Van Diemen's Land in 1829, and was associated
with the Commercial Bank. He was a member of the Hobart Town Book Society, and
assumed some social responsibility on joining the Benevolent Society on its
foundation in 1834.
Of a forthright personality and with astute
business sense, he achieved success in his profession and added to his enemies,
one of whom was the diarist,
George Boyes, who dubbed him
'one of the richest lawyers and greatest rogues in the country'. Investing his
capital in land, he soon owned large properties far and wide in Van Diemen's
Land, and many allotments in Hobart.
On 5 July 1810 Butler had married
Sarah (1787-1870), the eldest daughter of Edward Paine (1756-1843) of Richmond,
Surrey, livery tailor to George III. The surviving six of the ten children born
in England were left in the care of relatives when their parents emigrated.
They were educated in England, and in the 1830s came to the colony where six
more children were born.
On 2
February 1852 Butler died in Hobart at Stowell, the house he had bought from
the colonial secretary,
John Montagu, for £6000. His widow died on 13 August 1870.
His third son, Henry, achieved eminence as a
surgeon, politician and educationalist, and Francis, the fourth, was the
architect of Hobart's Memorial Congregational Church, the Commercial (later E.
S. & A.) Bank, and the Cotswold-style stone stables at Shene, Butler's
Bagdad estate.
Three other sons entered the legal
profession. Butler had taken R. W. Nutt into partnership and when his sons
joined the firm it became known as Butler, Nutt & Butler. In 1966 the
seventh generation of Gamaliel Butler's descendants were practising law in
Tasmania.
Miniatures of Gamaliel and Sarah Butler and
portraits of Edward Paine Butler and his wife Martha Sarah, née Asprey, are in
the possession of Mr Eustace Butler, Launceston, Tasmania; Wainewright's painting of three of Butler's daughters
is in the possession of Miss D. Bisdee, Snug, Tasmania.
Edward
Paine Butler (1811–1849)
Edward
was the eldest son of lawyer and landowner
Gamaliel Butler and his wife Sarah, who emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1824.
Edward followed in 1835 with his wife, Martha Sarah Butler (née Asprey
1811–1864), to take up a position in the law firm established by his father in
Hobart. Martha and Edward’s first child, a son, was born in 1835; another four
children, three sons and a daughter, were born between 1837 and 1842. Following
Edward’s death from tuberculosis at age thirty-seven. Martha returned to
Europe. She never remarried, living in London and Paris for a number of years
before returning to Hobart. She died at the Butler family home, Stowell, in
Battery Point, in July 1864.
https://www.portrait.gov.au/magazines/35/poison-pen
Collection: National Portrait
Gallery, Canberra
Purchased 2009
Accession number: 2009.149
Martha Sarah Butler (née Asprey, 1811–1864)
married Edward Butler in London and travelled with him to Van Diemen's Land,
arriving in July 1835. Her first child, Edward Charles, was born the same year;
and another four children, three sons and a daughter, were born between 1837
and 1842. According to a Butler family historian, Martha was 'by all accounts a
highly cultured, elegant and frivolous woman.'
The same writer relates an anecdote about a
close call Martha experienced when the ship on which she and Edward travelled
to Hobart was wrecked in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel: with the vessel (named
The Enchantress) sinking, Martha is said to have risked her life by returning
to her cabin to retrieve her jewellery, only to lose it when, as she climbed
into a life boat, it slipped out of the handkerchief she had wrapped it in.
Martha returned to Europe after Edward's death in 1849. She never remarried,
living in London and Paris for a number of years before returning to Hobart.
She died at the Butler family home, Stowell, in Battery Point, in July 1864.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery,
Canberra
Purchased 2009
Accession number: 2009.150
Portraits by Wainwright
After six years in hiding in France, Wainewright returned to England and
was arrested, found guilty of fraud and sentenced to transportation to Van
Diemen’s Land for life. In Hobart from November 1837, Wainewright proved to be
a model prisoner, replacing assignment to a road gang with a position as an
orderly at the Colonial Hospital where he made the acquaintance of sympathetic officials.
By way of these connections he was enabled to continue his work as an artist.
Wainewright was granted a ticket-of-leave in 1844 and established himself as a
portrait painter, creating likenesses for a number of prominent families. He
died in Hobart in August 1847, having created over fifty works now counted
among the finest examples of colonial Australian portraiture.
One son, Francis Frederick Butler, returned
to Tasmania where he was a pastoralist and orchardist. His son, William
Frederick Dennis Butler, was a lawyer, and his son, Eustace Gamaliel Butler
also practised law and was a Magistrate in Launceston. Edward Butler, until
recently the owner of the portraits, was a lawyer and Judge in the Family Law
Court of Australia, until his retirement in 1997. The family law firm still
exists, known today as Butler, McIntyre and Butler.
He married Ellen Butler and their nine
children were: Winchester Munn Bisdee, who married Eva Dorinda Wright at St
Paul's Church of England, Glenorchy on 15 Jan 1883 and had children Athol (born
1885), Bernard (born 1886), Stephen (born 1888) and Dorothy (born 1889); lived
at 'Tedworth', 'Llanberis' and 'Heston'. Harold, unmarried, lived at Melton
Mowbray. Lucy and Bessie both unmarried, Edith Mary, Reginald, E. Ina (born in
1878), Amy E. and John Hutton Bisdee.
Henry Butler, (1821–1885)
This article was published
in
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, (MUP), 1969
Henry Butler (1821-1885), surgeon and
politician, was born in Cornhill, London, the third son of the sixteen children
of
Gamaliel Butler and his wife Sarah, née Paine. His parents migrated
to Hobart Town in 1824, leaving Henry and five other children in the care of
relations. He went to a private school in Chelsea, and then trained under Sir
John Fisher (1788-1876) as a surgeon at the St George's and Westminster
Hospitals (M.R.C.S., 1843; F.R.C.S., 1849). In 1843 he visited Tasmania and
returned to the Westminster Hospital as a house surgeon; later he specialized
in diseases of the eye at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.
Butler sailed as surgeon-superintendent in
1849 in the
William Jardine; in Hobart he complained to the Colonial
Land and Emigration Office that, pending employment, free settlers had on
arrival to occupy convict quarters. In January 1850 the Tasmanian Court of Medical
Examiners accepted his qualifications; he practised in Macquarie Street for
thirty-five years and his skill brought him large financial rewards. He also
treated patients in the Brighton area where he had a country home, Shene, in
Bagdad, and acted as an honorary at St Mary's Self-Supporting Hospital in Davey
Street, founded by Dr
Edward
Bedford, and Dr
Kevin O'Doherty. From 1868 Butler was a member of the Tasmanian Court
of Medical Examiners and its president from 1881-84, and an honorary medical
officer at the Hobart General Hospital from 1860 and a member of its board in
1877.
On 7 September 1853 Butler married Catherine
Penelope, sister of
Thomas Whistler
Smith, of Glenrock near Sydney, an
old family friend. The Butlers lived at Lambton farm at Glenorchy and later
moved to Stowell, his parents' home at Battery Point. They had five daughters
and five sons, the eldest of whom, Gamaliel Henry, qualified as a physician in
1879, was a member of the Legislative Council in 1896-1914 and served as chief
secretary in 1909-14.
Henry Butler unsuccessfully contested the
Brighton seat in the Legislative Council in 1851 as an opponent of
transportation and an advocate of free trade. Three years later he was
successful. After responsible government he was a member of the House of
Assembly in 1856-62 and 1866-85. In 1858 he proposed that Tasmania should
follow other Australian colonies by sending delegates to a conference on
Federation; he was elected as one of the assembly's two representatives. His
main contribution as a politician, however, was in the field of education. In
1854 he became a member of the new Central Education Board which had
Thomas Arnold as its first secretary.
In 1856 when Northern and Southern Boards
were created Butler became chairman of the Southern Board, and after their
amalgamation in 1862 chaired the combined board. In 1858 he was a member of the
Council of Education which helped to establish the Associate of Arts degree and
was one of the commissioners who in 1860 inquired into Tasmanian education. He
was also closely connected with later educational changes: in 1861 as a member
of the select committee on the distribution of annual grants; in 1862 on the
select committee of inquiry into government education; and in 1867 on the royal
commission which recommended compulsory education, certification of teachers, a
central board with limited powers, local authorities to assess parental
contributions, the appointment of inspectors and truant officers, and a fixed
annual government grant instead of an annual vote. Many of these
recommendations were embodied in the Public Schools Act of 1868. For these
services he was hailed by the
Examiner as 'the father of the system of
compulsory education in Tasmania'; the
Mercury observed that 'Dr. Butler
was mainly instrumental in getting the compulsory clauses of the Act passed'.
Although Butler clearly did not favour denominational schools he probably did
little more than implement many of the proposals for state schools originally
put forward by Thomas Arnold.
In August 1869 Butler joined
(Sir) James Wilson's ministry without portfolio. In October 1869, when a
new Ministry of Lands and Works was created to amalgamate the Departments of
Lands and Surveys with Public Works, Butler became the first minister with a
salary of £700; he retained this post until 1872. As minister, Butler secured
the passage of three Acts. As early as 1860 he had moved for a committee to
consider the future use of unsettled lands and he was a member of a committee
on the disposal of waste lands in 1869. The Waste Lands Act of 1870 reserved
land for settlers from India and for public purposes, and regulated sales and
prices.
The Mineral Leases Act of 1870 dealt chiefly
with exploration licences and leases. The Goldfields Regulation Act of 1870
gave the government powers to deal with miners' rights, claims, encroachments,
strikes and partnership questions. An irrigation and drainage bill which he
introduced in 1872 lapsed. Finally, in Butler's ministry, work commenced on the
Main Line railway. According to the
Mercury, Butler was one of the
colony's few leading politicians who firmly supported the railway and from 1870
'ably assisted … in persuading a reluctant ministry and timid legislature to
give its sanction to the construction of a Railway between Hobart and
Launceston'; but the only evidence to link him with the promoters of the scheme
in the 1860s was his membership in 1862 of a select committee which recommended
a northern railway and his presentation in 1869 of a petition from residents of
Green Ponds who wanted the line to pass closer to their town.
In 1877 Butler was elected Speaker and
retained the position until he retired in 1885. He was a member of the
Tasmanian Royal Society, the Lunacy Commission, the Salmon Commission and the
Board of Immigration, and one of the first commissioners of New Norfolk Asylum.
He died on 22 August 1885.
Henry's son
The Parliament of
Tasmania from 1856
Charles Butler, (1820–1909) His obituary
The head of one of the most honoured
families in Tasmania, in the person of Mr. Charles Butler, died yesterday
afternoon at his residence, Hampden-road. He was full of years, having only a
few days ago celebrated his 89th birthday. He had been ailing for some time,
and his demise was not unexpected by his family. He was the father of the
Tasmanian bar, and formerly head of the old-established firm of Butler,
McIntyre and Butler. Both his sons (Mr. Edward Butler and Mr. Charles Butler)
and his grandson (Mr. Leo Butler) are members of the legal profession, and
whilst Mr. Charles Butler, sen., was alive the family possessed the unique
distinction, which was said to be unparalleled in the whole of Australasia, of
three generations living who were members of the profession.
Mr. Butler arrived in Hobart on the 13th
December, 1835, in a small brig of 230 tons, called
The Auriga, under
Captain Chalmers, after a passage of between three and four months. He shortly
afterwards went to school at Longford. The school was at Longford-hall, and the
principal was Mr. W. G. Elliston, the father of the late Mr. Chas. Elliston,
solicitor, of Hobart. Mr. Elliston shortly afterwards came to Hobart, and Mr.
W. H. Wilmot was appointed principal. Young Butler was a great favourite with
the scholars.
The Hon. Thos. Reibey and Mr. Tom Gibson were
fellow-students. Mr. Butler here first met his wife, then a girl of six years
of age. She was a daughter of Mr. Wilmot. The late Ven. Archdeacon Davies was
at that time the incumbent of Longford. When Mr. Butler left school, in
January, 1838, he was articled to Mr. Robert Pitcairn, the leading solicitor in
Hobart at the time, and after spending five years in his office he passed his
examination as a legal practitioner, and was admitted to the Bar on December 4,
1843. He started practice on his own account, but subsequently give up
practice, and followed agricultural pursuits.
On the
death of his brother (Mr. Edward Paine Butler) he was offered and accepted a
partnership in his father's business. The other partners were Mr. Gamaliel
Butler and Mr. R. W. Nutt, and the firm was known as Butler, Nutt, and Son. On
his father's death, in 1857 the firm consisted of Mr. Nutt and Mr. C. Butler,
and was known as Nutt and Butler. In 1858 Mr. Nutt decided to start practice in
Melbourne, and Mr. Butler continued the practice for many years at the old
offices in Harrington-street. Mr. Nutt, his late partner, was very successful
in Melbourne, and the present well-known firm of Blake and Riggall carry on the
business evolved by him.
Early
in 1867 Mr. Butler took Mr. John McIntyre (now Mr. Justice McIntyre) into
partnership, and the firm was known as Butler and McIntyre. Mr. Edward Henry
Butler was admitted as a partner some years later, and the firm's name was
altered to Butler, McIntyre, and Butler, which name it retains to the present
day. Mr. C. W. Butler joined the firm a few years later. The deceased was often
asked to stand for Parliament, both for the House of Assembly and for the
Legislative Council, but he felt that he could not both do justice to his
business and engage in Parliamentary life, so he always refused. He was an
enthusiastic supporter of cricket, and the Break o' Day Club owed its existence
to him. He was a member of the Synod for very many years, and only resigned his
position through old age.
He was also for some years one of the board
of the Benevolent Society. He had a family of ten— five boys and five girls, of
whom eight survive him. Messrs. E. H. Butler and C. W. Butler, who are members
of the above firm, and Mr. Herbert Butler, who is it surveyor in Queensland;
Mrs. Cox, widow of the late Colonel A. T. Cox, C.B.; Mrs. Bean, wife of the
Rev. E. Bean, headmaster of Brentwood Grammar School, Essex; Mrs. McAulay, wife
of Professor McAulay, and the Misses Butler, of Ellerslie.
Butler, Alfred
Alexander (1826–1902) was a merchant
No doubt the Butler family was very prominent
in the affairs and politics of Tasmania, during the 1800's.
They were also John Hutton Bisdee's uncles.
While Ellen Butler married John Bisdee, her
sister Sarah Butler, married her husband's uncle, Alfred Henry Bisdee.
Edward's wife Rose Axford married in England,
after Edward's death, as her second husband, Charles Asprey, who was the
brother in law of Ellen and Sarah Butler.
The Asprey Family were Jewellers in London
Asprey
was established in England in Mitcham, Surrey in 1781. Founded as a silk printing business
by William Asprey, it soon became a luxury emporium. In 1841, William Asprey's
elder son Charles went into partnership with a stationer located on London's
Bond Street. In 1847 the family broke with this partner and moved into 167 New Bond Street, the
premises Asprey occupies today. From its central London location Asprey
advertised 'articles of exclusive design and high quality, whether for personal
adornment or personal accompaniment and to endow with richness and beauty the
table and homes of people of refinement and discernment.' An early speciality
was dressing cases. Asprey crafted traditional cases and designs, mostly in
leather, suitable for the new style of travel ushered in by railways.
Rose Bisdee married Albert Henry
Trenchard,
Then Rose's half sister Mary married Peter
Gordon Fraser, and had a son Donald Fraser 1852 - 1897.
He was a Doctor and he married Albert's
sister Elizabeth Trenchard 1853
Tasmanian sketcher, carver and merchant,
produced gigantic picture frames, reproducing birds, fruits and flowers, and
modest watercolours.
sketcher, carver and merchant, was working in
the commissariat department, Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, in the 1840s. His
first wife, a daughter of Commissary James Laidley and sister of the Sydney
merchant Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, died in Sydney and Mitchell later married a
sister of Sir George Wigram Allen, Speaker of the New South Wales House of
Assembly.
In 1856 Mitchell became manager of the Kent
brewery in Sydney, and he was subsequently senior partner in Tooth’s brewery
for many years. Mitchell exhibited The Momentous Question , an Indian ink
line-drawing (called an 'etching’), at the 1854 Australian Museum Exhibition in
Sydney in preparation for the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition.
The elaborately carved picture frame of New
Zealand wood 'by an amateur artist’ which J.S. Mitchell separately lent to the
exhibition was undoubtedly its owner’s work also. Nehemiah Bartley called him
'a gifted and scientific man, and author of some very valuable experiments on
the strength and tenacity of Australian timbers, while as a wood carver, his
amateur efforts in the way of gigantic picture frames, reproducing birds,
fruits and flowers in marvellous fidelity, would almost vie with the masterly
productions of artists like Grinling Gibbons’.
His sketches are more modest. His watercolour
Ballroom at Etham Point, Sydney (c.1870), known only from a photograph, shows a
grand conservatory-like room in his home with two little girls (presumably his
daughters) gazing out at the splendid harbour
Over time, so many of the Bisdee
family returned to Hutton to live. The
Hutton Manor was home to many. The
local church was St Mary's.
Hutton Court is a country house at Hutton, Somerset, England,
built in the 15th century as a manor house. It is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for
England. In
addition to the main house, the boundary wall, summerhouse and the gates and
piers to the hall are all separately Grade II listed. and stands immediately to
the south of the parish church.
An earlier wooden manor house may have been on the same site or nearby.
The earliest parts of the present building are the tower with its battlements and the
dining room with its oak ceiling.[7] The hall has a collar beam roof. At the
house's north-east corner is a polygonal stair turret, and the chimneys of the
west wing rise higher than the battlements of the main tower.
The local landowner John Payne acquired Hutton, amongst several other
local manors, and by 1466 had established it as his primary residence. He died
in 1496, passing it on to his son Thomas Payne and his
descendants. By 1604 Nicholas Payne was in financial difficulties, and John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells, purchased the manor of Hutton and the residence
of Hutton Court. His son Nathaniel Still built the western part of the court.
On his death in 1626 the estate included the Court, two gardens, 80 acres
(32 ha) of meadow, 50 acres (20 ha) of pasture and 100 acres
(40 ha) of other land. It passed via the marriage of Nathaniel's daughter
Anne to the Codrington family. William Codrington (died 1728), a descendant of
Nathaniel Still, lived at Hutton Court.[8]
In 1730 the house was bought by Humphrey Brent, a Bristol lawyer,
and was passed on in the Brent family until 1837 when it was sold to Henry
Adolphus Septimus Payne. By 1848 the house had been let to Edward Bowles Fripp,
and in 1849 it was substantially altered by Samuel Charles Fripp, a Bristol
architect.
The next owner was Edward Bisdee (1802–1870), a native of Oldmixon near
Hutton who had made a fortune in Tasmania. He held
the house and manor from the 1850s until his death, when he left them to his
brother Alfred Henry Bisdee (1819–1898). He in turn passed Hutton Court on to
his son Thomas Gamaliel Bisdee (1852–1933). In 1935 the house and contents were
sold by auction, when the house was bought by a Captain Stamp. In 1948 it was
sold again to a Captain G. W. Gwynne, who owned it until the 1950s, when it was
sold to the Palmer family who lived there until the late 1970s. Hutton Court
then became a hotel, but in the 1990s a new owner returned it to use as a
private residence.
The Nave - North Side
In this corner stands the octagonal
font, of simple Perpendicular style but of unknown date. Behind it are some of
the wall-seats introduced in 1849, and, high above them, a ledge which
indicates the position of the early 19th century gallery.
The top part of the nearer window in the
north wall contains the few surviving fragments of late 15th or early 16th
century stained glass, including the arms of various members of the Payne and
Oldmixon families. The more easterly window and the adjacent mural tablets are
late Victorian and early 20th century memorials to members of the Bisdee
family. Also two memorial tablets to the Brent family who resided at Hutton
Court in the first half of the 19th century. Between the two windows is the War
Memorial tablet, commemorating the victims of the two World Wars.
The 1785 pews were repaired in 1975-1976 and
a few removed to provide more space at both ends of the nave. The floor area
thus exposed, together with that of the middle passage, partly boarded and
partly paved with old tombstones, was then covered with a blue carpet.
http://www.stmaryshutton.org/history.htm
Melton Mowbray is a town in the
Southern Midlands region of Tasmania. It
was the home of the Bisdee Family, as is mentioned in numerous stories about
their early life. The homestead, Hutton
House, built in memory of their Hutton home in Somerset, was the centre of the
family for many, many years.
There is another
Melton Mowbray in Leicester in England.
By 1859, Mr Blackwell was organising the hounds for a hunt, a
particularly popular occasion in the town.
Mr Bisdee of Hutton House was the Master of the Beagles.
Members of the Bisdee family are buried in the cemetery.
BISDEE , Bernard Hutton . 23 June 1978
BISDEE , Marjorie Beryl . 13 July 1969
DICK , Charlotte Isabel . 24 June 1881
- 11 September 1959
DICK , George Abercromby . 12 January 1909 - 15 May 1987
DICK , Ronald (buried England) . 1879 - 3 October 1914
DICK , Zelda Annie . 16 November 1907 - 13 August 2003
Now that cemetery is under threat.
Jericho Cemetery
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 17 December
1926, page 8
THE LATE MR. E. O. BISDEE FUNERAL
OBSEQUIES.
OATLANDS, December 16.
The funeral of Mr. Edward Oldmixon Bisdee, of Lovely Banks, Melton
Mowbray, and Warden of Green Ponds, took place at St. James's' Church of
England, Jericho, this afternoon. It has come as a shock to residents of the
district that so prominent a man should be removed from their midst so
suddenly, and the deepest sympathy is felt for the relatives. The high esteem
in which the deceased, was held was manifested by the widely representative
attendance at the funeral to-day, and the great profusion of wreaths, many of
which were sent from public bodies to which he belonged, or with which he had
been associated.
The funeral arrangements were conducted by Messrs. Clark Bros., and the
motor hearse, followed by a long procession of cars, left Lovely Banks at 3.30
p.m., arriving at the church at Jericho at 4 o'clock. The service was
conducted in the church by the Rev. A. E. Biggs, of Kempton, and Rev. E.
Johnson, of Oat-lands, and as the casket was borne to the family vault it was
followed by the three sons, Colin, Allan, and Louis, who were the chief
mourners. Then followed the sons-in-law, Messrs. Bruce Gibson and W. P. Archer,
Miss M. Bisdee (sister), Mr. C. Collins, Evandale (brother-in-law), Messrs.
Harold, Graeme and Bernard Bisdee (cousins). Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Mitchell, Mr.
C. W. Butler and sons, and Mr. Dennis Butler.
The Green Ponds Council was represented by the ex-warden (Councillor A.
E. Gorringe), and Councillors Bernard Bisdee, S. Porter, and Blake. The
Oat-lands Council was represented by the Warden (Councillor T. J. Burbury) and
Mr. B. H. Edge represented the council of the Tasmanian Farmers' Stock owners'
and Orchardists' Association, of which deceased was a vice-president. Among the
others present were Mr. W. Roberts, of Roberts and Co. Ltd., Mr. Edwin Webster,
of A. G Webster and Sons Ltd., Mr. A. P. Tregear (Derwent and Tamar Insurance
Co.), and Messrs. A. P. Archer, C. Archer, H. A. Page, R. Ibbott. Rupert
Watchorn, R. O'Kelly, J. Agnew, C. Salmon, Knight, Hudson, and Reid. Among the
floral tributes were wreaths from the Parmers', Stockowners'. and Orchardists'
Association, directors and management of "The Mercury" and
"Illustrated Tasmanian Mail," president and committee of the Lyceum
Club, and officers and members of the Macquarie Club.
St James'
Church Jericho
The Bisdee Memorials and
Headstone
of Alan Isaac BISDEE. Died in 1983, aged 82yrs Source: Jericho St James
Anglican
When the Pioneer settlers set about raising
funds for the building of the church at Jericho, they were ignored by the
Government, when they attempted to gain funds.
However, unperturbed, they built
the church, which at one time was stated to be the Best in Tasmania.
Now it is on a list of churches
the Anglican Church wants to sell.
The
Anglican Church of Tasmania has released a list of 78 properties, including 55
churches, it plans to sell, partly to help fund an $8.6 million redress for
survivors of child sexual abuse.
The list is
preliminary, with a total of 108 properties to be sold — 76 churches plus
halls, land and residential properties.
Of the properties
listed today, 10 were already on the market, four under contract and three
already closed.
A quarter of the
proceeds from property sales will go towards the redress, while the Anglican
Church will quarantine the rest to go back into parishes that lose churches.
Right Reverend
Richard Condie, the Anglican Bishop of Tasmania, said local communities would
have the opportunity to make the case for their churches to remain.
"This list
is not exhaustive and is not yet finalised," he said.
"After Synod
there will be a period in which parishes can seek a review of the decision to
sell a property, making a case for its exemption.
"Diocesan
Council will make its final decision in December."
Bishop Condie
said the churches were marked for sale based on their future viability,
including the number of people attending the church, the finances coming in and
the kinds of ministries they had.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 4 May 1883,
page 3
ST. JAMES' CHURCH OF ENGLAND, JERICHO.
LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE
It is now nearly 50 years since the first Church of England was erected
in the pretty little township of Jericho. The congregation, which then was not
a very numerous one gradually, as year succeeded year, increased until it was
found that the building was not sufficiently large to comfortably seat tho\e
church-goers. The matter was talked over, and it was resolved to erect a larger
building. A committee was at once formed, and set to work to make all the
necessary arrangements for doing so, Plans of a neat Gothic church, with a nave
of 45ft. and 24ft.; a chancel 10ft wide, and a pretty little church were
prepared by Mr. Hunter, architect, Hobart, and the contract for its erection
let to Mr. Fish, of Oatlands, tor £835. By energy and determination the
Building Committee succeeded in raising about £600 of the money required.
A few weeks ago the old building
was pulled down and preparations made for proceeding with the erection of the
new church. The foundation stone of the now church was laid on Wednesday by the
Rev Canon Mason, of New Town The day was beautifully fine, everything looked
well, and a large gathering of people assembled to witness the ceremony, about
150 persons being present Among those present were the Rev Canon Mason, the
Rev. John Buckland, and the Rev W F Mitchell, the incumbent of the parish, and
Messrs H Harrisson and John Bisdee, members of the Building Committee The usual
services at the stone were conducted by Canon Mason, assisted by the Revs
Buckland and Mitchell. Previous to the ceremony a copy of The Mercury and of
the Church News, together with a few coins, were placed in the stone.
There were also placed in the stone the coins taken from the foundation
stone of the old church, one of them bearing the date " 1827." The
sum £20 was laid on the stone. The ceremonies were then brought to a close. The
visitors were then entertained to a substantial banquet, which proved a
suitable termination to the day's proceedings. It may be mentioned that among
those who have been doing their best to help forward the funds of the church,
Mr. H. Harrisson has made himself most conspicuous, and has been indefatigable
in his endeavours to reduce the debt owing on the building.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954),
Monday 7 April 1930, page 3
CHURCH COLUMN - TASMANIAN
CHURCHES
St. James's, Jericho Work of
Pioneers (By Our Midlands Reporter.)
St. James's Church of England, Jericho, is considered one of the best
equipped country churches in Tasmania. Standing on the hillside overlooking the
township, it cannot fail to command the attention of passers-by, and is one of
the many delightful little houses of worship that have been erected in the
Midlands during the last century. The church has served, the needs of residents
of the district for 45 years, and an interesting story attaches to the
circumstances surrounding its erection; It is even more interesting to delve
into the records-a century old-which tell of the activities of the pioneers of
Jericho to satisfy their need for a suitable place of worship in tile convict
days of Van Diemen's Land.
A hundred years ago there existed at Jericho a convict station, which
was used by the road making gangs for some time. The remains of this building,
which was evidently of a considerable size, are to be seen to-day on the main
road near the turn-off to Colebrook, and are known as the Mud Walls. In those
days, and In the years following, the district contained a greater population
than it does to-day. Records show that many squatters occupied land
there-abouts, and with the system of assigned servants in vogue at the time,
the number of persons living at and around Jericho must have been large.
CENTURY OLD RECORDS.
Mr. Thomas Burbury, as warden of the present church, is in possession of
some interesting records which were found among the papers of the late Mr.
Peter Harrisson, having evidently formerly be-longed to Mr. Harrisson's father.
One of the documents is a record of the minutes of a meeting of Jericho
pioneers, just 100 years ago. At that time, it is evident, the need for a
church was badly felt.
The minutes, however, tell their own story. It is
stated:
Minutes of a meeting held at Jericho on November 1 (the year is not
mentioned, but it presumably was 1830), for the purpose of taking into
consideration the expediency of erecting a place of worship
In .the populous
part of the district. It was resolved unanimously:
(1) : That it is expedient to erect a place of' worship in the most
populous part of the district.
(2) ' That a-subscription forthwith be entered into for the purpose.
(3) . That application be made to His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor
(who was then Colonel Arthur), soliciting the assistance of the
Government in support of the undertaking.
It was resolved that Mr. P. Harrisson be appointed-treasurer, and Mr. J.
M. Hudspeth secretary, and that Messrs. E. Bryant, V. Pike, C. Cogie, James Weeding, P. Harrisson, and J. M.
Hudspeth form a committee for the purpose of carrying - the design into effect,
and that any three of them would form a quorum. It was resolved that the thanks
of. the meeting be given to Rev. Mr. Bedford for the, attention given by him to
the action, and for his handsome conduct in the chair. It was suggested by Mr.
Bedford that the site of the proposed chapel be on the hill on .tho rising
ground between Mr. Harrisson's house and Fourteen Tree Hill, being considered by him the spot most
eligible to the population generally..
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
Evidently Colonel Arthur; or the Government, paid little, attention to
the request for financial assistance in connection with the erection of the
Jericho church at that time, for further minutes state:
At a meeting held ' at Bowsden on April' 11 at which Messrs; Bryant,
Harrisson,' and Hudspeth were present, it was resolved that a general meeting
of the committee be held at Mr. Harrisson's Inn (now Group House, Jericho), on
Monday, 14th Inst., for the purpose of considering the advisability of renewing
the application to the Lieutenant-Governor, and also presenting an address to
the venerable archdeacon on the same subject.
There is no record to show whether tho second application was ever
favourably or unfavourably received, but it may be that at least some measure
of assistance was accorded the undertaking, especially when the archdeacon of
the parish at the time was interested in the matter. A Rev. Mr. Drought, who
must have had a charge somewhere near Jericho In those days, interested
him-self In the endeavour to secure Govern-mental assistance for the Jericho
church, for in the specifications relating to the building, the contractor
under-took to finish the work "six months from the date the answer was
received from the Government to the application made by Mr. Drought." It
would not there-fore be unreasonable to assume that some assistance was
eventually granted.
A SUBSCRIPTION LIST.
At all events, the church was constructed, not on the spot near Fourteen
Tree Hill, as suggested by Mr. Be-ford, but on the site where the present
church stands. The subscription list as decided upon was evidently opened at
the first meeting, for the document on which the minutes were written also
bears a list of liberal subscribers to the fund, on which the following names
appear:-G.M., P. Harrisson, James Weeding, William Pike, James Mackerson, J. M.
Hudspeth, F. Bradley, William Bedford, Mrs. Ransom (Green Ponds), Mr. Hooper
(Cross Marsh), J. Presnell (Sorrell Springs), T.G.G., Thomas Anstey, Mrs.
Anstey, G. Lindley, Mrs. Page, Charles Mills Cogie, James Jones, John Jones,
John Hiddlestone (Hobart) Town), John Franks, James Hooper, George Guest, Sr.,
James Drummond. James Gravett, Mrs. Guest, John Bowden, Matthew Bowden, Patrick
Wood, Edward Bryant, Hugh Cassidy, J. Earle,Thomas Salmon and John Haves
The specifications were prepared by George Aitcheson, builder and
contractor, of Oatlands. From them it is evident that tho building was not to
be on a very elaborate scale, it was mostly of rough stone, and its dimensions
were 235 feet by 25 feet. Tho contract was undertaken by Mr. Percy Harrisson,
who was to do the work for £330. The contract is dated March 4, 1831.
CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. ,
The first church that was constructed at Jericho served tho needs of the
pioneers for approximately 50 years. At the end of that time it was decided
that a new structure, built on a more comprehensive and elaborate scale, was
desirable. The people of the district got together, and it was agreed that all
should cooperate in order that the old structure, which was beginning to show
signs of dilapidation, might be replaced with a church of improved standard.
The necessary funds were raised by means of hard work, and the impressive
edifice which stands overlooking the township of Jericho to-day was
constructed. The contract was carried out by the late Mr. Walter Fish, of
Oatlands, and the dedication ceremony took place 45 years ago, being performed
by Bishop Sanford, who controlled the affairs, of the Church of England in
Tasmania at the time.
Until the population of the Jericho district had decreased to its
present number, a weekly service was held at St. James's, but at the present
time; it is only possible for the rector of the Oatlands parish (Rev. John
Harrison) to visit Jericho once each month. It is not very long ago since the
church was renovated, the work being put in hand as a result of the efforts of
a ladies guild, which was formed for the purpose of keeping the edifice in repair.
,
BEAUTIFUL FURNISHINGS.
As a place of worship, St. James's Church contains everything that,
could be wished for.. Beautiful stained glass windows have been installed as
memorials by well known residents of the district. Mr. J. E. Mitchell gave the
parish a pulpit of remarkable workman ship, and this is brie of the most
out-standing fittings contained in the building. In addition, á valuable
lectern was presented to the church by Miss F. Mitchell, England. This was.
specially sent out from England, and the prominent position it occupies adds to
the striking appearance of an already most impressive edifice..
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 10 May 1938,
page 5
JERICHO ANGLICAN CHURCH Centenary and Jubilee
The 100th anniversary occurs today of the consecration of the first St.
James' Church at Jericho in the parish of Oatlands by the first Anglican Bishop
of Australia (the Rt. Rev. Dr. W. G. Broughton). Almost simultaneously with
this anniversary there occurred on April 29 the 50th anniversary of the opening
of the present church. Jericho today forms a part of the parish of Oat-lands,
but at one time it was a separate parish. Actually, it has a history older than
Oatlands. A church was proposed at Jericho in 1830, and when Bishop Broughton
visited Tasmania in May, 1838, he consecrated St. James' Church, then in
existence at the township.
In 1868 the parishes of Jericho and Oatlands were united, and the Rev.
H. W. Adams became the first minister of the united charge. During the '80's
efforts were made to obtain a new church for Jericho, and on April 29, 1888,
the then Bishop of Tasmania (the Rt. Rev. Dr. D. Fox Sandford) consecrated and
opened the present church, which was designed by Mr. Henry Hunter. It had been
completed sometime, but opening for divine service was delayed. The church was
built of stone, and its construction was due largely to Messrs. R. Harrison and
T. J. Bisdee, who, between them, guaranteed the amount required for its
completion. In the opening service the Bishop was assisted by the Archdeacon of
Hobart (the Ven. A. Davenport) and the incumbent of the parish (the Rev. W. F.
Mitchell).
St James
Anglican Church Jericho Incorporates
the Jericho Cultural and Heritage Centre
Four years before the settlement of Oatlands
began, the first recorded religious service was held at Jericho, on the 23
February 1823. It was conducted by the Reverend Samuel Marsden from N.S.W. in
the home of Mr. Thomas Gregson, “Northumbria”, Jericho.
The movement for the erection of a church at
Jericho began in 1827. Up until this time, the district was being supplied by
William Pike, a catechist, who lived at “Park Farm”, Jericho. However it wasn’t
until 1838 that a church was built and it was consecrated by Bishop William
Grant Broughton on Tuesday 10 May 1838.
Fifty years later, cracks appeared in the
building, and it was decided to erect another building on the same site. On the
29th April 1888 the new church, St James’ Church, Jericho was consecrated by
Bishop Sandford.
As a dominant township element, St. James’ is
of great significance to Jericho. Architectural fittings and furnishings bear
dedications to prominent early members of the district, including Thomas
Gregson who was Premier of Tasmania in 1857, and who’s property “Northumbria”
borders the church. St. James’ is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register for
its community values and its ability to represent a modest sandstone Victorian
Gothic Church. The building was designed by the well know architect, Henry
Hunter, who was responsible for many fine building around Tasmania. Walter Fish
was responsible for the stonework and the woodwork was carried out by Charles
Ellen, both of Oatlands.
The stained-glass windows were added over
time and are some of the best examples of Australia’s glass artists, including
John Lamb Lyons (Sydney), George Dancey, William Kerr-Morgan, Brooks Robinson
(renowned for the strength of his workmanship) and perhaps the most important
window which was the last window that William Montgomery crafted. The beautiful
window at the rear of the church, “Crucifixion” was executed by Augustus
Fischer of Melbourne. His windows are rare and his work was renowned for his
treatment of flowers.
The wall treatment and stenciling are rare
and beautiful.
It is also thought that St. James Church was
the first church in the southern hemisphere to have conducted an Ecumenical
Service. The churchyard includes an
Avenue of Honour, a row of pine trees dedicated to local men (and one woman)
who served in W.W.1.
St. James’ is a family church of the Bisdees,
a prominent pastoral family of the district. They took an active part in the
welfare of the church and it’s people. John Hutton Bisdee was the first
Australian-born Victoria Cross recipient, and is buried in the cemetery. Bisdee
was awarded the V.C. in 1900 for bravery in the Transvaal War, following which
he returned to Tasmania to the family farm, and later served in W.W.1. He
passed away on his property in 1930. The two Bisdee family plots are a dominant
feature of the cemetery when approaching the doors of St. James’.
A local volunteer
committee have established an excellent museum of local history and a memorial
to those local men who served for their Empire.
For the botanist, the cemetery is one of only two sites in Tasmania where the
rare plant Leptorhynchos Elongatus or Lanky Buttons can be found. This bright
yellow daisy was recorded by the botanist J. D. Hooker in the 19th century as
“not uncommon”.
Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Thursday 5 May 1921,
page 1
100 YEARS OF TASMANIAN LIFE
BISDEE'S FAMILY HISTORY.
An interesting chapter, from the home story of a well-known Tasmanian
family:-
May 3 was the centenary of the arrival of Mr. John Bisdee in the
Derwent. He was the first of five brothers of an old South of England family to
make a home in Tasmania. He arrived on May 3, 1821, liked the-place, and
resolved to settle in it. His letters induced four brothers to come out. One of
these, Edward Bisdee, made Lovely Banks Melton Mowbray, his home, and it became
the home of Isaac Bisdee when Edward returned to the family place in
Somersetshire, England. Lovely Banks is now the home of Isaac Bisdee's only
son, E. O. Bisdee. Alfred Bisdee lived for many years at Sandhill, Jericho,
before he, too, in his turn, took up the family home, Hutton Court, in Somersetshire,
where his eldest son, Mr. G. T. Bisdee, now resides. Mr. T. G. Bisdee's three
sons, Captain Graeme Bisdee, of Cornhill, Ulverstone, Tasmania; Colonel Tom
Bisdee, M.C., D.S.O., now in Egypt, and Mr. James Bisdee all served in the
Great War.
George Bisdee lived at Wood spring, Bothwell, and was on one occasion
tied up to a tree by bushrangers because he refused to promise not to give the
alarm that they were in the district. George Bisdee also owned Heston in the
Bagdad Valley, where Mr. Winchester Bisdee, eldest grandson of the first Mr.
John Bisdee, now lives, Wherever the Bisdee brothers settled they planted
English trees and haw-thorn hedges, and made typical English homes. The
plantations of oaks and elms at Hutton-park are especially fine.
The late Mr. John Bisdee, who succeeded his father (the first John
Bisdee of whose centenary we are writing) also planted English trees, and now
his sons and daughters, grand children, and great-grandchildren, enjoy the
beauty of the plantations.
A grandson of the first John Bisdee has rendered conspicuous service to
his country, Colonel John Hutton Bisdee. V.C., OB.E., who got his V.C. in the
Boer war, and his rank of colonel and O.B.E. in the Great War. Another grandson
is Mr. Harold Bisdee, of Melton Vale.
The Chapter would not have been
researched had it not been for a chance discussion between another of my
cousins, Susan McCall. We share the same
Irish Great grandparents, and now it is possible to include Susan's family into
this historical account of the Bisdee Family.
Prudence was born 1789 and died
1879 in England. She married Richard
Edols and they had 6 children. Five
daughters and one son, who died fairly young.
Richard was the son of Richard
Edols and Elizabeth (Betty) Jones. Richard had a sister Martha Edols who
married James Bisdee who was the father of Captain Robert John Bisdee from the
Somerset 2nd Militia.
Richard and Martha had two elder
brothers, George and Thomas. George
married Elizabeth Danger, and the brothers, along with George and Elizabeth's 9
children arrived in Tasmania in 1834 on board the "Thomas Laurie".
George
Edols (1789-1836)
Married 1813
|
Children
|
William Danger (1814-1834)
Richard (1816-1878)
John Danger (1817-1888)
Thomas Danger (1819-1898)
Henry Danger (1821-1832)
George Danger (1823-1905)
Robert Ernest Danger (1824-1870)
Elizabeth Danger (1826-1915)
Mary Danger (1828-1880)
Martha Danger (1830-1933)
Jane Danger (1832-1854)
|
George became the owner of the Woolpack Inn.,
between October 1834, and November 1835, when the Inn was being used as an
auction house, for the sale of animals of the district
Thomas Edols was mentioned in
Criminal sittings in 1837, of interest was William Shone, he was the brother of
Thomas Shone, a convict who built Stanton at Magra, Back River, New
Norfolk.
George died in
1836. His brother appeared to take over
the Inn, so perhaps they were in partnership together.
In 1837 Thomas Edols was
mentioned in transfers of convicts. Thomas transferred the license to Robert
Steddart 1839.
Thomas then
relocated to Broomfield near Allanvale, and was robbed in 1839.
In 1843, he was the subject along
with his sister in law and her children from an attack by Martin Cash.
There were two inns. Different locations, this is the one at
Macquarie Plains were the notorious bushranger Martin Cash held up the hotel in
1843, and was involved in other incidents with the surrounding neighbours
Thomas then lived at Shawfield, Ouse, in the
Hamilton
At a hilltop is a wayside inn
bearing the sign "Rosegarland". How could any lover of the poetry of
words not to say a lover of beer on a hot day-pass an inn of that name? Were I
the proprietor I would plant a garden round it that would fit the name, arid,
when other trade was slack, sell rose-garlands to my customers.
What remains of the Woolpack Inn
is on the right-hand side of the road a little further on. You can no longer
buy beer at the Woolpack, but had your visit been in 1838 you might perhaps
have had a pot at the expense of Sir John Franklin, for in that year he
attended a dinner at the Woolpack as the guest of the Southern Agricultural
Society who were wont to foregather there. Martin Cash and his mates Jones and
Kavanagh chose this secluded inn for the testing of their arms, and in a
deliberately planned affray with the Police the bushrangers came off best,
departing with their tails up-and a keg of brandy to keep them up. They were
arrogant rascals, always playing to the gallery. It was in the vicinity of the
Derwent Valley that they wrote a bombastic note to the Governor.
After George died, at some point,
the family went to Victoria.
THOMAS EDOLS, FOUNDATION BREEDER
AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF "THE BARB"
Barbara M Cooper AM for The
Working Kelpie Council of Aust. Inc.16/01/2004(c)
The question of whether or not
the "Barb" and the ” Kelpie” were separate breeds has been a subject
of controversy from the time of the Barbs naming by Thomas Edols through to the
present day.
The Barb strain was developed on
Burrawang station a huge property of 520,000 acres much of which was unimproved
when purchased by Thomas Edols in 1873. At that time Burrawang was roughly 35
miles from Forbes, extended north to the town of Trundle, to the south it’s
border ran along the Lachlan River to Bedgerbong, the Corradgery Range on the
east and Condobolin to the west. The Kelpie strain was originally developed by
landholders and stockmen in an adjacent area.
The Barb strain was developed by
Thomas Edol who was born in Bridgewater, Somerset in 1819.
Aged 13 in 1834 he came with his
parents, George and Elizabeth, and 9 brothers and sisters to
Tasmania. His father bought a
property names ‘Bloomfield’ at Macquarie Plains and also invested in a hotel
called the Woolpack Inn. George Edols died in October 1836.
Thomas eventually came over to the
mainland and became associated with various commercial activities in the
Geelong district of Victoria. He married Mary Jane Donovan in 1857 and they went
to live on ‘Edolstone’ at Cowies Creek where in 1857 he won first prize for the
best managed farm in the district. He in the 1860's moved onto a larger
property known as “Upper Regions” in the Wimmera a property originally of 128,000
acres, which had been subdivided twice firstly into “Upper Regions” and
“Lochiel” then into “Upper Regions” and “Bonegar” before Thomas Edols took up
officially in 1864 and held officially until 1874 when it passed to William
Henry Lloyd. Thomas and family remained on” Upper Regions”, where most of his
children were born, for about 14 years before he decided to leave the Wimmera
and buy a large area of land at Forbes which at the time comprised a group of
properties which became known as “Big Burrawang”.
When Thomas took up Burrawang is
it was largely dense scrub and stony patches. Totaling 520,000 acres 100,000
acres of which was freehold and the balance leasehold at a small rent conditional
on clearing, fencing and provision of a water supply. The land was cleared by the
hiring of Chinese to ring bark trees etc, swamp land was drained and the
property divided into paddocks by miles and miles of fencing. Tanks were sunk
and dams installed so that every paddock had permanent water. Two bridges were
constructed so that stock could be moved and saved in times of flood.
Thomas endeavoured to use
machinery whenever possible. He used steam for power tank sinking , to power
his huge shearing shed and woolwash which was driven by a 33 HP engine- Hot
and cold water was used as well
as revolving tubs and a centrifugal dryer to remove much of the
water
from the wool before it was put outside to dry..
His son Thomas Danger
Edols became the owner of one of Australia's finest Sheep stations, and bred
Kelpie dogs
The
photo of the church taken by Duncan Grant
