Merseyside 12 May

On 12 May 2019 Greg, Peter, and I drove from Manchester to Liverpool, forty miles to the west. Charlotte stayed behind to catch up with one of her English friends. We visited St Helens, the Walker Art Gallery, a National Trust property called Speke Hall, and St Mary’s Church Hale.

There’s a family connection. Greg’s 3rd great grandfather James Cross (1791 – 1853) was from Windle, near St Helens, about half-way between Liverpool and Manchester (see ‘W is for Windle‘), and some of his forebears were from Hale.

The countryside near St Helens and Eccleston

It was a perfect spring day, and the countryside looked very pretty. We drove to St Helens, our first stop, wondering where the grimy industrial North had got to. Not a satanic mill in sight…

St Helens town centre

The Parish Church of St Helens associated with James Cross and his family burned down in 1916. However, the rebuilt church was open, with Sunday morning service just about to begin. We talked to a few people, all of them very friendly and welcoming.

A brief history of the church was on display. The church burned down in 1916, the church we were looking at was not the one Greg’s forebears knew.

St Helens Parish Church

The former Pilkingtons headquarters St Helens, but in 1937, well after the Cross family lived there. The St. Helens Crown Glass Company was formed in 1826 and became known as Pilkington Brothers from 1845. The company still exists.

Mersey Gateway Bridge

In Liverpool we drove past the docks to get to the city centre. The enormous port handles about a third of England’s sea-cargo. (L is for leaving Liverpool)

The Walker Art Gallery has a splendid collection of pre-Raphaelite and other Victorian art, much of which we had seen in reproduction. It was great fun to see familiar works for real, close-up.

On the walk to the gallery we passed crowds of football fans on their way to the stadium, singing their team songs. There’s footy crowds in Australia, of course, especially in Victoria, where we live, but not much singing. A pity. A large number of voices raised in unison can be very stirring.

Liverpool Football Club fans singing before the game

Orderly queues for transport to the football game. Cenotaph in the foreground and the North Western Hotel is behind.

Walker Art Gallery

Walker Art Gallery: Greg in front of Dante’s Dream by Gabriel Rossetti

In the afternoon we visited the National Trust property of Speke Hall, a wood-framed wattle-and-daub Tudor manor house. It was presented as it had been used in Victorian times. For afternoon tea, I tried the National Trust tea-room’s local delicacy Wet Nelly, a bread and butter pudding. My own is better, says Greg.

Speke Hall

On our way back to Manchester we visited the pretty village of Hale, ten miles or so up the Mersey estuary, home of Greg’s Bailey forebears. At the door of St Mary’s Church were Bailey headstones. Unfortunately these were not those of Greg’s fourth great grandparents Ellen Bailey née Swift (1771 – 1836) and her husband Thomas Bailey (1759 – 1843), but an Ellen Bailey who died in 1830 and a Thomas Bailey who died 1858. I shall have to work out if and how these Baileys are related. Even so, coming across the Bailey headstones was a bit of family history serendipity.

St Mary’s Church Hale

Related posts

• W is for Windle
• L is for leaving Liverpool

W is for Windle

My husband Greg’s 3rd great grandfather James Cross (1791 – 1853) was from Windle, near St Helens, about ten miles from Liverpool in England.

Map showing Windle, St Helens, Hardshaw, Eccleston, Prescot, Penketh, Hale, Halewood, and20 Grove Street, Liverpool

James Cross married Ann Bailey (1791 – 1861) on 28 December 1819 at Hale. Their marriage was announced in the Lancaster Gazette on 8 January 1820:

“Same day [On Monday se’nnight], at Hale, Mr James Cross, of Penketh Brewery, to Miss Bailey, Halewood.”

Their oldest son John (1820 – 1867) was baptised at Prescot on 28 December 1820, a year after their marriage. The family was then living at Penketh, on the upper Mersey. James’s occupation was ‘Brewer’.

The Penketh brewery was later acquired by a Methodist family called Parker. Not wanting a brewery in their village, it was turned into a tannery. The buildings were demolished in 1996.

Looking East along Tannery Lane Penketh,at the old Tannery buildings. Photographed July 1996.

Thomas Bailey Cross, the second son of James and Ann, was born on 21 April 1822 at Windle and baptised on 13 July 1823 at St Mary, Hale. On this occasion the occupation of his father James was given as ‘road surveyor’.

Ellen Cross was born 9 February 1824 and baptised at St Mary’s Hale. Her father’s occupation was road surveyor and their abode St Helens.

Ann Jane Cross was born 28 June 1826 and baptised at Prescot on 16 July. James was a road surveyor and their abode was Hardshaw.

Greg’s great great grandfather James Cross (1828 – 1882) was born 28 March 1828 at Windle. He was baptised 4 September 1828 in the parish of St Helens. He is recorded as the son of James and Ann Cross; his father’s occupation was given as Surveyor and the address as Eccleston.

William Grapel Cross was baptised at Liverpool St Peter on 19 October 1832, the son of James and Ann of Eccleston Parish of Prescot. James’s occupation was agent. Thirteen children were baptised there on that day.

Frederick Beswick Cross was baptised 12 August 1835 at St Helens, Lancashire. The family was living at Eccleston and James’s occupation was agent.

On the 1841 census James, Ann and their children James, Thomas and Frederick were living at Eccleston. The occupation of James senior is given as farmer. They were neighbours of a land surveyor named Sylvester Mercer, aged 60, and his family. ‘Mercer’ was used as a second forename in some members of later generations of the Cross family.

On the 1851 census James, Ann, and their children Thomas, William, and Frederick were living in Liverpool at 20 Grove Street. James was a retired farmer, Thomas was a coffee and sugar merchant, William was a clerk to a coffee and sugar merchant, and Frederick was apprentice to a Tailor [or so it appears; I am not sure of the transcription].

20 Grove Street, Liverpool from Google maps

 

James died in 1853 and Ann in 1861. Their son James emigrated to Australia in the early 1850s.

Sources

• Ancestry.com
  • Baptism records
  • 1841 census: Class: HO107; Piece: 516; Book: 5; Civil Parish: Prescot; County: Lancashire;Enumeration District: 14; Folio: 40; Page: 5; Line: 1; GSU roll: 306903
  • 1851 census: Class: HO107; Piece: 2183; Folio: 423;Page: 34; GSU roll: 87185-87187
• http://www.penketh.com/hist.html

 

The Mallee kids

A useful source of information about my family is an album of photographs that came to me from my parents-in-law Peter Young (1920 – 1988) and Marjorie (1920 – 2003).

A few years before he died Peter spent an afternoon going through the photos with me, explaining where they were taken and naming the people in them. I wrote this information on the backs of them, and I’m very glad that I did, for without this it would be very difficult now to work out who was who. Even so there are gaps. I can’t identify all the people in every photograph.

The photos below are of Peter’s cousins, who lived at Carwarp, near Mildura. He called them the Mallee kids.

Peter’s mother Elizabeth Young nee Cross (1900 – 1949) was one of ten children. One of her older brothers, George Murray Cross (1890 – 1962) served in World War I, was wounded in France and returned home in 1917. In 1918 he married Elsie Agnes Brown (1889 – 1959).

When they married George and Elsie Cross moved first to Ouyen then to Ginquam West, close to Mildura. Not long afterwards, they took up a wheat and sheep farm at Carwarp, about 30 kilometres south.

The Mallee dry and harsh, tough to farm, and many Soldier Settlers couldn’t make a go of it. George Cross, however, ran his farm there until near to his death in 1962 when his son Alex  took it over.

One of George’s grand daughters remembers the farm was

640 acres & dry land cropping. Wheat & sheep as l recall. He apparently said that if it were irrigated, he could grow anything. It’s now a winery !

Some of the frustration of Soldiers Settlers can be detected from a letter George Cross wrote to the Soldiers’ Settlement Board in 1923: “My wife and family left here on the 10 January last as I did not consider that the camp we were living in was fit for any woman to live in. I have since pulled it down and there is no possibility of their return until such time as someone at your end comes out of their trance and gets the job done.” His wife and children rejoined George Cross at the end of the year.

The Cross’s farm was 640 acres, 1 square mile (just under 260 hectares), the size of the average Soldiers Settler farm. It was new country, not previously cultivated.

In 1929 George Cross gave evidence to a committee looking at the size of viable farms (see below).

In 1935 an inspector of George Cross’s wheat and sheep farm noted “ the eldest boy assists with all the farm work”. Jim Cross was then 16 years old. “The Limits of Hope”, a history by Marilyn Lake of post-WW1 Soldier Settlement, notes that the work of grown-up children often contributed significantly to a farm’s success.

George and Elsie Cross had five children:

• James Murray (Jim) 1919 -2007 born Ouyen
• Alex Watson (Alex) 1921 – 2005 born Mildura
• Caroline Elsie (Carol known as Elsie when young) 1923 – 2017
• Frederick George (Fred) 1924 – 2003
• Beryl Lillian (Beryl) 1934 – 2006

The following photos are from the collection of my father-in-law

Jim 3 years 10 months, Alex 2 years; 1923

Jim & Alex carting wood Christmas 1924

Elsie and Fred Christmas 1924

Fred Cross age 10 months in 1925

“This was taken at a Birthday party last August. I put a mark near Jim & Alex. I am in the shade of the tree with Fred in my arms & Elsie is along side of me.” Caption presumably by George Cross. Fred was born September 1924 and looks about 2 in the photo so I think the photo dates from August 1926. Jim would have been 7, Alex 5 and Elsie 3.

The Mallee kids: Jim Elsie, Fred and Alex Cross

“This was taken from the lower end of the dam looking towards the house.”

“This is rather a good view, only the top of the mill is cut off. Better luck next time”

“Do you recognise this building?” I am not sure why FJ or Ann Jane Cross should recognise the building – was it moved from Homebush to Carwarp?

“This is a good view of the mill & tank. The three boys up the ladder. Alex at the top.”

“HOME MAINTENANCE” AREA FOR FARMERS (1929, June 21). Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark, SA : 1913 – 1942), p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109383159

Sources and further reading

• For the Empire. Welcome to Corporal George Cross (1917, November 7). Avoca Free Press and Farmers’ and Miners’ Journal (Vic. : 1900; 1914 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151687264
• Wedding Bells. Cross – Brown (1918, July 17). Avoca Free Press and Farmers’ and Miners’ Journal (Vic. : 1900; 1914 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151682981
• “HOME MAINTENANCE” AREA FOR FARMERS (1929, June 21). Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record (Renmark, SA : 1913 – 1942), p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109383159
• Public Record Office Victoria
  • File of G. M. Cross, DSL 217. Cross to CSB, 22 March 1923. VPRS 749, item 69, quoted in Marilyn Lake, The Limits of Hope: Soldier Settlement in Victoria 1915–38 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1987) p. 155.
  • VPRS 5357, P0, unit 2667 : Land Selection And Correspondence Files 01695/198.6 GEORGE MURRAY CROSS THOMAS LANIGAN WILLIAM LEAMON CARWARP WEST 1 1A 695–2–0
  • VPRS 5714, P0, unit 2409 : Land Selection Files, Section 12 Closer Settlement Act 1938 [including obsolete and top numbered Closer Settlement and WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement files] C11768 GEORGE M CROSS CARWARP WEST 1 1A 695–2–0
  • Will and probate VPRS 28/ P4  unit 2858,  item 595/791 and VPRS 7591/ P3  unit 477,  item 595/791 George Murray CROSS Date of grant: 23 May 1963; Date of death: 12 Aug 1962; Occupation: Farmer; Residence: Carwarp
• Marilyn Lake, The Limits of Hope: Soldier Settlement in Victoria 1915–38 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1987) pp.155, 164

A picnic in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens

I don’t have a favourite photograph but I appreciate the photograph collection of my parents-in-law. I can remember sitting down with my father-in-law Peter Young (1920-1988) and asking him who was who in his collection of photographs. I noted down his answers in pencil on the back of each photo. Because we had that conversation, I have been able to work out the identity of many of those pictured. But despite these annotations there are still many puzzles.

Peter Young (1920-1988) sitting on a lion at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens about 1924

Peter (wearing a tie) and Elizabeth Young nee Cross (wearing a striped dress) sitting on a cannon opposite the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in about 1924

stamped “3 73” on the back, Peter identified this as perhaps Uncle Fred and Maggie. Uncle Fred could have been Fredrick Beswick Cross (1893-1959), brother of Elizabeth, father of Ethel and Freda Cross who might be the two small girls pictured picnicking. But it could also be Frederick Fletcher (1890-1967) who married Margaret Cross (1897-1926), Elizabeth’s sister and Peter’s aunt.

A picnic near the Ballarat Botanical Gardens about 1924. Elizabeth young nee Cross (1900-1949) is wearing a striped dress. Her son Peter is the small boy seated wearing a tie. The older woman in a black dress is probably Anne Jane Cross nee Plowright (1862-1930), Elizabeth’s mother. I suspect the man in the hat might be Frederick James Cross (1857-1929), Elizabeth’s father but I am not sure. The two little girls might be Ethel and Freda Cross, born 1919 and 1920, Peter’s cousins and about the same age. I am not sure about the other two women, though the woman sitting by the tree is most likely one of Elizabeth’s sisters.

 

The last three photographs were all developed from the same roll of film based on the stamp of “3 73” on the back. I assume they were taken on the same day. Perhaps some cousins also have photographs taken on that day and can better identify those pictured.

The locations of these photographs are still recognisable. Children still sit on the lion and have their photos taken when visiting the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.

Carngham

James  Cross (1828 – 1882) and his wife Ellen Cross née Murray (1837 – 1901), the great great grandparents of my husband Greg, moved to Carngham between the births of their first and second children. Frederick James Cross, their oldest son, was born on 1 April 1857 at Green Hills near Buninyong. Their daughter Ellen was born on 27 May 1859 at Carngham. James and Ellen had nine more children all born at Carngham. James Cross died at Carngham in 1882. Ellen Cross died in Ballarat in 1901.

 

From Lost and almost forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria : a comprehensive analysis of Census results for Victoria, 1841-1901 by Angus B.Watson.

Carngham, 27 km west of Ballarat, about 30 km from Buninyong, and 4 km north of Snake Valley, was a mining township, surveyed and proclaimed in 1855. State School number 146 operated at Carngham from 1856 until 1911.

Snake Valley was not proclaimed a township. It was a mining centre, surveyed as a hamlet. State School number 574, which began in 1854, is now part of the Woady Yaloak school.

According to the census of 29 March 1857 there were 459 people in Carngham, 292 males and 167 females. This figure probably includes the population of Snake Valley. In 1854 there had been 58 people, 15 males and 13 females.   There are no 1854 figures for Snake Valley. In 1861 there were 22 dwellings counted in Carngham with 92 people of whom 54 were male and 38 female. Snake Valley had 204 dwellings housing 714 people: 454 males and 260 females. In 1871 Carngham and Snake Valley were counted together, with 384 dwellings housing 1,693 people of whom 958 were male and 735 female. In 1881 there were only 133 dwellings housing 611 people, 313 males and 298 females. In 1891 Carngham had 30 dwellings housing 126 people and Snake Valley had 92 dwellings housing 333 people. Watson, Angus B Lost & almost forgotten towns of colonial Victoria : a comprehensive anaysis of census results for Victoria, 1841-1901. Angus B. Watson and Andrew MacMillan Art & Design, [Victoria, Australia], 2003. Pages 84, 408.

Today Carngham amounts to little more than a few houses where the Snake Valley – Trawalla road crosses the route from Ballarat to Beaufort.  Snake Valley is still the larger settlement. Overlooking Carngham is a cemetery where James Cross, his wife Ellen and some of his children and their families are buried.

The name Carngham is said to derive from the Wathawurrung people’s word for house or hut.  In 1838 James and Thomas Baillie squatted there and adopted the Aboriginal place name for their property. The local clan was the Karrungum baluk or Carringum balug. Clark, Ian, and Toby Heydon. “Historical Information – Carngham.” VICNAMES. Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (State Government of Victoria), 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. <http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=3226>.

Snake Valley is said to have got its name when a gold miner found snakes in a shaft he was sinking. Clark, Ian, and Toby Heydon. “Historical Information – Snake Valley.” VICNAMES. Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (State Government of Victoria), 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. <http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=5118>.In turn citing Porteous in Smyth 1878b: 179. 

The Ballarat Star reported on the gold rush to Carngham in November 1857. CARNGHAM. (1857, November 23). The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 – 1864), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66045316

 

 

M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854

Western End of Queens Wharf Melbourne 1854 by S.T. Gill retrieved from MossGreen auctioneers

Ellen Murray (1837 – 1901) and Margaret Smyth (1834 – 1897), two of my husband’s great grandmothers, sailed from England to Melbourne, Victoria, on the Persian, arriving on 9 April 1854. Ellen’s sister Bridget and an infant surnamed Smyth traveled with them.

The Persian left Southampton on 2 January 1854 with 448 government immigrants, of whom 200 were single women. Eight people died on the 97 day voyage and five babies were born. The Croesus, which sailed from Southampton more than a week after the Persian, arrived the same day.

PORT PHILLIP HEADS. (1854, April 11). Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 – 1856), p. 4 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91932661

The Persian collided with another ship, the Cheshire Witch, in Port Phillip.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1854, April 11). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4805696

From the passenger list of the Persian, Margaret Smyth and infant are at the bottom of the screenshot , record retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge)

Margaret Smyth was recorded as having given birth on board. She was from Cavan; her religion was Church of England; she could read and write; and she was 20 years old. She did not find a job immediately on landing, but went to stay with her cousin. His name on the record appears to be ‘John Hunter’, though the surname is not clearly legible.

I know nothing more about this cousin, nor have I have discovered anything more about Margaret’s baby. There seems to be no death certificate, but the baby may have died without its death registered, for in 1854 civil registration of deaths was not yet in force in Victoria.

From the passenger list disposal summary Margaret Smyth and infant went to her cousin.

On 19 November 1855 Margaret Smyth, dressmaker from Cavan, aged 22, married John Plowright, also 22, a gold digger. Their wedding was held at the residence of John Plowright, Magpie, Ballarat. On the certificate Margaret’s parents are given as William Smyth, farmer, and Mary nee Cox.

1855 marriage certificate of John Plowright and Margaret Smyth (click to enlarge)

Passenger list from the Persian showing Bridget and Ellen Murray at the bottom of the image. Retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge).

Bridget and Ellen Murray were both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was 24 and Ellen 18. Both found jobs on 15 April, within a week of their arrival. Bridget was engaged by S. Marcus of Prahran for a term of 1 month with a wage of 28 shillings and rations. Ellen was similarly employed by Mrs Ireland of St Kilda, with a wage of 30 shillings.

I have not been able to find anything more about Bridget Murray.

On 28 March 1856, two years after her arrival in the colony, Ellen Murray married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong . Their wedding was at the residence of John Plowright, Black Lead Buninyong, in the presence of John and Margaret Plowright. Ellen gave her residence as Buninyong and her occupation as dressmaker. She was born in Dublin, aged 21, and her parents were George Murray, glass blower, and Ellen nee Dory.

1856 marriage certificate for James Cross and Ellen Murray (click to enlarge)

It seems that Margaret Smyth and Ellen Murray, who had emigrated to Victoria on the same ship, remained friends. Later the son of Ellen Cross nee Murray, Frederick James Cross, married Ann Jane Plowright, the daughter of Margaret Plowright nee Smyth.

Hunter Smyth connection?

I think I have found a connection between the Hunter and Smyth families but I can’t link Margaret Smyth to it, at least not yet.

On other certificates Margaret Smyth states she was born in Bailieborough, County Cavan. I found a John Hunter associated with Bailieborough.

I have not been able to find a death of this John Hunter.

Family Notices (1866, December 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5782047

I ordered the marriage certificate and discovered Elizabeth Grace Hunter, age 27 had been born in Bailieborough. Her parents were John Hunter and Eliza Hunter nee Carmichael.

I ordered her 1897 death certificate and found Elizabeth had been in the colony 34 years. The informant on her death certificate was Charles Smyth, nephew, of Albury, New South Wales.

I found H. Hunter on the death indexes. He was Henry Hunter who died 1875. Henry was Elizabeth’s brother, also the son of John Hunter and Eliza Carmichael.

I hope further research will uncover the connection and I can learn more about Margaret Smyth’s family.

S is for Sebastapol school records

One day I was browsing the resources of the Ballarat Archives Centre and came across some microfiche prepared by the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society, the  Ballarat and District School Students Registers – Consolidated Index 1864-1963 (BDGS).

I checked for my husband’s father. He was listed and I learned something that I hadn’t known. He had moved schools and addresses while living in Ballarat as a child.

Ernest Young was born on 8 July 1920 in Melbourne to Elizabeth Young née Cross and Cecil Young. Ernest was always known as Peter. His parents separated and Peter and his mother lived with her parents, Frederick James Cross and Ann Jane née Plowright.

Peter Young aged about seven.

The Cross family lived at Homebush near Avoca for many years. In the early 1920s Frederick James Cross sold his property there and the family moved to Sebastopol near Ballarat. They lived on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets. The house is still there.

Peter outside the Cross house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets, Sebastopol.

The house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets where Peter Young lived with his mother and grandparents. Photographed May 2014.

The Sebastopol Primary School records are held by the Sebastopol & District Historical Society, housed in the old Sebastopol school building. The Society is open on the first Sunday of each month from 2 to 4 in the afternoon.

The old building of the Sebastopol State School now houses the Sebastopol & District Historical Society. Photographed May 2014.

Ernest Young started school at Sebastopol on 3 June 1925, just over a month before his fifth birthday. His father, Cecil Young, was named as his parent. Cecil’s occupation was given as labourer.

The school records show that Peter left Sebastopol to attend Urquart Street school in Ballarat in December 1929.

Peter’s grandfather Frederick James Cross had died in May 1929 and the family moved house.

The Urquart Street School records indicate that he was living at 419 Ascot Street and that he left in December 1931 to go to Melbourne.

Peter’s grandmother died in November 1930. It seems that another upheaval in his living arrangements followed.

Urquhart Street SS No 2013 – Vision and Realisation Vol 2. from Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources – Ballarat Schools

The former Urquart Street School photographed May 2014

The house at 419 Ascot Street Ballarat photographed May 2014

I don’t know where Peter went to school in Melbourne. His mother found work as a housekeeper there.

Further Reading

• Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources – Ballarat Schools

H is for Hindenburg Line

George Murray Cross (1890 – 1962) was one of my husband’s paternal great uncles.

George enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 7 October 1915. He was a 25 year old, unmarried, labourer born at the gold mining town of Homebush near Avoca in central Victoria. He enlisted at Melbourne but had been medically examined at Ouyen on 20 September where he was found to be 5’6 1/4″ tall, had blue eyes and light brown hair. He had been vaccinated on his left arm, had a wart between his shoulder blades and a scar on his left foot.

photograph of George Murray Cross in the possession of his grand daughter Gale.

In January 1916 George was at Broadmeadows camp and assigned to the 15th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion. On 7 March he sailed on HMAT A18 Wiltshire from Melbourne. In April 1916 at Ferry Post, Suez Canal, he transferred to the 5th Pioneer Battalion.They sailed for Marseilles in June 1916.

He was appointed Lance Corporal in December 1916. In early 1917 he was sick several times and in hospital. At one stage he was suffering from the mumps. On 15 April 1917 he rejoined his unit from hospital. On 17 April he was promoted to Corporal.

On 18 May he was wounded in action. On 26 May he was transferred from Boulogne to the London General Hospital at Chelsea suffering from a gun shot wound to the left eye. He had also been wounded in the neck and groin. He returned to Australia from England on 25 August 1917.

The diary of the 5th Pioneers describes the period in May.

War diary of the 5th Pioneers from the Australian War Memorial: AWM4/Class 14/Sub class 17 /AWM4 14/17/15 – May 1917 page 4

These works were p???d continuously & by 19th Railway completed to 100 yds beyond NOREUIL including 4 loops en route. Over 8000 yards of line had also been brought up from the rear. 5 dugouts were started on 11th for artillery but one position was abandoned on 13th & another on 14th. Two other dugouts were started in lieu of these,. First dugout (in easy ground) was completed on 18th. On 18th we were detailed to carry mining timber up to Hindenburg Line for the Tunnelling Coy. Had 5 men gassed from gas shells on night of 18/19th returning from Hindenburg Line – they returned to camp all right but did not feel effects til morning. On 18th as shelling in NOREUIL VALLEY had slackened considerably …

There seems no mention in the war diary of the incident in which George Cross was wounded.

In August 1917 a Miss E,. Brown of Homebush wrote to the Base Records Office seeking information about George’s address. In 1918, following his return to Australia, George married Elsie Agnes Brown. George had been discharged from the AIF, wounded, on 18 January 1918.

NAA: B2455, CROSS G M Page 20 of 23

NAA: B2455, CROSS G M Page 19 of 23

Wedding Bells. (1918, July 17). Avoca Free Press and Farmers’ and Miners’ Journal (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151682981

Sources . NAA: B2455, Cross George Murray : SERN 4757 : POB Homebush VIC : POE Melbourne VIC : NOK F Cross Frederick John

H is for hospital records

During the nineteenth century, many of my forebears and the forebears of my husband Greg lived in the Victorian goldfields area.

There were several hospitals in the goldfields and their admission records have been preserved and indexed. The indexes of the hospital records help answer some answers to family history questions such as on what ship the patient came to Australia.

The Maryborough hospital collected information about port of embarkation, name of ship, number of years in colonies. Apparently this information was collected as part of a disease tracking program.

On 5 March 1872 Margaret Plowright née Smyth, Greg’s great great grandmother, was admitted to Maryborough Hospital. According to the index of the hospital admission record, she was 37 years old, married, from Homebush, and a Wesleyan. She had arrived in the colony seventeen years previously on the Persian. The index does not tell us what her illness was.

The passenger lists for the Persian are available at the Public Records Office of Victoria. However, with a common surname such as Smyth it is useful to confirm that we were looking at the immigration of the right woman.

Margaret’s husband, John Plowright, came to Australia as a seaman and does not appear on any passenger list.  However, when he was admitted to Maryborough Hospital in 1873, he stated he had been in the colony for 20 years arriving on the Speculation.  His gave his occupation as mariner even though he had been a miner for 20 years. It is possible that the occupation was misheard by the clerk similar to the pirate / pilot confusion in The Pirates of Penzance.

Maryborough District Hospital [ca. 1866] photograph retrieved from the State Library of Victoria http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/the-welsh-swagman/1591/maryborough-district-hospital.-/

I have previously blogged about the hospital admission of another of Greg’s great great grandfathers, James Cross, who lost the use of a hand following the infection of a wound from a splinter. James was admitted to Ballarat Hospital in 1869. The hospital collected information about how long he had been in the colony, his age and his birthplace, but did not ask which ship he had arrived on.

NEWS AND NOTES. (1869, February 16). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1870), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112883353

The index to the Victorian Goldfields Hospitals’ Admissions produced by the Genealogical Society of Victoria is available on microfiche and CD and has been purchased by many family history societies.  The index is well worth exploring if your family lived on the goldfields.

Trove Tuesday: a splinter

A hundred and fifty years ago there were no effective antibiotics. Brandy didn’t help.

James Cross (1828 – 1882), the great great grandfather of my husband Greg, lost the use of a hand through an infection that would have healed quickly with modern antibiotics.

NEWS AND NOTES. (1869, February 16). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1870), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112883353

The Genealogical Index of Names (GIN) compiled by the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV) includes an index record of his hospital admission.

James Cross, at the time of his accident a miner, was born on 22 March 1828 at Windle, near Liverpool. I have no information about his immigration to Victoria but other sources such as his death record and newspaper notices from his brother and concerning unclaimed letters, suggest that he arrived around 1853, a date consistent with the ’16 years in the colony’ note on his hospital admission record.  

James Cross married Ellen Murray on 28 November 1856 at Black Lead, Bunninyong. By 1869 they had seven children, with the youngest, Mary Gore Cross, born 28 September 1868 at Carngham, less than six months old at the time of her father’s accident.

When as a result of the infection James lost the use of his hand, a local singing group called the Carngham Amateur Ethiopian Minstrels gave a charity concert to raise money for him.

NEWS AND NOTES. (1869, August 27). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1870), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112891859

NEWS AND NOTES. (1869, August 31). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1870), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112891979

On 31 January 1882, thirteen years after this unfortunate encounter with the ineffective medical remedies of his time, James Cross died in Carngham of dysentery.