Category Archives: Furnell

L is for Lilian

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in A to Z 2018, Cudmore, Furnell, medicine, Melbourne, teacher, university

≈ 9 Comments

My third cousin four times removed, who was also the sister-in law of my third great uncle, was Dr Lilian Helen Alexander (1861-1934), one of the first woman doctors in Australia.

Lilian was the second of three children of Thomas Alexander (c. 1820-1888) and Jane Alexander nee Furnell (1818-1908). Their oldest daughter was Constance (1858-1913) and they also had a son, Albert Durer Alexander (1863-1933).

 

Cudmore Alexander tree

Family tree showing the Alexander and Cudmore cousin connection

 

The Alexanders lived in South Yarra. Thomas was employed as a printer for the Government but lost his job in the Victorian Government political crisis of January 1878. In 1878 and 1879 he operated a bookselling business. From 1873 Jane, Mrs Alexander, ran a Ladies’ College, which took boarders, called “Lawn House”. This began at William Street, South Yarra. From 1879 the school advertised that the principals were Mrs Alexander and the Misses Alexander: Lilian and Constance were teaching too. In 1883 the school moved from William Street – Lawn House was required by the railway – to Springfield House, 13 Murphy Street, South Yarra, later renumbered to 17.

Lilian was educated at her mother’s school and then for one year at Presbyterian Ladies’ College. In 1883 she entered the University of Melbourne as one of a small group of women who studied Arts. She was the first woman student of Trinity College. She gained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 and her Master of Arts in 1888. The 1887 advertisement for the school proudly announced her achievements.

 

Springfield College January 1887

Advertising (1887, January 29). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11588121

 

In 1887 Lilian applied to study medicine and was one of the first women medical students at Melbourne. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine in 1893 and her BCh (Baccalaureus Chirurgiae or Bachelor of Surgery)  in 1901.

 

Women-Medical-Students 1887

First group of female medical students at the University of Melbourne, 1887. Description: Standing (l. to r.) Helen Sexton, Lilian Alexander, Annie (or Elizabeth) O’Hara. Seated (l. to r.) Clara Stone, Margaret Whyte, Grace Vale, Elizabeth (or Annie) O’Hara. Retrieved from https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2011/07/12/237/

 

In 1895 Lilian was inaugural secretary of the Victorian Women’s Medical Association, and later its president. Her first appointment was at the Women’s Hospital in Carlton, and she was one of the inaugural staff members of the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, which was established in 1897.

In 1891 Lilian’s sister Constance (1858-1913) married their third cousin Milo Robert Cudmore (1852-1913). Milo was the brother of my great great grandfather James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912).

Milo and Constance had four sons:

  • Francis Alexander Cudmore 1892–1956
  • Ernest Osmond Cudmore 1894–1924
  • Arthur Sexton Cudmore 1897–1974
  • Wilfred Milo Cudmore 1899–1965

In January 1913 Constance Cudmore died at the Alexander family home in Murphy Street, South Yarra. In July, six months later, Milo also died at South Yarra. Lilian, still living at 17 Murphy Street South Yarra, assumed the care of  the four orphans,  then aged between 14 and 21.

Lilian practiced medicine until 1928. She died on 18 October 1934.

Alexander Lilian obituary Argus 1934 10 20

OBITUARY (1934, October 20). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 24. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10983054

 

In April 1936 Arthur Sexton Cudmore and his two surviving brothers, Francis Alexander Cudmore and Wilfred Milo Cudmore  presented a bas relief sculpture by the notable Australian sculptor Web Gilbert to the University of Melbourne in honour of their aunt Dr Lilian Helen Alexander.

Wheel of Life at Melbourne Uni

The sculpture “Wheel of Life” by Web Gilbert in the foyer of the Medical Building Grattan Street, University of Melbourne.

Alexander memorial plaque

 

Sources

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My cousin at Eureka

02 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in 1854, Ballarat, Cudmore, Furnell

≈ 7 Comments

I have a cousin who fought at the battle of Eureka stockade. The Eureka rebellion is considered by some historians to be the birthplace of Australian democracy. It is the only Australian example of armed rebellion leading to reform of unfair laws.

On 3 December 1854 soldiers and police stormed a stockade erected by miners at the Eureka lead, Ballarat.

One of the mounted police was Samuel Stackpoole Furnell (1823-1880), my second cousin five times removed.

Samuel Furnell was born in Limerick, Ireland on 22 January 1823. He was the son of Samuel Furnell and Mary nee Cudmore.

In November 1852 Mr S. S. Furnell arrived in Melbourne, Victoria as a passenger on the Delagny, which had left London on 30 July. He had briefly served as a private in the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards from October 1850 to March 1851. At the time of his arrival he was 29 years old.

Shortly after this Samuel Furnell enlisted as a police cadet. The list of unclaimed letters at Melbourne Post Office for 31 December 1852 published in the Government Gazette of 26 January 1853 includes a letter for Samuel S Furnell Police Cadet.

In 1853, Samuel Furnell served as a policeman on the Beechworth goldfields. In July he was reported as being a sub-inspector at Spring Creek near Beechworth. In August sub-inspector Furnell was reported to be hunting for bushrangers between Spring Creek and the New South Wales border.

Mounted police 1853

“Mounted police, gold escort guard / sketched on the spot” by S.T. Gill 1853

 

I am not sure when he moved to Ballarat, but by November 1854 Sub-inspector Furnell was reported to have been on detective duty on the Ballarat diggings in November 1854. At that time the Catholic priest Father Patrick Smyth informed Sub-inspector Furnell, and through Furnell, the Gold Commissioner Robert Rede, that the Government Camp was in great danger of assault from disgruntled miners. Smyth knew Furnell from the Beechworth diggings.

Before dawn on 3 December 1854, 182 soldiers and 94 police were led by Gilbert Amos, Commissioner of the Eureka camp, to the stockade set up by the miners. The soldiers attacked at dawn. Samuel Furnell was one of four sub-inspectors in charge of the 70 mounted police.

Furnell and the mounted troopers were on the west of the stockade threatening the flank and the rear. The attack was made by the soldiers where the slope was the steepest. This plan, conceived by Captain Thomas (later Lieutenant General Sir John Wellesley Thomas, KCB ), was regarded as clever.

Samuel Hughye, clerk at the Government Camp, made a diagram of the battlefield.  The position of the mounted police can be seen to the right of the diagram.

Hughye battlefield map

It has been noted by the historian Peter Fitzsimons that there has been criticism of the role played by the mounted police in the Eureka battle. He states however the police were not soldiers and it was never intended that they should storm the stockade. Their task as described by Captain Thomas was to threaten the stockade’s flank and rear. Fitzsimons writes that in military parlance to threaten means to distract an enemy or to restrict his tactical options. It does not necessarily mean to charge into the fray. Fitzsimons also notes that the mounted troopers would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to cross the wall of slabs forming the stockade, particularly while the stockade was being defended.

After the battle, Samuel Furnell was called to give evidence and described capturing John Fenwick who was running away from the stockade. Although Fenwick was arrested he was not sent for trial. Furnell also described capturing Henry Reid who was sent to trial for High Treason.

In January 1855 Samuel Furnell gave evidence about the events of 30 November 1854:

Samuel S. Furnell, being sworn, said I am a Sub Inspector of Police. I recollect the 30th of November. I was on duty. I went down after the police had been assaulted, with another party, to aid them. I found the police drawn up in the road, and from 500 to 1000 people drawn up in front of them. Some stones were being thrown at the police. Captain Carter accompanied me with foot police. Captain Carter sent two men to ask a man for his license, one of them was struck down ; this was in presence of the crowd. The crowd showed approbation, I should fancy. I was present when the act was read. It was about half past eleven or twelve. The military had been called out. A shot was fired. Saw Campbell running away, with smoke around him. I rode after him, and took him. He had a revolver on him, of which one barrel had been fired off. I saw M’Intyre at the meeting after the riot act was read. I saw Bryant there, he was violent. He was there I believe.

Mr. Michie: Do not tell us, sir, what you believe. Is he the man ?

Witness continued: Well, I do not know. I will not swear he is the man. I decline speaking about Goddard.

In the trials for High Treason Samuel Furnell gave evidence of the capture of Jan Vennik and on another day spoke about being called a “Joe” and other bad terms. He stated he had been “Joe’d” for two or three years on the diggings and was now pretty well used to it.

By June 1855 Samuel Furnell was a sub-inspector at Castlemaine.

Furnell rose to the rank of Police Superintendent 1st class, in charge of the Geelong district.

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