Remembering E Walter Hughes (1854 – 1922)

Edward Walter Hughes, my great great grandfather, was born on 11 July 1854 in Noarlunga, South Australia, second of the eight children of Samuel Hughes and Sally Hughes née Plaisted.

On the 11th instant, at Kingston, Noarlunga, Mrs Samuel Hughes, of a son.

South Australian Register 13 July 1854

When he was two years old the family moved to Bendigo in Victoria, where his grandfather Edward Hughes was in the timber business. Samuel Hughes moved to Melbourne with his family where he set up an importing and timber merchant firm with the name ‘Hughes Lord & Co’.

Walter Hughes and his brother John went to school at Scotch College from 1867 – 69. In 1869 the family moved to Mount Gambier, in South Australia, where Samuel again founded a timber business.

In about 1870 Walter joined the National Bank of Australasia in South Australia; he ended up in charge of its Naracoorte branch. He resigned in 1873 when his father Samuel returned to Melbourne to establish Samuel Hughes & Co, Importers and Merchants. At this time, the family lived in Moonee Ponds.

In Melbourne, Walter, then nineteen, joined the Bank of Victoria. He was posted for some time to Dunolly as relieving officer, but by 1882 had returned to Melbourne.

Edward married Jeanie Hawkins in Dunolly on 25 September 1883.

HUGHES—HAWKINS.—On the 25th ult., at the Presbyterian Church, Dunolly by the Rev. J. W. Lawson, brother-in-law of the bride, Edward Walter, eldest son of Samuel Hughes, Tan-y-ffordd, Ascotvale, to Jeanie, youngest daughter of the late S. P. Hawkins, Melville Forest Station, Coleraine.

The Argus 2 October 1883

They had four children, the first two born in Melbourne, the second two in Beaufort, where Walter had been posted by the Bank of Victoria:

• Beatrix 1884–1943
• Reginald Hawkins 1886–1971
• Vyvyan Westbury 1888–1916
• Cedric Stuart Castlereagh 1893–1953

Walter and Jeanie’s four children – Reginald, Beatrix, Cedric and Vyvyan, in 1902

Early April 1916 – (back) Jeanie, Olive Hughes (Chatfield), Vyvyan, Walter (seated) and Beatrix de Crespigny (Hughes); (front) Nancy and Geoffrey de Crespigny

The Bank of Victoria in Beaufort in the 1890s – from Museum Victoria Reg. No: MM 001094

E. W. Hughes

Walter spent thirty-three years working for the Bank of Victoria in Beaufort. Busy in local affairs, he was described on his retirement due to ill-health in 1919 as “one of the most active residents of Beaufort”.

BEAUFORT.
VALEDICTORY.
Over £50 was subscribed for the purpose of making a presentation to Mr E. W. Hughes (for 33 years manager of the Bank of Victoria, Beaufort) prior to his departure for Melbourne. A number of representative citizens met Mr and Mrs Hughes on Monday, and expressed their appreciation of their valuable services to the town and district. On behalf of the people of Beaufort and district, Mr J. R. Wotherspoon presented Mr Hughes with a pigeon blood ruby ring and a purse of sovereigns, and Cr R. A. D. Sinclair (shire president) presented Mrs Hughes with a solid leather travelling bag. Both gentlemen referred in eulogistic terms to the good qualities of Mr and Mrs Hughes as citizens, expressed regret at their departure, and wished them health, prosperity and happiness in the future. Their remarks were endorsed by Messrs E. J. Muntz, G. H. Cougle, and A. L. Wotherspoon. Mr and Mrs Hughes feelingly returned thanks.

The Ballarat Star 23 October 1919

On 2 July 1922 at his home at 19 Oakwood Avenue, Brighton, Walter died at the age of sixty-seven, from diabetes and heart failure. He was buried in Brighton Cemetery.

The remains of Mr. Edward Walter Hughes, 67, who died on Sunday at Oakwood avenue, North Brighton, were interred today in the Church of England portion of the Brighton Cemetery. The Rev. Perry Martin officiated at the graveside. Born in South Australia, Mr. Hughes had lived in Victoria for 50 years. He was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort for 30 years. He has left a widow, two sons, and a daughter. The funeral arrangements were carried out by Monkhouse and Son.

The Herald (Melbourne, Victoria) 4 July 1922

HUGHES On the 2nd July at his residence, 19 Oakwood Avenue, Brighton. Edward Walter, the beloved husband of Jeanie Hughes, aged 67 years. (Private Interment.)

The Argus 4 July 1922

Mr Edward Walter Hughes died on Sunday at North Brighton. Born in South Australia, Mr Hughes had lived in Victoria for 50 years. He was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort for 30 years. He has left a widow, two sons, and a daughter.

The Ballarat Star 5 July 1922

Walter Hughes was something of a poet, and some of his verse was published in various newspapers between 1902 and 1916. My cousin Gordon Hughes has compiled a booklet of his poems, “E. W. Hughes’s Poems”, and has kindly given me his permission to attached it here.

Poems – E. Walter HughesDownload

One of his poems was published in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News with the remark that “Mr E.W. Hughes, of Beaufort, has followed up his recent successes, by winning the ‘Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News’ first prize of £1 1s for the best verse of eight lines descriptive of Cup Day. He also was placed third in the paper’s competition for best anecdote of a Melbourne or Caulfield Cup day.”

These successes, however, were insufficient foundation for a career as professional poet and, like the Lloyd’s bank-clerk T.S. Eliot, Walter Hughes did not abandon his day job. [It is interesting to note that Eliot had a high opinion of the cultural significance of Derby Day, and horses, though not necessarily thoroughbreds, appear in his verse, among them the famous lonely cab-horse who steams and stamps.]

CUP DAY
'Tis the Melbourne Carnival once again,
and the heart of the sportsman is glad;
Though a stranger would think at the
Flemington show we'd all gone galloping mad.

In the grandstand the shimmer of silk is
seen; on the flat the simmer of fun;
And the "Books" on the Hill, with the
pencil and quill, are laying the "odds" – bar none.

In the saddling paddock, before "The Cup" race,
the "punters" are keen on their "tips",
And wagers are laid in stentorian tones,
and also by feminine lips.

Horses in line—they're off!—and the sheen
of the colours passing the crowded stand
Makes a race to remember—no matter who
wins—the "Gem" of this Southern land.

RELATED POSTS:

• A run on the bank in Beaufort

Wikitree:

• Edward Walter Hughes (1854 – 1922)

Tracking down Elizabeth Jones

My 4th great grandmother Elizabeth Hughes née Jones was born in 1798, the daughter of Edward Jones, a farmer, and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys. In 1825 Elizabeth married Edward Hughes in Liverpool. She died in Melbourne in 1865. Her husband supplied the information on her death certificate, but although he gave the names of Elizabeth’s parents, for ‘place of birth’ only the county, Cardiganshire, was recorded. The 1851 census also recorded her place of birth as Cardiganshire with no further details.

In Cherry Stones, an account of our Hughes family history, my cousin Helen Hudson wrote:

Elizabeth Jones, Edward’s wife, was the youngest member of a large family. Her father, Evan Jones, known as Squire Jones, was a wealthy farmer in Cardiganshire. Elizabeth was described as a “clever, cultured lady, related in some way to Lord Westbury’s family."

Maybe that was another legend, but like all these family stories there is always a grain of truth somewhere, even if distorted.

When in 1847 Elizabeth’s son, my 3rd great grand uncle Goodman Hughes, died in Marine Terrace, Shrewsbury, the death certificate informant was Annie Jones. Who was she? On the 1851 census Annie Wilton, née Jones, was living at Marine Terrace with her parents Evan and Mary Jones. Evan Jones was a sadler, born in Cardiganshire, aged 66 (so born about 1785). From this it seems likely that Evan Jones was a brother of my 4th great grandmother Elizabeth.

1851 England census Class: HO107; Piece: 1992; Folio: 79; Page: 22; GSU roll: 87393

Marine Terrace Shrewsbury viewed from the English Bridge: Google street view

Evan Jones’s birthplace on the 1851 census is hard to read. Ancestry.com has transcribed it as ‘Caergonyall in Cardiganshire’. FindMyPast has ‘Caergonydd’. I agree that the name ends with “dd”, but I can find neither placename in Wikipedia’s list of Cardiganshire villages whose names begin with the letter C.

I decided to search for baptisms of ‘Evan’ around 1785 and ‘Elizabeth’ around 1798 in Cardiganshire with the father named Edward. I found only two.

There is an Evan Jones, father Edward Jones, gentleman, baptised 18 May 1784 at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire, Wales. And on 26 September 1798 there was a baptism at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire, Wales, of Elizabeth Jones daughter of Edward Jones, gentleman.

I next looked for a marriage of Edward Jones to Elizabeth Humphreys in the district. On 2 June 1778 an Edward Jones, gentleman, of Llanfihanel Gennery Glynn, Cardigan, married Elizabeth Humphreys at Tywyn, Merionethshire. She was of the parish. They married by licence. The witnesses were V??? Humphreys and John Jones.

Archives Wales; Wales; Merionethshire Baptisms, Marriages and Burials retrieved through ancestry.com

Among the papers of a solicitor named John Thomas Herbert Parry, of Glan-paith, Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, that were deposited with the National Library of Wales in the 1930s, is the following document:

Title Glan Paith Papers reference 212: Release (in consideration of the intended marriage of the said Edward Jones and the said Elizabeth Humphreys), to make a …, Creation Date 1778, May 30.

Description 1. Edward Jones. 2. Humphrey Jones. 3. Evan Watkin of Moelyherney, p. Llanfyhangelgenerglyn, co. Card., gent. 4. Evan Evans of Knwcybarkit, p. Llanygrowthen, co. Card., and Thomas Pugh of Glanyrafon, p. Llanfyhangelgenerglyn aforesaid, gent's. 5. Mary Humphreys, widow, and Elizabeth Humphreys, spinster, her eldest daughter, both of Towyn, co. Mer. Release (in consideration of the intended marriage of the said Edward Jones and the said Elizabeth Humphreys), to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty Pant Gwynne, and Rhydyrhenedd in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangel generglyn.

The paper immediately preceding 211 is dated 29 May 1778 and concerns the Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty …,

1. Edward Jones of Carregcadwgan, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn, co. Card., gent. 2. Humphrey Jones of the town of Machynlleth, co. Mont., gent. Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty Pant Gwynne, and Rhydyrhenedd in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangel generglyn aforesaid.

Paper 214 dated 1 March 1803 concerns the Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission …,

1. Edward Jones, gent., and Elizabeth, his wife, and John Jones, gent., their son and heir apparent, all of Carreg Cadwgan, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn, co. Card. 2. John Beynon of Newcastle Emlyn, co. Carm., gent. Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission, Tythin y Ty mawr, and Rhydyrhenedd, with a cottage called Llyesty Pantygwynne, in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn aforesaid.

Paper 215 is dated 2 March 1803 and concerns Release, to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty …,

1. Edward Jones and Elizabeth, his wife, and John Jones. 2. John Beynon. 3. Humphrey Jones of the town of Machynlleth, co. Mont., esq. Release, to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission, Tythin y Ty mawr, and Rhydyrhenedd, with a cottage called Llyesty Pantygwynne, in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn aforesaid.

I looked for the baptism of John Jones and found John, son of Edward Jones by his wife, baptised 15 January 1782 at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire.

I think this is the Edward Jones and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys I have been looking for, but I have not yet found a will or any other document that would make me completely confident of the connection.

It appears from the document of 30 May 1778 that Elizabeth Humphreys and her widowed mother Mary came from Towyn, co. Mer. Today this town is spelt as Tywyn. I have found a will dated 1772 by Griffith Humphreys, a yeoman of Tywyn, Merioneth, which mentions his wife Mary and his daughter Elizabeth.

The village of Llanfihangel Genau’r Glyn, is now known as LLandre. The older name means St Michaels at the Mouth of the Valley. Llanfihangel is a very common placename in Wales and the name LLandre was changed to avoid confusion. Llandre means ‘Churchtown’.

As the crow flies Llandre is ten miles from Tywyn, but by road via the nearest bridge across the Dyfi river the distance is more than double this. Perhaps they crossed by boat at Aberdyfi.

The geography images site geograph.org has photograph of a farm called Carregcadwgan. I wonder if this is the farm associated with Edward Jones and mentioned in the lease document of 29 May 1778 and again in the lease document of 1 March 1803. Carregcadwgan farm is 5 miles east of Llandre. The community location, a settlement which could not even be described as a hamlet, is called Ceulanamaesmawr.

Carregcadwgan Farm

All this is progress, I suppose, but I am still trying to discover more about the Jones and Humphreys families. I wonder why Elizabeth moved more than a hundred miles north from Cardiganshire to Liverpool to marry Edward Hughes and why her brother Evan moved seventy-five miles east to settle in Shrewsbury.

Related posts

• Y not Y?
• The unfortunate death of Goodman Hughes

Wikitree:

• Elizabeth (Jones) Hughes (abt. 1798 – 1865)

The unfortunate death of Goodman Hughes

My fourth great-grandparents Edward Hughes, a builder (1803 – 1876), and his wife Elizabeth Hughes née Jones (1798 – 1865) were Welsh; Edward was from Newmarket, Flintshire; Elizabeth from Cardiganshire. They were married in Liverpool in 1825. Of their eight children three survived to adulthood.

Their fifth child, Goodman Edward Jones Hughes, born in 1834, died aged thirteen in 1847. The Registrar recorded the cause of death as ‘consumption’. His burial record has ‘Kings’ Evil’. This was scrofula (mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis), a disfiguring disease of the neck lymph nodes, often caused by the bacterium responsible for pulmonary tuberculosis, consumption.

Goodman Edward Jones Hughes is mentioned in several records:

1. Baptismal

Goodman Edward Jones Hughes was born on 15 May and baptised on 8 June 1834 in the Great Cross Hall Street Welsh Baptist Chapel by the Reverend William Griffiths of Holyhead. Goodman was the son of Edward Hughes, joiner, of Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool, and Elizabeth, formerly Jones, his wife.

General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths Surrendered to the Non-Parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class Number: RG 4; Piece Number: 939 : Liverpool, Great Cross Hall Street Chapel (Independent), 1815-1837 Name Goodman Edwd Jones Gender Male Event Type Baptism Birth Date 15 May 1834 Baptism Date 8 Jun 1834 Baptism Place Liverpool, Lancashire, England Denomination Independent Father Edwd Hughes Mother Elizabeth Jones

2. 1841 Census

At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, possibly a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.

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1841 England census Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 1; GSU roll: 306941

It is possible that the child Goodman Jones who was aged 7 was in fact Goodman Edward Jones Hughes and the census-taker misunderstood the relationship to his parents. I have not been able to find a child named Goodman Hughes living elsewhere in 1841.

3. Death

Goodman Edward Hughes died of consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis) on 8 July 1847 at Marine Terrace St Julian Shrewsbury. He was the son of Edward Hughes builder and his wife Elizabeth. The informant was Annie Jones, present at the death, address Marine Terrace.

Death certificate: Name Goodman Edward Hughes Registration Year 1847 Registration Quarter Jul-Aug-Sep Registration District Shrewsbury Page 131 Volume 18

I have traced the Jones family of Marine Terrace, St Julian, Shrewsbury, on the 1851 census. Annie Jones married in 1850 to George Wilton. She and George and a newborn daughter were living with Annie’s parents Evan Jones, his wife Mary, Annie’s married sister Mary Hughes, and a niece of Annie’s aged 13, also called Annie Jones. Evan Jones, born in Cardiganshire, was a sadler, aged 66 (born about 1785). He may have been a brother of Elizabeth Hughes née Jones.

Shrewsbury is 60 miles distant from Liverpool. Goodman may have attended a school in Shrewsbury and returned to live at his uncle’s house when he became ill. In 1851 Goodman’s younger brother Henry, then aged 12, was a pupil at the Kingsland Academy in Shrewsbury run by Mr J. Poole.

4. Burial

Goodman’s body was brought from Shrewsbury to Liverpool, sixty miles north, for burial.

Goodman was buried on 13 July at the Necropolis (Low Hill Cemetery), Merseyside. His last residence was Shrewsbury. The cause of death on the burial register was King’s Evil.

Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool, Merseyside, England; Liverpool Cemetery Registers; Reference: 352 Cem 2/2/3 Necropolis (Low Hill Cemetery) Name Goodman Edwd. Hughes Age 13 Burial Date 13 Jul 1847

Scrofula was called the King’s Evil because it was believed to be curable by the touch of the sovereign, through the annointed monarch’s divine power to heal. Conveniently, scrofula often went into remission spontaneously. Some people saw this as proof of the efficacy of the king or queen’s physical contact.

The cause of scrofula was not known until the late 19th century. The illness caused chills, sweats, and fevers. Due to the swelling of the lymph nodes and bones, skin infections and ulcerated sores appeared on the neck, head, and face. The sores grew slowly, sometimes remaining for months or years.

Scrofula of the neck. From: Bramwell, Byrom Edinburgh, Constable, 1893 Atlas of Clinical Medicine. Source: National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, USA. Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

In 1846 Benjamin Phillips, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, presented a paper to the Statistical Society of London on the prevalence and alleged increase of Scrofula. Phillips estimated that “the marks of Scrofula obvious upon simple inspection, among the children of the poor of England and Wales, between the ages of 5 and 16 is, as near as may be, but rather under, 3 ½ per cent.” The latest mortality figures Phillips quoted were from 1831. “In 1831, the population was 1,233,000 the general mortality was 20,910, or 1 in 61; the deaths from consumption were 4,735, or 1 in 258; and the deaths from scrofula 9, or 1 in 135,888 of the population.” Phillips concluded that Scrofula was less present in the present day (the 1840s) than it had been in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Tuberculosis, or consumption, was a leading cause of death in previously healthy adults in Britain in the 1800s. An 1840 study attributed one fifth of deaths in England to consumption. In 1838 the death rate in England and Wales from tuberculosis was around 4,000 deaths per 1 million people; it fell to around 3,000 per million in 1850. The declining death rate at that time before any known cure has been attributed to better food and nutrition.

Scrofula is now treated successfully with antibiotics. Untreated it can develop into pulmonary tuberculosis, with a high risk of death. Perhaps this was the manner in which the disease progressed in Goodman Hughes. He was simply unlucky, unable even to hope that the sovereign’s touch would cure him. Queen Victoria did not attempt to perform the small miracle; the practice had ceased with George I more than a century before.

Related posts

• F is for Flintshire
• Y not Y?

Wikitree:

• Goodman Edward Jones Hughes (1834 – 1847)

Y not Y?

My fourth great-grandparents Edward Hughes and his wife Elizabeth Jones were Welsh; Edward was from Newmarket, Flintshire, and Elizabeth from Cardiganshire. Hughes, however, is not an unusual surname in Wales, nor is Jones, and for a while I’ve been muddling them with another Welsh couple from Flintshire with the same names.

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  Photographs of Edward and Elizabeth Hughes from pages 67 and 72 of Cherry Stones by Helen Hudson

When three years ago I wrote about Edward and Elizabeth I believed, mistakenly, that they had married at Ysgeifiog (also written Ysceifiog) in 1821 and that this was Elizabeth’s birthplace. Edward was from Holywell, a couple of miles north.

I have since ordered Elizabeth’s Victorian death certificate. She died on 4 July 1865 in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Australian death certificates include much information useful to the genealogist, though the reliability of this depends on the knowledge and good will of the informant. In Elizabeth’s case the informant was her husband Edward Hughes.

The 1865 death certificate of Elizabeth Hughes

From Elizabeth’s death certificate I learnt that she was born in Cardiganshire to Edward Jones, who was a farmer, and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys. She was 66 years old when she died, so she was born about 1799. Elizabeth and Edward married about 1825 in Liverpool when she was twenty-six. They had eight children:

• Mary, dead;
• Samuel aged 37 years (at the time of Elizabeth’s death in 1865, so born about 1828);
• Mary aged 35 years (born about 1830);
• John dead;
• Eliza Ann dead;
• Elizabeth Humphreys dead;
• Goodman Edward Jones dead; and
• Henry aged 24 years (born about 1841).

At the time of her death Elizabeth had been in Victoria for twelve years eleven months, so she had arrived about August 1852. Although she died in Brighton, the home address of her husband Edward was View Street, Bendigo (the town at that time was also known as Sandhurst), a hundred miles north. The cause of her death was recorded as chronic disease of the liver and stomach trouble. She had been ill for two months, which perhaps implies that she had come from Bendigo to Melbourne for treatment.

Elizabeth Hughes was buried in Brighton General Cemetery on 13 July 1865. The gravestone inscription reads:

In memory 
of 
Elizabeth
Beloved wife of 
Edward Hughes 
of Sandhurst
Died 10th July 1865 
aged 66.
Precious in the sight of the lord is 
the death of his saints

(The verse is from Psalm 116.)

The Bishop’s transcripts, copies of the parish registers which had been sent to the bishop, of Liverpool marriages includes a record at the church of St Philip for a marriage by banns on 24 April 1825 of Edward Hughes and Elizabeth Jones. Neither had been previously married; both were of the parish. A transcript of the marriage register shows the witnesses were John Parry and G. Jared; I believe the witnesses are not related to the bride and groom.

As this record is a better match for the details given at the time of Elizabeth’s death I am more confident that this is the record of the marriage of my fourth great grandparents Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Unfortunately, details which would help to confirm that we have the right couple, such as their parents’ names and occupations, are not recorded.

Building a family tree with common surnames such as Hughes and Jones is often more difficult than not, because there is more likely to be confusion over two people with the same name. From the information on Elizabeth’s death certificate, it seems that I was wrong: my fourth great grandmother was not from Ysgeifiog and my Edward and Elizabeth were not married there. I have corrected my tree and added the new information.

RELATED POSTS

• F is for Flintshire

Wikitree:

• Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876)
• Elizabeth (Jones) Hughes (abt. 1798 – 1865)

Remembering Helena Gill drowned 10 July 1932

Eighty-nine years ago Helena Lucy Gill née Hughes, my second-great-grand-aunt, drowned when the SS Casino sank in Apollo Bay, Victoria. She was 65 years old.

Helena was the second youngest of eight children of my third great grandparents Samuel Hughes (1827-1896) and Sally Hughes née Plaisted (1826-1900); she was the younger sister, by twelve years, of my great-great-grandfather Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922).

Drowned Stewardess (1932, July 11). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242973343

In April this year Greg and I went for a drive along the Great Ocean Road. We visited Apollo Bay and had lunch at the Apollo Bay Hotel. The hotel has a memorial to the Casino, which includes the ship’s wheel.

sign remembering the SS Casino in Apollo Bay opposite the Apollo Bay Hotel

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  Apollo Bay Hotel April 2021

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Apollo Bay Hotel and its SS Casino Room display

extract from newspaper clipping on display at the Apollo Bay Hotel

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The anchor from the Casino

Green, A. C. (c. 1900). Casino. Retrieved from the State Library of Victoria image H91.325/1112.

The “Casino” at Apollo Bay. (c 1920). Rose Stereograph Co. Retrieved from the State Library of Victoria Bib ID 1731943.

The Casino at Port Fairy retrieved from the Facebook page of the Port Fairy and Region Visitor Information Centre.

The Casino carried cargo and up to 25 passengers between Melbourne and Portland, stopping at Apollo Bay, Warrnambool and Port Fairy, for almost 50 years, from July 1882 to July 1932. She made more than two thousand of these coastal passages.

From about 1914 Helena Gill worked on the Casino as a stewardess. Her bravery in the shipwreck is recalled in a newspaper clipping, part of the display at the Apollo Bay Hotel.

Tomorrow there will be a small ceremony to mark the anniversary of the sinking. A service will be held at the Casino memorial in Gipps Street at 10 a.m. on Saturday 10 July.

S.S. Casino memorial, Port Fairy. (no date). Image from State Library of Victoria Image No: a07643.

Related posts

• The wreck of the “Casino”

Wikitree:

• Helena Lucy (Hughes) Gill (1866 – 1932)

A miniature note

A year ago I wrote about a miniature portrait of my grandfather Geoff de Crespigny painted by the wife of his maternal uncle, Olive Amy Hughes née Chatfield (1880 – 1945). Olive married Vyvyan Hughes in 1916. Sadly, he died soon afterwards in a military hospital.

Before her marriage Olive Chatfield lived in Adelaide from about 1910 to 1916. She returned to New Zealand in November 1916.

A de Crespigny cousin has sent me a photograph of a portrait of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny, Geoff’s father, my great grandfather.

A miniature portrait of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny in the possession of a cousin

I think this miniature was painted before my great grandfather left for overseas service with the Australian Imperial Force in May 1915. Or perhaps it was painted from a photograph taken before he left; the portrait is  similar to a photograph that appeared in the Adelaide Express and Telegraph on 20 May 1915.

OFF TO THE FRONT. (1915, May 20). The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 – 1922), p. 5 (4 O’CLOCK EDITION. SPORTS NUMBER). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209986299

Related posts

• Miniature portrait of Geoff de Crespigny by Olive A Chatfield
• Arthur Murray Cudmore World War I service (discusses the departure of the contingent of Adelaide doctors including both my great grandfathers)
• No 3 AGH (Australian General Hospital) Lemnos Christmas Day
• U is for Unibic biscuit tin

Triangulating Matilda’s DNA

Three years ago my husband Greg and I sent off our DNA for analysis. There were three family history puzzles I thought DNA techniques might solve. One concerned the parents of Greg’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan. Who were they? I didn’t know. I thought DNA data might help.

We knew Henry was brought up in an orphanage in Geelong, but its records told us only that he had been abandoned by his parents, nothing more. We could not find a likely birth certificate for him.

I revisited the problem, reviewing digitised newspapers at Trove and widening my date search slightly. I wrote up the results at `Poor little chap‘.

Henry was committed as a State Ward on 11 June 1866. He was said to be four years old. Both his parents were living but he had been deserted. Looking at the newspapers for the month before Henry was committed I found a report that mentioned a ‘‘little one’ who had been abandoned by a woman named Sullivan.’ The newspaper stated that ‘The decrepit and indiscreet creature walked off with the child clinging to her.’. Perhaps this child was our Henry.

Following through various newspaper reports I came to the view that this Henry was the child of William Sullivan (born 1839) and Matilda Frances Sullivan formerly Hughes (born 1845). Matilda Sullivan was the daughter of Matilda Priscilla Hughes nee Moggridge formerly Derby (1825 – 1868) and the step-daughter of David Hughes (1822 – 1895). Matilda Sullivan had another son, Eleazer Hughes (1861 – 1949). Eleazer Hughes had left descendants. I hoped that by matching Greg’s DNA with the descendants of Eleazer Hughes I might be able to confirm the hypothesis of Henry Sullivan’s parents.

Greg and his brother Dennis, his first cousins BS and MS, and his second cousin LB all share DNA with various descendants of Eleazer Hughes.

The challenge with DNA matching is to be confident about which of your forebears you have inherited the shared DNA from.

For close relations where you knew the test-takers beforehand and when the amount of shared DNA corresponds to the amount expected to be shared given the relationship, a shared DNA match is taken to be evidence of the relationship. If you have access to the shared chromosome details then you can attribute the shared ancestry to the shared DNA.

When the relationship is more distant you need to be confident that the DNA is shared from a particular ancestor and not from some other shared ancestor. That other ancestor may be on a part of the tree you or your match have not yet documented, that is, you do not know about your shared relationship. A measure of this is tree completeness -how many of your forebears have you documented for the necessary generations. If you are looking at an expected third cousin relationship then you expect to share great great grandparents. The question then becomes whether you and your match have both documented all sixteen of your great great grandparents. Only then can you be completely confident there is no another possible explanation of why you share DNA.

When it comes to fourth cousin relationships you are one more generation back. Both you and your match need to have documented thirty-two third great grandparents but also you need to take into consideration other possible relationships that might account for the amount of DNA that you share.

The distance between two gene loci on a chromosome is measured in centiMorgans (cM), defined as ‘the distance between chromosome positions for which the expected average number of intervening chromosomal crossovers in a single generation is 0.01’, that is, how likely the segment is to recombine as it passes from parent to child.

If two sets of DNA are compared, a higher number of shared centiMorgans means greater confidence in the match, that is, greater confidence that the match represents a closer relationship.

Any given number of centiMorgans though can represent a variety of relationships. The Shared cM Project is a collaborative data collection and analysis project created as part of research into the ranges of shared centiMorgans associated with various known relationships. A tool called the ‘Shared cM Project 3.0 tool’ v4 allows users to compare the amount of DNA shared with a match with the accumulated results of the data collection of more than 25,000 relationships and their shared DNA. Using the tool is an aid to understanding what relationships are most likely to be represented by the amount of shared DNA.

The more generations back  the higher the chance that no DNA is shared between descendants. It is possible for third cousins not to share DNA and the likelihood that fourth cousins share DNA is only in the order of 50%.

If three people share one segment of DNA and they know how they are related, then we have more confidence that the shared DNA comes from particular ancestors.

Greg and L B are second cousins. They have tested their DNA at AncestryDNA and uploaded to MyHeritage and GedMatch. At AncestryDNA they share 242 centiMorgans across 9 segments and at MyHeritage they share 254.6 centiMorgans across 9 segments. (I have previously discussed my experience of variations in DNA matches between
companies.)

Greg and L B are half third cousins to D J G. D J G’s great grandfather, Eleazer Hughes, was the half-brother of Greg and L B’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan. At MyHeritage Greg shares 89.2 centiMorgans across 4 segments with D J G. L B shares 64.1 centiMorgans with D J G. The amount of DNA shared between the cousins falls within the probabilities predicted using the shared cM tool.

Greg, L B and D J G share one triangulated segment on chromosome 10. The segment is 47.7 centiMorgans long.

I believe this DNA segment on chromosome 10 was inherited from Matilda by Greg, L B and D J G.

I checked that there was no other likely relationship to explain the DNA match by tracing the grandparents of DJG. Greg’s family tree and the tree of LB are both complete and documented up to their great great grandparents.

LB and Greg do have other matches with descendants of Eleazer Hughes but so far I have not been able to triangulate the DNA to a single segment. AncestryDNA, which has the most DNA matches, unfortunately lacks the tool, a chromosome browser, to demonstrate the triangulation.

 

Postscript: the poor little chap grew up, married and had a family. It seems he had a contended adult life. You can read about him at H is for Henry.

Florence Sullivan (nee Hickson), Elaine Sullivan, Anne Sullivan (nee Morley), and Henry Sullivan at “Navillus”, 7 Evelyn Street, East Bentleigh from the collection of a cousin and used with permission

 

 

F is for Flintshire

In 1985, Helen Hudson nee Hughes (1915 – 2005), my grandfather’s first cousin, published a family history with the rather lengthy title, ‘Cherry stones: adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland; Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales; Hale of Gloucestershire, Langford Sidebottom, Cheshire; Shorten of Cork, Ireland, and Slater of Hampshire, England who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850, researched, compiled and written by Helen Lesley Hudson‘ (Berwick, Victoria: H.L. Hudson, 1985).

For me her book, based on papers, old letters, and paraphernalia she inherited from her father, is a researcher’s treasure-house. At the moment I’m preparing for a family-history trip to England, and I’m finding ‘Cherry stones‘ particularly useful, for it includes details of Helen’s travels to the “Old Country” visiting the places our forebears came from, and I’ll be doing something similar.

Helen and her husband Bill visited Holywell in Flintshire twice. She wrote about walking around the graveyard of the ancient church beside St Winifrede’s Well Sanctuary, where she found many graves of our Hughes family.

She also wrote about a visit she made to Trelawynydd, formerly known as Newmarket. My fourth great grandfather, Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) was born at there. FindMyPast has the baptism records for Trelawnyd, Flintshire, and these include an Edward Hughes baptised 23 January 1803, the son of Edward and Ann Hughes. Helen gives Edward’s birth date as 17 January 1803. I am not sure what document she based this on. Edward Hughes is a common name – Hughes is the eighth most common Welsh surname – and there are plenty of other candidates for our Edward.

On 21 April 1821 Edward Hughes of Holywell, Flintshire married Elizabeth Jones of Ysgeifiog at Ysgeifiog. [Ysgeifiog pronounciation]. Ysgeifiog is less than five miles from Holywell. Helen’s tree had 1823 as the date of this marriage, but I have located a likely parish record at FindMyPast giving the date as 1821. Edward and Elizabeth married in Liverpool in 1825. Elizabeth Jones was from Cardiganshire.

Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), their eldest surviving child and my third great grandfather, was baptised at the Great Crosshall Street Chapel of Welsh Congregationalists, Liverpool. The baptism record gives his birth date as 12 October 1827. Helen’s tree has 13 October 1827 and gives his place of birth as Liverpool. Edward Hughes was stated to be a joiner of Norris Street, Liverpool.

At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, I assume a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.

On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes arrived in South Australia on the Gunga, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. Helen states that Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry also arrived on the Gunga but there seems no record on the passenger list of any other family member.

In 1851 I believe Edward and Elizabeth Hughes and one daughter, Mary, were living in Heathfield Street, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Edward was a builder, employing 30 men.

I have not been able to find the immigration record for Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus  stated he was late of Sandhurst and the father of Samuel Hughes. He had been living with his daughter Mary Hewitt nee Hughes.

Helen Hudson wrote that there was a family story that Edward had lost a lot of money in Peruvian Bonds but she was not able to verify it. Nor can I. Helen also wrote that Edward was on the Bendigo diggings and that he and Elizabeth were living in View Street, Bendigo at the time of Elizabeth’s death.

I am glad that Helen wrote up her family researches in such detail. Much more information has become available since 1985 and online searching makes the task of finding and gathering information far easier than it was. I am sure she would have enjoyed researching today and verifying what she knew. I look forward to retracing her footsteps in Holywell during our visit to the United Kingdom in May.

St. Winifred’s Well or Holy Well, Flintshire, Wales. Line engraving by G. Hawkins, 1795 Image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons who obtained the file from the Wellcome trust.

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• “Liverpool: Churches.” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Eds. William Farrer, and J Brownbill. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 43-52. British History Online. Web. 12 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp43-52.
• ancestry.com  – census records:
  • 1841 census : Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 23; GSU roll: 306941
  • 1851 Wales census : Class: HO107; Piece: 2466; Folio: 145; Page: 57; GSU roll: 104215-104217

Miniature portrait of Geoff de Crespigny by Olive A Chatfield

My father has a small collection of family portraits. One is a miniature of his father Richard Geoffrey “Geoff” Champion de Crespigny (1908 – 1966) as a child.

The portrait is signed  ‘O. A. Chatfield’. This was Olive Amy Chatfield (1880 – 1945).

Olive Chatfield was born in New Zealand, the fourth of eight children of an architect named William Charles Chatfield (1852 – 1930). Olive’s mother Mary Chatfield nee Hoggard (1853 – 1896) died when Olive was 15.

In November 1910 Olive Chatfield ‘of New Zealand’ was one of the artists in the 13th annual Federal Art Exhibition in Adelaide, a showing organised by the South Australian Society of Arts. I am not sure when Olive Chatfield came to Adelaide or why she was living there.

In March 1912 Miss Olive Chatfield donated a miniature portrait of Lady Bosanquet, wife of the South Australian Governor, to the Art Gallery of South Australia. Described as ‘gouache on ivory, 7.6 x 6.3 cm’, it remains in the Gallery’s collection,

In 1914 and 1915 Olive Chatfield is mentioned several times in Adelaide newspapers, usually under ‘social notes’.

On 3 April 1916 Olive Chatfield married Vyvyan Hughes (1888 – 1916), Geoff’s maternal uncle. Vyvyan Hughes died a few weeks later in a military hospital in Ceylon.

Vyvyan Hughes with Olive 1916

Olive Hughes did not re-marry, and in November 1916 returned to New Zealand, where under the name of Mrs Westbury Hughes she practiced as a professional artist specialising in miniature portraits. Some of her work was exhibited by the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Photo of Olive Hughes accompanying an article in the Sydney Sun of 16 December 1923

ART AND HEREDITY (1923, December 16). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 1 (Women’s Supplement). Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222682064

Olive Hughes died in Wellington, New Zealand on 10 July 1945.

There is a family resemblance down the generations between Geoff and his descendants.

Geoff de Crespigny

Geoff’s son

Geoff’s grandson

Geoff, his son, grandson, and great grandsons

Sources

• MARRIAGES. (1916, April 8). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 – 1954), p. 32. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87243826
• Family Notices (1916, May 18). The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929), p. 8. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59818703
• AUSTRALIAN ART. (1910, November 3). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 4. Retrieved December 5, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207214665
• PERSONAL. (1912, March 23). Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 – 1931), p. 34. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164772419
• Art Gallery of South Australia Collection: item 0.634
• ART AND HEREDITY (1923, December 16). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 1 (Women’s Supplement). Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222682064
• PapersPast: New Zealand digitised newspapers:
  • Notes for Women, New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9507, 15 November 1916, page 5. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19161115.2.25
  • Notes for Women, New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9777, 28 September 1917, page 9. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19170928.2.59

• • At the Art Gallery, New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10271, 5 May 1919, page 3. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19190505.2.9
  • Sketch Exhibition, Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 121, 23 May 1919, page 4. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19190523.2.27
  • Social Gossip, Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1006, 15 October 1919, page 22. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZFL19191015.2.34
  • Dispute over a miniature, Sun, Volume VII, Issue 2099, 5 November 1920, page 4. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNCH19201105.2.16
  • Deaths, Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 9, 11 July 1945, page 1. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19450711.2.4

Related post

• K is for Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo

 

The wreck of the “Casino”

My third great aunt Helena Gill was drowned in a shipwreck in 1932.

Helena Lucy Gill née Hughes (1866-1932 ), seventh of the eight children of my 3rd great grandparents Samuel Hughes (1827-1896) and Sally Hughes née Plaisted (1826-1900), was the younger sister, by twelve years, of my great great grandfather Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922).

Recently I came across a transcription of her headstone (in the Ancestry.com series ‘Victoria, Australia, Cemetery Records and Headstone Transcriptions, 1844-1997’), which reads:

Name Helena Lucy Gill
Death Date 10 Jul 1932
Burial Place Victoria, Australia
Cemetery Melbourne
Section B
Religion Baptist
Transcription In loving memory of dear mother Helena Lucy GILL died heroically helping others in shipwreck of “Casino” at Apollo Bay, 10 Jul 1932, age 65 Duty nobly done.

Helena married Luther Albert Gill in 1892. They had two children:

• Gwendoline Ruby Phyllis Gill (1893-1977) who married Henry Vincent Budge in 1910
• Vera Ila Gill (1903-1986), known as Ila, who married Charles Dudley Care in 1926.

In 1909 Helena, then living in Maribyrnong Road, Moonee ponds, sued her husband in the Prahran Court for maintenance. His address was Chapel Street, Windsor. The court found in her favour.

From 1914 Helena appears on the electoral rolls as ‘stewardess’ with her address ‘SS Casino, Prince’s Wharf, S.M.’ On the 1913 roll her address was 68 Maribyrnong Road, Moonee Ponds, and her occupation home duties. It seems that when her daughter Ila turned 11, Helena went to work as a stewardess.

The Belfast & Koroit S.N. Co’s S.S. “Casino” . Image from the State Library of Victoria. Image no. H92.302/23 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/195620

The SS Casino, 160 feet, was an rivetted-iron coastal steamer, based in Port Fairy on the south-west coast of Victoria, owned by the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company (Belfast was the early name for Port Fairy).  The company was formed in March 1882 and took delivery of the Casino the same year.

The ship, built in Dundee, Scotland and launched in February 1882, was intended to service the north coast of New South Wales and was named for the town of Casino, New South Wales. The owners of the new company successfully bid for her when she was travelling through Warrnambool, Victoria, and the Casino arrived in Port Fairy on 29 July 1882.

She carried cargo and 25 passengers between Melbourne and Portland, stopping at Apollo Bay, Warrnambool and Port Fairy, over the next five decades making around 2,500 voyages.

South-west coast of Victoria from Google maps

The saloon of the SS Casino with “swivel chairs that were bolted to the floor to allow passengers more comfort when the ship was moving through rough seas”. Image from the Port Fairy Historical Society retrieved from https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5555779e998fc21654210769

Early on the morning of 10 July 1932 the SS Casino sank in Apollo Bay while trying to secure a mooring. There was a south-easterly gale and a heavy swell. Coming alongside the jetty the Casino grounded on its anchor, fatally piercing the hull. The captain first tried to get an offing, but realising the vessel was sinking, turned to beach her. A few cables from the shore she was overwhelmed and sank in three or four fathoms.  Captain Middleton and nine other members of the crew were drowned, Helena one of them.

S. CASINO WRECKED (1932, July 11). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203804052

(1932, July 11). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26392479

Drowned Stewardess (1932, July 11). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242973343

Helena’s body, with the bodies of four other crew, was recovered. She was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.

STEWARDESS OF CASINO BURIED (1932, July 13). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242978243

The wreck of the Casino, now a scuba diving site, lies in nine metres of water 400 metres from the shore. Her propeller and bell are part a memorial to the ship at King George Square in Port Fairy. The ship’s wheel is displayed in the Apollo Bay Hotel.

Postscript

The name “Franklin Gill” is transcribed with the dedication on Helena Gill’s gravestone. I do not know who he was or how he was related to Helena. I have since visited her grave at Melbourne Cemetery and there is no mention of Franklin Gill – apparently a transcription error. I have amended my copy of the transcription above.

Headstone on the grave of Helena Lucy Gill at Melbourne General Cemetery Baptist section B grave 731.

Sources

• PRAHRAN COURT. (1909, September 25). Malvern Standard (Vic. : 1906 – 1931), p. 3. Retrieved May 11, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66385277
• MORE DOMESTIC INFELICITY. (1909, September 25). The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889 – 1930), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144516207
• “S.S. Casino.” Victorian Heritage Database, Heritage Council Victoria, vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/shipwrecks/108/download-report.
• “SS Casino.” Curated by Lynda Tieman, Port Fairy Historical Society, Victorian Collections, Museums Victoria, 3 Mar. 2017, https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/ss-casino.
• “S. S. Casino.” Monument Australia, Monumentaustralia.org.au, monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/disaster/maritime/display/33118-%22s.s.-casino%22.
• Riddiford, Merron. “Trove Tuesday – S.S. Casino.” Western District Families, Merron Riddiford, 9 July 2013, westerndistrictfamilies.com/2013/07/09/trove-tuesday-s-s-casino/.