Q is for Queenscliff in 1882

In October 1877 my great great grandmother Annie Frances Chauncy (1857-1883) married Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850-1927). At the time of their marriage Philip was the manager of the Bank of Victoria branch at Epsom five miles north-east of Bendigo. Their first son Philip was born at there on 18 June 1879.

Annie Frances Crespigny nee Chauncy about 1877

In early 1882 Philip moved from Epsom to Queenscliff, a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula 30 kilometres south-east of Geelong. The Bank of Victoria was at 76 Hesse Street.

THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER (1882, February 3). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88622924

General view of Queenscliff from Adman's Tower (later known as the Vue Grand Hotel at 46-48 Hesse Street), about 1882 photographed by Fred Kruger from the National Gallery of Victoria

Hesse Street from Baillieu's Tower, Queenscliff. Baillieu's Tower was later called the Ozone Hotel and was on Gellibrand Street.. The Bank of Victoria can be seen towards the centre foreground. Image from the National Library of Australia PIC/8760/67 LOC Album 19/nla.obj-140532878.

On 5 March 1882 Philip and Annie's son Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny was born in Queenscliff in the Bank of Victoria where his father was manager.

We have some transcripts of family letters. One that survives from January 1883 is to his mother Charlotte Crespigny nee Dana about her visit to Queenscliff.

From: Philip Crespigny
To: Charlotte Frances Crespigny [his mother]
Queenscliff 21st Jany 1883
My dearest Mother
Only a few lines to tell you how eagerly we are all of us looking forward to your visit. I do hope you will start immediately after the mail is delivered. You had better come by the mid-day train reaching here at 2.45. I have enclosed Vi a ticket by the Williams which will defray half her expenses when she pays her visit and this will prevent your feeling the extra expense of taking a single ticket instead of a return which is only available now from Friday till Monday.
Your loving son
Lou

(Philip was called Lou or Loup, 'wolf' in French, by his family. Vi was his sister Viola (1855-1929).

One month after Philip wrote to his mother, at the young age of 25, Annie Frances died after a three week illness of what was diagnosed as pelvic cellulitis, a bacterial infection of tissue adjacent to the uterus. Pelvic cellulitis was often a complication of childbirth. Annie quite possibly died after a third pregnancy. She left two small children, Philip was 3 and Constantine Trent was 11 months.

Death certificate of Annie Frances Crespigny, Victoria 1883/2892 (click to enlarge)

Annie is buried in Point Lonsdale cemetery. Her sons are remembered on her gravestone. Philip (1879-1918) was killed in action near Jerusalem in World War 1. Constantine Trent (1882-1952) died in Adelaide and was cremated.

Gravestone in Point Lonsdale for Annie Frances Crespigny and her two sons from FindAGrave

The building which was formerly the Bank of Victoria at 76 Hesse Street is still standing. From Google street view it looks as though it is now a cafe. It is mentioned in the Queenscliff Heritage Study 2009.

Related posts

• Wedding Wednesday: Philip Champion de Crespigny married Annie Frances Chauncy 25 October 1877
• E is for entertainment in Epsom
• The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street

K is for Kherson, death place of John Howard prison reformer

Yesterday I wrote about Shrewsbury Prison, known as The Dana. Above the main entrance to the prison is a  bust of the prison reformer John Howard (1726 - 1790) , and the street leading up to it from the main road is named after him.

John Howard, prison reformer, above main entrance of Shrewsbury prison. Photograph from Wikimedia Commons taken by R J Higginson 2009.

In January 1790 John Howard died of typhus at Kherson in present day Ukraine. He is said to have contracted the disease on one of his prison visits.

Howard was buried in the Ukraine. Though he had requested a quiet burial, without pomp and ceremony, he was evidently judged an important person, and the Prince of Moldovia himself was in attendance at what in fact turned out to be a rather elaborate funeral.


When news of Howard's death reached England a month later, a series of commemorative John Howard tokens was struck, including one reading "Go forth" and "Remember the Debtors in Gaol".

Howard became the first civilian to be honoured with a statue in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Statues  were also erected in his honour at Kherson and at Bedford and other English prisons.

Memorial for John Howard. John Bacon the Younger (1777-1859). 1795. St. Paul's Cathedral, City of London. Located near entrance to crypt. Image from http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/funerary/howard1.html, photograph taken by George P. Landow.

In 1786, four years before his death, a monument to Howard had been proposed. A subscription list was got up and a poem lauding his achievements was published.

Pratt, Samuel Jackson. The triumph of benevolence; occasioned by the national design of erecting a monument to John Howard, Esq. Printed by J. Nichols, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street; sold by Messrs. J. Dodsley, J. Robson, T. Cadell, P. Elmsly, and C. Dilly; by Mr. Prince at Oxford; and Mr. Merrill at Cambridge, MDCCLXXXVI. [1786]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Gale Document Number: GALE|CW0112448476

Subscribers who gave £2 2s, that is 2 guineas, included Charles Chauncey Esq., Claude Champion Crespigny, Philip Champion Crespigny, and Charles Snell-Chauncy. Mrs Champion Crespigny is listed as having given £1 1s. I am not sure who Charles Chauncey was, but Charles Snell-Chauncy (1759-1809) was my 6th great uncle. Claude Champion Crespigny is probably another of my 6th great uncles (1734-1818). Mrs Champion Crespigny in this case is probably Claude's wife Mary nee Clarke (1747-1812). Philip Champion Crespigny is my 5th great grandfather (1738-1803), the brother of Claude. Mrs Champion Crespigny was possibly his wife Dorothy nee Scott (1765-1837).

I found it interesting to discover relatives from two different branches of my family tree supporting prison reform.

Further reading

• Howard, John (1726?-1790) Dictionary of National Biography in Wikisource

H is for heartbreak in Heathcote

My great great great grandfather Philip Chauncy wrote about the death of his son at Heathcote and sketched his grave. The headstone, although damaged, still survives.

Sketch by Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy of the grave of his son Philip who died at Heathcote , aged 3 years, from his book 'Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy' (facing p. 33).

Philip Lamothe Chauncy (23 March 1851 - 19 May 1854)  was the first son of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy and his wife Susan née Mitchell. He died before my great great grandmother, Annie Frances Chauncy was born.In his memoir about his wife, Philip wrote:

... our first son, named Philip Lamothe, was born on the 23rd March, 1851. I think my dear Susie's maternal instincts were unusually strong, and oh how true she was to them! How devoted she was to that child! He grew up to be a lovely boy, the admiration of all who knew him; but he had too heavenly a look for this world. He was the source of the most inexpressible delight to his mother; her eyes used to feast on his beaming little face; she looked the most un-utterable blessings on him. But alas, he was too exotic a plant to live on this earth, and was taken from us by our all-wise God, at Heathcote, Victoria, on the 19th of May, 1854. To the day of her death, his words and looks and little actions were fresh in her memory. I think she never completely recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of our little Philip; indeed, I now remember she said, shortly before she was taken from us, that she had never got over it, although she was quite resigned to the will of God, and would not have been so selfish as to have wished him back again.  (Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.Pages 37-8)

In May 1854, our darling little Philly caught cold, and Dr Sconce, the Government Assistant Surgeon, was called in to attend him. On the 12th of that month, Dr Robinson happening to be in our parlor-tent, and hearing Philly cough, said, "That child has croup." O what agony the information caused his dear mother. A day or two after this we removed him into the large new stone building which had just been erected for officer's quarters, but he gradually sank, and expired on the 19th May 1854, after a week's illness. (Chauncy Memoirs already cited, page 47)

Croup is a viral respiratory infection. Before modern treatments were developed it was frequently fatal.

A recent photo of the grave of  Philip Lamothe Chauncy at Heathcote, from http://www.ozgenonline.com/~Carols_Headstones/ Thanks to Carol Judkins for her permission to reproduce this image.

Further reading

• The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne Kids Health Info Croup fact sheet http://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Croup/ 
• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.

Related posts

• 1854 : The Chauncy family at Heathcote
• Sepia Saturday 196 : Sick Children

D is for drama in Dunolly

Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816-1880), a surveyor who came to Australia in 1839, was my great great great grandfather. He lived for fourteen years in South Australia and Western Australia before coming to Victoria in 1853.

Chauncy kept diaries and in 1873, based on these, he published the Memoirs of Mrs Chauncy, a brief life of his second wife, Susan Augusta née Mitchell (1828-1867). Chauncy's account of his time in Dunolly (below) is taken from his Memoirs.

In 1853 Chauncy was appointed as Surveyor-in-Chief for the McIvor district. He and his family moved to Heathcote. While there he surveyed the town of Heathcote and selected and surveyed Echuca.

In 1860 he was put in charge of the Dunolly Survey District and moved to Dunolly.In 1861 Chauncy

... bought a substantial stone house, unfinished, which had been built for an inn, and was in a municipal street. [Chauncy's emphasis]

My dear Susie, with her characteristic energy, began at once, without waiting for it to be finished, to remove into it; but while we were getting in the furniture it was "jumped" by a pettyfogging lawyer, who sent up a well-known character, known as "Fighting Jack," to take possession of it.

On the gold-fields, where the population is wandering, houses used often to be erected on Crown lands without sufficient authority, and in such cases the person actually in possession could not well be ejected, especially if he held a miner's right to legalise his tenure.

This limb of the law, being a daring and unscrupulous man, made it part of his business to take possession of every place to which he thought no one could show a better title than himself. The fact of my having purchased the house gave me no title to the ground on which it stood, and I would not resort to the subterfuge of taking out a miner's right or a business license, not being a miner or a store-keeper, and it was quite possible that "Fighting Jack" held a miner's right, and so had a better title to the ground than I had.

However, I sent for two constables, and gave the man in charge. Next morning he was brought before the Police Court, when I adduced proofs that I had bought and paid for the house, but it being a question of title, the court was not competent to deal with the case, and dismissed it ; which was in fact all that I required, for I remained in undisturbed possession until I so narrowed the street as to exclude the house, and then purchased the land on which it stood from the Crown.

The position is beautiful and commanding. I subsequently erected four more rooms of brick and stone, stable, outhouses, brick tank, &c., and made an ornamental garden and vinery. The recollection of the happy time we spent in this place moves me as I write. It used to be her delight to stroll through the garden and admire the flowers and other plants ; and then, how cleverly and wisely she managed the house, and for the welfare of the children. In the evening, when they were in bed, it used to be her delight to sit and converse with me at the fireside. The six years at Dunolly were among the happiest of my life.

There is no account of this legal dispute in the digitised newspapers available through Trove.

Chauncy was an amateur photographer and took a photograph of his cottage in 1865. Members of his family can be seen on the verandah.

The Chauncy cottage in Dunolly photographed by Philip Chauncy in 1865. Image from http://members.westnet.com.au/likelyprospects/dunolly_buildings.htm . The original image is said to be held by the Dunolly Museum of the Goldfields Historical & Arts Society Inc.

I have visited Dunolly and the cottage several times. The cottage is located at 8 Havelock Street. Below are some photographs I have taken of it.

The Chauncy cottage in 2007

the view from the Chauncy cottage in 2007

When I visited in 2012 the cottage was unoccupied and for sale. I had a look around the back.

On the ground and from a map showing Havelock Street  it is not easy to see how Chauncy narrowed the road to exclude the cottage.

Further reading

• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976. pages 50-51. 
• Entry for Philip Chauncy in Design & Art Australia online database https://www.daao.org.au/bio/philip-lamothe-snell-chauncy/biography/

Concerning the Chauncy house at Heathcote

• "Heritage Listing Bestowed." Bendigo Advertiser.13 July 2010. <http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/709709/heritage-listing-bestowed/>. 
• Victorian Heritage Database Report on the former survey office at Heathcote

Martha Berkeley : The first dinner given to the Aborigines 1838 (Adelaide)

Martha Berkeley née Chauncy (1813 - 1899) was my third great grand aunt, the sister of Philip Chauncy (1816 - 1880), my great great great grandfather. Martha arrived in Adelaide South Australia in February 1837 on the John Renwick with her husband and her unmarried sister Theresa (1807 - 1876). They arrived just six weeks after the Proclamation of the Province on 28 December 1836.

Martha Berkeley self-portrait c. 1849. Art Gallery of South Australia.

Martha has been described by the Art Gallery of South Australia as Australia's second professional female painter (Mary Morton Allport who arrived in Hobart in 1831 being the first). Theresa was Australia's first female sculptor.

One of Martha Berkeley's most notable works is a watercolour painting of the  first dinner given to the Aborigines on 1 November 1838.

Advertising. (1838, October 27). South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (Adelaide, SA : 1836 - 1839), p. 1. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750198

Berkeley Martha, The first dinner given to the Aborigines 1838, Art Gallery of South Australia

[Martha Berkeley's] major work is a large watercolour, The First Dinner Given to the Aborigines (AGSA), depicting the three Adelaide tribes being entertained by Governor Gawler on 1 November 1838. The Aborigines sit awaiting the distribution of biscuits, meat, tea and blankets, while their three chiefs, dressed in new jackets provided by the settlers, stand together at the inner edge of the circle surrounding the Governor, the Protector of Aborigines and their wives. Behind the Aborigines is a standing ring of settlers, which includes obvious portraits. Berkeley added a pencil description of the event on the back of the painting in 1847, which confirms her aim of recording an important historical event for posterity. (Kerr, Joan. "Martha Maria Snell Berkeley." Design & Art Australia Online. Design & Art Australia Online, 15 Oct. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://www.daao.org.au/bio/martha-maria-snell-berkeley/biography/>.)

Among works by Martha Berkeley held by the Art Gallery of South Australia is a fan that she painted probably in the 1840s.

Berkeley, Martha, watercolour on silk, ivory, Art Gallery of South Australia

I do not know if this was Martha's fan or if she painted it for somebody else. It might have been used at a levée such as that described in May 1840 celebrating the Queen's birthday. Martha and her husband, Captain Berkeley, are mentioned as attending. The 1840 levée was followed by a dinner and presentation to the Aborigines similar to the one painted by Martha in 1838.

THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY. (1840, May 30). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 6. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441466

Also mentioned in the article as being present at the 1840 levée were Miss Kemmis, who would later marry Martha's brother Philip, and Martha's sister, Theresa, now Mrs Walker, and her husband Captain Walker.


References

• Art Gallery of South Australia & Radford, Ron, 1949- & Hylton, Jane, 1950- (1995). Australian colonial art : 1800-1900. Art Gallery Board of South Australia, Adelaide
• Hylton, Jane & Berkeley, Martha, 1813-1899 & Walker, Theresa, 1807-1876 & Art Gallery of South Australia. Board & South Australia. Women's Suffrage Centenary Steering Committee (1994). Colonial sisters : Martha Berkeley & Theresa Walker, South Australia's first professional artists. Art Gallery Board of South Australia, Adelaide
• THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY. (1840, May 30). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 6. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27441466
• Kerr, Joan. "Martha Maria Snell Berkeley." Design & Art Australia Online. Design & Art Australia Online, 15 Oct. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. <http://www.daao.org.au/bio/martha-maria-snell-berkeley/biography/>.

1854 : The Chauncy family at Heathcote

In December 1854 at the time of the Eureka riot Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 - 1880) was a surveyor at Heathcote . He was one of my great great great grandfathers. I am interested in working out where my forebears were at the time of the riots 160 years ago.

Philip Chauncy in 1878

In June 1853 the Chauncy family arrived in Victoria from Western Australia on the Alibi. In 1848 Philip married Susan Mitchell (1828-1867) in Western Australia. They had three young children, Theresa, Philip and William.

In September 1853, Philip Chauncy accepted the position of Surveyor-in-Charge of the McIvor district.  Heathcote was the centre of the McIvor diggings. McIvor was 72 miles from Melbourne. The journey there took the Chauncy family ten days. It rained for nine.  Philip describes the trip in a memoir he wrote about his wife Susie after her death in 1867. (Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976. (first published 1873) pp. 43-6)

In May of 1854, Philip was selling land at Heathcote, which about 80 miles north-east of Ballarat.

"M'IVOR DIGGINGS." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) 20 May 1854: 3. Web. 27 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4807943>.

Sadly, in May 1854 his son Philip died of croup . I have written about this death in a previous post.

In May 1854, our darling little Philly caught cold, and Dr Sconce, the Government Assistant Surgeon, was called in to attend him. On the 12th of that month, Dr Robinson happening to be in our parlor-tent, and hearing Philly cough, said, "That child has croup." O what agony the information caused his dear mother. A day or two after this we removed him into the large new stone building which had just been erected for officer's quarters, but he gradually sank, and expired on the 19th May 1854, after a week's illness.  (Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. p. 47.)

Philip Chauncy was granted £1546 by the Government to construct a building to serve as a survey office and a residence for his family. The building, completed in 1854, still stands in the main street of Heathcote. It was built of sandstone in a Georgian style with walls of coursed rubble and three chimneys. In the 1850s there was a small arched entrance porch and arched windows with fanlights on either side. There were two rooms at the front and an arched opening leading to a passage at the rear with two more rooms opening off it. After the 1860s it was no longer required as a survey office and it was bought by the owner of a local store who made substantial timber additions. (Victorian Heritage Database vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/121693 )

The survey office and Chauncy's house in January 2007

The survey office in 2007 showing the later timber additions

At the time of the Eureka rebellion in December 1854, Heathcote was a prosperous and growing gold mining town.

THE VICTORIA GOLD FIELDS. (1854, December 7). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 3. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60200930

The Eureka riot in Ballarat in early December just over 80 miles to the south west did not slow mining activity in Heathcote. A public meeting was held at the Heathcote Hotel on 15 December which discussed prospecting, noting that about fifty puddling machines had been erected on the creek and seemed to be doing remarkably well. No mention was made of the riot or license fees.

M'IVOR. (1854, December 19). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4801984

On 10 June 1855 Philip and Susan's fourth child, Auschar Philip Chauncy was born at Heathcote. In 1857 my great great grandmother Annie Frances was born at Heathcote and in 1859 her sister Constance was born there. Altogether, the family spent six and a half years at Heathcote then, in 1860, moved to Dunolly.

I is for inquests

An inquest is a legal enquiry held to establish the cause of death of a person. In Victoria the files of inquests  held between 1840 and 1985 are at the Public Records office of Victoria.

Inquests were held when

• a person died suddenly and unexpectedly
• was killed
• drowned
• died while a patient in a lunatic asylum or mental hospital
• died while in prison
• was executed
• was an infant ward of the state (there were different rules over time)

An example of an inquest for somebody who died in an asylum is of Clement Henry Snell Chauncy (1865-1902), my great great uncle, the son of Philip Chauncy and Susan née Mitchell. I attach images of the inquest file below to show the sort of information that can be gained from looking at the inquest of a deceased asylum patient.

The inquest was held on 1 December 1902. A coroner and a jury with foreman and four others reviewed statements from medical staff at the asylum. They found that Clement died on 30 November 1902 at Yarra Bend Hospital for the Insane, where he was in legal custody, of disease of the brain, lungs and stomach.

Clement had been admitted by an order to Yarra Bend on 10 September 1902 suffering from "General Paralysis of the Insane". He had been in the hospital since 15 September suffering from wasting and weakness.

General paralysis of the insane is also known as general paresis or paralytic dementia, is a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting the brain, caused by late-stage syphilis. (General paresis of the insane. (2014, March 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:04, April 15, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=General_paresis_of_the_insane&oldid=598695431)

Clement had been visited by Archdeacon Hindley on 20 September 1902. He also had friends visit him. The official visitor, appointed by the government, saw him on November 18 1902.

A post mortem examination determined the cause of death which was accepted by the coroner and jury.

The inquest does not mention that Clement was survived by a wife and son. He was only 37 years old.

G is for Government Gazettes

A digitised version of the Victorian Government Gazette is available at http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au

The Government Gazette has a wealth of information, everything  from lost horses to land purchases or government employment. Some of this may be relevant to your family history.

My husband's great great grandfather, John Plowright (1831 - 1910), lost a horse in 1868.

Victorian Government Gazette, No 49, 28 March 1861, 655 - Page 668retrieved through AUSTLII http://www.austlii.edu.au

Without this advertisement we would not have known whether John Plowright had owned a horse.  Unfortunately we don't learn if he found it.

You can browse the digitised gazette or search it with terms in the original index.  To search the contents of the gazettes thoroughly, you can use the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLII) website at http://www.austlii.edu.au/form/search/search1.html

I used the AUSTLII search and found my great great great grandfather Philip Crespigny land purchase.

Victorian Government Gazette, No 68, 1 August 1854, 1681

Government appointments were notified in the Gazette such as this one for another of my my great great great grandfathers, Philip Chauncy, who was a surveyor.

retrieved from http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1860&class=general&page_num=2271&state=V&classNum=G151&searchCode=3613997

Triennial List of Railway Employees in the Government Gazette

(1884 – 1929)

Year	Vol	Page		Year	Vol	Page
1884	1	1459		1908	2	2333
1887	2	2055		1911	2	4457
1890	1	1237		1914	2	3267
1893	1	387		1918	1	887
1896	1	621		1921	1	1189
1899	1	433		1924	1	1167
1902	3	4099		1926	1	1233
1905	3	4719		1929	2	1931

- See more at: http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-40#sthash.XJnE8QCr.dpuf

Triennial List of Railway Employees in the Government Gazette

(1884 – 1929)

Year	Vol	Page		Year	Vol	Page
1884	1	1459		1908	2	2333
1887	2	2055		1911	2	4457
1890	1	1237		1914	2	3267
1893	1	387		1918	1	887
1896	1	621		1921	1	1189
1899	1	433		1924	1	1167
1902	3	4099		1926	1	1233
1905	3	4719		1929	2	1931

- See more at: http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-40#sthash.XJnE8QCr.dpuf

Family stories

In the fifth week of Shauna Hicks's series of blog posts about genealogical records the topic is family stories.

Before we had computer databases, family history was largely passed down by stories.  For example, my mother-in-law had a very clear idea of who her forebears were for several generations and was able to give brief outlines of their lives for ancestors back to the early nineteenth century from the top of her head. I have been able to verify the family history with records, and what she set out for me from memory was remarkably accurate.

On my side of the family, several relations have written family history books thereby preserving many family stories.

My father wrote Champions of Normandy which covers the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family to the time they migrated to England at the end of the seventeenth century.  Among other documents, it is based on a number of manuscripts held by different family members, as well as the registration of the family with the College of Arms in 1697. (de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy: being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988.)

My third cousin twice removed, Stephen de Crespigny, has gathered an enormous amount of family history. He collected information, documents and stories, but also had drawn up a comprehensive family tree in the early 1990s.

One of the three sheets of the Champion de Crespigny family tree compiled by Stephen de Crespigny

Helen Hudson née  Hughes (1915 - 2005) my first cousin twice removed, was an enthusiastic family historian.  She compiled a book, Cherry Stones,  covering her forebears (which coincide with my father's father's mother's family). I have found it a useful resource and am very pleased she wrote it.  It was published in 1985 and is an amazing effort considering she too had no computer database or access to the material we now have through the internet.  Helen's father Reginald Hawkins Hughes (1886 - 1971), brother of my great grandmother, had collected papers and paraphernalia of his ancestors and kept it in what she called a "tin trunk" which Helen inherited.  The book has much original material such as transcriptions of early letters. (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.)

My great great great grandfather Philip Chauncy wrote  memoirs of his sister and his second wife.  These were republished in 1976. (Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.) The State Library of Victoria also holds a manuscript of his journal of his trip to Australia and other family history and biographical notes he made.

My Great grand uncle James Gordon Cavenagh-Mainwaring (1865 - 1938) wrote a history of the Mainwaring family back to the entry of Whitmore estate in the Domesday Book of 1068. (Cavenagh-Mainwaring, James Gordon The Mainwarings of Whitmore and Biddulph in the County of Stafford. An account of the family, and its connections by marriage and descent; with special reference to the Manor of Whitmore. J.G. Cavenagh-Mainwaring, about 1935.) The estate of Whitmore where my cousins now live has never been sold since the entry in the Domesday book but always been transferred through inheritance, albeit sometimes through the female line.

More recently the wife of my father's cousin, Christine Cavenagh-Mainwaring, has produced an updated  history of Whitmore and the family. (Cavenagh-Mainwaring, Christine and Britton, Heather, (editor.) Whitmore Hall : from 1066 to Waltzing Matilda. Adelaide Peacock Publications, 2013. ) I was very pleased to be given a copy of the book by Guy and Christine when I saw them in Adelaide last month.

Christine provides an update on what happened to Gerald Mainwaring (1854 - ?) though she also has not been able to trace what happened to him eventually.  My blog entry deals with him being tried for murder but he was not hanged as the jury effectively cast a ballot to decide his fate. His sentence was commuted to penal servitude. Apparently he was released on licence on May 16, 1894. The family story is that Gerald made his way to Whitmore where his brother Percy (1857 - 1927), the Rector of Whitmore, would not let him into the house, gave him a five pound note and an overcoat and sent him away.  Perhaps Gerald changed his name and returned to Canada. There seems no record of him after that time.

There are lots of other family stories in Christine's book to follow up on and to research further.

In the 1990s James Kenneth Cudmore (1926 - 2013), my second cousin once removed, of Quirindi New South Wales, commissioned Elsie Ritchie to write the Cudmore family history. The work built on the family history efforts of many family members.  It was published in 2000.  It is a very large and comprehensive work and includes many many Cudmore family stories. (Ritchie, Elsie B. (Elsie Barbara) For the love of the land: the history of the Cudmore family. E. Ritchie, [Ermington, N.S.W.], 2000.)

A collection of family history books.

Emma Rothschild, a Professor of History at Harvard University, has studied the Johnstone family in a scholarly history of the eighteenth century in order to gain an insight into the development of the British Empire.  Barbara Johnstone (1723 - 1765) was my sixth great grandmother and it is she and her siblings who are the subject of this book. The source material included the oldest brother's letter book which was in an Edinburgh library. (Rothschild, Emma The inner life of empires : an eighteenth-century history. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. ; Woodstock, 2011.  Book review: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-inner-life-of-empires-by-emma-rothschild-2347490.html)



Among other stories, I learned from the book that in 1759 Barbara separated from her husband Charles Kinnaird (1723 - 1767). He had succeeded to the baronetcy as 6th Lord Kinnaird in 1758. Barbara awarded £130 per year and £100 pounds for furniture. She did not have access to her children. Her husband stated she had committed no crime other than ill nature.

Barbara, Baroness Kinnaird by Allan Ramsay, 1748 portrait retrieved from http://thepeerage.com/p3036.htm . Barbara Johnstone was the daughter of Sir James Johnstone, 3rd Bt. and Barbara Murray. She married Charles Kinnaird, 6th Baron Kinnaird, son of George Kinnaird and Lady Helen Gordon. She died on 21 October 1765

It is a bit intimidating when so much family history has been written to attempt one's own study.  However, I have found plenty more family history to research while enjoying the stories published by others.