Spotlight on ... Newest and Youngest!

This week my post focuses on the newest subject of my family research ... the youngest child of my 2x great grandmother Caroline Penelope Brown / Taylor / Collins nee Browning and her first husband, my 2x great grandfather Henry Johnson Brown.  

Caroline and Henry married in 1846 and went on to have twelve children born between 1847 and 1867.  

The youngest of the siblings was Robert Frederick Bayley Brown, my great great uncle, who was born on the 24th of April 1867.  At the time, his mother Caroline was aged 37 and his father Henry was 47.  They had lost two of their sons by the time Robert was born, so the family was a little smaller in size.

Robert was born in Lismore where his father owned a home, extended to become the first hotel, a store and a large garden; and Robert's father had also been working as a timber merchant.  Unfortunately by the time Robert was born, his father Henry was in quite a bit of financial hardship and things were not going well for the family.  They were about to lose most of their assets, including the hotel, the store and almost all the land parcels Henry had acquired over the years.

Robert's father Henry died in December of 1868 when Robert was only 20 months old, so Robert never got to know his biological father.  My 2x great grandmother Caroline was left widowed with a number of young children and the insolvency case against her husband still proceeding.  She apparently supported her family of dependent children by running a boarding house for a number of years.

Robert's older brothers Alexander aged 19, and John aged 18, would have been working, but Robert's other siblings would have still been living with their mother Caroline.  Anne was 15, Henry was 13, William was 10, James was 9, Richard was 7, Eliza was 5 and Francis was 3.  It's highly likely that the eldest daughter Anne would have spent a lot of her time looking after the younger children, including Robert, the youngest of them all.

Just after Robert's 7th birthday, his mother married for a second time to a man named Nathan Taylor.  Nathan would have been a familiar person to the family, as he was a well-known figure in Lismore.  Robert's new step-father had been the Constable for a number of years, had built a hotel on the south side of the Richmond River and been a business competitor of Robert's father Henry when he was alive, and had then bought Henry's hotel after his death.

By the time Robert's mother Caroline had re-married, it's likely there would have only been four of the children still dependent on their mother, and I think it's highly probable that Robert's other sister Eliza, would have taken on the mothering role by that time.  

Sadly, Robert's new stepfather died just two months after the wedding and their mother Caroline was left to carry on by herself once more.  Robert's mother did not benefit a great deal from her new husband Nathan's estate, apart from gaining just over an acre of land in Lismore, as the majority of the estate passed on to his children from his previous marriage. 

When Robert was 11 years old, his mother married for the third time and moved to Sydney with her new husband.  I'm assuming Robert, his brother Francis and sister Eliza (who would have been the children still dependent on their mother) all left Lismore and went to live in Sydney, where their mother Caroline's new husband had a home.  Life may have become a little more comfortable again at this time.  

Robert's second step-father died less than three years later however, in early 1881.  Robert's sister Eliza got married at the end of that year, and mother Caroline carried on living with her daughter and her new son-in-law in their new home close to Sydney.  Robert would have been aged 14 at that time, and I doubt that he would have moved in with his sister and brother-in-law, along with his mother. 

Where was Robert around the end of 1881?  All his other siblings were now living out lives of their own, so I wonder if he was now pretty much left to his own devices?

His oldest brother Alexander was still living in Lismore.  He had married, had a family and was successfully earning his way in the world.

His second oldest brother John had married and had started his family, but had moved away from Lismore.

Robert's oldest sister Anne had married, had started a large family and was still living in Lismore.

Brother Henry had also married, started a family and was still living in Lismore.

Brothers William, James and Richard were working in the Lismore area, but they all were to marry in the next couple of years and begin families of their own.

Sister Eliza and her new husband moved into their home at Penrith, along with mother Caroline.  

Brother Francis was now 16 and had likely left home looking for work.

I'm assuming Robert did the same.  I haven't been able to find out any information about his life between the years of 1881 and 1889, which was the year his mother Caroline died.  At that time, Robert was 21 years old.

Interestingly, Robert's mother left all her estate to Robert and his sister Eliza.  She left nothing to any of her other children.  That does seem rather strange!  

Eliza inherited a 49-acre farm at Blakebrook, north west of Lismore; along with all her mother's furniture, cattle and horses, implements, chattels and things in and around the farm.

Robert inherited the balance of the estate, including all the money his mother had in the bank and a piece of land situated on the Girard Estate in Lismore.

It wasn't until the age of 25 that Robert got married.  In 1892 he married Alice Maguire, who was 17 years old.  

Map showing Pilliga in relation to Lismore

On the marriage certificate, Robert stated his occupation was that of 'storekeeper' and that he was working in the town of Pilliga, New South Wales.  

How did Robert end up in Pilliga, so far away from his home town of Lismore, where many of his siblings were still living, and where he had inherited a parcel of land?  Perhaps he had sold the land on the Girard Estate as he was not of a mind to become a farmer, working on the land. 

Map showing Walgett in relation to Lismore

Robert and Alice married in Walgett, which was not too far away from Pilliga. 

It's likely Robert and Alice met at the store Robert was working in at the time.

Alice was under the legal marriage age at the time, and had to get her mother's permission to marry, which is noted on the marriage certificate.  Robert and Alice went on to have four children during their marriage.

Their daughter Winifred was born in 1895 in the Nyngan area of New South Wales.  Nyngan was quite a distance to the south-west of Walgett, where Robert and Alice had married.

Their daughter, Marietta Madge (known as Madge), was born in 1898 at Goangra, near Walgett.  

Daughter Vivian Hopetoun was born in 1900 in Wee Waa, again quite a distance to the east of Walgett.

During these years, 1895 to 1900, Robert was apparently still working as a draper in the township of Pilliga, so I'm again left asking questions ... why were his daughters born at various spots scattered all around Pilliga, where Robert was holding down his job?  Didn't they have their own home in the township of Pilliga?  Was his wife Alice spending her confinement with members of her own family?   So many questions!

This lovely photo was taken in 1901 and shows Robert's wife Alice with their three daughters Winifred aged 6, Marietta (known as Madge) aged 3, and baby Vivian aged 1.

Where was Robert when this photo was taken?

It's at this point in the story I'm starting to think Robert was not the most reliable father and husband.

In 1903 another daughter was born to Robert and Alice.  Their newborn was named Alice Jane Victoria Beatrice.  She was born in the Nimbin area to the north of Lismore, so it seems the family had moved at some point between 1900 and 1903 and were now living closer to some of Robert's own family.

Sadly, Robert's wife Alice died in 1903.  I'm unsure whether it was as a result of complications from childbirth, but that is likely given that she died a mere two months after baby Alice was born.  At the time Robert's other daughters were very young and according to the eldest Winifred, the girls didn't see their father after the death of their mother.

Winifred was aged 7, Marietta was aged 5, Vivian was aged 3, and baby Alice was only 2 months old when their mother died.  I assume that the girls were taken in by members of Robert's family at that time.  If Winifred recalls never seeing her father after her mother had died, then I'm sure that Robert didn't take care of his younger daughters either!  Such a sad point in Robert's story.

I have almost no information about what happened in Robert's life between the death of his wife and the end of 1914.  It's quite a lengthy period of time where he seems to have drifted out of the lives of his own daughters and his close family.  According to information gleaned from the rather reliable source of information about the Browning/Brown family (the book titled 'The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past' written by Esme Smith), it seems Robert sank into alcoholism around this time in his life, but was still able to keep down a job, working at times as a farmhand.

Robert then enlisted in the AIF on the 29th of December 1914 in Nimbin, New South Wales.  

He enlisted in the 3rd reinforcement of the 15th Battalion of the 4th Infantry Brigade.  Upon enlistment he stated his age as 44, but he lied as he was in fact aged 50.  

He further stated he was a widower by then and stated his occupation was "draper", which was probably not true by that time.

The 3rd departed Brisbane on the 13th of February 1915 on HMAT A49 Seong Choon.  

In April of 1915, the 3rd joined their Battalion on the Gallipoli Peninsula, reinforcing the 15th Battalion which had been reduced to around 30% of its strength.  The 15th Battalion, under General Monash, played a part in the Battle of Sari Bair.

Around June, Robert started suffering from pains in his joints and muscles. He was transferred to Anzac Hospital on the 5th of September 1915 where he was diagnosed with rheumatism and failing eyesight, and identified as having previously suffered from malaria  (two years before when living in Queensland). 

 

On a side note:  that tells me Robert had moved quite far away from where his daughters were living long before war broke out, which adds weight to my belief that he had handed over the responsibility for his daughters after their mother's death and had moved quite a long way from all his family.

Photo taken in 1915 at the Australian General Hospital
in Gezireh Palace, Cairo, Egypt

Robert was to spend the remainder of 1915 in hospital in Heliopolis, Egypt; and then spent early 1916 in the military hospital at Ghezireh Palace in Cairo, Egypt.

Robert's army service did not last long.  He returned to Australia aboard the ship Runic on the 11th of April 1916 and was officially discharged as medically unfit on the 4th of June 1916, having only served sixteen months.  Robert was paid a military pension upon his discharge, as he had been identified as having a disability of rheumatism and alcoholism.

Upon his return to Australia, Robert's daughters were aged 21, 18, 16 and 13 respectively.  It seems he continued to have no contact with any of them and did not return to New South Wales.  When his eldest daughter Winifred married in 1923 she stated on her marriage certificate that her father was living in Brisbane, working as an insurance agent.

A passage from 'The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past' by Esme Smith gives a very clear picture of the last years and day of Robert's life.

"It would appear that Robert's problem with alcoholism was to plague him for the rest of his life.  He lived out his later years at Bribie Island, Queensland, where he rented a hut.  Occasionally he travelled to Brisbane - at times to see a Repatriation Department Doctor. 

 

On the day he died, he came to the mainland from the island by motor boat.  Arriving at the wharf he contacted a friend, Norman Abdy, requesting that he meet him and take him to his accommodation ... in the city of Brisbane.  He accepted an invitation from Abdy to have dinner at his home that evening. 

 

On the way between the wharf, the boarding house and Abdy's home ... he and Abdy stopped off at various hotels for a rum or beer.  By the time they reached (Abdy's) home Robert was intoxicated, and it was while having tea that a piece of steak lodged in his throat, which he was unable to dislodge. 

 

Evidence was given that, because of his intoxicated state, he was not able to cough the meat up, whereas with a person who had not been drinking, this would have been easy to do.  On the day of his death he had a blood alcohol reading of .20 percent."

 

Robert died  on the 5th of June 1941, aged 74.  The cause of death listed on the death certificate was "impaction of meat in larynx - asphyxia."

Of particular note, was the added comment that "an inquest of death was held at Brisbane on 20 August 1941."  Given that Robert had died early in June, it's quite telling that the inquest was not held until over a month later.  It had taken the police quite some time to track down anyone who had some knowledge of Robert and the details of his life.

Robert's burial place is an unmarked grave in the war section of the cemetery at Toowong, in Brisbane.

I wonder if anyone attended his funeral?  I do hope so.