Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

As Industrial Relations Laws are being debated in Federal Parliament at the moment, it seems like the right time to honour a man who was arguably known as the "Father of the Trade Union Movement in NSW" and a person whose name is long forgotten. FRANCIS BURDETT DIXON Dixon's portrait - public image from ancestry.com  Francis was born in August 1836 near Leeds, Yorkshire, England, son of Joseph Dixon, stonemason, and his wife Susannah. He was named after Sir Francis Burdett, a British Politician and MP who gained notoriety for advocating the right to vote for all European men aged 21 or over regardless of whether they owned or rented property. Joseph Dixon greatly admired what Sir Francis stood for.  Francis became a stonemason following in his father's footsteps and in October 1854 married Elizabeth Chadwick, a weaver, in Preston Lancashire. He, Elizabeth and their young daughter Ann boarded the "Bee" and arrived in Geelong, Victoria in April 1857. Dixon, wo...

 Family dynasties have always fascinated me, and every family hides a dark secret (or two). Today's blog is about a famous family which had many a peccadillo, but the subject today is a rather sad member who lost his way. MAXIMILIAN JOHN FOY  Max, as he was generally known, was born in 1882, the youngest son of Mark Foy from his second marriage to Catherine Power, who he had married on Christmas Day 1879. Mark's first wife, Mary Macken, had died in March that year after having had eight children, the youngest being seven years of age. Mark had emigrated to Australia in 1858 chasing gold but eventually settled on opening a drapery shop in Collingwood. He eventually passed the drapery store to his son Francis in 1883. Francis, after a brief partnership with William Gibson sold the business to him and in 1885 Francis Foy went on to establish the Mark Foys department store in Sydney in partnership with his younger brother, Mark. Mark Foys Department Store (now The Downing Centre) ...

 I've always enjoyed reading about the connections between families of those who call Rookwood "home"- adding the various pieces one by one is like putting a jigsaw together.  Today's blog is about man who ran away to sea and found his way to our shores to pursue his dreams. His family becomes entwined with another and leads to some very interesting people. WILLIAM JOHN CORDNER, ELLEN MUNTON, JOHN BALFOUR CLEMENT MILES, WILLIAM JOHN MILES AND HIS DAUGHTER BEATRICE. William Cordner was born in December 1826 in County Tyrone, Ireland, the second son of Samuel Cordner, organist of the Dungannon Parish Church, and his wife Margaret. William was an accomplished singer with an ability to play the organ at a very early age and became a chorister in Armagh Cathedral. For the next eight years he took lessons to enhance his organ playing skills. When his father refused to allow him to travel, he did what any young man would do and ran away to sea. After several years he became ...

 I have mentioned previously that famous, extraordinary, ordinary and the infamous all lie in harmony in Rookwood. To date I have made mention of the extraordinary. Today's blog is about a person who became infamous. STUART WILSON CHRISTOPHER BRIGGS Stuart was born in June 1874, the youngest of William and Sarah Briggs' children. By 1898 he had worked as a Storeman as well as a probationary Police Constable. He had been dismissed from the Police Force in 1893 after only four months in the job. Briggs was over 6' tall with a large build and known to succumb to violent rages particularly whilst drinking.  Stuart Wilson Christopher Briggs - from Captured -NSW State Archives In the mid to late 1890's a severe recession took grip of the country with many people leaving the regions and converging on the cities, in turn making employment harder to gain for everyone. Briggs found himself unemployed in 1898. Although unemployed, Briggs was "stepping out" with Maggie Bi...