Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  Coming from a family of seafarers with both his grandfather, his father's grandfather, four grand-uncles and about a dozen cousins being master mariners the subject of this week's blog was destined for a life at sea. WILLIAM CARGILL William was the second son of Captain John Cargill of Aberdeen Scotland and his wife, Mary (nee Duthie). Amongst his many accomplishments at sea, his father had the honour of commanding the Royal Yacht to Aberdeen when Queen Victoria made her first visit to Balmoral in September 1848. William, at the age of 13, accompanied his father during his winter vacation, on the City of London steamship in November 1854 when a terrible storm burst in the harbour of Balaclava where many vessels are destroyed on the rocks. The City of London, under steam, slipped her cable and stood out to sea escaping the battering without any loss. William was not put off by this disastrous event and three years later entered his naval career. He commenced with time on...

  Today's blog is a follow up to the one I wrote about Jane Catherine Tost, taxidermist, way back in 2022. (If you wish to acquaint yourself with that blog before reading this follow up, please click onto the name tag of Jane Catherine Tost at the end of this blog).  In that blog I mentioned that her Jane's son Charles Goutliffe Jnr and son-in-law, James Coates were killed fighting a fire at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1872 and that is the focus of today's blog. PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE FIRE From newspaper reports at the time, it would appear that in the early hours of Saturday the 6th of January 1872, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Castlereagh Street Sydney near King Street caught fire rapidly. A full house the previous night had seen "The House that Jack Built" and all had left the theatre. The alarm was raised about 3.30am but firemen were virtually helpless against the fire's ferocity which was believed to have started in the property room were ...

 In winter there is nothing more warming than a hot cuppa but in summer there is nothing more refreshing - well that's what my mother always used to say... So, with a cuppa next to me I am composing this week's blog in honour of -  JAMES INGLIS  James was born in 1845 in Forfarshire, Scotland, the son of the Reverend Robert Inglis and his wife Helen. After his education in Edinburgh, he visited New Zealand in 1864 to join the gold rush. 1866 saw him heading to India where his brother Alexander was a Calcutta tea merchant. He settled there as an indigo planter; indigo being a natural source for blue dye. James indulged in tiger hunts and other activities that would be considered distasteful nowadays and wrote many sporting verses about his adventures under the banner of "Maori".  James Inglis in Indian garb - Wikipedia Suffering from rheumatism he set sail in 1877 for Australia to forge business opportunities between both countries. His health improved, he edited the ...

  Today's blog relates to a terrible murder at the hands of a person clearly, by the evidence presented, suffering temporary insanity. NAPOLEAN JEAN LISSON Napolean was born on 15th August 1867 in Paddington Sydney, eldest son of John Hector Lisson Gorrick and Jane Underwood. In 1874 the family then consisting of 3 children moved to Noumea where John assumed the identity of a Frenchman changing his surname slightly to Lison. When Jane died in 1874 and with proceeds from her father's estate, the family moved to Italy. John Hector died on 21st November 1886 in Rome aged 41.  Napolean Jean Lisson - NSW State Archives I cannot be certain when Napolean returned to Australia but at the age of 19 at the time of his father's death he was in Sydney. He became depressed after his father's death and it seems he attempted suicide but came to clarity and married Emma Marguerite Gorrick, his cousin, on 15th May 1889. Emma Lisson (nee Gorrick) - Ancestry.com from public domain mag...