Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Another daughter, 1863

"The Cottage Girl; or, the Marriage-Day. By the author of “The Gipsey Bride,” etc., etc. [i.e. Mary Bennett.], London 1867. Courtesy of the British Library Photostream.
In June 1863 the Griffiths added a third little girl to their brood.  The two little boys had died as infants.  The births index shows that the daughter, Louisa, was born at Beechworth.  Together with the performance with the Beechworth Philharmonic Society the next month, this may indicate the Griffiths had moved back to Beechworth from Chiltern.  It is hard to say without a copy of the certificate.

Beechworth Philharmonic Society, 1863


'To Gipsyland ... Illustrated by J. Pennell', London, 1893.  Courtesy of the British Library Photostream.

A long-winded article in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser, evidently paid for by the word, didn't really tell us much about the concert, but that the Philharmonic Society was an amateur organisation which made enthusiastic attempts to play classical pieces.  They were supported by three professional musicians, Herr Schmidt on the violin, Mr Griffiths on the violin, and Mr Ruxton on the piano


"[N]o notice of the Concert would be complete without mention being made of Herr SCHMIDT's exquisite performance on the violin, and the manner in which he has instructed his pupils. Mr Griffiths and Mr Ruxton also deserves much praise for their masterly execution on the violin and  piano. We, unfortunately, were not present at the 'First Part,'- but MOZART's Twelfth Mass is decidedly the very best selection that could have been made by amateurs,-— the one in fact that is generally attempted by non professional associations. We hear it was admirably rendered, and to judge from the subsequent successes, we should think the applause which it called down was well  deserved. -We wish all prosperity to our Philharmonic Society, and feel convinced that it will exert a powerful influence, both morally and socially, in Beechworth."
 The Ovens and Murray Advertiser. (1863, July 4). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1857 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112893938

Henri William Ruxton is described in Graeme Skinner's Austral Harmony as " late member of the Philharmonic Society, Liverpool". Ruxton is interesting because not only was he from the Liverpool area, but he gave Wilkie in Melbourne as a referee when he advertised in Melbourne as a music teacher in 1853.

Herr Schmidt may have been the viola player, active in Ballarat in 1859 according to Austral Harmony.


A New Baby Girl, 1861

"Baby May, Home Poems and Ballads", by William Cox Bennett, 1875, p 8. From the British Library Flickr Photostream.




A fourth child and second daughter was born to Susan and George Griffith in 1861. Her name was Ann Catherine.  The birth appears not to have been registered - it doesn't appear in the Pioneers Index of births, but the index of marriages gave her birthplace as New South Wales.   The birth did not appear in the NSW Index of Births either, and eventually curiosity got the better of me and I purchased Ann's marriage record to see if it named a town in NSW.  It turned out to be "Chilton (sic), New South Wales".    Clearly Ann didn't know what colony Chiltern was in, so far from having moved on to another rush in NSW, the Griffiths were still in Chiltern in 1861.

In 1880 Ann Catherine Griffith married Alfred Tarrant. It was interesting to see that both of the fathers' occupations were recorded as 'musician'.  Alfred's father was John Tarrant of Fitzroy.  By this time the Griffith family was living in Fitzroy, George having died there two years earlier.  

Annie was only 23 when she died, and she was buried with her father at the Melbourne General Cemetery.  Her name appears on the memorial stone.