8 minute read
Family History WA
This story is about my grandfather Robert Thomas Elliott and some of the problems I have had in finding anything much out about him. I didn’t know him at all personally – he passed away a before I was born. My sister knew him, but only as a young girl. Thus I found that he had left very faint footprints! Finding out a few things about him has been a long process. What I do know: His parents were James Elliott and Sarah Jane Elliott (nee Laughlin / Loughlin). His father, James Elliott, was a station master for the Donegal Railway Company and stationed in Londonderry at the time of his birth. He was one of nine surviving children out of eleven births. Robert Thomas Elliott appears to have been born in Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland in 1881 at the residence of one of his relatives. He left Ireland early in 1914, not long before the start of the Great War. He seemed to mysteriously disappear from view for a while, before appearing in Australia in 1918. In Western Australi, my grandfather was a member of the Busselton Centenary Committee – the Centenary was held in 1932. There is evidence that that he was a Freemason, although I can’t directly confirm this. He was a member of the local rifle club and presented trophies to members of club at various times. He also appears to have owned or had a share in a race horse. He was licensee of the Esplanade Hotel in Busselton, WA from about 1918 until about 1940. After that, he moved to Perth and lived in a flat in Beaufort Street. He died in Royal Perth Hospital in 1946. Are there any juicy bits? Well… there just might be! These are some of my tentative findings. He was married, but his wife remained in Ireland and died there. I know that my Dad and an aunt had come to Australia in 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression. I assumed that grandfather had come with them, but I found out recently that this was not the case! Oh those family secrets! It seems that he left Ireland in early 1914 and appeared in Australia in around 1916, but I did not know where he was between 1914 and 1918. It turns out he was in Perth the whole time! From about late October 1914, he was Front-ofHouse manager for the relatively newly built His Majesty’s Theatre & Hotel. I am still not sure when he moved to Busselton. He left behind in Ireland a pregnant wife and three children. My father was born on the eve of the First World War. He was a Mason both in Ireland and Australia, and the Masonic connections may have taken care of my grandmother and the children after my grandfather left Ireland. Probably his Masonic connections enabled him to get the job at His Majesty’s in Perth, and becoming Licensee of the Esplanade Hotel in Busselton. It appears that he had a girlfriend when he was in Australia. I don’t know whether she came with him from Ireland, or whether he met her here. It’s possible he left Ireland with the best of intentions, but then met the lady here. He also seems to have had a close relationship with a lady named Nina Ramsay who was from Capel. He seemed to be permanently separated from his wife – effectively a divorce. He requested - or maybe demanded - that my father and my aunt be sent to join him in Australia, while his other two children remained in Ireland with their mother. My sister gave me the impression that the final separation from my grandmother was not pleasant. IRISH FAMILY HISTORY Mark Elliott, a long term member of the Irish Special Interest Group at Family History WA, shares stories of his grandfather, Robert Thomas Elliott (below).
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Another aspect of this family is the brothers and sisters. Initially I thought that he had only one sister, but with the help of the staff at the Londonderry Public Library History Centre, I was able to find via the 1901 census that he actually had at least six brothers and sisters. With the release of 1911 census data I was able to determine that he actually had nine brothers and sisters still living, and two who had passed away by 1911, one as an infant. As I still know very little about the rest of the family, I wonder whether he may have been excommunicated from the family for some misdemeanour. It could also be that he just simply didn’t get along well with the rest of the family so didn’t remain in touch. My brick walls: What did he do between 1914 and 1918? I have a photograph of a house which looks like it could be overlooking the Belfast Lough. My dad had said that his father told him he had stayed there before he left for Australia. Perhaps he was working somewhere to earn his passage to Australia. What is the race horse connection? We have a photograph of a horse named “Lady Violet”. I don’t know if he owned it himself, or if he were a part owner. The horse was possibly a trotter or pacer rather than a racehorse. This is again guesswork, as trap racing (horse and buggy) was popular in Ireland, and there is a trotting track not far from the
Esplanade Hotel in Busselton where he worked. What is the Nina Ramsay connection? I believe that Nina came from Capel. Given that he had a colourised photo of her, she may have been an important person in his life. There is also a small silver plated mug from her to him with an engraving: “Bobby is a Bonny Boy His Birthday in October Being brot up on the bottle This pot may keep him sober! Nina 1934” At this stage, I haven’t been able to work out what this is about. It is possible that the horse won some big event! The Ramsays had a transport business, which included horse transporting, so that may explain his connection with the Ramsay family. My Dad said that grandfather died bankrupt - another mystery. I wasn’t able to find any official record of bankruptcy for him, so I assume that he was technically bankrupt - there were not enough assets to cover his debts. Why did he sell the Esplanade Hotel? It seems to have been sold in 1940, and has remained with the same family ever since. I can speculate that he had financial difficulties from running the hotel, as there was a double dip recession in Australia in the late 30’s after the Great Depression. I can also speculate that he might have been in financial trouble due to a gambling habit and maybe needed to pay off his debts. If any reader knows any more about Robert Thomas Elliott’s life I would love to hear from them. You can reach me at galaxywa@yahoo.com.
Top: Esplanade Hotel Busselton. Above: His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
Irish Special Interest Group – WITH JENNI IBRAHIM
Traditionally the Irish Special Interest Group (Irish SIG) of FamilyHistoryWA has met every three months on a Sunday at 2pm. The last meeting was held on 19 January 2020. For the rest of 2020 meetings will be on: 19 July and 18 October. The theme for 2020 is Researching Our Irish Ancestors with 2020 Vision. If we’d had 2020 vision we might have seen the global pandemic coming. But we didn’t. Member Chris Timoney was scheduled to speak on 19 April about Ireland Reaching Out, a fantastic volunteer based non-profit organisation that she volunteers for whenever she visits Ireland. It is a global network helping people of Irish descent reconnect with their roots. The April meeting had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Chris will now speak about Ireland Reaching Out at the 19 July meeting. Have a look at the Ireland Reaching Out website and get inspired. The July meeting will be held online via Google Meet from 2-4pm. This meeting is free but an online donation at the time of booking would be appreciated. You need to book a place using the online booking site TryBooking, details right. New members and visitors are welcome. Another casualty of the Covid-19 restrictions was the annual Four Courts Luncheon, usually held around 30 June at an Irish pub in Perth to commemorate the loss of valuable genealogical records in the fire at the Public Records Office in the Four Courts building in 1922. Hopefully we will be able to resume again in 2021. Because Family History WA face to face meetings cannot be held at the moment, there are lots of other online events taking place, some for beginners, and others for more experienced researchers. See right for more information. Happy researching!
Robyn O’Brien, Convenor Irish Special Interest Group E irish.sig@fhwa.org.au Book a (free) place at the next Irish group meeting at TryBooking
tinyurl.com/ISIG-TryBooking
Go digging for resources at the Irish SIG webpage at FamilyHistoryWA
tinyurl.com/irishsig
Join FamilyHistoryWA Facebook group – researching family worldwide, open to all. Join in the chat or ask a question at the FamilyHistoryWA Discussion Facebook group. Join the State Library of WA and enjoy access to licensed e-Resources including Irish Newspaper Archive and Ancestry www.slwa.wa.gov.au/
explore-discover/eresources/gettingstarted-eresources
FamilyHistoryWA (FHWA) membership.wags.org.au T 9271 4311 (although this phone is not staffed at the present time.) FHWA Events at try Booking www.
trybooking.com/eventlist/ genealogy?embed=1
FHWA response to COVID
