Death of George Faulkner (son)

On 9 December 1912 George Faulkner, 66, dropped dead in a paddock at "Victoria Park", Mount Russell near Inverell. 

It was harvest time, and according to a grand-daughter, George Faulkner was in the habit of eating separately to his workers. No-one was present when he died.

News of his death was reported in half a dozen country newspapers with several noting that an inquiry would be held. If an inquiry was held, it wasn't reported. Probate was granted in March 1913.

A family historian writes that: "In due course, 'Victoria Park' (1200 acres) was sold to the Government for Soldier Settler Blocks". The returned soldier who won the homestead block (300 acres) in a ballot had rented 150 acres of farm land at 'Victoria Park' for around 12 months prior to the sub-division. He married one of the Faulkner daughters, Leila, on 25 February 1922, the year he took over the farm.

The same family historian adds that Mary Ann Faulkner (nee Selmes) moved to Sydney and bought a house at West Ryde where she lived until her death in 1937. Before leaving Mount Russell, she was presented with a silver dish with this inscription: 5/12/1921 To Mrs M. A. Faulkner and family. A token of esteem from Residents of Mt Russell and District. 

"Victoria Park" remained in the family until 1965. The homestead was demolished in 1979. There is a small brick house on the block, which is now 60 acres.

Gladesville Hospital for the Insane

On 14 June 1873, only a few months after his release from Parramatta Asylum, George Faulkner was convicted before James Styles, JP, for using obscene language in Cork Street, Gundaroo, "towards William Affleck of Gundaroo, to wit You bloody Scotch bugger, I'll break your bloody door and smash your bloody machinery".

Sentenced to three months in Queanbeyan Gaol, he was again separately examined by two doctors as required before he could be committed to an asylum.

Andrew Morton, surgeon, wrote that he had observed "his violent conduct in the gaol... - his obscene language - & at one time praying, quoting scripture & immediately afterwards blaspheming - cursing, swearing and altogether behaving as a Maniac with homicidal tendencies - his constant headaches & vertigo with confusion of thought & the wildness of his manner & eyes".

The jailer and warder told Morton that their prisoner "is increasingly so violent - threatening them & his fellow prisoners - that he had to be put under restraint - & that his habits were very filthy - & his insomnia".

John Newton MD noted similar observations - "his violent language, his obscenity, his threats to commit murder if called nicknames, his headaches and vertigo and the wildness of his appearance and manner".

On 24 June 1873 Morton and Newton signed a medical certificate certifying George Faulkner "to be of unsound mind, and a proper object for reception into a Lunatic Asylum". He was transferred to Goulburn Gaol on 28 June and from there to Gladesville Hospital for the Insane.

George Faulkner died of pneumonia in Gladeville Hospital on Oct 14th 1875. The death certificate gave his age as 75 and stated that he was married and had two children, "further particulars unknown". He was buried in the hospital cemetery.

Selmes family from Brede, Sussex in NSW

There are still Selmes in Wheo, New South Wales, where Eliza Jane (aka Mary Ann) Selmes was born in 1860.

Wheo or Wheeo is a locality rather than a village, about 23 km west of Crookwell, off the Crookwell-Boorowa Road, in the Southern Highlands of NSW. It is high undulating country with snow in winter, old bluestone buildings and gravel roads lined with poplars. Pines form windbreaks across the hilltops.

Mary Ann's father's parents, James Selmes and Maria Cook, had arrived in NSW as assisted immigrants on the Lady Nugent in 1838. James Selmes was a farm labourer, aged 26, Maria was 24, and they had three young children - Alfred, James and Harriet. They were Protestants, from Brede, Sussex. According to the Frater family website, they settled at "Springfield", now a heritage-listed farm estate, near Goulburn. At some stage they settled on what was presumably their own farm, in Wheo.

On 27 July 1854, the Sydney Morning Herald reported a court case in which a man named Arthur White was "charged with stealing two horses, the property of James Selmes, a carrier, residing in Goulburn". It is not clear if this is James Selmes snr, or his son James who would have been 19. The item continues: "It appeared that the horses were stolen, on the night of 11th July, out of a paddock belonging to H. G. Marsh, at whose inn, on the Sydney road, Selmes put up on the night in question" (p. 2).

Mary Ann's parents, James Selmes jnr and Amelia Howarth married in Tumut in 1857. They seem to have lived with his parents in Wheo for a few years. Their first child, Henry George, was born in Gundagai, but Mary Ann was born in Wheo in 1860 and five of the next six children were born there as well. The last four (Elizabeth aka Lila, Edward, William Albert and Edith Phoebe) were born in Wallacetown (near Junee), Wagga Wagga, Junee and Wagga Wagga respectively.

On 23 January 1892 the Town and Country Journal reported the death of James Selmes snr.: "News is just to hand of the death of Mr. James Selmes, of Wheeo, who met with an accident on Saturday last through falling off a load of wheat. The deceased, who is 80 years of age, and who has resided here for 35 years, was much respected by all classes, and his death has caused general regret".  
 

Red Lion Inn in Brede, Sussex

The Red Lion is a fairly unprepossessing roadside country pub from the outside, but step through the door and you'll find huge oak beams, an open hearth, and cosy nooks. Dating back to the fifteenth century, the pub now boasts a restaurant with imaginative contemporary food.

While we were at the bar the chef wandered past, wondering if we were staying for dinner. The fish was fresh from Hastings that morning. We had bream with a sort of deconstructed paella - although not described in quite those terms - and another fish dish with potatoes dauphinoise and fresh peas in a veloute sauce.

There is a point to this. Instead of local councils having stupid sister city relationships with arbitrary places in China, Japan and elsewhere, whose only purpose seems to be to facilitate junkets for local councillors, why not have sister pub relationships for the people. We could start with Grazing Restaurant at the Royal Hotel in Gundaroo and the Red Lion Inn in Brede. The respective local councils could re-allocate their sister city budgets to fund it.

James Daniel Selmes from Brede, Sussex

Driving from Rye to Hastings a few weeks ago, I noticed a turn-off to Brede, the village in Sussex where Mary Ann (Eliza Jane) Faulkner's father, James Daniel Selmes, was born in 1835 or thereabouts. (All I know is that he was 22 when he married Amelia Howarth in Tumut on 23 June 1857, his father was a farmer and his mother's name was Maria Cook.)

Most of the old gravestones in Brede's Church of England graveyard (pictured) are illegible, but one can be made out. It is the grave of a Mary Ann Selmes, wife of another James Selmes, who died on 12 February 1875.

Although most of the Selmes in the world can apparently be traced back to Sussex, no-one in the Red Lion Inn knew anyone by that name.

George Faulkner in Manchester

A couple of months ago I asked a researcher in Lancashire to see if she could find out anything about George Faulkner's family in Manchester. She started by finding this entry for George Faulkner in the Lancaster Prison Records:

George Faulkner says he was born in Manchester, 18 years of age, 5’3” high, (?) complexion, gray eyes, short dark brown hair, two scars in his lip & chin, a large scar of his left wrist, 3rd finger right (?), Assizes 23rd March 1822. Death reprieved, transported for Life 11th May 1822 & put on board (?) at Chatham.

She also searched the Calendar of Crown Prisoners Ref. QJC/1, and in the Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822, found this entry:

Event of Trial: Death
No.: 15
Name: George Faulkner
Age: 18
Committed by: Rev’d C.W. Ethelston, 22nd December 1821, charged with having assaulted Thomas Halliday on the highway at Salford and with having stolen from him, sixty pence, sixty halfpence and one knife, his property.

So George Faulkner was definitely born in Manchester, rather than just brought to trial there. But if he was 18 in March 1822, he would have been born in 1803 or 1804 rather than 1802, the year that appears on his convict records. Did he put his age back when he was arrested?

A search of the Manchester Parish Register at the Lancaster Records Office found no baptismal entry for a George Faulkner born 1801-1805. The entries may not be complete though, and some of the entries are indecipherable.

On familysearch.org, there's a George Faulkner who was christened at Manchester Cathedral on 7 November 1802. His parents were George and Ann. These may be the George Faulkner and Ann Winterbottom who married on 31 December 1792 at Manchester Cathedral.

The next step is a search of the original Parish Registers at Manchester Central Library.

Lancaster Prison Records Ref. QGL/2 MF1/36
Calendar of Crown Prisoners (Ref. QJC/1, Salford Hundred of Saturday 23rd March 1822

"Victoria Park" in 1907-08

In 1907, George Faulkner, George and Maria's son, who was by then in his early sixties, entered the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Mail farm competition in the Northern Tablelands division.

The prizes were attractive: first, £50; second, £10; third, £5. The judge, Mr H. Dawson, could award up to 100 points under each of eight headings: "general management; fencing and gates; water supply, and provision for same; dwelling and steading, including garden, orchard, and stockyards; live stock breeds, and suitability to district; cultivation - crops, provisions for storing, supplying fodder; plant, including all implements, machines, and means for carrying produce to market; situation, and general plan of improvements".

Twenty competitors entered, from Inverell to Armidale, Tamworth, Quirindi and Glen Innes. Among them, by chance, was Henry Voss whose family would mesh with George Faulkner's forty years on.

On Thursday 9 January, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the winners of the second and third prizes, including this sketch of "Victoria Park":

"Mr. George Faulkner, of Victoria Park Inverell, has 1140 acres. He is an older resident than either Mr. Harding or Mr. Cosh [second and third prize-winners]. Mr. Dawson says his place looks remarkably well; he has a nice orchard, the fruit in which is looking in remarkably good trim. The sheep are of the Riverina merino strain. There are 100 acres under lucerne, other areas are devoted to other crops, and there is a herd of 30 cows, milk from which is sold at the local factory."

The judge had this to say of Henry Voss's much smaller farm, near Glen Innes:

"Mr. Voss has introduced the L.K.G. milking machine on his farm. It is driven by a four horse-power engine, and by its means eight cows are milked at a time. The engine power is utilised for separating the cream as well as for other work. Two little boys milk between 70 and 80 cows, so to speak, in no time. As far as Mr. Voss is concerned, the milking machines appeared to be an unqualified success. The crops were rather backward, except the wheat and oats. But as a man who makes the best of his opportunities Mr. Voss is one whom it would be hard to beat anywhere."

Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1907, p.9 and 9 January 1908, p.5