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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: ric3188 on Monday 08 June 15 14:46 BST (UK)
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Hi
Mary Ann Foster was my great grandmother and was born in Ballarat in 1872. She married in South Africa in 1903 and we had always believed (or assumed) she was a nurse in the Boer War and had met her husband, a soldier, John Leith in that theatre. Having never been able to find her on any official nursing records we are starting to despair of filling in that period of her life.
Anyway, I noticed the other day when re-reading accounts of her father's death in the local papers the Mary Ann was not mentioned whereas her sister Margaret was. Mary would have been 26 at the time of her father's death in 1898 and so, I realised, could have been anywhere in the world by then.
My question: are there any readily accessible records that could shine any light on this? e.g. Censuses? Could she have left the country earlier than we thought; are there shipping lists for outgoing passengers?
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Mary would have been 26 at the time of her father's death in 1898 and so, I realised, could have been anywhere in the world by then.
According to the Probate & Administration of John FOSTER's estate his daughter Mary Ann FOSTER was living in Cheltenham, Victoria.
Probate & Administration files (2) are available to view & download from PROV:
http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=54
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Could she have left the country earlier than we thought; are there shipping lists for outgoing passengers?
You can search the Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports 1852-1923:
http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=42
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UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960:
Miss M A FOSTER 26yrs
Occupation: domestic
Ship: Gascon
Departed: 20 Mar 1897, Southampton, England
Destination: Cape, South Africa
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Thank you all for your replies, very helpful. Can't find her on the shipping lists, unless there's a mis-transcription and she's the six year old travelling to the Cape on the Narrung! But it's good to have a location for her in 1898
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Location in Cheltenham could mean training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, so that's a new lead - thank you!
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Location in Cheltenham could mean training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, so that's a new lead - thank you!
That would be a distance of more than 20 kilometres . Seems most unlikely.
http://www.mh.org.au/royal_melbourne_hospital/rmh-celebrates-160-years/w1/i1016128/
Sue
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There are a number of sites which mention Australian nurses going to the Boer War, although it seems there were others who went privately. I could not see Mary Ann mentioned. (Found by Googling, "Australian nurses Boer war")
There were also "Lady Teachers" sent by Education Depts of NSW and Victoria. There is a photo of them here but unfortunately no names. Picture here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11337428
Judith
just an aside - seems to be a whole family travelling on the Narrung in 1902 so the possibility of a mis-transcription seems less likely :(
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But it's good to have a location for her in 1898
The location her sister gave in the probate files would have been her belief that Mary was still living there & not necessarily accurate at the time.
Did you bother to download & read the probate files? There were possible further clues in it if you did.
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Location in Cheltenham could mean training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, so that's a new lead - thank you!
Ric3188
Or any other hospital in Melbourne. Why do you think she trained at the Royal Melbourne? You have no proof she was a nurse.
Anyway, I noticed the other day when re-reading accounts of her father's death in the local papers the Mary Ann was not mentioned whereas her sister Margaret was
Ric3188
The Ballarat Star has not been digitised for the period Apr 1898 so it would appear a descendant has obtained copies of the relevant news items. I notice there are public trees on Ancestry.com with the relevant items from the Ballarat Star. John's death was reported in six newspapers, some of them far removed from Ballarat. The was not unusual in this period. General news items were copied from paper to paper whether or not they were relevant or of interest to the readers in other districts.
From the Ballarat Star 19 Apr 1898
His wife died 20 years ago and he has raised a family of six daughters and one son. The latter left home several years ago and relatives do no know anything concerning his whereabouts or even is he is living or not. One of the daughters is the wife of Mr A Prout of Prouts band. Another is married and living in Ballarat East, while a third is a widow living in Westralia. It was the last named that the deceased and his unmarried daughter were intending to go in a course of a few days.
Did you download the Letters of Administration file from PROV?
It is quite possible that Mary Ann's last known address was Cheltenham not that she was actually living at Cheltenham in 1898.
England was reluctant to send nurses to the Boer War and as Australia was not a Federation at the commencement of hostilities, it was up to each individual Colony to decide whether or not to send nurses. It has been recorded that only 60 nurses from the colonies travelled to South Africa.
Cando
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"...She married in South Africa in 1903 and we had always believed (or assumed) she was a nurse in the Boer War"
Have you located the marriage in South African records...or have the certificate?
If not, what is your source for this marriage?
Was Mary Anne ever a nurse...or her sisters went into nursing...or is nursing a guess at accounting for her presence in South Africa in 1903?
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A scan of the original marriage certificate is attached to a number of online trees. No occupation noted just status Spinster.
Cando
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There are a number of sites which mention Australian nurses going to the Boer War, although it seems there were others who went privately. I could not see Mary Ann mentioned. (Found by Googling, "Australian nurses Boer war")
There were also "Lady Teachers" sent by Education Depts of NSW and Victoria. There is a photo of them here but unfortunately no names. Picture here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11337428
Judith
just an aside - seems to be a whole family travelling on the Narrung in 1902 so the possibility of a mis-transcription seems less likely :(
Thank you. I check the official lists quite regularly in the hope that they've been updated to include her but to no avail so far. I don't think she was a teacher but it's a possibility I hadn't thought of.
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"...She married in South Africa in 1903 and we had always believed (or assumed) she was a nurse in the Boer War"
Have you located the marriage in South African records...or have the certificate?
If not, what is your source for this marriage?
Was Mary Anne ever a nurse...or her sisters went into nursing...or is nursing a guess at accounting for her presence in South Africa in 1903?
Hi, yes we have the certificate, but the SA certificate doesn't give occupation of either party. The nurse thing is more oral history than a guess, but it makes the most sense in accounting for a single woman travelling to a war zone.
Thank you
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Location in Cheltenham could mean training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, so that's a new lead - thank you!
Ric3188
Or any other hospital in Melbourne. Why do you think she trained at the Royal Melbourne? You have no proof she was a nurse.
Anyway, I noticed the other day when re-reading accounts of her father's death in the local papers the Mary Ann was not mentioned whereas her sister Margaret was
Ric3188
Cando
I've just heard back from the RMH and she's not on their list so that was a short-lived lead! What other hospitals were there in Melbourne at that time? And no, no proof she was a nurse, just family history.
I have several newspaper reports of John Foster's death and also quite a lot of information about the rest of the family. I really am just looking for the trigger to move from Victoria to South Africa - it's a fascinating aspect of our family that several couples started life on entirely different continents!
Thank you
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But it's good to have a location for her in 1898
The location her sister gave in the probate files would have been her belief that Mary was still living there & not necessarily accurate at the time.
Did you bother to download & read the probate files? There were possible further clues in it if you did.
I did download the files but only briefly read them (the Cheltenham reference), will study in more detail today. Thanks.
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Hi
......and had met her husband, a soldier, John Leith......
If occupations are not shown on the marriage certificates in South Africa, how do you know he was a soldier?
Sue
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....accounting for a single woman travelling to a war zone.....
Thank you
The war ended in May 1902
She married 1903
You have said you do not know when she went to South Africa.
Sue
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....accounting for a single woman travelling to a war zone.....
Thank you
The war ended in May 1902
She married 1903
You have said you do not know when she went to South Africa.
Sue
True, but her husband was an Irish soldier. He would have returned to the UK but for meeting Mary Ann.
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Hi
......and had met her husband, a soldier, John Leith......
If occupations are not shown on the marriage certificates in South Africa, how do you know he was a soldier?
Sue
I have his medals, attestation papers, all sorts. No question there! :)
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An online tree has a document from Assistant State Statist, Richard N D TREACEY, 20 Aug 1902, being a statement of birth details for Mary Ann FOSTER.
TREACEY was State Statist, Victoria.
So Mary Ann was........somewhere ....in Aug 1902 and needing proof of....age?...nationality?....for some purpose.
This same tree has her marriage certificate, so presumably same family, so Mary Ann FOSTER in South Africa Aug 1902?
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An online tree has a document from Assistant State Statist, Richard N D TREACEY, 20 Aug 1902, being a statement of birth details for Mary Ann FOSTER.
TREACEY was State Statist, Victoria.
So Mary Ann was........somewhere ....in Aug 1902 and needing proof of....age?...nationality?....for some purpose.
This same tree has her marriage certificate, so presumably same family, so Mary Ann FOSTER in South Africa Aug 1902?
That sounds like what I have as her birth record, but you're right it's an official proof of birth isn't it. So I guess it was needed when she got engaged.
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So, looking on the Victorian archive site for passengers leaving Vic I found a record of a Miss M Foster leaving Melbourne bound for Fremantle in 1899 - right age, right sort of time, believable destination as her sister was married and living in Perth. However, when I looked on the WA archive site and managed to find the same ship arriving in WA, her name wasn't on it. Could the manifest have not been fully digitised?
Very odd.
Also not been able to find a digitised record of her leaving again (if indeed it is her) en route to South Africa.
Anyway, some progress has been made thanks to this forum, I just wish Perth/Melbourne wasn't half a world away!
Thanks,
Ric
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Is this the one?
Miss M FOSTER M, 28, per WOLLOWRA, March 1899
for PORT ADELAIDE, ALBANY, FREMANTLE,
This Miss Foster is mentioned here:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/87785947
There is also mention of the voyage and the 20 heavy draught horses which were laso aboard"
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/82955601
I am not familiar with WA records and as you have already said can't readily find anything useful.
Judith
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I wonder if Mary came home to Australia for a visit ???
LEITH M Mrs. Aged 50. Date of arrival Sept. 1923. Ship ORMUZ. F 512 003.
Interesting to note that her sister and husband Albert Henry EVANS were on the Electoral Roll in WA in 1903. He was a plasterer of 9th Ave, Bayswater, Perth.
Marriage in Vic.
EVANS Albt Hy (Birth Place ENG)
FOSTER Matilda
Year1889
Reg. 8712
He seems to have died around 15th July 1904 aged only 37 in WA.
EVANS Albert Henry
Aged 37
Parents Joseph Abraham & Bulinaria Emma
Birth place Kent Eng
Reg 2140
Year 1904
Funeral notice.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/25093394
Sue
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Thank you Sue,
Nice to have the marriage and funeral notice, thanks.
Yes, Mary did visit Australia again, a couple of times I think. After her husband died she travelled quite a bit visiting relatives in Aus, SA and Canada. She got stuck in London when war broke out and died in 1943 from breast cancer.
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Hiya,
I do not have Mary Ann Foster on my Boer War nurses database: https://boerwarnurses.com/boer-war-nurses-database/ which includes the Australian nurses, and nurses who traveled to SA and were then employed by the military.
cheers
Keiron