http:saundersfamilyarchives.blogspot.com.au
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| Elizabeth Saunders |
"Elizabeth Wells was no great public figure. But she was an upright, gentle woman who loved this country .........." Enid Dennis writes an affectionate tribute to her Grandmother.
“My Grandmother,
Elizabeth”
By Enid M.Dennis
A Centenary Tribute in ”This
Australia” 1987/1988
(I have added photos to illustrate the story).
On an English summer day, 18 August 1887, a young girl set
sail alone from the Port of London to make a voyage to developing, Utopian
Australia. Matrimony was to be the goal
upon arrival.
On this day Elizabeth Saunders was twenty six years of age, a
gentle very mature girl. She was the
eldest of a family of six girls and one son, people accustomed to farm
life. The mother was a fine homemaker;
the father, a shepherd to a wealthy land owner near the village of Simpson in
Buckinghamshire.
Elizabeth had considerable rapport with her father and, in
childhood, had often accompanied him to the market towns of Bow Brickhill,
Fenny Stratford and Banbury. One day as they walked the lanes together the
father swept an arm in a wide arc towards the green fields and exclaimed “See
there Lizzie, all that was once Saunders owned; it was lost in bad times”. This was a life time regret. The little girl remembered it also and in
later years recollections kept coming to the fore.
Elizabeth went to the Anglican Church School until she was
twelve and became proficient in reading, writing, arithmetic and lace
making. The vicar was also schoolmaster;
his pupils were expected to set an example of good manners and
truthfulness. Elizabeth loved to
sing. She loved to attend the village
Church. Many Saunders nameplates were
attached to the walls of the quaint little Simpson Church, also at Polsgrove
nearby. Some bore names dating back to
1600 when the Tudor English language was written in strange lettering.
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| Interior of St Thomas the Apostle Church in Simpson where the Saunders family attended. |
In her thirteenth year it was arranged that Elizabeth should
live on week days with the family of a nearby farm. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett had three almost grown
sons and a daughter had recently died.
Elizabeth was good company for Mrs. Garrett. Here she learned the art of cooking and
keeping house, of milking and the management of a large dairy. Butter, cream and cheese was churned every
day. There was poultry and game to
dress, pickles and jams to set, bacon to be cured, hop beer and parsnip wine to
brew and seal in black bottles, the corks securely tied down with strong
twine. Elizabeth shared the many tasks. She observed and remembered and enjoyed her
work.
Gradually, over four years, a different love came into her
life. The rosy glow of young friendship
and fun with Jim Garrett, the youngest son, grew into a full mature
adoration. Secretly they promised
marriage, one with the other, when Elizabeth reached her eighteenth year. But youthful ardour is difficult to
conceal. Mrs. Garrett had plans of her
own for all three of her fine boys. Her design for Jim did not include the
quiet little girl from the village.
Elizabeth was sent home to her family.
Broken hearted she begged her parents to permit her to work elsewhere.
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| "Caldecotte" the Garrett farm where Elizabeth Saunders worked 1875 - 1880 |
From this experience and its acquired capabilities she went
into service in several magnificent old mansions over the next eight years,
each resulting in advancement of ability and status. She secured a choice position as cook to Lord
and Lady Duncombe of Great Brickhill Manor, once again near home. The names of
Duncombe and Saunders appear entwined in marriage and business ventures through
the centuries. A coincidence? It was not but that is another story.
Yet another promotion took her to Oxendon in
Northamptonshire, the adjoining county and a meeting with Harry Edward
Wells. Harry was enamoured with this
slip of a girl from the “Big House”, who came also to the village Church. His introduction was a gift of red
roses. Harry was twenty none and had
spent all his adult life in the service of the British Railways. He also
enjoyed his work but he dreamt too, idealistically, of faraway places. Letters came to his home from cousins in
Melbourne, Australia.
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| "Oxendon Hall" or the "Big House" where Elizabeth Saunders worked in Great Oxendon. |
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| St Helen's Church in Great Oxendon where Elizabeth met Harry Wells |
One day Harry broached the subject of marriage, laced also
with an exciting adventure. He had
accepted his distant cousin’s proposal to enter their Melbourne millinery
factory as a third partner. It meant a
sever year term overseas and could only bring success financially. Elizabeth accepted, at first with some
trepidation, then to a marriage in Australia when her enthusiastic suitor
settled into new employment and accommodation.
One Saunders girl had married and had gone to South Africa; now another
was to leave for the antipodes.
Elizabeth followed six months after the departure of her man,
travelling in the new steamship “Liguria”, incredibly small by present day
standards, and house in its very bowels so it seemed. The voyage took two months through Suez and
the jollity of calm shipboard life walked hand in hand with violent storms and
days spent in the agony of seasickness.
I have a compilation of letters written by Elizabeth to her sister Alice. The following are two extracts:
(Quote) 24 September 1887.
We first saw the land of Australia at Cape Leeuwin like rocks dimly seen
in the far distance of the port side.
25 September 1887. I
could have enjoyed another week or two on board for I have this week felt
well. I had more than four weeks of
seasickness like many more. We had just
got the better of it. After an enjoyable
concert in the first class saloon we went on deck. The moon was shining brightly, the air very
cold. I walked down the deck several
times then went to bed looking forward to a letter from Harry in the morning”
(Unquote).
Adelaide was the first port of call following the long Indian
Ocean span. Here a letter was delivered to her by the Purser and Elizabeth read
it with incredulity. The prosperous
millinery firm it seemed was little more than a myth and the business faced insolvency. In desperation Harry had sought and found
employment elsewhere within a field which he knew so well. The Tasmanian Railways were being developed
through the Emu Bay Company to the north and west from Launceston along the
Bass Strait coastline.
“It could be hard, dear Lizzie” Harry wrote “Nothing of it
will be like the comforts we knew back home, but I will never fail you. Sometime, when things get easier for us
again, we will return. I promise that if
it is your wish. I am a signalman at a
place called Formby (now Devonport).
It’s very small but beautiful. I
have rooms with a pleasant landlady who will help you I know. We will live very close to the Mersey River
and I cross it every day by rowboat to reach the Railway yards. I am sorry that you must wait three weeks in
Melbourne, for there is an epidemic of small pox in North Tasmania. My cousin, Mary, will meet you at the Port of
Williamstown and you must stay with her until I send for you”.
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| Elizabeth Saunders sailed to Australia on SS "Liguria" 1887 |
The young love which had bought these two people together across
the world and now somewhat in adversity culminated in their marriage at
St.John’s Anglican Church, Launceston, on 8th November 1887. That afternoon Harry took his bride proudly
back to Formby. Theirs was a true
affection which grew stronger with the years. It weathered many hardships in
strange places. Challenge is the essence
of good workmanship in whatever field it is found; it was wide open for the
young Wells couple.
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| St.John's, Launceston where Harry Wells married Elizabeth Saunders 8 November 1887. |
Elizabeth cooked and kept house as nearly as she had been
accustomed to doing but with the rude implements at hand, an open hob-fire,
camp oven, kerosene cans, oil lamps and candles. Later, as two little girls joined the family
she sewed and mended with all the joy of motherhood, using a Wertheim hand
machine which had accompanied her on the voyage. In their nineth year of marriage a son was
born. There had already been three
moves, to Leith, Campbell Town and St.Marys, each a promotion. Harry was now Station Master at this
North-East mountain township of St.Marys, with a railway house provided. The Station-house was somewhat isolated from
the rest of the homes. Quite often
swagmen and women also, of gypsy lifestyle, would free ride on the country
goods trains, only to be discovered at this terminius. Harry frequently sent these rejects of
humanity to the Station-house for a meal before hustling them on their
way. The two little girls would watch in
wide-eyed wonderment from the safety of the kitchen doorway.
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| The Wells family in 1898 - Beatrice, Winifred and Gladstone. |
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| St Marys Railway Station, Tasmania in 2005. |
There was no longer talk of the seven year promise. Both husband and wife were far too aware of
the precious security of employment.
They were a happy unit, an Australian family.
As noisy rejoicing and fireworks heralded the Boer War’s
relief of Mafeking in May 1900, the Wells family were busy moving again, this
time to the Bass Strait seaside town of Ulverstone; another home, another
school and friends, another Church in which to worship. Every year, at Christmas, there were special
treats, something extra to care for and treasure all the coming year. Every Christmas season also, gifts of money
were sent to the ageing Grandparents at Simpson and Oxendon to share their
bounty and to show that God had seen fit to prosper the family well. Over the
years many hundreds of letters were exchanged.
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| The Wells family at Station House, Ulverstone, Tasmania in 1904. |
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| Station House, 62 Victoria Street, Ulverstone in 2012. |
In 1905 Harry Wells was appointed Station Master at Zeehan,
the third largest town in the island and at the height of the great mining boom
of the West Coast. The area was rich in
silver, lead and tin; the town of 10,000 inhabitants was entirely involved in
some way with the prosperity of the mines or supporting those who did. With vast deposits of gold and copper also at
Queenstown there was continuous movement of rolling stock, passengers and
freighters to and from the many mines in the mountains. Zeehan Station-house stood on a rise
overlooking Peasoup Creek with a wide vista of the town and valley. It is still there today, in good condition,
weathering the lashings of rain forest storms.
The busy mother taught her now grown daughters to cook and sew as she
had done. They had lessons in piano,
violin and painting. The boy was
progressing well at school.
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| Harry Wells with Gladstone at Station Master's house in Zeehan, Tasmania 1906. |
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| Station Master's house at Zeehan, Tasmania in 2005. |
A final move came in 1912 with promotion to the top, Station
Master at Hobart. This included a lovely
attic style house in an old world garden; promise of a lengthy stay,
superannuation, and maybe, on retirement, a holiday overseas to meet once again
the loved ones who, for almost forty years, had been linked only by sea mail.
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| Harry Wells Station Master at Hobart, retired 1924, died 1935. |
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| Hobart Railway Station - now ABC Building. Taken in 2005. |
With their family married, Elizabeth and Harry turned to
extensive reading, lectures at the nearby University and their beloved
gardening. Harry’s retirement came in
1924 at sixty five years. He and
Elizabeth had purchased two new travel bags, suitable clothing, and every
weekend they visited the great ships in the port, in a search for good value
travel-wise. At last a choice was made; it would be the next trip around. Then Elizabeth, wise in the ways of home
economy, began to doubt. It would mean
returning to a rented house and possible illness in old age. Was this right when a small freehold home
could be purchased immediately, owning their very own portion of Australia?
Also the loved parents in England had all died.
Once again security and its privileges won and the holiday voyage was
cancelled.
On the outskirts of the city at Glenorchy, with fine views of
the magnificent mountains and Derwent River, the couple bought a neat bungalow
home with sufficient depth of land to start the market garden they both lived
to love and enjoy.
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| "Oxendon" the home Harry and Elizabeth retired to at 8 Grove Road, Glenorchy, Tasmania. Taken 1926. |
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| 8 Grove Road, Glenorchy, Tasmania in 2005. |
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| Harry and Elizabeth Wells at home. |
“See there, Chum” Harry exclaimed one morning from the rear
verandah and just as his father-in-law had done so very long ago, “That’s OUR
field, but it’s all to your credit.
Without your careful thinking and work it could never have been”.
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| Harry & Elizabeth loved their garden in retirement. |
It proved to be a clear and prudent choice. By the late 1920’s and early 1930’s vast
changes were springing into life. There
was continuous talk of frightening price rises, rumours of economic failures
and unemployment, a depressant gloom unknown before in our good, green
land. It was even more so in Britain,
Europe and America.
Strictly honest and generous Harry Wells lived to reach his
seventy sixth year. Elizabeth, still
shy, still clinging all her life to the sombre black gowns and white high-laced
collars of the past, went to live with her younger daughter also in Hobart
until her own gentle death in 1950 at the age of eighty eight years. Before Glaucoma claimed her eyesight, she
returned to a fascinating interest of her girlhood. She sent to England a request for a set of
wooden bobbins, patterns and cottons and made herself a hard straw-stuffed
pillow. On this she wove many many yards
(metres) of fine handkerchief lace, gifts now held by her descendants with
pride.
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| Elizabeth Wells doing her pillow lace work late 1940s. |
Elizabeth Wells was not one of the many Australians who will
go down in history as a memorable public figure, a Caroline Chisholm, Mary
Reibey, Daisy Bates or Lady Cilento. She
was a very private, upright, gently woman who stayed to play her fine Christian
part in our Australian heritage and who loved this great land and became one of
us.
Extracts of history and life of
Elizabeth Saunders and Harry Edward
Wells
By their daughter, Enid Dennis, nee
Tregear
Harry Edward Wells was a
signalman on the British Railways at Northampton when he responded to a plea
from cousins in Australia to partner them in their hat-blocking factory, Yeoman
Bros of Melbourne.
Harry then planned to stay seven
years, make his fortune and return. He
was engaged to marry Elizabeth Saunders, who had happily agreed to follow him
six months later when he had found accommodation and settled employment. When the S.S.Liguria reached Adelaide,
Elizabeth received a letter from Harry with startling news. The Yeoman cousins and the hat factory had
become insolvent and closed down. Harry,
in desperation, sought employment elsewhere.
Because of his experience with
the British Rail system he was welcomed into the Emu Bay Rail Co. which was
opening up the north west of Tasmania.
He was offered the job of Station Master in the small township of Formby,
now Devonport. Harry arranged for
Elizabeth to be met in Melbourne by Mary Johns, another cousin, at whose home
in fashionable Collingwood she was welcomed for three weeks. Finally Elizabeth reached Launceston where
she and Harry were married at St John’s Anglican Church and then on to a
riverside cottage at Formby.
Three children were born in
Tasmania to Harry and Elizabeth Wells – a daughter Beatrice to Formby, Winifred
Alice at Leith and Gladstone at St Marys.
The latter was a very lovely
little township and isolated terminus of the rail link between midland Conara
Junction and the very mountainous North-Eastern tiers district. Here the family spent ten years and were next
to move to Ulverstone on the North Tasmanian Rail route as the new century,
1900, dawned. It was a progressive,
pleasant and relaxed experience with many local interests, schooling, Church
and many friendships, the latter also to Burnie for holidays.
The next promotion for Harry
Wells was as Station Master at the extremely busy West Coast town of Zeehan, mining
silver, lead and tin. Queenstown nearby,
was the terminus at the height of this industrious period. The two daughters, Beatrice and Winifred were
both married within the Station Master’s home, then following on South to New
Norfolk and Hobart respectively. A
further final and highly successful appointment for Harry came with the top
promotion of Station Master at Hobart until his retirement. The adjoining home was a delightful spacious
attic style abode in an arborous setting close by the Queen’s Domain and
Derwent River.
The now aging couple made plans
to tour and visit their beloved England, but decided finally to reserve this
wish and purchased a retirement home at Glenorchy with a spacious garden to
employ energy and interest.
Harry died on 22 November 1935
and Elizabeth transferred to live for the following fifteen years with her
younger daughter, Winifred at “Penrhyn” in New Town. During this period several
trips were made to visit Melbourne and the Macdougall family at Coburg,
Williamstown and Brighton, these via sea voyage across Bass Strait and one
accompanied by grand daughter Enid, direct per S.S Orcades from Hobart to
Melbourne. Gladstone and Dorothy Wells,
residents of Rabaul and later Madang, New Guinea, also spent holiday visits to
“Penrhyn” and the Tregear family.
Special pleasures of this period were the sharing of the wedding of Wal
and Enid Dennis, association of many friends and the sampling of the luscious
seafoods of the Tasmanian waterways, lobsters, cod and salmon.
Elizabeth Wells interests were
knitting, reading, lacemaking and many visits to and from local friends. She was an extremely reserved, austere lady
much loved and respected.
Always the Sabbath was a day of
strict observance – certainly only menial tasks were entered into. One day Winifred noticed her mother knitting
and she said “Have you forgotten that today is Sunday Mother dear?”, to which
the reply came “No, I know it is Sunday, but times are changing aren’t they?”
They certainly were and have
followed on this pattern through to the 21st century.
By Enid Tregear.
I suggest you take a look at Wells Family Archives, Saunders Family Archives, and Macdougall Archives. If you have a corrections or comments please email the author Joy Olney at joyolney@gmail.com
