Samuel Wheatland (1851-1903).
My 3rd great-grand uncle.
Samuel Wheatland was baptised on 2 November 1851 at St Mary’s Church, Shipley, Sussex, to parents James Wheatland and Ann Float.
By the 1871 census he was lodging with a family in Nuthurst, Sussex, and working as an agricultural labourer. He was also living yards from the woman he’d marry just a few months later in Nuthurst, Ruth Lelliot. She came from Henfield in Sussex, was born in 1851 and baptised there at St Peter’s Church on 14 December. The couple lived for a time in Nuthurst but then moved away – their child Sarah Ann was baptised at St Mark’s Church, Victoria Park, in east London in 1875, the family address given as 5 Windsor Road, Hackney.
The same address is given a year later in the electoral roll for the district but their son George Wheatland was baptised on 26 November that year at West Grinstead in Sussex. In 1877 Samuel was a labourer for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway but he was in the process of emigrating to Australia with his young family, probably as part of a paid-for emigration scheme. He boarded the vessel Oaklands on 5 July 1878 at Plymouth in Devon, accompanied by Ruth and his four children. They arrived at Port Adelaide in South Australia on 22 September 1878 but, tragically, daughter Sarah Ann had died on the voyage – on the 25 July. The cause of death was congestion of the brain, a term often used to indicate a stroke or an infection that caused swelling and subsequent death.
The family lived in a number Adelaide suburbs and had more children, baptised in Glenelg, Hindmarsh and Brighton. They finally settled in the suburb of Brighton, where Samuel worked for the local corporation and became a widely appreciated member of staff, for whom a memorial was erected after his death. The Australian Register of 14 January 1896 referred to him as a corporation labourer and New Brighton constable in an inquest report. He told the coroner that he’d taken charge of the body of a May Letchford, who was found on the Brighton Rocks, until the arrival of the police.
Samuel died relatively young on 24 March 1903 and his obituary in the Adelaide Observer of 4 April mentions his popularity. “The Town Council of Brighton has sustained a severe loss by the death of Mr Samuel Wheatland, overseer of works and sanitary inspector, which took place at his residence in New Brighton last week after a short illness. The deceased had been in the employ of the town council for 18 years and always carried out his work in a practical and satisfactory manner. He also filled the position of inspector under the Width of Tires Act & Sparrow Act, and was a ranger and special constable.
“Mr Wheatland arrived in South Australia by the emigrant ship Oaklands in 1878 accompanied by his wife and three children and first settled at Glenelg. Here he found employment in the laying of the now defunct south coast railway line which ran from Glenelg to the Marino Rocks, on the seaside of the sandhills. He removed to Brighton in 1883 so that he had been a resident of that town for 20 years and curiously enough came from Brighton, the famous English watering place [this is not true!]. He leaves a widow and nine children and the funeral was officially attended by the members of the council.”
The Register Adelaide of 25 June 1903 mentioned the plans to provide a memorial to Samuel, described as the late overseer of works. It reported on a concert, presided over by the Mayor and given by the Tarooki Musical Club in the Brighton Town Hall to raise funds for the memorial. “The brass band rendered selections inside and outside the hall. The comedy ‘Batchelors’ was staged and created much amusement.” The Advertiser Adelaide of 6 July 1903 reported that the Brighton Council had agreed to provide a drinking fountain at the Marino Rocks in memory of Samuel. Curiously, in 1903, a Post Office directory showed Samuel living in Wheatland Street – was this named after him? The Brighton Heritage Review carried out by McDougall & Vines in 1998 noted that it was in describing 43 Wheatland Street. It said: “This small limestone and pug cottage was built by Sam Wheatland in 1896 and Wheatland Street was named after him. A pair of shops was constructed in front of the cottage in 1937, but these have recently been removed and the cottage exposed and refurbished. The cottage is indicative of an earlier period of construction than the 1920s boom in Wheatland Street and its simple form and use of materials reinforce this.”
Ruth died in September 1912 and was buried alongside her husband at St Jude’s Cemetery. The couple’s children were:
- Philip Wheatland was born in Nuthurst, Sussex, England, in 1872 but died young in Brighton, South Australia in 1899.
- Rosa Wheatland was baptised in Nuthurst, Sussex, in 1873 and married local man David Henley in Adelaide in 1893. They had children and moved to New South Wales, where he died in 1930. Rosa died in the Sydney suburbs in 1947.
- Sarah Ann Wheatland was baptised in Hackney, East London, in 1875 but died on the voyage bringing the family to Australia on 25 July 1878. The cause of death was congestion of the brain.
- George Wheatland was baptised in West Grinstead, Sussex, in 1876 and died in Adelaide in 1915. The city’s Express and Telegraph of 5 January 1906 mentioned that he had saved the life of a 16-year-old who’d fallen into the sea at Brighton, South Australia, and was drowning. George jumped in fully clothed and pulled him clear of the water.
- Mary Wheatland was the first of Samuel’s children to be born in Australia, in the Adelaide district of Glenelg in 1878. She married William Henley, her brother-in-law, in 1898 and had a daughter. He died in 1936, Mary in 1945.
- William Wheatland was born in Hindmarsh, Adelaide, in 1880. He served in the army and worked as a labourer. In 1904 he married Florence Maud Champion and raised a large family with her in Adelaide. He died in 1957, Florence in 1951.
- Louisa Jane Wheatland was born in Glenelg, Adelaide, in 1882 and married Frank Cyril Kingsley Hanns in the city in 1905. He was working as a wood carter at the time the 1939 electoral roll was taken in the town of Tailem Bend, South Australia, where the couple had settled. Louisa died in 1942, Frank in 1963.
- Mark Wheatland was born in the Adelaide suburb of Brighton in 1884. He married Olive Edith Harriet Baldock in 1907, had children, worked as a labourer and foreman and settled in the Edwardstown district of Adelaide. He died in 1940, Olive in 1968.
- Samuel Wheatland was born in the Adelaide suburb of Brighton in 1887 and went on to serve in the Australian Imperial Forces during the First World War, later working as a labourer and storeman. He married a distant cousin, Alice Maud Wheatland, in 1922. She was born in Surrey, England, in 1885 and had travelled to Australia in 1921. He died in 1951, Alice in 1976.
- Ruth Wheatland was born in Brighton, Adelaide, in 1888 and married William Guymer in the city in 1908. He was working as a driver at the time the 1939 electoral roll was taken in the suburb of Glenelg. They had a number of children but Ruth died in 1945. William lived until 1964.
- Ernest Wheatland was born in the Adelaide suburb of Brighton in 1890 and married Edith Lillian Goddard in 1924. They settled in New South Wales, where he worked as a bricklayer. He died in 1964, Edith in 1976.
Sources: Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk, Thegenealogist.co.uk. Sussex Family History Society records. Australian Trove website for newspapers. Australian Archives.