was born at 16 Charlemont Street, south-side of the City of Dublin, on 16 October 1838. He was baptised at the Parish Church of St Peter (Church of Ireland), Dublin, 23 July 1839, together with his elder brother George Maguire (aged 3), the family then residing at Mount Pleasant Avenue, County Dublin.
His father, John PIGOTT (born in Dublin, 22 October 1796), was a Merchant and a Civil Servant in Dublin prior to his emigration to Brooklyn, New York, about 1857.
's grandfather, yet another John PIGOTT (about 1759-1839) of Dublin, was the illegitimate son of Captain John PIGOTT of Stradbally.
was not yet a year old when this grandfather was laid to rest in the Vicar's Bawn of St Patrick's (Church of Ireland) Cathedral, Dublin, beside his wife Mary VICKERS (1769-1828), a daughter of Joseph VICKERS, Silk Weaver.
's mother was Elizabeth MAGUIRE (born in Dublin, 1 December 1804; died County Dublin, 13 August 1854), eldest of sixteen children of William MAGUIRE (1782-1844), Inspector of Taxes for the Dublin Corporation, and Sexton of St Patrick's Cathedral, by his spouse, also named Mary VICKERS (born in Dublin, 1768; a daughter of John VICKERS, Silk Manufacturer). See his separate blog on this blog-page, posted in September 2010.
These two Mary VICKERS were related - as aunt and niece. Which means that
was the issue of cousins-once-removed. His father John had married his own first-cousin Mary's daughter Elizabeth.
was only 16 when his mother died. She was laid to rest in the Cathedral churchyard next to her father William MAGUIRE's granite obelisk. Some years later,
's widowered father went to America ".
and where, it has been claimed, but without corroborating evidence, that he married again, several times, without further issue.
stayed behind, with at least one sister Elizabeth (she too went to America, about 1870), and by 1861, had encountered the preachings of a new Baptist Pastor at Rathmines, the Rev John Eustace GILES (1805-1875), a native of County Devon.
also encountered one of the Rev John GILES's daughters, Ellen, who had been born in Leeds, Yorkshire, 22 March 1839, in the year after his own birth.
His father John PIGOTT was a Tax Collector, firstly from about 1818 for the Dublin Foundling Hospital; secondly from September 1823 for the Paving Board of the Corporation for the Paving, Cleansing and Lighting the Streets of Dublin (which became the Dublin Corporation), and for which
's maternal grandfather, William MAGUIRE, was Inspector of Taxes; and finally as rural Receiving Officer for the South Dublin Union (from about 1835 until after 1851).
To add to the family connection, John also served as Assistant Sexton of St Patrick's Cathedral, where MAGUIRE was Sexton. The Established Church and the Public Service affiliations appear to have been quite strong.
's parents were married in the Parish Church of St Peter, City of Dublin, on 25 June 1824; he was the sixth of their ten children.
His father's subsequent movements, recorded in Dublin Triple Almanacs and THOM's Directories, almost certainly indicate where the children were born - 12 Charlotte Street, Dublin (next door to his father), 1824; 12 Mountpleasant, 1827-31; Sandymount, County Dublin, 1832-33; 12 East Hanover Street, Dublin, 1834; back at 12 Charlotte Street, 1835-38; 16 Charlemont Street, 1839; 2 Rehobeth Street, off South Circular Road, Dublin, 1841-42; Cullenswood Avenue, Ranelagh, County Dublin, 1844-47; Elm Park, Roundtown, County Dublin, 1851; and Terenure Lodge, Roundtown, 1852-55.
Several of these later entries, in County Dublin, record John PIGOTT as a Receiving Officer.
He was probably also listed as Muslin and Lace Warehouse, 9 Dame Street, Dublin, 1856, 1857.
's father appears to have been listed in several addresses in New York, as Book-keeper - at 94 Columbia Street, Booklyn, 1858, 1859; and at 28 Middagh Street, Brooklyn, 1874-75.
The London Times of 15 October 1877 recorded that he died on 30 August 1877, late of Brooklyn, but his death has not been located in Brooklyn records, and the six week delay in reporting it suggests he was well away from there at the time of his death - a death in Kansas, as was mentioned in another notice, would fit that criterion.
's fairly large extended family appear to have remained in or around Dublin, with one PIGOTT uncle settling in Cork, while several of his MAGUIRE uncles going to England, and another emigrating to Australia.
Details of the MAGUIRE family may be found in a later posting (September 2010) on this blog-page.
HENRY WOOS A BAPTIST.
On 13 February 1862, Rev
Henry offered his services to the Baptist Missionary Society. And 6 days after that, Ellen GILES accepted his proposal of marriage.
If
Henry was already an ordained pastor by this time, it suggests he may have been influenced earlier than the GILES family's arrival at Rathmines in November 1860, although Ellen's brother William Leese GILES was already established at the Chapel in Abbey Street before then, and probably secured his father's invitation to settle in Rathmines. And there, Rev John GILES did not last long, finding the congregation too much
"... infected by the spirit of Plymouth Brethrenism," he had returned to England by April 1862.
On 13 March 1862,
Henry, at 27 Lennox Street, Dublin, wrote to Ellen:
"My dearest 'Little' Nellie,
"Is it not a great privilege tho' absent for a while thus via the postman to hold a little intercourse with you whom I love...
"Yes, dearest little Nellie (though not yet entitled to the name in verse 11, Proverbs 31) can I not safely trust in you, you will do me good all the days of my life... You, my own Nellie, have already done me much good, both Spiritually and Temporally - Temporally, for I have been happier for the last few weeks than I have ever been in my life before; Spiritually, for you have been given to me by the Lord as an answer to many prayers, and nothing can strengthen one's faith so much as the knowledge of the fact that God has heard and answered their prayers...
"Yet dearest Nellie, though severed by the sea, we in spirit are never apart, and we can meet at the Throne of Grace again, and will work together for our good in the end.
"This is the prayer of your loving Henry."
Rev
Henry Robert PIGOTT, Missionary-elect to Ceylon, and Ellen GILES were married on 5 June 1862, at the Battersea Baptist Chapel, Wandsworth, London, by her father Rev John Eustace GILES, assisted by Rev J.M. SOULE; witnesses were William F. DROUGHT and Mary Ann C. WALTERS. The marriage registration recorded
Henry as residing at 1 Turret Place, Lark Hall Rise, Clapham; and Ellen at 13 Milton Street, Wandsworth Road, Clapham.
Henry's father was recorded as John PIGOTT, General Merchant.
A wedding photo survives, in the PIGOTT Family Album:
[The happy couple, photographed in London, 27 June 1862.]
On 23 July 1862, Rev
Henry and Ellen
PIGOTT were set apart for their Missionary work in a service at Regent Street, Lambeth, presided over by the church's Pastor, and with Revs W. HOWIESON and C. ELVEN of Bury St Edmunds, and J.H. MILLARD and W. BARKER taking part. The designation prayer was offered by her father. At least one source, the Juvenile Missionary Herald [1862, page 118], recorded that Mr WALDOCK, of Regent's Park College, had been set aside to his work in the same service.
REV HENRY TAKES HIS NEW WIFE TO CEYLON.
In August, the newlyweds embarked in London on the ship
Teviot, bound for Ceylon, via the Cape of Good Hope. After encountering
"... one severe hurricane and much rough weather, by which the ship was damaged," they arrived in Colombo on 17 November 1862 [Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, Friday 26 December]. There they were met by the senior Missionary, Rev James ALLEN, who presented
Henry with an inscribed New Testament, translated into Sinhalese.
The Baptist Mission had been established in Colombo by:
1. Rev James CHATER (born Combroke, Warwickshire, 6 February 1779); originally sent by the B.M.S. to Serampore in North India (1806), he was opposed by the Government, and went instead to Burma; he retired from Burma due to the wars, and the failing health of his wife Anna Debora [McCULLY]; they arrived in Colombo on 18 April 1812; he commenced preaching in 1813 in a dis-used warehouse in the Pettah, probably behind a shop on the north side of Prince Street, just west of the old Dutch Governor's residence; he died on the ship
Seppings on 2 or 3 January 1829, on his voyage home for the recovery of his health, leaving a widow in Ceylon and 8 "orphaned" children in England; his widow married secondly, as his fourth wife, Daniel GOGERLY, of the Methodist Mission; she died in Colombo on 21 December 1861.
CHATER was succeeded by:
2. Rev Ebenezer DANIEL (born Luton, Bedfordshire, 15 September 1784), who had been the Baptist Pastor at Luton since 1821; he arrived in Colombo on 14 August 1830 with his wife Sarah (probably MEACHER) and three daughters; they returned home in 1835 for the recovery of the children's health, during which voyage Sarah died; Ebenezer returned to Colombo, and when HARRIS arrived in 1838, went into the country to evangelize the natives; he returned to Colombo when HARRIS and DAWSON removed to Kandy in 1841; he died in Colombo on 2 June 1844.
3. Rev Joseph HARRIS, from Saint Albans, was sent out to assist DANIEL in the Spring of 1838; he arrived at Colombo on 2 November 1838 with his wife and family; he was Pastor at Colombo, 1838-1839, enabling DANIEL to go out into the country; his wife gave birth to a son in Colombo on 27 Oct 1841 [Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, 1841]; he removed to Kandy in 1841; he returned to England for the sake of his health, arriving in London on 15 May 1943, still suffering from debility [The Missionary Herald, June 1843, page 336].
4. Rev Charles C. DAWSON left for Ceylon in the Autumn of 1840, with his wife Susanna and family, as well as a printing press; he was sent to Kandy in 1841 with Joseph HARRIS, and the printing press; he sailed for England with his wife and three children, their ship foundering during a storm in the Indian Ocean, March 1851, with loss of all on board.
5. Rev Jacob DAVIES, of Winchester, and his wife Eliza (GREEN, of Camberwell), arrived in Ceylon on 16 September 1844; he died in Colombo in November 1849, aged 33.
6. Rev James ALLEN (born Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, 16 April 1810) arrived in Colombo in January 1846, with his wife Jane (WHITTARD) and their two daughters; his third child was born at Kandy in 1848; he was responsible for building the new Chapel at the Pettah in 1851 (see next); he died at the Pettah on 30 April 1866.
Henry was firstly appointed to assist ALLEN at the Pettah Chapel, which had been built in six months during 1851, probably on the site of the former warehouse it replaced; it was opened for service in September of that year. The location is probably revealed by the existence of an access laneway running north from Prince Street, and now known as Chapel Lane. I speculate that it was not on the street frontage of Prince Street, but behind the shop-fronts there, and that the easement providing access to it from Prince Street became know as Chapel Lane. The chapel building was still in use in 2003, occupied by the Asiatic Trading Agency.
[The white colonnaded building is the Dutch Museum (former Dutch Governors residence, about 1690),
looking westwards down Prince Street, the Pettah, Colombo, in 1983.
Chapel Lane heads off to the right between the two yellow buildings in the foreground.
The single storied yellow building next to the white Museum building may have been the old Pettah Chapel, unless it was just to the rear of it.]
[A reverse view up Prince Street, looking east. The Dutch Museum in the left middle distance.
Chapel Lane is at the other end of the Museum building.
Both of these images were digitalised from my original transparencies.]
When I visited Colombo in 1983, I formed the impression, and evidently an erroneous one, that the Dutch Museum in Prince Street had been that Chapel. That is why it was the focus of my photographic attention on the day I visited the Pettah, completely unaware that, just a few metres from where I was standing to take the first of the above two photographs, the old chapel was still standing, probably a short distance up Chapel Lane.
I do wonder where the congregation met while the new chapel was being built in 1851 - perhaps they rented a large room in the 17th century building that was to become the Dutch Museum?
Henry and Ellen initially settled into a house in Mattakuliyah, a northern suburb of Colombo. where their first child, Annie, was born in March 1863.
In the same month, it was reported that
Henry was
"...sedulously attending to the language, to which he devotes nearly all his time, preaching once Lord's Day at the Pettah Chapel."
The July 1863 issue of the Baptist Missionary Herald reported that:
"The Church at Pettah has kindly arranged to assist Mr PIGOTT by sending some of their number as deputies to the stations in the Jungle. The attendance at the new chapel in Mattakuliyah continues good. Mr PIGOTT has, however, visited most of the stations, and particularly examined the schools. He preaches twice at the Pettah chapel each Lord's day."
By April 1864, the
PIGOTTs had moved to Slave Island, a suburb about 2 km east of Fort, to be nearer the Baptist Chapel in Pettah, the market district of the city, in a building which was built in 1851, on the north side of Prince Street, Pettah, probably on the corner of Chapel Lane, about two doors west of the historic and elegant Dutch Museum (see above).
Here,
Henry and Ellen's next two children, Aileen and Frank were born.
The Missionary Herald of November 1864 reported:
"Mr PIGOTT, in addition to his Sinhalese work, has begun a service in the Fort, and another in the Jail. Mrs PIGOTT also visits the Jail once a week to instruct the Sinhalese and Tamil prisoners."
By February 1865,
Henry was
"much encouraged" by the prospect of having three Europeans to baptize. But he must have been dis-heartened in the next month, when they lost baby Aileen, and he and Ellen were forced to go to a coffee plantation 13 miles from Gampola, for the restoration of Ellen's health, she being then already six months pregnant with their third child.
And the Missionary Herald of September 1865 recorded a bigger work schedule for
Henry:
"Sunday: Pettah Chapel, preaching twice. Tuesday: Preach at Fort. Wednesday: Prayer meeting. Thursday: 4 p.m. Preach at Wadicalle Jail, 7 p.m. Mission House, Maradana. Friday: Preach in Fort."
During this time, Ellen had opened a limited free school for poor girls in Matakuliyah, which was delayed by lack of funds until July 1863. By 30 June 1864, Treasurer
Henry PIGOTT was able to report that there were five free pupils, and one paid, with accounts amounting to £72. The teacher was Donna Velloe PERERA. By 1865, there were nine pupils, and in 1866, Ellen took over Mrs ALLEN's school, when that lady returned to England due to ill health - this school had been intended to train young women to go into the countryside and evangelise the natives, but that aim was modified after Ellen PIGOTT took over.
In 1865,
Henry was presented with an inscribed gold fob watch; it marked three years in Ceylon, which may have been an original "contract" commitment which his parishioners were keen to see extended?
[Gold fob watch presented to Henry in Colombo in 1865 - still in family possession.]
Henry's name, mis-spelled as PIGGOTT, is recorded on a List of Pastors which is hanging on a wall in the vestibule of the Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Chapel. This building was not built until 1877, so it is evident that the dates for Henry, 1863-1868, are for the period he served at the Pettah.
[Photos of the Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Chapel, Colombo (below), and the List of Pastors within (above),
taken by Tim WALDOCK of Sydney during his September 2015 visit to the chapel designed and built by his
great-grandfather, Rev Frederick D. WALDOCK.
WALDOCK had served, after Henry PIGOTT, as Pastor of the Pettah Chapel before the new Chapel was built at Cinnamon Gardens.]
Henry also preached in a newly constructed chapel, in Ferguson Road, also to designs of Rev WALDOCK, which was still standing, although unused, when I visited in 1983. I have no details yet of the date on which this church was completed.
Rev James ALLEN died in Colombo on 30 April 1866, aged 56; a memorial tablet to him was removed from the Pettah Chapel when it was closed in 1905.
[The Baptist Chapel on Ferguson Road, Mattakuliyah, built by Rev F.D. WALDOCK.]
Further severe ill-health struck the PIGOTT family, as the Missionary Herald of January 1870 reported:
"Mr and Mrs PIGOTT are continuing their labours... generally enjoying good health... Mrs PIGOTT had been very ill but was recovering. The youngest child had dide of malignant sore throat, and a fortnight later the eldest boy caught the disease, and was in danger for two days, but was happily restored. Mr PIGOTT too had suffered."
[The Mission House in Maradana, Colombo, where several of the PIGOTT children were born.]
HENRY TAKES HIS FAMILY ON A VISIT TO ENGLAND.
Within a few years, ill-health was to affect the family connections back in England. As early as 1872, Ellen's father was suffering from effects of heart disease, when he had written a sad "final" letter to his children. But he was to live on for another 3 years.
In May 1875, Ellen left Colombo on the S.S.
Sirius, with the children, bound for London. The
Sirius arrived in Malta, 24 May, with a broken crank shaft [Glasgow Herald, Tuesday 25 May], and the family was embarked on the S.S.
Navarino (of The Wilson Line, on a voyage from Bombay to Liverpool, passed Malta on 28 May) to complete their voyage to England; on this leg, and still in the Mediterranean, their youngest daughter Winifred died on convulsions, aged 11 months; the
Navarino was reported to be off The Lizard, 21 June; and had arrived off Ramsgate by the 24th, evidently having landed Malta passengers in between.
They were nearly too late - several days after they landed in London, Rev John Eustace GILES died at 37 Fitzwilliam Road, Clapham, on 24 June 1875, aged 70. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, London SE 27 (Grave No 15474, Sq. 26).
And Ellen was again six months pregnant.
Henry, who had to await Rev WALDOCK's arrival back in Ceylon, had not yet made his departure for home by 1 July.
While in England, arrangements were put in place for the children's education - the girls at the Mission School at Walthamstow, Essex (which later, in 1883, as Walthamstow Hall, moved to Sevenoaks in Kent), the boys at the School for the Sons of Missionaries in Blackheath Village (later relocated as Eltham College). Annie, Frank and Harry were left in school, and the others joined them later - Norah in November 1880, Effie in March 1881, Mary in March 1883, and the then new-born John in July 1885.
Henry was back in England in 1877; on Tuesday 9 October, he attended the Missionary Resignation and Valedictory Service at Stow Hill Chapel, where leave was taken of
"...Mr H.R. PIGOTT, of Ceylon... returning to the mission Field" [Report of the Autumnal Session of the Baptist union of G.B. and I., held at Newport, Monmouthshire, 8-11 October 1877],
Back in Ceylon,
Henry and Ellen were moved to Ratnapura, in the Sabaragamuwa District, 63 miles E.S.E. of Colombo. Their youngest child, Ellen, was born there in 1878; and
Henry opened a new church there in 1883, which was still in use when I visited in 1982, a year before it was due to celebrate it's centenary.
[The Baptist Church at Ratnapura, photographed in 1982, a year before it's centenary.]
They returned to Maradana by July 1885, with regular excursions to the cooler climate in Nuwera Eliyah. Last formal mention of them in published records was made in the Missionary Herald of October 1889:
"On August 15... Madampe, 43 miles N.E. of Colombo - the mission station here was commenced by Mr PIGOTT in 1870... The Rev H.R. PIGOTT, our good indefatigable missionary, with his equally zealous missionary lady, and their two daughters... singing of hymns, especially by Mrs PIGOTT."
REV HENRY AND ELLEN GO TO N.S.W. ON FURLOUGH.
And illness was to have the last say.
On 25 December 1889,
Henry and Ellen, with two daughters, undoubtedly Effie and Mary, set sail for Sydney, in the 2nd Class Saloon on the R.M.S.
Ballarat. Their plan may have been to take furlough leave with their son Harry, and return when Ellen's health had improved. But her illness was severe, and in time,
Henry, having decided to remain in N.S.W., tendered his resignation to the Baptist Missionary Society, citing his plans to enter into a tea importing business with his son.
They had left behind two daughters, one married, and two grandchildren; the balance of their own children were still in schools in England.
However, the sale of
Henry's household goods, by auction slated for 7 Dec 1889, at the Mission House at Maradana [Courier and Middlesex Chronicle, 29 Jan 1890], indicates that
Henry had probably already made up his mind not to return.
______________________________________________
Henry and Ellen disembarked from the
Ballarat in Sydney on 16 January 1890. For the time being, they went to reside with their second son, Harry PIGOTT, in Milton, just north of Ulladulla, on the N.S.W. South Coast.
By December 1890,
Henry had made his decision to resign from the B.M.S., and had selected his future course of action - on 19 December, the Board of the A.J.S. Bank allowed a request from H.M. TODHUNTER, Manager of their Parramatta Branch, seeking approval of an advance for Rev
Henry R.
PIGOTT "...of £900 on the guarantee of Arthur GILES and H.R.[M.] PIGOTT of Milton; also deeds of a Freehold Orchard valued at £1300, interest 8%."
[Arthur GILES, Senior Master of the Lower School at Sydney Grammar, was Ellen PIGOTT's younger half-brother.]
Henry acknowledged, by letter dated at Kellyville, N.S.W., on 29 April 1892, the B.M.S.'s acceptance of his resignation, and their offer of £250 in severance pay. His name was placed on the Baptist Church of N.S.W.'s Unattached Pastors List.
The orchard was on Windsor Road, on the north-eastern side, and between President and Wrights Roads, covering an area of 18 acres and 29 perches.
Deeds of sale were executed on 2 January 1891, transferring title from Henry Havelock McNAUGHT of Baulkham Hills to Rev
Henry Robert PIGOTT of Milton.
Henry mortgaged the property immediately to the Sydney Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society, which became, in March 1892, the A.M.P. Society.
Henry took out a second mortgage to William Alfred BRODIE of Parramatta, which was transferred to Isaac HIMMELHOCK, Financier of Sydney, on 1 May 1891, and discharged in May 1892.
The title deeds to the orchard were transferred on 1 April 1897 to Robert Hamilton MATTHEWS of Parramatta, Licensed Surveyor.
HENRY TRIES HIS LUCK IN COLONIAL POLITICS.
In June 1894, General Elections were held for the N.S.W. Legislative Assembly.
Henry presented himself as a candidate for the Seat of Sherwood, although he had earlier shown some interest in the seat of Granville.
He stood on a platform of Free-trade and Temperance, expressing strong support as well for:
"...qualifications for members; reduction of the customs duties on all articles excepting narcotics and stimulants; tax on the unimproved value of land; issue of treasury notes only; local government; settlement of the people on the land; free education in ordinary State Schools; payment of members; an elective Upper House; womanhood suffrage; and federation."
The Division of Sherbrooke covered Blacktown (with Eastern Creek, Seven Hills, Toongabbie and Rooty Hill); Castle Hill (with Baulkham Hills, Kellyville and Crossroads); Dural (with Galston, Kenthurst and Upper Dural); and Smithfield (with Fairfield, Prospect and Wetherill Park).
In most of these districts Henry was an unknown, which did not help his cause. In addition, his pitch for the votes of free-traders was severely queered by the endorsement by the Free-trade Council of another candidate, Mr Jacob GARRARD. Henry wrote in protest to the "Argus" newspaper of 14 July:
"As I decline to commit political suicide at the dictation of outsiders in the interests of an outsider; and feeling the injustice done to this electorate and to myself by the Free-trade Council in selecting a candidate in the absence of that inquiry which they themselves said was necessary too discover the strongest Free-trade candidate, I mean to go to the polls against all comers."
Henry canvassed meetings in all the parts of the electorate, and received attentive hearings, but from relatively small numbers of electors, where he was reported to have given lucid accounts of his views, and was noted for his "ready repartee" and acclaimed as a man of "...sterling character and ability."
But his chances were doomed, if not just by the report of the Cumberland Argus on the day before polling:
"...Mr PIGOTT has yet to make himself more in touch with the people..."
Henry was obliterated by the electors - he polled only 8 votes of 1336, with even "Informal" out-polling him on 28 votes.
The seat was won by the endorsed Free-trade candidate, Jacob GARRARD, who had previously represented the Division of Central Cumberland (abolished in a re-distribution prior to the poll) and had served in the previous Government as Minister for Education.
Henry had never stood a chance!
Throughout 1893-95, Henry is frequently mentioned in Argus reports concerning the Baptist Church's activities in Kellyville and the district, addressing various meetings on the subject of Temperance. He also chaired meetings in Parramatta connected with the Baptist Church's Missionary activities.
He also had dealings with Anglicans in the area, attending a church social at Dural in June 1894, and the re-opening of St Paul's, Castle Hill in December 1895. In April 1894, his eldest son Frank, on furlough from the P.W.D. in Ceylon, was appointed a Church Warden at the Kellyville Church of England (St Stephen's).
REV HENRY REVERTS TO HIS ANGLICAN ROOTS.
This drift back to his Anglican roots was complete by 25 April 1898, when
Henry severed his final connection with the Baptist Church, citing
"...a difference of opinion on theology." [See "Baptists in the Cradle City," Baptist Historical Studies Publication #4]; this "news" was reported in England, under the heading of "Clerical News," and in consequence of
"... a change of views on the question of baptism" [Shields Daily News, 30 July 1898].
On 24 June,
Henry was made a Deacon of the Sydney Diocese of the Church of England, by the Primate, the Right Rev Lord Bishop of Sydney, Dr Saumarez SMITH. On 1 July he was ordained priest, and appointed Curate of Castle Hill, assisting the incumbent, Rev Edward HARGRAVE, by taking services at St Stephen's, Kellyville, which had opened in September 1890, and built on land given by Edward Harte ACRES (ancestor of his eldest son Frank's two wives).
Henry also assisted with religious instruction in some of the 18 schools in the Parish.
Henry was Chairman of the School Board of Kellyville State School. A new Public School building was opened on 13 August 1898, and
Henry presided over the ceremony. He had the dubious pleasure of introducing the guest speaker, his old political foe, Jacob GARRARD, who had retained the portfolio of Minister for Public Instruction.
In 1898,
Henry was also President of the Kellyville Progress Association.
Henry resigned the Curacy of Castle Hill on 11 May 1901, and was appointed to the vacant Curacy of St John's, Parramatta, at a salary of £200 with residence in Marsden St. He and Mrs PIGOTT were farewelled in a meeting at Annan Grove Church on Sat 25 May. Part of his Parramatta salary was attached to the Chaplaincy to the Asylum, and he was also involved in religious visitations to The King's School (where his grandson and namesake was later a Master).
[Six churches in Castle Hill/Parramatta which Rev Henry Robert PIGOTT used for his services:
Top row - Christ Church, Rouse Hill; St Matthew's, Holroyd (then in Arcadia Street); Holy Trinity, Baulkham Hills
Bottom row - St Paul's, Riverstone; the Presbyterian Church at Marsden Park; St John's, Parramatta.
St Stephen's, Kellyville, then on the corner of Windsor and President Roads, no longer exists]
REV HENRY GOES UP INTO THE MOUNTAINS.
Henry had begun to suffer from ill-health. In October 1902, he wrote to his daughter Norah PARKER, in Adelaide, that he had just returned from 2 weeks in Springwood, where he went on doctor's orders for his asthma. He continued suffering from bad bouts of asthma, which prompted him to seek a permanent posting in the mountains. He had even briefly contemplated returning to the Kellyville orchard, as he noted in his diary on 21 March 1902.
[The old Holy Trinity Church, Armstrong Street, off Falls Road, Wentworth Falls, in November 2012.]
This mountain posting he achieved in February 1903, when he resigned the Curacy of St John's to take up an appointment as Curate of Springwood (including Glenbrook, Lawson and Wentworth Falls).
The Mountaineer (Katoomba) of Friday 6 March 1903 carried the following item:
[Image courtesy of the Trove web-site of the National Library of Australia.]
His church was the Holy Trinity Church in Wentworth Falls (corner of Falls Road, south of the Highway, and Armstrong Street), and he resided in the village of Wentworth Falls (1903 Electoral enrolment).
The residence he took over from Curate COATES stood on the south side of the Bathurst Road, west of the Railway Station, and between Cascade and Pritchard Streets. Built in by 1895, and perhaps as early as the late 1880sit was purchased by the Widow Dora BOULTON about early 1897, where she operated a boarding house which she called "The Clunes" (her purchase was not formally Registered until 1899). She subdivided the property, built a new cottage for herself and her children (at different times, her two young sons were sent to England for their schooling) on the back portion (which she called "Cosy Camp"), and leased "The Clunes" to a Mrs EDWARDS. In September 1900, Dora sold the front portion, with cottage and furniture, to Rev Ernest CLAYDON, Rector of Springwood, who used it as the Parsonage house for the clergy associated with Holy Trinity church (then one of the three additional churches within the Springwood Parish). After the new Parsonage House was built next to the church in 1906, CLAYDON took up residence there, and re-named it "Verna" - which name the cottage still bears.
I am grateful to
Louise WILSON, a descendent of Mrs Dora BOULTON, whose very informative paper entitled "The Boulton Family of Verna, Wentworth Falls" was published in the Blue Mountains History Journal, Number 7, May 2017, starting at page 11.
["The Clunes," about 1900. ]
The paper has several images of the house, taken about 1900, and one image is reproduced above with Louise WILSON's kind permission.
[ Above and below - "Verna" in Wentworth Falls, photographed by the author in May 2018.]
Henry's "bad asthma" was in fact an "asthmatic" heart condition. He resigned the curacy in November 1903, and it appears that he then vacated the curate's residence, and went to live in Faulconbridge.
[The second Parsonage at Wentworth Falls, purpose built in 1906 next to Holy Trinity Church.
It was superseded in 1987 by a new Rectory built on the other side of the church
(Wentworth Falls had been separated from Springwood in 1925 and erected into a new parish)
when this building was sold, to be dismantled and re-erected in Pritchard Street.]
Henry wrote an
"Epistle to his children on his dying bed" dated 9 November 1903,
"... on being told that his days were numbered."
The letter states, in part:
"As for many years I have committed all my ways unto the Lord, I had only to feel and know that my ways were in His all wise, all loving, all mighty hands, to be satisfied to leave them still there, and simply said 'Thy will be done,' and the matter is His, and not only mine.
"What is my hope for Eternity? ...while the Holy Spirit here below worketh in the soul, revealing Christ more fully every day, as my Keeper and Friend. Death therefore has no dark passage for me. 'The Valley' will end as soon as 'Death's bright angel' opens the door and I pass into life and light. This is not a new faith. I have had it for 50 years...
"I do not know why my ministry here is cut so short, and so suddenly. God has his own reasons and plan in the matter; so it must be right, and let all the people say Amen.
"I commit to the keeping of God of all my dear ones. My loving faithful wife and fellow worker in the Master's vineyard for 41 years. Her record is on high..."
Four months later, on 26 April 1904,
Henry uttered his last words -
"what language are they speaking?" - and died at his Faulconbridge residence, aged 65. This residence has not yet been identified.
His mortal remains were buried in Faulconbridge Cemetery, in a grave which has remained un-marked, and which location is unknown. Several bushfires have, over the years, destroyed cemetery records. Details of his birth and death were later recorded on the gravestone placed on his widow's grave in South Head Cemetery at Vaucluse.
ELLEN SURVIVES HER HUSBAND.
His widow Ellen survived for another 21 years, residing variously at - 60 Bayswater Road, East Sydney (1906); 1 Oswald Street, Woollahra (1904-09); Rae Street, Randwick (1913); Avoca Street, Randwick (1915-17); 'Richmond,' Belmore Street, Burwood (1921-22).
She revisited England in 1913, sailing on the S.S.
Persic via South Africa, and returning via Ceylon, on the R.M.S.
Mongolia. She stayed with her daughter Annie LAURIE and her family in Wimbledon Park; and spent a month in Ceylon with her son John and with her daughter Mary FOUCAR.
Ellen died at her residence, 79 Lucas Road, Burwood, on 21 July 1925, aged 86. She was buried in the Church of England Section of South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse.
[Ellen PIGOTT's grave in South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse, recording details also of her late husband,
who had been buried in an unmarked grave in Faulconbridge General Cemetery.]
_________________________________________________________
THE FAMILY OF REV HENRY AND ELLEN PIGOTT.
Henry and Ellen's own family were:
1.
Annie Eliza PIGOTT, born Matakuliyah, Colombo, 12 March 1863; she sailed for England shortly after 12 March 1873, to attend the Mission School at Walthamstow, Essex; she wrote four letters while there, with family news, including mention of
"... Grandmama visited ... Mr CORBETT's death" (8 April),
"... Aunt Marianne ... in Dublin" (11 May), and
"....Arthur in Yorkshire after breakdown ... may go back to Cambridge for degree" (27 July 1880, the last letter); by 26 November 1880, she was in Ratnapura, and wrote to her brother Frank in England, who
"... is 15... in 3rd form... must get Civil Service"; she was at Maradana, 29 August 1881, when she wrote to her Mamma at Ratnapura; she was at Hill House, 12 October 1881, when she wrote again to her Mamma, mentioning
"... Jack and Nelly" and
"... Mamma travelling with Papa and Mary"; at Mission House, 21 March 1884, again to Mamma, mentioning
"... birthday tomorrow... with Papa... Harry coming soon"; and lastly, at Naseby, 10 July 1884, again to Mamma, making mention of
"... Mrs LAURIE":
Annie was at 3 Vineyard hill, Wimbledon, Surrey, 1939 Register, Domestic Duties, Widow, with her daughter Irene; she died at Wimbledon Park, London, on 18 January 1941; she was married by her father, with Rev WALDOCK assisting, at Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Church, Colombo, on 15 December 1885, to Frank Maxwell LAURIE (born at Luton, Bedfordshire, 26 August 1854, son of Dr William Forbes LAURIE and Mary UNWIN), Proprietary Planter; the family retired to 3 Vineyard Hill Road, Wimbledon Park, about 1910; he died there on 1 February 1937; issue:
a. Maxwell LAURIE, born Maradana, 17 November 1886.
b. Irene Ada LAURIE, born Rakwana, 18 March 1888.
c. Eric Unwin LAURIE, born Rakwana, 11 October 1890, and killed in action, Belgium, 24 March 1918, M.C.
d. Beatrice LAURIE, born Bogawantalawa, 12 November 1893, and died Wimbledon, 6 February 1984, unmarried.
e. Gertrude M. LAURIE, born Ceylon, 3 October 1895, unmarried.
f. Winifred Annie LAURIE, born Ceylon, 1897, and died off Perim, 30 June 1898, aged 9 and a half months.
g. Kathleen Frances LAURIE, born Ceylon, 26 April 1900; M.A., University College, London, 1929; Teacher's Diploma, 1924; Mental Health Diploma, 1938; Diploma of Drawing and Painting, Ruskin School, Oxford, 1949 [Who's Who of Art]; living Southgate, London, 1982; unmarried.
[Bonnie THOROUGOOD and her cousins Kathleen and Beatrice LAURIE, about 1972.]
2.
Aileen Kathleen PIGOTT, born at Slave Island, Colombo, 7 May 1864 [Homeward Mail, etc, 13 June]; she died at Slave Island, 2 March 1865 [Homeward Mail, etc, 29 March], aged 9 months.
3.
Francis Joseph PIGOTT, born at Slave Island, 27 June 1865 [Home News, etc, 8 August]:
A graduate of the Crystal Palace Engineering School, London; District Engineer, Public Works Department, Ceylon; transferred to P.W.D. Singapore, December 1904, as Deputy Colonial Engineer and Surveyor-General of Penang; Colonial Engineer and Minister for Works, Straits Settlements, 1909; retired to N.S.W. in 1921 when his first wife died; he lived at Baulkham Hills, then at Manly, and died in 1939.
Frank was married firstly, at Castle Hill, 22 December 1894, to Isabella Adelaide Mowbray ACRES (daughter of Edward Harte ACRES and Henrietta PENNINGTON), with issue three daughters - including the only survivor:
b. Beatrice (Bonnie) Kathleen PIGOTT, born 2 July 1897; at Greenways, The Coombe, Dorking, Surrey, 1939 register, with husband and a cook; married Freddie THOROUGOOD, Banker in the Far East:
Freddie was with Beatrice, in 1939, Eastern Bank Manager (on leave); issue a daughter Joan THOROGOOD, who married Captain YOUNG.
Frank was married secondly, at St John's, Parramatta, on 5 May 1933, to Kathleen Georgina (Cassie) ACRES, his late wife Isabella's sister; they had no further issue.
Frank wrote to his brother Harry, from "Heywood," Baulkham Hills, on 22 March 1939, noting that it was: "...our mother's 100th birthday, born 22 March 1839, year after father. It does not seem like 14 years since she passed away."
It was a chatty letter, which mentioned that "... while in Manly I ran up against Fol de la Rol de la Ray and only for a moment to congratulate him on his Cabinet Rank, etc"; and, in reference to his brother's trade in wool:
"I don't think much good can be done by you trying to make grazier's wives wear woollen stockings. Wait until Frankie is a celebrated Medical Authority and able to advise, from a life and death point of view, all ladies and children wearing woollen stockings and all persons wearing wool (???) the skin a bit difficult to do so in Summer but not at all into the winter and into the the Spring if wearing apparel was suitably graded to suit the Season...
"We were very sorry to hear Ruby has been in hospital. I hope she made a good recovery and is back with Jim. Have you got Elsa with Jim? If so, hand her the included cutting. Tell her I hope these Machine (retail) offices...them ere saucy young hussies sitting in cubicles selling (???) behind winders that small that you can't get through to spank them, are (???) to sit in drawing rooms reading tosh... Hi opes when hi arsks for a ticket from my Hayview from out back Cadara to Woollamulalu, one of these ere contraptions will take the place of that pernickity, nose in the hair flapper who was so rude to me, and said Wool a mer loo! Go to Hitler.
"Bonnie is in Ceylon now, and leaving in the Orontes from Colombo on 29th March. I wonder if she will be diverted to go via the Cape."
HITLER was, of course, on the verge of his attempted conquest of Europe.
4.
Henry Robert Maguire (Harry) PIGOTT, born at Matakuliyah, 2 October 1866 [Home News, etc, 12 November]:
Bank Clerk in London; emigrated, via Ceylon, to N.S.W. on the R.M.S.
Sutlej, arrived Sydney, 10 July 1884, to join the Australian Joint Stock Bank; worked in Burwood, Grafton (1886-87), Cooma (1888-89), Milton (1889-92), Wingham (1892-93), and finally as branch manager in Blayney (1893-99); opened in business in Blayney, 1900, as a Stock and Station Agent; M.H.R. for the Division of Calare, N.S.W., 1914-19; grazier at
Cadara, near Tottenham; retired to Fairlight Crescent, Manly, about 1945; died on 8 July 1949; married at Blayney, 23 March 1898, Margaret Paton ADAM (born Carcoar, 26 August 1874, daughter of Rev James ADAM, Presbyterian Minister, and Elizabeth SPENCE); she died in 1970; issue:
a. Henry Robert PIGOTT, born Blayney, 25 May 1899; Schoolmaster; married Betty GORRIE, with issue.
b. James Adam PIGOTT, born Blayney, 1902; Farmer and Grazier at Backwoodlands, Narromine; married Eleanor WEBB, with issue.
c. Elsa Grace PIGOTT, born Blayney, 1906; died 1976; married Paul CUTTS, with issue.
d. Francis Paton PIGOTT, born Blayney, 1917; Gynaecologist; married Patricia COLMAN, with issue.
See his separate posting on this blog-site.
5. Frederick Steven PIGOTT, born at Matakuliyah, 29 May 1868; he died there of a "malignant sore throat," 5 June 1869, aged 1 year.
6. Norah Agnes PIGOTT, born Matakuliyah, 19 July 1869; she had started at the Mission School in Walthamstow by November 1880; she was enumerated at the School, in March Street, Walthamstow, in the 1881 Census, aged 11, Scholar, born Ceylon with her younger sister Effie (Katherine UNWIN, aged 40, was the Head Mistress, with 5 Teachers and 9 Servants, and a total of 55 scholars, aged from 9 to 16); Norah wrote a number of letters home, in which she variously mentioned her Aunt and Uncle MAGUIRE, he a visitor of the Poor and Sick, his church, a Reverend gentleman (Robert), her Aunt Margaret (probably MAGUIRE), Effie and Dora there, Bobby not (probably Robert and Margaret MAGUIRE's children), Irish cousins William Robert MAGUIRE and wife Rosetta, and Harrie a High Church Clergyman and his wife Dora (MAGUIRE), William remembering Rev H.R. and Aunt Lizzie well, Maggie (probably the aunt) who went to Ireland and had to be brought back, as well as Cherrie and Frank (unidentified); her letters were addressed at the Mission School, Walthamstow, Essex, until 18 April 1882, and from 13 June 1882 at the re-located Mission School, "Walthamstow Hall," at Sevenoaks, Kent.
Norah and Effie held their "last soiree" at the re-located Mission School on 18 July 1885, shortly before they embarked for home:
Norah emigrated to N.S.W., 1899, with her husband and two surviving children; she moved to Adelaide about 1904, with two more children; she died at Beulah Park, Adelaide, 13 July 1950, and was buried at Mitcham General Cemetery, in the same grave as her daughter, son-in-law and grandson:
[Image courtesy of photo volunteer "J" (who does not receive messages),
on the Findagrave.com website.]
[A family group about 1904. Charles and Norah, with Mary, George, Arthur and Norah.]
Norah was married at Trincomalee, 29 March 1894, to Charles PARKER (born Birmingham, 1868, son of George PARKER and Ann DAVIES); he was with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and served in both N.S.W. Permanent Military Force, and then the Australian Army as a Drill Instructor; he died at Caulfield, Melbourne, 29 April 1921; issue:
a. Mary PARKER, born at Trincomalee, 21 December 1894; she died on 6 August 1958, aged 63 [M.I.]; she was married in 1914, to Cecil HOWARD; he died on 16 November 1980, aged 91 years [M.I.]; they had issue.
b. George Henry PARKER, born at Colombo, 27 March 1896; he was married in 1921, to Hilda PHILIPSON, with issue:
a. Charles Maurice PARKER, born at Colombo, 18 July 1897, and died there aged 11 months.
b. Arthur Leese PARKER, born at Singleton, N.S.W., 27 March 1900; he was killed at Ambon in 1942, as part of Gull Force; he was married to Margaret WALLACE, with issue.
c. Norah PARKER, born at Singleton 22 May 1901, married Herbert CUNDY.
d. Dorothy PARKER, born Prospect, S.A., 25 May 1906, and married James BIRRELL, with issue.
7.
Effie Giles PIGOTT, born Maradana, Colombo, 8 November 1870; she was at the Mission School, Walthamstow, by the end of March 1881, and was enumerated there in the 1881 Census, aged 10, Scholar, born Ceylon; her letters home were dated at the Mission School (31 March 1881), at Mayfield, Battersea (6 September 1883), at Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks (9 June 1885):
Effie returned to Ceylon with her older sister
Norah, after their last Soiree at the relocated school at Sevenoaks, Kent, on 18 July 1885:
Effie went to N.S.W. with her parents, 1890; she died in Tamworth, 13 March 1943; she was married at Castle Hill, 28 January 1892, to John Reginald WOOD (born Currawang, N.S.W., 28 August 1865, son of William WOOD and Ellen LYNCH - she married secondly, Port Douglas, William THOMSON, and was hanged in Boggo Road Gaol, Brisbane, 13 June 1887, for his murder), Orchardist in Castle Hill and Tamworth; he died at Tamworth, 23 October 1920.
[John and Effie's signatures on their son Harold's Application to enlist in the 1st A.I.F., as he was under age. Image courtesy of his Service Record, National Archives of Australia.]
They had issue:
a. Reginald Kenneth WOOD, born at Castle Hill, 20 November 1893, baptised St Paul's C.of E., Castle Hill, 14 December; Accountant; he died in 1965; he married firstly, at Tamworth, 1914, Ruby Pearl CAMERON; she died at Redfern, April 1927; with issue:
i. Kenneth William John WOOD, born Tamworth, 1915; died 1971; married Elizabeth STARK.
ii. Margaret Cameron WOOD, born Tamworth, 1918; died 2002; married Alan John EAGLETON.
iii. John Reginald WOOD, born at Tamworth, about 1921; married at All Saints C.of E., Petersham, 28 June 1946, aged 25, Salesman, of 40 Audley Street, Petersham, to Petal Yvonne ZIEMS, aged 21, Spinster, born Sydney, daughter of Eric Garnet ZIEMS, Seaman, and Norma FRASER.
iv. June WOOD; died at Drummoyne, 1925.
Reginald Kenneth married secondly, at Moree, 1928, Rose WILLIAMS; she died at Murrurundi, 1992; with further issue:
v. Josephine WOOD, born 1929; died 1996; married Kevin RUSSELL
b. Marion Katherine WOOD, born at Castle Hill, 10 February 1895, baptised St Paul's, Castle Hill, 9 March; she married in 1921, as his first wife, Henry Albert KELSO (he married secondly, about 1962, Violet Vera HYNDS); with issue:
i. John Henry James KELSON, born 1922; died 1978; married Lorna Irene.
ii. Robert Bruce KELSO, born at Bondi, 1924; died 1984, late of Yowie Bay; married at Bondi, 1951, Freda WATKINS.
c. Ethelwyn Irene WOOD, born at Castle Hill, 9 November 1896, baptised St Paul's, Castle Hill, 21 December; she died aged 21.
d. Francis William John WOOD, born at Castle Hill, 14 December 1897, married at Tamworth, 1927, Marguerite Della BARBER (she married secondly, at Moree, 1953, James Henry Cormie McDONALD; with issue:
i. Lloyd WOOD; went to Honolulu.
ii. Bruce WOOD.
e. Harold Edwin WOOD, born at Tamworth, 12 July 1899; 1st Battalion, Camel Corps, Egypt, from his arrival in Suez, 20 June 1917, until June 1918, and then Trooper, 4th Australian Light Horse, also in Egypt, from 1 July 1918 until his embarkation for Return to Australia, 15 June 1919 (with multiple visits to hospital, and several punishments for "behavior prejudicial to good order and military discipline"); he was due to arrive in Melbourne of the HMAT Essex, 23 July 1919, having "... served in Egypt and Palestine in the Camel Corps, and the 4th Australian Light Horse, for well over two years, and has during that time been through the whole campaign" [Daily Observer, Tamworth, 12 July]; he was at Marius Street, Tamworth, February 1924, when his engagement to Nurse M. JORDAN was announced [Richmond River Express, etc, 18 February]; he was at 44 Carnegie Street, Auburn North, Reid Division, 1930, Electrical Mechanic; he was at 127 Woniora Road, Hurstville, Barton Division, 1931, same occupation, with Lily Edith WOOD, Home Duties; they were at 7 George Street, Penshurst, Barton Division, 1933, same occupations; they were at 114 Dumbleton Road, Penshurst, 1934, ditto; they were at Link Street, Bingara, Gwydir Division, 1943, all ditto; he died in 1962; he was married at Casino, 2 July 1924, to Annie M. JORDAN; she died on 10 January 1975, aged 72, late of Lismore, daughter of Julian and Clara Gertrude [Funeral Notice, Northern Star, Lismore, 11 January], and was buried in Tenterfield Cemetery [New Catholic, Plot 105]; with issue a daughter; Harold is said to have married secondly, about 1931, to Lilian (Lily) Edith WAGSTAFF (not recorded in N.S.W. Statutory Indexes); she was a Registered Nurse, R.N. 1364, London, 20 April 1928, from Booth Hall Infirmary, Manchester, 1924-27 (by examination), Register of Nurses, 1931, then residing at 55 Edgar Street, Auburn, Sydney, Australia; she was enrolled at Newington State Hospital, Auburn North, 1930 [Reid Division], a nurse; she made a home visit, returning to Brisbane on the S.S. Majola (P.& O.), from London, 16 July 1953, aged 48, Housewife, last address in Britain at 3 Well Street, Abercynon; she was at 142 Archer Street, Fitzroy, Capricornia Division, 1963, Home Duties; she was at 37 Melville Street, Maryborough, Wide Bay Division, 1968, 1977, Home Duties; she died in 1983; by her Harold had further issue.
f. Grace Freda WOOD, born at Tamworth, 4 October 1900; she was at 13 Hunter Street, Lewisham, 1943 [Dalley Division], Home Duties; she was at 7 Orara Road, North Manly, 1963, 1968 [Mackellar Division], no occupation; she died at North Manly, 6 June 1969; she was married firstly, at Waverley, 1921, to Ernest Alfred MOSS, of Parramatta, Prison Warder, with training in Mental Nursing; they were at Belmore Street, North Parramatta, 1930, 1934 [Parramatta Division], he an Attendant; he was a Warder at Parramatta Gaol, May 1932, when he attended a male prisoner who had cut his throat with a razor; they had issue:
i. Ernest K. MOSS; he died at Parramatta, 11 January 1924.
ii. Winifred Grace MOSS; she was married at Bankstown, 25 August 1948, to Thomas Henry HAIGH; they were at 27 Wilbur Street, Banlstown East, Blaxland Division, 1949, 1954, he a Tramway Employe, she Home Duties.
Grace was married secondly, at Canterbury, 29 April 1944, to Stanley Foster DODGSON; they were at 188 Spit Road, Mosman, 1949 [Warringah Division], Shopkeeper and Home Duties respectively; they were at 218 West Street Crows Nest [North Sydney Division], Grocer, and at 117A Curlewis Street, Bondi Beach [Macarthur Division], 1958, one enrolment clearly residual and not deleted (unclear which); he died at Manly Hospital, 3 November 1962, late of North Manly.
g. Ellen Marjorie WOOD, born at Tamworth, 19 March 1903; she died on 3 July 1976, late of Pearl Beach and Lidcombe [S.M.H., 5 July]; she was married at Waverley, 1923, to George Leo Hopeton INGRAM, Petty Officer with the R.A.N.; he was at Calool Street, Lidcombe, Reid Division, 1930, Petty Officer, with wife Ellen; at 19 Calool Street, Lidcombe, 1936, Naval Rating, with wife Ellen; same address, 1958 (now in Blaxland Division), a Cook, with wife Ellen; he died on 6 February 1986, late of Concord [S.M.H., 8 February]; they had issue:
i. Effie Marjorie "Toni" INGRAM, born in January 1925; Nurse, Sydney Hospital, 1949 (Registered 22 March 1948, Cert No A 283/2); she died in Sydney, 20 June 2012, aged 87; she was married at St James's Church, Sydney, 25 June 1949, to Eric Bruce LEE, Medical Practitioner, son of Mr and Mrs LEE of Lindfield, attended by his brother Mr Ron LEE as best man [Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate, 1 July]; he died on 16 July 2001, aged 79; with issue.
ii. Norma Grace INGRAM, born in Sydney, 3 January 1929; she died at Caloundra, Qld, 10 December 2009; she was married to Graydon Sidney WARNES, Cabinetmaker; with issue.
h. Effie Dorothy WOOD, born at Tamworth, 1905, and died there on 28 October 1905, aged 6 months.
j. Evelyn Janie WOOD, born at Tamworth, 23 October 1906; she died at Bondi, 13 December 1973; she married on 29 December 1934, Keith Joseph MILLER; he died in 1974; with issue - one married daughter living in Wisconsin, U.S.A..
k. Lillian Edith WOOD, born at Tamworth, 28 May 1909; she died in 1978; she married at Waverley, 1941, Edward Henry DOUGLAS, Upholsterer.
8.
Mary Oakley PIGOTT, born at Maradana, 4 April 1873; she arrived at the newly relocated Mission School, Walthamstow Hall, at Sevenoaks, Kent, on 23 March 1883:
Mary came to N.S.W with her parents, 1890; Missionary in Solomon Islands, and Coonoor, South India; she died in Colombo, 16 October 1921; she was married about 1909, in India, to Louis Ferdinand FOUCAR; they had issue two daughters:
a. Isabel FOUCAR, born at Ootacamund, South India, 11 November 1914; Nursing Sister in South Africa; retired to Fairford, Gloucestershire; unmarried.
b. Betty FOUCAR, born at Bon Espoir, Ootacamund, 5 July 1916; an artist; she also died unmarried.
9.
Winifred Leese PIGOTT, born at Maradana, 18 July 1874; she died of convulsions on board the S.S.
Navarino, 3 June 1875, aged 11 months.
10.
John Eustace Giles PIGOTT:
Born at Clapham, S.W. London, 23 September 1875; raised early in Ceylon, but returned to London, 5 June 1885, to attend the School for the Sons of Missionaries, at Blackheath; he was recorded in Eltham College (which the S.S.M became after re-location) archives as having left in 1890, and with an address in Peermaad, Travancore, Madras, as Assistant at Stagbrook Tea Estate (which may have been for a later date?); he visited his family, about 1894, since retired to New South Wales; he was at Kellyville, 20 October 1894, when he received the Castle Hill Football Club's 3rd proficiency award for the recent season; he returned to Ceylon from Castle Hill, about 1895; Planter, Retenagalla Estate, Bogawantalawa, Ceylon, 1896-97 (this estate was managed by his brother-in-law, Frank LAURIE); Planter, Glen Mary Estate, Central Peermaad, Travancore, South India, 1898-99; Planter, Rannecoil Estate, Peermaad, Travancore, 1903 to 1906 [Ferguson's Directory listings].
Glen Mary, Peermade, Kerala, South India, lies about 70 km inland from the western coast of India, and about 130 north from the southern-most tip of India.
John is believed to have died at or near Nagercoil, South India, in 1941 or 1945, and was buried at the Salvation Army Cemetery, St Xavier's College Road (about 300 metres from the highway), Chunkankadai, about 5 km W.N.W. of the town of Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, and about 8 km north of the southern coast and a little west of the same southern-most tip of India.
John is said to have married a Miss GRAHAM (although I have not yet been able to confirm her identity); it was further alleged to me in Colombo in 1984 that he had had issue two sons, one of whom (Daryl PIGOTT) was said to have been then still living, an itinerant piano tuner and hawker of plastic flowers (again, I was unable to confirm any of this information, then or since); she is believed to have died about 1909.
However, very recent information from a descendant living in Perth, W.A., indicates that he had instead had two daughters, one of whom had no knowledge of the alleged sons Daryl and Laurie (so likely, therefore, as I had suspected, to have been a fabrication):
a. Evelyn Gladys PIGOTT, born at Ranicoil Estate, 1904; apparently unmarried.
b. Muriel Grace PIGOTT, born in 1908; she later emigrated to Western Australia; she was married to John or Paul EGAN, with issue two sons and four daughters.
11.
Ellen Corbett "Nellie" PIGOTT:
Born at Ratnapura, Central Ceylon, 8 June 1878; she went to the Mission School in Sevenoaks, Kent, and re-joined her parents about 1895, in Kellyville, N.S.W.; Florist, No 5 Jetty, Circular Quay, Sydney; she died at Camperdown, 9 September 1951, aged 73, and was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium; she was married firstly, at St Matthew's Anglican Church, Bondi, 16 December 1931, as his second wife, to Walter Edward ADAMS, Chief Engineer of the Sydney Harbour Trust (Maritime Services Board), and widower of Amy MacLEAN:
Walter died at his residence, Vaucluse, 9 June 1939, aged 77, and was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium.
Nellie was married secondly, at St Michael's Anglican Church, Rose Bay, 21 April 1941, as his third wife, to her second cousin Bertram Sandes GILES, widower of Nita RIDDELL, and of Marjorie LITTLE; he died on 6 February 1952, aged 83.
A page of Nellie PIGOTT's Bible:
______________________________________________
AN 1879 LETTER FROM REV H.R. PIGOTT.
______________________________________________
Henry Robert PIGOTT was my great-grandfather.
