SARAH BAKER

Rosemary Davidson (Member No.860)

DURING the past year I have been working on an index of deaths and burials from records relating to the former St Johns Church New Town Burial Ground.  Only one monument remains in the grounds, that of Captain Matthew Forster, the Comptroller General, who died in 1846.  We knew that some tombstones had been removed and placed in a corner of Cornelian Bay Cemetery until moved to a new site in the former Paupers section.  During the course of my research I discovered that other headstones and vaults had been moved in 1963 to the Church of England Section F at Cornelian Bay.  I was unprepared for the number of burials I discovered.  They have developed into my ‘extended family’ and as a result I have become intrigued by many, especially Sarah BAKER.  Dying at the age of 104 she was the oldest person to be buried in the cemetery.  A contemporary newspaper included the photograph of Mary and stated that ‘this probably is a record span of life even in Tasmania, where longevity is proverbial.’[1]

Entry No.1724 in the burial register records that Sarah Baker of Flint House was buried on 1 May 1899 by the Rev. F T WHITINGTON.[2]  Her death notice states she died on 28 April, widow of the late J W Baker, MRCS., England.[3]  So who was Sarah Baker and where did she come from?

Mr J W and Mrs Baker sailed as cabin passengers from Lon­don 28 December 1834 on the Vibilia which arrived in Hobart Town on 22 April 1835.[4]  In 1823 John received a letter from Downing Street in London to say he was to receive a land grant as a settler to Van Diemen’s Land.  Was the journey delayed and if so why—the land grant was ‘disallowed on account of the delay in application’ in June 1837.[5]  However, J W Baker apparently had sufficient funds to build Kilburn Grange at Boyer during the 1830s.  This is a steep-gabled house of two storeys with single storey wings and is regarded as perhaps the first example of domestic Gothic architecture in Australia.[6]

John Wright Baker, Esquire, was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1836 and was still a resident in New Norfolk at the end of 1838.  Four years later a notice in the Colonial Times announced the forthcoming auction of a genteel cottage residence at the corner of Harrington and Davey Streets.

at present in the occupation of the proprietor, Dr. Baker, who is removing to another part of the town, more convenient for his professional avocations.[7]

In March 1842 the Hobart Town Courier announced the Grange, of 400 acres on the River Derwent, was to be raffled.  Perhaps he needed the money as a couple of weeks later Dr John W Baker of Hobart Town is listed as the owner of the brig Caroline, 157 tons, 75’9” x 21’8”.  Was he after adventure or profit as were many other local indentities?  Whatever his reasons for this change of occupation it was a short-lived affair.  Six months later, on 5 November 1842, the Caroline left Hobart Town with Baker as master, for a voyage to Macao, with a cargo of sandalwood.  It was noted that Capt. Baker refused to take the mail destined for Macao.

Only days later disaster struck, although the news did not appear in the local newspaper for almost six months, at the end of March, and it was not until May that a death notice appeared.

On the 14^th November last, at sea, after leaving the port of Hobart Town eight days, Mr. John W. Baker, surgeon, late of Alresford, in the county of Hants.  His death was occasioned by the accidental discharge of his fowling piece.  He lingered four days after the accident.[8]

A plaque was erected in memory of Johanis Wright Baker in St Matthews Church at New Norfolk.  The reference to Alresford in Hampshire, England, has not revealed any further information.  No will has been found for Dr Baker, or a marriage registration or children.  Sarah survived her husband by over fifty years and although women of that era are notoriously difficult to research, she did leave a will that includes some clues as to her life and origins.[9]

Sarah left all her real estate, the whole of her library, pictures and furniture to her nephew Colonel Thomas May EVANS.  The residue of her personal estate was to be divided equally between her two nieces, Elizabeth Sarah SCOTT, widow of the late Honorable James Reid Scott, and Eleanor Marie BURGESS, wife of James Ogle Burgess.  Thomas, Elizabeth and Eleanor were all born in Hobart, the only children of Michael Evans and his wife Dinah who arrived from England in 1837.

With help from the wills of Michael and Thomas Evans, and the discovery of family papers belonging to the Evans family in the Archives Office of Tasmania, I have been able to find the connection.

Evans and Son were watchmakers with premises in Sweetings Alley, Cornhill, City of London.  Thomas Evans and his wife Sarah had nine children born between 1789 and 1812, with the first five being christened at St Bartholomew, Exchange, London and the last four at Saint Mary, Stoke Newington, London.  Sarah Evans was born on 10 April 1795 and christened at St Bartholomew on 17 May 1795.  Michael Evans was born on 29 November 1806 and christened at Saint Mary on 29 April 1807.

Thomas’ will was proven 9 October 1812 with only two sons actually named, James and Bloss, the others mentioned only as ‘my children’.  Sarah would have been seventeen and Michael six.  In a will written by James Evans, father of Thomas, in 1810, he appointed Thomas as his trustee and mentions his sons-in-law, Michael LARKIN and William BYLES.  A notation stated ‘Sworn under twenty five thousand pounds’.  As yet I have only found a note referring to the ‘late’ James Evans in April 1820, so his death date is unknown.

No marriage has been found for Sarah but John Wright Baker’s name does appear among the Evans family papers in the Archives, particularly in a ‘statement of the settlement of our affair relating to the deed of Gift with M Larkin’ dated December 1829.  Michael Larkin was a brother-in-law of Thomas and therefore uncle to Sarah.  The statement includes the following extract.

also his Interest in a Bond for £400 & Int. thereon, from J. W. Baker & Wife payable at the death of Mrs A. Evans … also his Interest in a debt due from J. W. Baker to him for which debt & Int. J. W. Baker has given a promissory note payable in 3 years.

A second paper concerning Trustees Stock in the 3% consols dated 4 March 1834 and 27 November 1834, also refers to J W Baker.  Sarah and John would have left London soon after.  Was Sarah happy to leave her family and travel to the other side of the world with her husband of at least five years?  It is clear her family was wealthy, with a house at Denmark Hill, south of the river at Camberwell, and business interests in warehouses in the London docks area, as well as their watch making business.

John Wright Baker was born on 14 December 1798 and christened at St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London, to William Baker and his wife Hannah WRIGHT.  He was one of eight children born between 1794 and 1809.  It appears his father, William, a Woollen Draper of the parish of St Lawrence Jewry, City of London, died in 1810 when John was only twelve years of age.[10]  How was he able to become a surgeon?  Did his mother remarry?

Sarah’s brother, Michael, married Dinah MAY at St Dunstans, Stepney, on 31 December 1836 and arrived in Tasmania the following year.[11]  He became the manager of an insurance company and at the time of his death in 1892 was living at Flint House.  I can only assume that Sarah lived with her brother and his family after the death of her husband.  There is no mention of her in Michael’s will when he died in 1892, but Thomas May Evans’ will includes the following.

I direct my body to be buried in the Grave in St. John’s Church yard New Town in which my father mother and my aunt Sarah Baker are buried and I further direct my executor to expend the sum of One hundred and fifty pounds in erecting a rough block of Granite upon the said Grave on which the names of those interred shall be inscribed.[12]

This imposing tombstone is one of those now to be found at Cornelian Bay Cemetery, while the search for more information continues.                                                                                                                     

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[1]     Tasmanian Mail, 13 May 1899, p.20

      [2]     AOT NS656/32, Burial Register for the Parish of St John New Town

      [3]     The Mercury, 29 April 1899

[4]     The Colonial Times, 28 April 1835

      [5]     AOT Panel D Vol.26 page 1008

      [6]     The Heritage of Tasmania, The Illustrated Register of the National Estate

      [7]     The Colonial Times, 17 November 1840 p.2

      [8]     Cornwall Chronicle, 6 May 1843

      [9]     AOT AD960/1/22 p.404 No.5434

[10]    Information from FamilySearch, IGI

[11]    The Mercury, 27 July 1892

[12]    AOT AD960/1/48 p.138 No.14536

 

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