Harris & Spinks Families

of Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex & Wiltshire in England
and
Queensland, Australia


Pam Cooper © 1998

Thanks to Mike Smith whose research has thrown new light on this story!
This page first produced August 1998 and last updated July 1999.

flowers.gif



A BRIEF HARRIS/SPINKS DESCENDANT CHART
1. Thomas Harris, butcher and inn keeper of Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire m. Mary ?

1.1 George Harris, bp. 21 February 1817, Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire, d. 28 November 1851 at Swindon, Wiltshire. George m. Mary Ann Spinks, at an unknown place around 1837. Mary Ann was bp. 28 February 1813, Spalding, Lincolnshire, the daughter of James Reeves Spinks, bricklayer of Spalding, and his wife Mary Hall. Mary (Spinks) Harris died 1 January 1852 at Swindon, Wiltshire.

1.1.1 Isabella Harris, b. circa 1935, London, possibly died June Qtr 1850, Swindon, Wiltshire
1.1.2 Elizabeth Harris, b. circa 1838, Stand, London
1.1.3 George Harris, b. circa 1839, Strand, London
1.1.4 Lucy Harris, b.circa 1842, Holborn, London, d. 8 June 1912, Toowoomba, Qld, m.25 May 1870, Alfred Merritt
1.1.5 William Harris, b.30 Sep 1844, Swindon, Wiltshire, d.6 March 1894, Maryborough, Qld, m.26 Jan 1867, Caroline Lebherz
1.1.6 James Harris, b.circa 1845, Swindon, Wiltshire
1.1.7 Rachel Harris, b. circa 1847, Swindon, Wiltshire
1.1.8 Mary Harris, b. circa 1849, Swindon, Wiltshire
1.1.9 Thomas Harris, b.circa 1850, Swindon, Wiltshire
1.1.10 ? Harris, (unnamed male) b.circa 31 December 1851, d.circa 1 January 1852, Swindon, Wiltshire

1.1.5.1 William George Harris, (15 Dec 1867-11 Dec 1937), m.Elizabeth Marion McMurray
1.1.5.2 Alfred James Harris, (26 Sep 1869-6 Jan 1928), m.Emily Mills
1.1.5.3 Charles Edward Harris, (15 Oct 1871-24 May 1943), m.Mary Teresa Zimmer
1.1.5.4 Helen Louisa Harris, (4 Aug 1873-13 Oct 1969), m.William Barker Myles
1.1.5.5 Lucy Caroline Harris, (11 Jul 1875-11 Sep 1947), m.(i) Augustus Henry Graham Elwell, (ii) Alexander Gick
1.1.5.6 Emily Suett Harris, (23 Jun 1877-? ), m.William Sidney Adams
1.1.5.7 Edith Maris Harris, (1 Aug 1879-3 May 1955), m.Richard Brassey Maudsley
1.1.5.8 Thomas Henry Harris, (31 Aug 1881-4 Jul 1882)
1.1.5.9 Percy Albert Harris, (17 Jul 1883- ?), m.Margaret Elizabeth Bush
1.1.5.10 Ethel Minnie Harris, (2 Jul 1886-1976?), m.George Morely Dowse
1.1.5.11 Amy Maud Harris, (17 Aug 1888- ?), m.Alan Richard Vary




THE STORY OF WILLIAM HARRIS - MAYOR OF MARYBOROUGH, QUEENSLAND, 1893


According to the Harris family bible, now in the possession of a granddaughter living in Maryborough, Queensland, WILLIAM HARRIS was born on 30 September 1844. An Englishman, his birthplace was Swindon in the Borough of Thamesdown in Wiltshire - some ten miles north-east of the site of Stonehenge. This area has a long and interesting history stretching back to Neolithic times, but the Harris family's links with it appear to have been tenuous. The crucial event which brought the Harris family - and many other like them - to Swindon was the advent of the railways. Railway expansion all over the world is a recurring and important factor in many of my ancestors' movements, and the Harris family is no exception.

William Harris was the second son and fourth child in a family of at least nine children. His father was named GEORGE HARRIS. George was the son of THOMAS HARRIS, originally a butcher but later inn keeper of the Bull & Butcher at Ludgershall in Buckinghamshire - around 40 miles north-east of Swindon.

bull&but.jpg
Bull & Butcher, Ludgershall, June 1999
thanks to Mike for this photo


William's mother, MARY ANN SPINKS, was originally from Spalding in Lincolnshire - quite a distance away from the Harris family's roots. The Spinks family appears to have scattered, several groups settling at Wolverton in Buckinghamshire. This may explain how George Harris and Mary Spinks came to meet.

By 1835, George and Mary had married and were living in London.  In 1841 they were at Rose Alley in the Parish of St Andrew, Holborn where George worked as a Driver.  They seem to have remained in London until shortly before William's birth at Swindon. Their very common surname, compounded by the family's possible non-conformity (ie: they may have been Wesleyans or Methodists), has made researching this family rather difficult.

Swindon, previously a small agricultural and quarrying town, was undergoing a radical change at the time of the Harris family's settlement there. In 1835, the Great Western Railway had come to town and subsequently a locomotive works was established there in 1842. These factors saw the population skyrocket and, amongst that wave of newcomers, the Harris family arrived in town. It seems likely that George Harris obtained employment in the locomotive works as he was later described as a "smith striker".

The family appears to have stayed in Swindon for around eight years. In the census of 1851, they were to be found at 26 Westcott Place and had a lodger living with them. Their tiny, two-story terrace house still stands, drab and nondescript, opening straight onto the street - a recent photo shows that block of homes silhouetted against grey skies and fronted by an even greyer street. It is amazing to think that this small dwelling housed eleven people!


swindon.jpg
Westcott Place, Swindon, early 1990s
thanks to Bill for this photo


Tragedy struck the family late in 1851. George Harris succumbed to a month long condition described as "congestion and dropsy" dying on 28 November. Mary, pregnant with their ninth child, lasted only a month. She died of "pleurisy and premature confinement" on the 1st day of 1852. Her baby son also died. This left the eight Harris children orphans.

At this time, Mary Harris' brother, Roger (aka George) Spinks, lived at Wolverton, with his wife, Eleanor, and their daughters (Eleanor, Mary, Ann and Jennet). There, Roger kept an inn called "The Locomotive". Later information indicates that he also operated as a brewer and aerated water manufacturer at Wolverton.

Following his parents' deaths, Roger and Eleanor Spinks took at least William Harris to live with them. The fate of William's four sisters and three brothers is uncertain, though he appears to have at least retained contact with his sister, Lucy, who was two years his senior. Perhaps she was also raised by the Spinks.

William spent eight years living with his uncle and during this time learned the trade of brewing and aerated water manufacturing. In 1857, the second Spinks daughter, Mary, married an engineer named James Gifford at Wolverton. The young couple immediately set sail for Victoria, Australia. This seems to have been the catalyst in the immigration of various members of the Spinks and Harris to Australia. Around 1860, Roger and Eleanor, along with their daughters, Eleanor and Jennet, also immigrated, reputedly to Victoria, though no records can be found to substantiate this fact. By 1861, the family was living in Queensland. There is no indication that the remaining daughter, Ann Spinks, ever came to Australia.

When the Spinks family immigrated, William Harris stayed behind in England, where he became apprenticed to a blacksmith with the appropriate name of James Smith. Thus, William gained two useful trades which would stand him in good stead in the years to come. Soon, he would also embark on a new life.

On 18 June 1865, William and his unmarried sister, Lucy, left London on board the ship Empress of the Seas for Queensland, Australia. Also on board was a Thomas Harris and it is possible that this was their brother, though an age discrepancy raises some doubts. In the shipping list, Thomas Harris' entry is marked "dead" and he was probably one of the many casualties who died from diarrhoea during the three-month voyage.

William and Lucy Harris disembarked in Rockhampton, Queensland, in October 1865. They seem to have travelled almost immediately to Ipswich, west of Brisbane, where Roger Spinks and his family had settled. There, Roger worked as a railway gate keeper. Ipswich was a bustling rail centre at the time, and it is not surprising to find that William also quickly obtained employment as a blacksmith there. It is unclear just where Lucy first lived, but in time she moved to Toowoomba, where she worked as a milliner.

After only 15 months in Queensland, William married a young German immigrant by the name of CAROLINE LEBHERZ. Their wedding took place on 26 January 1867 at the Wesleyan Parsonage, Ipswich. William was aged 23 years to Caroline's 19.

Following their marriage, William and Caroline took up residence in Canning Street, North Ipswich, where William had obtained three allotments of land. At that time, North Ipswich was largely a railway community and the families living there were close knit and would remain so even when many had moved on to new locations. There, William and Caroline became parents to four sons and four daughters, born between 1867 and 1881. According to information later given, William continued to work for the railways, where he acted as foreman ... and made the first forgings of worked scrap iron in the colony for dredges... He also appears to have undertaken some contract work for the railways as well.

On 14 July 1882, William and Caroline's infant son,Thomas Henry Harris, died of convulsions at their North Ipswich home. The following month, and perhaps as a result of this crisis, the family moved to the thriving coastal city of Maryborough.

According to information he would later supply, William went to Maryborough to take up an engagement with Tooth & Co. Other records show that he worked at the Vulcan Foundry in Richmond Street, Maryborough, where machinery for mines and sugar mills was manufactured and some ship building took place. The move to Maryborough was a turning point in William's life, however, and a major career change was about to take place.

William next returned to the business he had learned under the tutelage of his uncle in Buckinghamshire. He purchased a half share in an aerated water business operated by Wrench & Co. in 1883, buying it fully the following year. Apparently, the venture was a success and soon William moved the business into larger premises with the latest machinery, turning out 800 to 1000 dozen bottles per day. It seems that his premises were on the corner of Ferry and Ellena Streets, Maryborough, and that the family's residence was situated in front of the factory. Stone ginger bottles, bearing the mark Wm. Harris Maryboro in either red, blue or black print, are still to be found.

A further three children were born in Maryborough - one son and two daughters.

Only three years after arriving in Maryborough, William Harris was elected to Maryborough Municipal Council as an Alderman. As well as his council activities, William was involved with the Maryborough Water Works, Maryborough Fire Brigade and was a member of the Oddfellows Lodge and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. His status in Maryborough was sufficiently high for him to be one of only a handful of identities who were featured with short biographical articles in the Aldine History of Queensland published in 1888.

After seven years as an Alderman, William became Mayor of Maryborough, after a rather comical dispute caused the previous Mayor to resign. He did not remain in the position for long, however, as his health was failing fast. Late in November 1893, the local paper reported that he was suffering "severe illness".

wmharris.jpg
The only known photo of William Harris


William Harris died at his Ferry Street home on 6 March 1894 of gastro enteritis and phthisis (tuberculosis). He was aged only 49 years and had achieved a lot in a relatively short lifetime. His Church of England funeral, described as "largely attended", took place the following day and the cortege was followed by Oddfellows, Fire Brigade and Aldermen to the Maryborough Cemetery where he was buried in Grave L-189. Obituaries appeared in local papers soon after. William's grave, later shared by his wife, was marked by a tall headstone, which has since fallen and broken.

As to the rest of the family...
bufly2.gif

Charles Harris took over his father's Maryborough business which he continued to operate for some years. His brothers and sisters all married and scattered throughout South-East Queensland. Many were creatively inclined and some of the girls were talented artists. Descendants of the family have a tendency to chest problems - an unwelcome legacy from the Harris family!

Lucy Harris married Alfred Merritt. The Merritts farmed near Toowoomba where Merritt's Creek is named after them. Two of their beautiful homes still stand - one at Highfields - and the other Dennis House in Toowoomba, which is classified by the National Trust and is currently home to the local radio station.

William Harris' cousins, Eleanor and Jennet Spinks both married in Queensland, though their spouses had each come from Wolverton in Buckinghamshire. Jennet's husband, Henry Horniblow, earned himself a place in Queensland history, becoming Chief Mechanical Engineer for Queensland Railways. He is featured in various history books. Eleanor married Edred Heady Blunt and they seem to have lived out their lives around Ipswich.

Roger Spinks died in 1869, followed by his wife, Eleanor, in 1887. Their daughter, Mary Gifford, died at Adelong in Victoria in 1899. To date, no trace has been found of Ann Spinks, nor of the other brothers and sisters of William Harris. I would be pleased to hear from anyone having information on any of these people.



SOURCES

Death Certificate, George Harris, Dec Qtr 1851, Swindon, VIII 257
Death Certificate, Mary Ann Harris, Mar Qtr 1852, Swindon, 5a/7
W.F. Morrison, The Aldine History of Queensland, Part II, Sydney, Aldine Publishing Company, 1888, p.78.
Passenger List, Empress of the Seas, QSA.
Health Officer's Report, Empress of the Seas, QSA COL/A72 1765/2781.
1841 and 1851 Census Returns, Wolverton, Buckinghamshire
1851 Census Return, Swindon, Wiltshire
1861 Census Return, Wolverton, Buckinghamshire
Qld Marriage Certificate, William Harris & Caroline Lebherz, 26 January 1867.
Qld Marriage Certificate, Lucy Harris & Alfred Merritt, 25 May 1870.
Qld Death Certificate, William Harris, 6 March 1894.
Ipswich Rate Books, 1881, held QSA.
"Municipal Council", Maryborough Chronicle, 27 April 1892.
Maryborough Chronicle, November 1893.
"Funeral Notice", "Death", "General News", Maryborough Chronicle, 7 March 1894.
"Local and General News", Wide Bay and Burnett News, 8 March 1894.


Locate the Australian places mentioned on this page?

Locate the English places mentioned on this page?


Like to contact me? quill.gif
Back to Pam's Genealogy & Local History back.gif