Edmund Bull – New Freugh Station

Frances and Edmund Bull in Sydney

When they came to Australia under the bounty scheme via the ‘Herald’ in 1845, Edmund Bull recorded his occupation as ‘farm labourer’, his wife as Frances as a ‘Cook’. Frances’s place of birth was Whitwell and her parents were Morris and Anne Lot [sic]. Like the Gray’s the Bull family lost their youngest child Phoebe on the voyage out.¹

Death of Frances Bull in Sydney

Unfortunately Frances Bull nee Lock died 20 March 1846 in Sydney. Her NSW Old Burial record 59/1846 V184659 109 is very scant on details taken from the Wesleyan Burials in the Sydney Circuit in the County of Cumberland from the 1^st day of March to the 31^st day of March 1846, her name recorded as Frances Bull, ber age as 30yrs, her ‘abode’ as Sydney indicating Frances was living in Sydney prior to her death, and the Minister who conducted the burial as Rev Samuel Wilkinson.²

There are two records in 1845 in the Gazette notices for unclaimed letters which relate to Edmund Bull, in October 1845 Mr Edmund Bull, Pyrmont and in November 1845 Mr Edmond Bull at Patrick’s Plains. This does at least indicate there may have been some kind of connection for Edmund Bull in Sydney or perhaps two Edmund Bull’s.

We will never likely know why Frances was in Sydney, perhaps she was unwell or needed care in relation to childbirth. There is no indication on the record that Edmund or others were with Frances perhaps highlighted by the fact that no details of parents, death date, profession are contained in the record. If she was unwell alongside churches in Sydney there were also several charitable societies and hospitals. Perhaps she was in Sydney for work or any other number of reasons but at that time it would have been a significant journey to undertake from New Freugh Station to Sydney.

The Minister who is recorded as conducting Frances’ burial was Rev Samuel Wilkinson who was by all accounts a kind man who visited the sick and informed. Described in his obituary as ‘a man with a large heart who loved the poor and afflicted. He regularly visited the hospitals for the sick, the leper hospital, the ragged schools, and the blind institutions. Since his death the relatives have recived kind letters from the hospital authorities testifying to his unselfish and disinterested work among the suffering.’ He was ministering in the Sydney circuit from 1844 for about a year, then Geelong for a year before being sent to the Hunter circuit when it is recorded in late September 1846 he was taking up Grants of land on behalf of the church. In July and August of 1846 he is recorded in Sydney working on behalf of the Board of the Benevolent Asylum as well as attending Governor Gipps farewell on 15 July. It is interesting to see the interconnections between different people in such a small population in the Colony. It is possible Rev Wilkinson could have crossed paths with Edmund Bull in the Hunter area where he attended the Wesley Missions Conference throughout the 1840’s before was working on the Hunter circuit from late 1846 until 1849.

Unfortunately death certificates or registrations from this time period do not record the cause of death. In a book of records – Sydney burial ground 1819-1901: (Elizabeth and Devonshire streets) and history of Sydney’s early cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. The City of Sydney Archives state: This commemorative volume is published to mark the Centenary of the resumption of the Sydney Burial Grounds and removal of remains between January – May 1901.–P. 8 The record from this book states: ³

Person ID:	PN12433
Last Name:	BULL
Given Names:	Frances
Death Date:	20 Mar 1846
Age:	30
Relationships:	left widower and 3 children
NSW Births Deaths Marriages Ref. (death unless indicated):	59/1846 V184659 109
Prime Source:	J and S Reinter Reg
Johnson and Sainty page:	Page 186
Other source(s):	Aust. Cem. Index
Where reinterred:	Bunnerong.
J and S Bunnerong transcript number:	2604
J and S People on Bunnerong transcript:	PN12433

Further notes from the ‘Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901’

Appendix 2 “Re-internment Register” says Frances Bull  Died 14/4/1846 Cemetery Bunn Sect 1S Nr 61 (page 186)

Index 2 “Re-internment register” Sect WE-B Plot 132 Cat D (D = deceased)

Index 3 “Monumental inscriptions – Bunnerong (1969)  says Frances Bull 2604

Appendix 3 “Monumental inscriptions – at Bunnerong (1969) 2604 (page 399)

“Frances BULL died 20th March 1846 aged 50 years, leaving a husband and 3 children (U_G)” ⁴

The Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) has two records for Frances Bull:

Name of the deceased: BULL, Frances; Died: 14/04/1846; Religion: Wesleyan; Transferred to Bunnerong, Section: 1S, Plot: 61 [Biog Item No. 400018758] Pub 1901.⁵

This record indicates there was a headstone in 2001 at the reinternment at Bunnerong Cemetery which had been transferred from the original Frances BULL died 20th March 1846 aged 50 years, leaving a husband and 3 children. [Type and Condition of Monument: Upright – Good – Wesleyan-Methodist Section]. [Biog Item No. 400212604] Pub 2001.⁶

The index for the cemetery can be viewed here: Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known incorrectly as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney

The find a grave website has updated information from a contributor which states: In 1901, the cemetery was resumed to allow for the development of Central railway station, Sydney and representatives of deceased persons buried in the Devonshire Street cemetery were given two months to arrange for exhumation and removal of remains from the cemetery … The remains that were unclaimed were relocated to a purpose-built cemetery named Bunnerong Cemetery … Bunnerong Cemetery was next to the Botany Cemetery and, in the early 1970s, was absorbed by that cemetery to create the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park.

The Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 states regarding the Bunnerong cemetery at Botany: Of approximately 4500 monuments surviving in 1901, about 2800 were relocated on 25 acres of government land adjoining Bunnerong Rd La Perouse and the existing Botany Cemetery which had been set aside in 1888. ⁷

The NSW State Archives have a Devonshire Street Cemetery Reinterment Index 1901 which contains a record for Frances Bull Index – INX-89-3022.⁸ This record is at odds with the Old Burial Registry record for the burial of Frances stating her date of death as 14 April 1846.

After requesting a photograph on the Find a Grave two images of France Bull’s headstone monument have been added to her memorial on that website.

Edmund Bull and Mary Jane Sands – Marriage at New Freugh

The Bull and Gray families were at New Freugh in early May when Edmund Bull married Mary Jane Sands, one of the ‘Earl Gray Orphans’ from Ireland on 15 May 1849 listing ‘New Freugh’ as their address. George Gray was a witness to the marriage; his address was also given as ‘New Freugh’.⁹

Mary Jane Sands

Mary Jane Sands was born in Banbridge, County Down around 1829
to parents James and Eliza who by the time she emigrated to the new colony were recorded as ‘deceased. Mary came on the ship the ‘Earl Gray’, an online memorial to these orphans explains: ‘The young women who came to the Australian colonies during the Famine years of 1848 to 1850 were from workhouses in all 32 counties throughout Ireland. All were destitute and many had lost their parents and families, so were’orphans’ in the modern sense of the word. Others were simply unable to support themselves within the family.’ ¹⁰ Mary had been in a workhouse before emigrating, she arrived in Sydney on 6 October 1848 where it is recorded: ‘Shipping: farm house servant, reads only, no relatives in colony. Empl. Mr J Birkenshaw, Sydney as house servant, £10, 1 year; married widower Edmund Bull 1849; 3 step-children, 10 children; owned property Newcastle; died Charlestown 1903.‘ ¹¹

The story of Mary Jane Sands has been told on the Irish Famine Memorial website by Karen Semien and a direct descendent of Mary Jane and Edmund Bull, Lyn Goll.¹²

George Abner Gray & Uncle Edmund Bull

When George Gray married again on 29 July 1850 and his son George Abner, recounts in his journal of the wedding night telling a little of his Uncle Edmund Bull and his family; ‘The day of the wedding I was sent back to the station as I expect I was likely to be a nucance.
At the station were my Uncle and cousins, also the old cook I spoke of ... My Uncle tried everything to pasify me but for no use, I cept crying and he put me to bed. I still cryed and about 9 p.m. he came in and comenced to bounce me, that was enough, I got my temper up, said nothing and soon thought out my plan of escape. When my Uncle came into the room I was still as death, he thought I was fast asleep, After I heard him go to bed I got out of bed, took my close, boots and hat open the dore and went into the dark – no moon but starlight. Then went as hard as I could along a narrow cattle track through the bush about 2 miles to my Faddy … Next morning over came my Uncle to see what had become of me. When told I had come over during the night, he could not believe a child could find his way in the dark on such a small track. But I did although only about 5 years old.’ ¹³ In fact George Abner Gray was just four years old as he was born in August 1846.

Frances and Edmund Bull had four children all born on the Isle of Wight, their youngest child died on the voyage to the new colony of New South Wales. Their daughters married and remained in the Hunter, their son moved to the adjacent area of Stroud.

1. Frances “Fanny” Bull : 1838 Shanklin – 1895, Carrington, NSW
2. Ann Bull : 1839, Shanklin – 1896 Blue Gum Flat, Wallsend NSW
3. Edmund Ernest Bull : 1842 Shanklin – 1921, Stroud NSW
4. Phebe Grace Bull : 1844 Hampshire – 1845 on ship voyage to NSW

References

1. _{NSW State Archive Immigration Records: Edmund BULL 27 Herald 1845 Sydney and/or Newcastle Reel 2135, [4/4785] Page 221; Reel 2455, [4/4902]}
2. _{NSW BDM – Death Registration – Frances Bull – Registration Number: 59/1846 V184659 109}
3. _{Sydney burial ground 1819-1901: (Elizabeth and Devonshire streets) and history of Sydney’s early cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty. https://gutenberg.net.au/Devonshire-street/people/PersonPN12433.html}
4. _{Published book: Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 and History of Sydney’s Early Cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A Johnson and Malcolm R Sainty, LAH 2001, Sydney. Transcribed from original volume now held by SRNSW. See Information pages for more details.; Book entry number: 132.}
5. _{Published book: Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 and History of Sydney’s Early Cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A Johnson and Malcolm R Sainty, LAH 2001, Sydney. Transcribed from original volume now held by SRNSW. See Information pages for more details.; Book entry number: 132.}
6. _{Published book: Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 and History of Sydney’s Early Cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A Johnson and Malcolm R Sainty, LAH 2001, Sydney. Appendix 3 – Monumental Inscriptions at Bunnerong Cemetery transferred from the Sydney Burial Ground in 1901. Monuments transcribed by Johnson & Sainty 1969-1970.}
7. _{Sydney burial ground 1819-1901: (Elizabeth and Devonshire streets) and history of Sydney’s early cemeteries from 1788 by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty.}
8. _{BULL Frances Devonshire Street Cemetery Reinterment Index 1901 File No: 132 | Citation: NRS 15513 [p.113]; Reel 3721}
9. _{Marriage Register Whittingham – Parish of New Freugh – Marriage – Edmund Bull & Mary Jane Sands – 15 May 1849 Singleton Marriage Register, 1840 – 1870 Page 21 – Newcastle Anglican Register, University of Newcastle}
10. _{Irish Famine Memorial Sydney : Orphans – https://irishfaminememorial.org/orphans/}
11. _{Irish Famine Memorial Sydney : Mary Jane Sands – Details page https://irishfaminememorial.org/details-page/?pdb=5500}
12. _{Orphan Profile: Mary Jane Sands from Banbridge, Co. Down by Karen Semkin with research assistant Lyn Goll https://irishfaminememorial.org/wp-content/uploads/participants-database/mary_jane_sands_earl_grey.pdf}
13. _{The Journal of George Abner Gray 1846 – 1941 from the Original Clarence River Historical Society Grafton Second Edition 1975 page 12}
14. _{The Journal of George Abner Gray 1846 – 1941 from the Original Clarence River Historical Society Grafton Second Edition 1975 page 6}