Thomas Ireland Brinsmead
Thomas Ireland Brinsmead is one of the more elusive Australian Brinsmeads. We have found no photograph of him or his wife, and cannot be certain when and how he arrived in Australia. He was born in the parish of Alwington, in the subdistrict of Parkham, in Devon on July 25, 1841, the son of William and Ann Brinsmead. His birth was registered by his mother Ann on August 9, 1841. She is listed as living at Ford, which is a very small village just North of Alwington and a couple of miles to the West of Bideford. Thomas was his paternal Grandfather's name and Ireland was his maternal grandmother's maiden name.
It is likely that William and Ann had moved to Alwington to farm sometime after 1839 when the Methodist members of the family, particularly brothers Henry and William, ran into difficulties with the Rolle Estate in St. Giles in the Wood. We know that William and Ann left North Devon for Australia in 1851. What is not clear is whether Thomas Ireland went with them, or travelled alone either or before or after his parents. The Shipping News from Adelaide speaks only of William, his wife and two children, which we presume to be William and Mary Ann, who would be too young to stay behind or travel alone.
Ballarat
Thomas Ireland Brinsmead's line are referred to as The Ballarat Brinsmeads". We do not know when Thomas first arrived there, but his decision to go there almost certainly was due to the discovery of gold in the area in 1851. The town was the centre of the goldfields that later brought many Devonians to Australia. His Uncle Henry certainly went up there for a time (to Buninyong, just south of Ballarat) in 1851 as did the two Hackwill boys, so perhaps Thomas went with them and chose to settle there. There were regular lines of communication between Ballarat and Geelong as supplies were brought in and gold taken out. The picture to the left reads "Stores Being Brought To Ballarat From Geelong About 1856"
Marriage to Elizabeth Kate Jackson
Thomas Ireland Brinsmead married at 26 years of age in Ballarat, Victoria in 1867. His wife Elizabeth Kate Jackson was born in London, England.
The couple had a total of nine children, one of whom (Elizabeth Anne, b. 1874 d. 1875) died in infancy. We can follow the family's movements from the children's birthplaces. Kate Sarah (b. 1868) and Frederick William (b. 1872) were born in Ballarat. Elizabeth Anne was born in Lambton, New South Wales and the remaining children: Elizabeth Alice (b.1879), Florence (b.1877), Theresa (b. 1881), Elsie May (b. 1883), Thomas Horace (b. 1886) and Lillian (b. 1891) were all born in nearby Wallsend. Lambton and Wallsend are both suburbs of Newcastle, located north of Sydney at the point the Hunter River enters the Tasman Sea. We have no information as to why the family left Ballarat for Newcastle. However, Newcastle, and Wallsend in particular, was a significant coal mining centre and perhaps it was mining experience that prompted the move. In the 1901 Newcastle Directory he is listed as a Miner, living in Chinaman's flats. His son, Frederick William, certainly worked in the coal mines at Wallsend.
Deaths
Elizabeth died before Thomas, in 1901 in Wallsend. Thomas died 8 years later, on April 21, 1909, also in Wallsend.
Kate Sarah Brinsmead
Eldest daughter Kate married William Humphreys in 1887 in Wallsend. They had a total of eight children, one boy and seven girls although at least one of the girls died as a young infant. The family lived in Wallsend.
Frederick William Brinsmead
Frederick William Brinsmead was born in the Ballarat area. He married twice; first, on March 8, 1893, in Sydney, New South Wales, to Sarah Helena Hay. This marriage ended in divorce in late 1897.
His second marriage was on March 28, 1901 in Woonona, New South Wales, to Florence Agnes Pepper. The couple had a total of 10 children. He may have gone by the name William rather than Frederick. The children's birthplaces suggest the family lived in Bulli and Woonona, both suburbs of Wollongong which, like Newcastle, is a coal mining centre.
Frederick William Brinsmead worked at the Illawarra Colliery. In 1911, following a difficult labour dispute, he sought an injunction to prevent his Union, the llawarra Colliery Employees Association from making a subscription to a national coal miners union to support a newspaper and the election of labour candidates..
He died in July, 1945 while Florence Agnes died six years later, at age 72, in July 1951. At the time of their deaths they lived at 23 William Street, Bulli.
Elizabeth Anne Brinsmead
Elizabeth Anne was born in Lambton, New South Wales in 1874 but died the following year.
Florence M. M. Brinsmead
Florence was born in Wallsend in 1877. She married Thomas Henry Stepney in 1895 at age 18. The couple had two children; Florence Keren born in 1900 and Thomas Henry born in 1905. They lived at Roxton, Chandros Street, Haberfield, New South Wales (a suburb of Sydney). Daughter Florence married Mr. Leslie Winkworth in 1923.
Florence died at age 85 in 1962. Her husband Henry died at age 50 in 1923.
Elizabeth Alice Eva Brinsmead
Born in Wallsend in 1879, Elizabeth Alice was first married to a John Parker. There wedding was on December 23, 1908 at Christ Church St. Lawrence, Sydney (Church of England). There marriage lasted 30 years, but then ended in divorce. They had no children. In giving evidence at the divorce trial, Elizabeth said that married life was happy until her husband went into business at Cessnock, but later gave up that business and left to take up a position in Sydney. Elizabeth got work and lived in Newcastle while she waited for her husband to make a home for her which he failed to do leading to their divorce. Elizabeth remarried, to Masters Childs Oxlee, at Redfern, New South Wales in 1946. She died in Newcastle in 1966.
Theresa Evelyn Ann Brinsmead
Theresa was born in Wallsend in 1881. In 1903, in Wallsend, she married Richard Owens. She passed away in 1960.
Elsie May Brinsmead
Elsie May Brinsmead was born in 1883 in Wallsend. She married William John Lyon in Newcastle in 1900. She passed away on March 18, 1967 in Newton, New South Wales.
Thomas Horace Henley Brinsmead
Thomas Horace Henley Brinsmead was born on May 9, 1886. In 1911, in Wallsend, he married Annie Dryburg. They had one child, a son Thomas Leslie Brinsmead born on December 19, 1911. In 1917, the couple were living in Chinaman's Flat in Wallsend. Annie learnt that her brother, Private Leslie Dryburg was killed in action at Fromelles, in France, on July 20, 1916, having been missing in action for several months. The battle has been described as "the worst 24 hours in Australian Military History".
Son Thomas Leslie married in 1942 to Gladys May Owen. He died in 1979 and she died in 1996, both in Newcastle. They had one daughter. It is believed Thomas Jnr. worked as a butcher.
Thomas Snr. appears to have remained in Wallsend his entire life. He must have been been something of a musician as several newspaper articles refer to his playing at events, usually on the piano or as part of a group.
Thomas died in September, 1966 at age 90. Annie died in Wallsend in 1969 at age 77
Lillian Brinsmead
The youngest in the family, Lillian Brinsmead was born in 1891 in Wallsend. In 1908, she had a daughter, Eileen. In 1912 she married Frank Austral Myers (b.1885) in Hamilton, New South Wales. In 1929, he applied to transfer a liscence to operate the bar at the Cleveland Hotel, Buckingham Street, Surry Hills to a purchaser, so presumably prior to then at least, he had been a publican. In 1934 they were living in Annandale. They had one son Sydney Austral Myers who married Edna Doris Holmes in 1938 in Marrickville. Sydney died in 1990. Lillian passed away in 1969 in Balmain South (Sydney), New South Wales.