Jane Baker / Carne (1822 - 1907)

Jane Carne, with her husband and four young children departed Plymouth, England on 14 October 1854 along with 201 other people on the Medway bound for Port Philip, Australia.  It is possible that Jane had never left Plymouth before boarding the Medway. The young couple had presumably decided that the new Colony offered more opportunities than remaining in England. I wonder if Jane ever regretted this decision, thinking she might have avoided certain heartaches if they had stayed in Devon, England. Then again, life for a woman in the 19th Century was expected to be difficult, and despite a number of tragic events, Jane lived a long and full life with many wonderful occasions to celebrate.

Jane was born on 18 May 1822 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, now an inner suburb of Plymouth. She was the daughter of Mary (nee Hundrey) and William Baker, a bricklayer. Jane was baptised on 18 June 1826 at the Independent Mount Zion Church in Devonport, along with two younger siblings. This area was relatively affluent at the time and the Baker family lived at 30 Queen Street, about 250 metres from the coastline. Jane’s father died before the 1841 Census: but it is difficult to determine exactly when (William Baker is a very common name).

On 20 April 1845 Jane married William John Carne at East Stonehouse Parish Church, very close to Stoke Damerel. William was a mason and he also came from a relatively well off family.

Jane and William had nine children together. The first five were born when they lived in Stoke Damerel:

Mary Jane, born at the end of 1845

Henry, born 1848

Ellen, born in 1850 and died on 26 July 1852

William Henry, born in May 1852

Ellen, named after her older sister and born at 4:00 am on 13 May 1854. Ellen was only five months old when the family migrated to Australia.

The family arrived in Melbourne in January 1855 and lived in Bedford Street, Collingwood. A further four children were born:

James Baker, born in 1857

Alfred Harris, born in 1859

Caroline, born in 1861, and died on 29 November 1862

Fanny Elizabeth, born in July 1863, when Jane was 41.

Jane’s younger brother also migrated to Australia with his wife.  He was a carpenter, but became a teacher in Wyndham. William’s brother, John, his wife, Mary and their children lived in the same street in Collingwood as Jane and William.  The two families had also lived in the same address in Granby Street. 

Tragedy hit both Carne families on Christmas Day in 1865.  Some of the children decided to go Merri Creek for an afternoon swim. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but it was a public holiday and the weather was sunny and fine. William dived from the bank head first and came up on his back. His cousin Samuel immediately saw this and called out an alarm before jumping in fully clothed in order to assist his cousin.  He grabbed hold of him, but wasn’t able to swim.  Henry saw that Samuel was struggling and so he rushed in to help him.  Meanwhile Samuel’s brother, George, managed to find a police officer who came to the waterhole to help, but they were too late and all three boys had drowned. The inquest noted that none of the boys could swim. As a result of the accident it was recommended that notice boards should be put up advising the varying depth of the waterholes and that safety equipment should be kept at the Northcote Police Station. It must have been devastating to lose two sons and their cousin in such a way.

In 1875 Jane and William became grandparents with the birth of Ellen Jane (daughter of Ellen). Ellen, James and Alfred all had a number of children (the brothers married two sisters). Alfred was a Methodist Minister and went to Samoa as a missionary. Mary married, but did not have any children.

Jane’s youngest daughter Fanny Elizabeth died on 23 June 1884 when she was just 20 years 11 months.

Then, after 48 years of marriage, William John died on Saturday 25 November 1893, when the couple was living in Prospect Grove, Northcote.

Jane in about 1890

Jane would also have been concerned about the death in 1989 of Alfred’s wife, Mary, who had moved to South Australia upon their return to Australia.  The couple had six children. Alfred married a young widow in 1900 and they had a further four children.

Jane’s first great grandchild was born in 1900 when she was 78.  Someone wisely suggested that a studio photo be taken of the four generations: Jane, Ellen, Ellen Jane and baby Albert Clifford Green.

Jane’s son James Baker died suddenly on 13 September 1904 when he was 47 years old.  He was visiting his son in Euroa at the time of his death, but was living in Williamstown and working for the Department of Ports and Harbours.  He had four children. James was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery in a gravesite that also mentioned Jane’s two children who had died as infants: Ellen in 1852 and Caroline in 1862.

Sadly some of Jane’s grandchildren died in the latter part of Jane’s life, including the young mother Ellen Jane.

Jane Carne was 85 when she died on 21 June 1907 in her daughter’s home at 166 McKean Street, Fitzroy North. Her husband and six of her children had pre-deceased her; but she was survived by three children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The notice in The Argus on Saturday 22 June read:

CARNE - On the 21st June, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs A. Joyce, 166 McKean-street, North Fitzroy, Jane, relict of the late William John Carne, of Collingwood, aged 85 years. No flowers by request. At rest.

She was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery the following day and was the last person to use the family plot. In September 2014 I visited the Carne family graves in Melbourne General Cemetery.  It is a reminder of the sad events that took place in Jane’s life.  The main gravesite is in the independent section of the Cemetery and is a double sized plot (long and thin) with a black stone obelisk and writing on seven white stone slabs: five around the four sides of the obelisk and two horizontal. It is not known which slab was the first to be used, and of the seven slabs, only two are legible.  The details are:

1.       Large, high slab at the front of the grave with only the name legible: William Henry Carne / age 13 yrs 7 mths.

2.       Smaller slab directly underneath slab 1, all details able to be read, but only just: In loving remembrance of Fanny Elizabeth Carne. Who departed this life in Hope of eternal life / through the merits of her dear redeemer / June 23^rd 1884 aged 20 years & 11 months. / She hath escaped all danger now/ Her pain and sighing all are fled / The crown of joy is on her brow / Eternal glories o'er her shed / In robes of white, a queen, a bride / She standeth at her Sovereign's side [Taken almost verbatim from verse two of the hymn “Now rests her soul in Jesu’s arms” by Johann Ludwig Conrad Allendorf (1725); Translator: Catherine Winkworth (1855)]

3.       Horizontal slab on the same side as 1 and 2, all words able to be read, but there is significant wearing and in time the words will fade: In Affectionate Remembrance of / William John Carne / who fell asleep in Jesus / November 25^th 1893 / Age 71 years / There remaineth therefore a rest / to the people of God [Taken from Hebrew 4:9, King James Bible]

4.       Large, high slab, in line with slab 1 and on the left side, only name is legible: Samuel Carne / age 17 yrs 2 mths.

5.       Large, high slab in line with slab 1, and on the right side, only name is legible:  and Henry Carne / 13 yrs

6.       Large, high slab in line and directly behind slab 1, totally illegible: Sacred to the memory of Henry & William Henry Carne / beloved sons of William John and Jane Carne / also Samuel Carne 1865 / their cousin.

7.       Horizontal slab on the same side as slab 6, totally illegible: In memory of Jane / beloved wife of W.J.Carne / died 21 Jun 1907, 85 years.

Carne Memorial at Melbourne General Cemetery

A second grave is located in Methodist Section A, which says:

CARNE

In memory of the children of William and Jane CARNE

Ellen, died 28 Jul 1852 at Devonport, Devon, England

age 2 years

also Caroline, died 29 Nov 1862 at Collingwood

age 13 months

also J.B. Carne

husband of Catherine Carne

died 19 Sep 1904, age 47

Ellen Carne

On 13 May 1854 at 29B Granby Street, Stoke Dameral (now an inner suburb of Plymouth, England), Ellen Carne was born.  She was the fifth child of Jane (nee Baker) and William John Carne.  One of the children had recently died and Ellen was named after this child.  She didn’t spend long in Stoke Dameral.  In January 1855 the young family set sail for Australia.  William John Carne was a mason – as was his father – and had presumably been enticed to Australia for work.  The family settled in Melbourne and a further four children were born.  Next door lived William’s brother, John Carne, and the two families were close (John Carne's family had also lived next door to the family when they were in Stoke Dameral).  

On Christmas day in 1865 some of the children went to Merri Creek, Northcote.  Ellen’s older brother William and his cousin Samuel were playing in the creek when they got into difficulty.  Ellen’s eldest brother went in to help the two boys, while George, Ellen’s cousin, ran to get help.  By the time assistance arrived, the three boys had disappeared and their bodies were found later in the day.  It is not known if Ellen was at the creek with her siblings.  This must have been a very difficult time for Ellen’s family…

When Ellen was 20 years old, she married Albert Samuel Joyce.  They married at her parents' home in Bedford Street, Collingwood on 5 January 1875.  Albert was a plumber and, like Ellen, had migrated to Melbourne as a young child with his family.  Ellen and Albert had eight children, the first child was born in late 1875: two of their daughters died as young children (in 1883 and 1890); the eldest son, William Frederick died (in 1898) when he was 20 (See entry for William Frederick Joyce).

Ellen's eldest daughter, Ellen Jane, married George Henry Green in 1898.  Ellen became a grandmother in 1900.  The photo below is of Albert Clifford Green with his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Quite an unusual feat in the early 1900s. 

Ellen Jane had a second son in 1904 but sadly died when she was 30 in 1905.

Her widower, George Henry Green, then married Emily Joyce – Ellen’s second daughter – in 1906, so Emily raised her sister's children plus they had one son together. 

Ellen and Albert lived in Stanley Street, Collingwood, before moving to 166 McKean Street, Collingwood and then to Beulah, George Street, Fitzroy.  Albert’s plumbing business was quite successful and they were financially comfortable.  Their youngest three children, Clarice Rose, Albert Charles and Leslie Samuel all married and had their own families.  Albert and Leslie both joined the newly formed Australian Public Service, much to the disappointment of Albert who wanted them to join his plumbing business. 

On 19 October 1927, Albert Samuel Joyce died.  Ellen continued to keep busy with visits to her family – her four children and 17 grandchildren – and she enjoyed a form of knitting called ‘tacking’.  One of her grandchildren remembers trying to help her out of the rocking chair she had on her deck.  Unfortunately Ellen then fell on top of her – over the years she had become a rather large woman - and her granddaughter felt quite squashed!

Ellen died on 7 August 1943 at the age of 89. 

Relationship to SNR = Great, great grandmother

William Frederick Joyce

On 5 July 1878, in Stanley Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, Ellen (nee Carne) gave birth to her first son.  She and her husband, Albert Samuel Joyce, already had two daughters.  They named their son William Frederick Joyce.

William was the name of Ellen's father and also the name of her brother closest in age to her who had tragically died in the Merri Creek when Ellen was 11 years old.

Albert Samuel Joyce was a plumber.  He had developed a type of milk bucket, which had become very popular due to it's effective lid - you still can pick up "Joyce Milk Buckets" - they make good letterboxes!  Albert and Ellen had a very comfortable life!  Following William, they had a further three girls (two of whom died young), then finished with two boys.

William was a committed Christian, and was very active in the George Street Baptist Church, Fitzroy.   Then one day he fell heavily - tripping on the footpath in Smith Street, Collingwood.  Probably now, 114 years later, he'd be taken to a hospital, with x-rays or an MRI to determine what was happening and whether his injury could be treated.  But they didn't have those options available.  So William's injury was left and it appeared that he had recovered.  Unfortunately he hadn't recovered!  I don't understand the science of his injury, but in the last five months of his life he suffered from extreme pain.  Through it all he remained cheerful and peaceful, living from day to day - very eager to talk to others about his faith.  He died on 16 November 1898, age 20, surrounded by his family and close friends.

We wouldn't know anything about his story, except that some time after his death a small booklet was written by Rev Edward Isaac, called "A Young Man's Dying Testimony".  And for the price of one penny, one could read the story of this admirable young man.  The language is flowery to the point of being a little "over the top", but it is a story from the heart written by someone who obviously liked William very much.  Fortunately one of William's younger brothers kept the booklet and I found it in his papers.  Without it, William Frederick Joyce's life would simply have read: born 5/7/1878 Collingwood; died 16/11/1898 Collingwood; no children...

(Relationship to SNR = Great-grandfather's brother)