The Kidd Family A Family History
The Bawn Family · George Bawn & Ellen McIntosh

The Eldest Son

George Richard Bawn

1841–?

Old enough to witness his own father’s second wedding at twenty — married himself at twenty-seven, and then untraceable.

Born
1841 · registered Sydney

George Richard was the eldest of George and Ellen’s eight children, born in 1841.1 He was old enough, twenty years later, to stand as a witness at his own father’s second wedding — to Mary Jane McIntosh, George’s own former sister-in-law — signing the register on 30 December 1861 alongside a Jane McIntosh.2

On 25 May 1868, described in the marriage notice as “eldest son of Mr. George Bawn, of Sydney,” he married Rebecca, eldest daughter of Mr David Parker, of Penrith, by the Rev. Dr Bailey of the Free Church of England.3 No document found in this research covers his life after that marriage.

A funeral notice from August 1869, for “the late Mr. George Bawn” of Burton Street, off South Head Road, cannot belong to his father, who is independently documented as alive well into 1870. Whether it belongs to George Richard instead — not yet eighteen months married — has not been established; no death or burial record has been found for him under either reading.4

The Record

Sources & References

  1. 1

    Birth, 1841

    NSW BDM birth index: George R. Bawn, reg. 220/1841, father George, mother Ellen.

  2. 2

    Witness, 1861

    NSW marriage registration transcription 1861/888: witnesses to George Bawn and Mary Jane McIntosh’s marriage, 30 December 1861, Scots Church, Sydney — George Richard Bawn and Jane McIntosh.

  3. 3

    Marriage, 1868

    Marriage notice, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 1868: “On the 25th of May, by the Rev. Dr. Bailey, of the Free Church of England, GEORGE RICHARD, eldest son of Mr. GEORGE BAWN, of Sydney, to REBECCA, eldest daughter of Mr. DAVID PARKER, of Penrith.”

  4. 4

    A funeral, August 1869

    Funeral notice, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 1869: “The Friends of the late Mr. George Bawn are invited to attend his Funeral; to move from his late residence, No. 92, Burton-street, off South Head Road...” Unresolved whether this is George Richard, his father (independently shown alive in 1870), or an unconnected namesake.