Seven Children, Two Grown
1839–1891
The firstborn, and the first of the ten to marry. She bore seven children and buried five of them; three of those graves are in the plot she came to lie in herself.
The eldest child of Stephen Robens and Sarah Ann Catt, and the first of the ten to marry.1 Where she was born is genuinely unsettled: a compiled family record says England, while an earlier account of this family has her born in Sydney on 1 November 1839, thirty-six days after her parents landed. Her parents did not reach Sydney until late September 1839, which makes an early November birth tight but not impossible — and a birth in Sussex shortly before they sailed at least as likely. No birth or baptism record has been found either way, and the question is left open.1
In 1865 she married George James Bennett, a Sydney-born carpenter who became a building contractor and, at the last, a grocer.23 Nothing of her own survives in her own words. Where her parents left an autobiography and a published memoir, this account of their eldest daughter rests almost entirely on registrations, rolls and cemetery records.
The next generation
The couple’s first home was on Union Street, Surry Hills — the same street, and quite possibly the same stretch of it, where Sarah’s own parents were living. The Camperdown parish register that records their first child’s burial gives the abode as Union Street and George’s occupation as carpenter.4
He rose from that trade. His 1916 deceased estate file describes him as a contractor, and by the end of his life he was trading as Bennett & Co., grocer, of George Street, Canterbury.56
Sarah and George had seven children in eleven years. Five died in infancy or childhood. Only Albert Edwin and Athelstane reached adulthood, and they took the family in opposite directions — one to the western suburbs of Sydney, one to north Queensland.
1867–1867
Five weeks old
The Camperdown parish burial register enters him at five weeks old, died 13 June and buried the next day, the family’s abode Union Street.47 A compiled family record gives his death as 6 June; the parish register was written at the time and is preferred.4
1869–1940
Baker, of Fairfield
The elder of the two who grew up. By 1933 he and Minnie were at Frederick Street, Fairfield, where he worked as a baker.89 His death registration names his mother’s maiden name as Robins — one of the many spellings this family attracts — and settles the district as Rockdale, not the Canterbury given in an earlier account.10
Two sons, Thomas W. and Frederick, have been reported for the marriage. No registration has been found for either, and they are not carried here as fact.
1870–1885
Died at fifteen
An earlier account had this boy dying in June 1876 at one year and nine months, in a scarlatina outbreak that supposedly took his brother Frederick too. Three independent records say otherwise: he was born in 1870 and died on 22 June 1885, and his headstone reads fourteen years and nine months.111213
That is not a discrepancy to be weighed but a correction. He was a boy of fifteen, not an infant, and he lies at Rookwood beside his mother.
1872–1876
His death in 1876 is confirmed by civil registration; the cause is not.14 The scarlatina story attached to it cannot be tested — no funeral notice has been found, and the outbreak it describes has already collapsed on his brother’s dates.
1875–1875
Four days old
Born and dead inside a week, in the same year his grandfather Stephen Robens died.15
1876–1876
Two days old
The third of the family in the Section 6 plot, and the youngest.1617 Two of Sarah’s children were dead within a year of each other, 1876 having taken both Frederick and Walter.
1878–1965
Fireman, then wharf labourer, of Townsville
The youngest, and the one who went furthest. He and Florence were in Townsville by 1913, where the roll has him a fireman on Macrossan Street.18 By 1943 a whole cluster of the family is on the North Queensland rolls: Athelstane, by then a wharf labourer, and Florence on Bell Street; their son Ernest George, a storeman, with his wife on Allen Street; and their son Leslie Athelstane with his wife on Nelson Street.19
At least three children are confirmed — Leslie Athalstane, Dorothy Irene (1910–1996), who married Thomas Henry Dicker in 1929, and Ernest George (1917–1986), who married Gunda Rosalind Swanson.202122 Ernest George’s two records disagree about his own birth year, 1917 on the registration and 1910 on the death entry; the registration, made at the time, is followed.22
Sarah died on 31 October 1891 in the Canterbury district, aged fifty-one — the day before what would have been her fifty-second birthday. Her death registration names her parents as Stephen R. and Sarah, which is what fixes her to this family.23
She was buried at Rookwood in Section 6, Row 4, in ground of the Old Presbyterian denomination.24 That is not where her own people lie. Stephen and Sarah Ann were buried in the Wesleyan ground — he had been a city missionary, she a Wesleyan class leader — and their eldest daughter went into Presbyterian ground instead, most likely following her husband’s family rather than her own upbringing.
Two of her children were already there and came to share the plot: Ernest George, dead at fifteen six years before her, and Walter Thomas, dead at two days old fifteen years before her. A woman of fifty-one, a boy of fifteen, and an infant of two days, in one row.
George remarried two years after Sarah’s death, to Sarah Jane Rosemond, in the Leichhardt district.25 Five children of that marriage are confirmed: George Oswald (1895–1974), who enlisted in the AIF in November 1916 as a certificated accountant of twenty-one; Vera Evangeline (b. 1896); Bertha Josephine (b. 1899), of whom nothing further has been found; Roy Rosemond (1900–1981), born at Windsor; and Eric Leslie (1902–1973).2627
George himself died on 21 April 1916, aged seventy-two, at his house on George Street, Canterbury.28 The funeral left for the Independent Cemetery at Rookwood by way of Ashfield Station, and the notices in the press were placed by his sons Albert Edwin and George Oswald — and by a brother, Henry William Bennett, “his beloved brother”.29
That brother is the first sign anyone has found that George James had a sibling at all, and it means his own parents, George and Ann, had more than one son.29 An earlier account described his father as Captain George Bennett, a master mariner of Lowestoft. His baptism at St Lawrence names his father simply as George Bennett, no occupation given, and his death registration records the father as “George – Forman”, which is almost certainly the trade of foreman rather than a surname. Neither the sea nor Lowestoft appears in any record found.3031
The Record
Sarah’s birth and identity
Compiled family record, Sarah Robens/Bennett (1839–1891). The birthplace is unresolved: the compiled record gives England, an earlier informal account gives Sydney on 1 November 1839. Her parents landed in late September 1839. No birth or baptism record has been located.
Marriage, 1865
NSW BDM marriage index — Sarah Robens and George James Bennett, 1865, Sydney, reg. no. 934.
George James Bennett
Baptism, St Lawrence, Sydney, son of George Bennett and Ann (FHL film 993955); born 1844, Sydney. Compiled family record for his life and children.
Camperdown parish burial register, 1867
Entry no. 15503 — William Henry Bennett, abode Union Street, died 13 June, buried 14 June 1867, aged 5 weeks, father’s occupation carpenter. The register is contemporary and is preferred over a compiled record giving 6 June.
Deceased estate file
NSW deceased estate file, George James Bennett, Canterbury, occupation Contractor, file no. Z/15472.
Bennett & Co., grocer
Trade notice following his death in April 1916 — “BENNETT & CO. (George James Bennett), George-st., Canterbury, grocer—Reported George James Bennett deceased.”
William Henry Stephen — registrations
NSW BDM birth index, 1867, Balmain, reg. no. 2697; death index, 1867, Sydney, reg. no. 1299; buried Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown.
Albert Edwin — marriage
NSW BDM birth index, 1869, Sydney, reg. no. 509; marriage index, Albert Bennett and Minnie A. Morgan, 1911, Lithgow, reg. no. 13525.
Fairfield, 1933
Commonwealth Electoral Roll, 1933, Granville subdivision — Albert Edwin Bennett, baker, and Minnie Bennett, home duties, Frederick Street, Fairfield.
Albert Edwin — death, and a corrected district
NSW BDM death index, Albert Edwin Bennett, 1940, Rockdale, reg. no. 22642, mother’s maiden name Robins. An earlier account gave Canterbury and a registration number that does not correspond to any found record.
Ernest George — birth
NSW BDM birth index, Ernest George Bennett, 1870, Sydney, reg. no. 2542.
Ernest George — death
NSW BDM death index, Ernest G. Bennett, 1885, Ashfield, reg. no. 3399, parents George J. and Sarah.
Ernest George — burial
Cemetery record, Rookwood, Section 6, Row 4, Old Presbyterian, inscription “14 yrs 9 mths”. Together with the two records above this displaces an earlier account’s claim that he died in 1876 aged one year and nine months.
Frederick James
NSW BDM birth index, 1873, Sydney, reg. no. 300 (born December 1872); death index, 1876, Sydney, reg. no. 1281; buried Rookwood. The scarlatina account of his death rests on a funeral notice that has never been located.
Claude Oliver
NSW BDM birth index, 1875, Sydney, reg. no. 627; death index, 1875, Sydney, reg. no. 833. Born 12 March, died 16 March 1875; buried Rookwood.
Walter Thomas — registrations
NSW BDM birth index, 1876, Sydney, reg. no. 1115; death index, 1876, Sydney, reg. no. 1013.
Walter Thomas — burial
Cemetery record, Rookwood, Section 6, Row 4, Old Presbyterian, inscription “2 days”.
Townsville, 1913
Queensland Electoral Roll, 1913, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Townsville — Athalstane Bennett, fireman, and Florence May Bennett, Macrossan Street. An Emily and a Frank Bennett appear nearby on Flinders Lane in related trades; no source yet connects them to this family.
Townsville, 1943
Queensland Electoral Roll, 1943, Subdivision of Townsville — Athalstane (wharf labourer) and Florence May, Bell Street; Ernest George (storeman) and Gunda Rosalin, 9 Allen Street; Leslie Athelstane and Lily Emily Louisa, 21 Nelson Street.
Athelstane and Florence
NSW BDM marriage index, Athelstan Bennett and Florence Bray, 1906, Sydney, reg. no. 3376. Compiled family record: died 1 April 1965, buried Belgian Gardens Cemetery, Townsville.
Dorothy Irene
Queensland BDM — born 13 October 1910, reg. no. 012591; married Thomas Henry Dicker 14 November 1929, reg. no. 003657; died 1996, reg. no. 2229. A 1969 Holland Park roll entry for a “Doris Irene Dicker” may or may not be the same woman; Doris is not a standard variant of Dorothy and the identification is not accepted here.
Ernest George (Athelstane’s son)
Queensland BDM — born 5 July 1917, reg. no. 011755; married Gunda Rosalind Swanson 29 October 1938; died 15 July 1986, reg. no. 1986/56026, which gives his birth year as 1910. The birth registration is preferred. A Sydney funeral notice for an Ernest Bennett buried 24 September 1986 may indicate a late return south, but is not confirmed.
Sarah’s death
NSW BDM death index, Sarah Bennett, 1891, Canterbury, reg. no. 4792, parents Stephen R. and Sarah — the entry that fixes her to this family.
Sarah’s burial
Cemetery record, Rookwood, Section 6, Row 4, Old Presbyterian denomination, age given as 52. Her parents were buried in the Wesleyan ground.
George’s second marriage
NSW BDM marriage index, George J. Bennett and Sarah Jane Rosemond, 1893, Leichhardt, reg. no. 4284.
The second family
NSW BDM birth index, Canterbury — George O. (1895, reg. 11770), Vera E. (1896, reg. 20616), Eric L. (1902, reg. 20977); compiled records for Bertha Josephine (b. 1899) and Roy Rosemond (1900–1981, born Windsor, buried Woronora). Roy’s 1929 marriage register at St Clement’s, Marrickville, names his father as “George James Bennett (dead)”.
George Oswald’s attestation
AIF attestation paper, George Oswald Bennett, service nos. 6763/58269, enlisted 9 November 1916 — born parish of Canterbury near Sydney, aged 21 years 8 months, trade certificated accountant, next of kin his mother Sarah Jane Bennett of George Street, Canterbury.
George’s death
NSW BDM death index, George J. Bennett, 1916, Canterbury, reg. no. 6487, mother Ann Elizabeth, father “George – Forman”. Supreme Court probate notice: died 21 April 1916, late of George-street, Canterbury, contractor; probate granted to the Permanent Trustee Company 25 May 1916.
The funeral notices, and a brother
Deaths and Funerals column, Sydney press, April 1916 — aged 72, of George Street, Canterbury; funeral to the Independent Cemetery, Rookwood, via Ashfield Station; notices placed by sons Albert Edwin and George Oswald and by Henry William Bennett, “his beloved brother”. Undertakers Wood, Coffill and Co. The only evidence yet found that George James had a sibling.
The Lowestoft claim
An earlier informal account describes George’s father as Captain George Bennett, master mariner of Lowestoft. The baptism gives no occupation and the death registration gives “Forman”, most likely the trade. Neither the sea nor Lowestoft is supported by any record found.
On the earlier account generally
An informally compiled account of this family circulated before this research began. Parts of it have proved accurate and parts have not; it is not treated as a source in its own right, and each point taken from it is marked as unverified unless a record supports it.