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STALEY, Robert

Male 1826 - 1882  (55 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name STALEY, Robert 
    Birth 29 Jul 1826  Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Gender Male 
    Death 19 Jul 1882  Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Burial 21 Jul 1882  Inglewood Cemetery, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [3] 
    Person ID I182  Staleys
    Last Modified 20 Apr 2012 

    Father STALEY, Jonathan,   b. 9 Jul 1794, Parish Of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 27 Feb 1847, Greenburn, Parish Of Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 52 years) 
    Mother GOLDIE, Mary,   b. 8 Dec 1800, Coltburn, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 27 Dec 1854, Kensington (Leopold), Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 54 years) 
    Marriage 30 Jun 1820  Coltburn, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Family ID F83  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family GILLIES, Jane,   b. 3 Jul 1828, Rumford, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Feb 1912, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 83 years) 
    Marriage 7 Feb 1851  Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Children 
     1. STALEY, Elizabeth,   b. 30 Apr 1850, Sidehead, Parish Of Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Jun 1888, Maxwells Reef, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 38 years)
     2. STALEY, Jonathan,   b. 9 Dec 1851, Greenburn, Parish Of Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Dec 1897, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 45 years)
     3. STALEY, Mary,   b. 9 Mar 1855, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1912 (Age 56 years)
     4. STALEY, Margaret Jane,   b. 7 Aug 1857, Forest Creek, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 29 Apr 1860, Glenluce, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 2 years)
     5. STALEY, Alexander,   b. 1859, Chewton, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1861, Chewton, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 2 years)
     6. STALEY, Margaret Jane,   b. 1862, Chewton, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Apr 1894, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 32 years)
     7. STALEY, Agnes,   b. 16 Oct 1864, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Nov 1918, Unley, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 54 years)
     8. STALEY, Janet,   b. 1867, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1872, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 5 years)
     9. STALEY, Robert Alexander,   b. 27 Aug 1870, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 31 Aug 1904, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 34 years)
     10. STALEY, Thomas Allan,   b. Abt 1875, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Dec 1935, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 60 years)
    Family ID F85  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 8 Apr 2019 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 29 Jul 1826 - Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 7 Feb 1851 - Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, Scotland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 19 Jul 1882 - Inglewood, Victoria, Australia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 21 Jul 1882 - Inglewood Cemetery, Victoria, Australia Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Robert and Jane arrived with their daughter Elizabeth, aged 1 and infant son Jonathon as assisted immigrants from the UK aboard the vessel 'Bourneuf' of 1495 tons. They sailed from Liverpool on 26 May 1852 and arrived in Geelong on 3 Septembeer 1852 after a voyage of just over 3 months. The assisted passage was £12/19/6, a fortune in those days. An extract from a book titled "The Roaring Days" by Michael Cannon gives a vivid picture of what the voyage must have been like..... "....In September 1852 Captain Robert Biddy sailed the Bourneuf into Geelong to report a total of eighty-eight deaths on the voyage - more than ten per cent of his passengers . Five women had died of consumption, puerperal fever, or been lost overboard. Of the 180 children under seven years of age who embarked, nearly half died of diarrhoea, measles, and other complaints. When the vessel docked, a further twenty adults and children were still suffering from disease . Arrangements for hygiene were primitive or non-existent . The main deck leaked, so that the two emigrant decks were usually damp. The water closets were of 'inferior construction and leaky.' The chutes for carrying off dirty water had been removed. The upper emigranant deck had 'a disagreeable smell' while the lower deck was dark and 'difficult to ventilate'. There was insufficient hospital accomodation or spare bedding, so that infected mattresses had to be used again. The matron was almost useless 'owing to physical want of activity or energy' while Surgeon McKevit was accused by the passengers of being 'so grossly intoxicated that he could not attend to his duty.' Many Scotch and Irish parents, through 'insurmountable prejudice' against medical treatment, refused to allow him to treat their sick children even when he was sober. The school-master, William Creeny, made an 'inflammatory' speech to the parents in which he said, 'We see around us preparations made for taking life with deadly instruments, instead of advising people, like rational beings, to do their duty.' The captain and surgeon locked up Creeny for the remainder of the voyage, but the complaints continued. One passenger, George Kidd, said that after his wife died it had been necessary to throw their infected bed overboard, but he had not been given another bed for himself and his child and had to sleep on the damp deck. And despite all the scandals of past years, no attempt was made to keep the seamen away from the female emigrants. The passengers' galley entered directly into the crew's galley: some of the women 'persisted in holding intercourse with the sailors.' When the ship arrived at Geelong the seamen rioted and police had to bbe called to control them...." It must have been horrific. Robert and Jane had a further eight children in the goldfields area of Victoria. On Robert's death an article in the Inglewood Advertiser on Wednseday Evening, July 19, 1882 reads "Once again we have to record a visit from the grim King of Terrors, who has been frequent in his visitations among us of late. The last one to depart from amongst is Mr. Robert Staley, who has been a resident fully 20 years, and who departed this life early this morning at the age of 56 years, after a long asthmatic affection. The deceased who leaves a wife and family of several children, all however of good age, followed the avocation of a miner. The Funeral procession will leave his late residence on the Maxwell's Reef at 2 p.m. on Friday.

  • Sources 
    1. [S52] Hand written copy of information in a family bible that belonged to Wm. Jos. Staley.

    2. [S82] Copy of Death Certificate, 9035 (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S82] Copy of Death Certificate.

    4. [S121] Copy of Parish Register, Muirkirk, From Sue Carroll.

    5. [S15] Scots Origins Old Parochial Registers Index, 9673807 (Reliability: 3).