Edward Bunbury Foster - The Watchmaker
Luke and Margaret's son Edward Bunbury Foster was born and
christened in Carlow on the 20th September 1791. Like his father & grandfather
before him, Edward became known as a highly skilled watch and
instrument maker and practised his profession in Westminster and Australia. On 6th June 1813, he was married
to Ellen Taber at St James, Westminster, London. They lived at 33 Cockspur
Street, Charing Cross, where they had a daughter, Susannah (born 1st March 1814
at Tufton St, St James) son, Edward James (born 28th January 1816 at Charles St,
parish of St Margaret's, Westminster).
Edward Bunbury Foster's grandparents were Joseph & Susana
Foster, also of Carlow.
(Information
given on Luke’s baptism record
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/reels/c-317-1-2-038.pdf.)
.
Edward’s daughter Susannah emigrated to Australia in 1834, and in 1836
married Dr Charles Drew Street in Sydney.
The following is an extract from Turtle Bunbury website:
After the death of his wife Ellen in 1824, Edward Bunbury
Foster and his son Edward left London on the 266- ton ship Thompson, arriving in Port
Jackson, Sydney, Australia, on 19 April 1829.[8] Neither Ellen or Susannah
Foster appears to have accompanied them. He kept an informative and amusing diary
of the arduous trip, a copy of which later passed to Pat Purcell and may now be
in the possession of Pat's nephew, Michael. Whilst ashore in Capetown, South
Africa on Saturday 31st January 1829, he wrote in his diary: 'On presenting my
card [to His Excellency the Governor, Sir Lowrey Cole] he immediately recognised
me (having repeatedly spoken to him while in Cockspurshire). In Sydney, he
continued to practice as a watchmaker, based at 287 George St in Sydney by
1844/45. One of his clocks is at Old Government House in Parramatta. His
residence at that time was Blackwattle Swamp, Petersham, Sydney.
Edward Bunbury
Foster - The Cattle Inspector
In Australia, Edward Bunbury Foster's son Edward became a
became an Inspector of Slaughterhouses and pound-keeper and in 1835 his address
was 100 Elizabeth St, Sydney (now one of Sydney's busiest streets). Edward
Junior apparently went bankrupt. In 1842 he married Caroline Horsley in Sydney.
Source:
Turtle Bunbury
Both father & son were declared insolvent in the early
1840s. In the intervening years before his death on the 8th of September 1857 in
Melbourne, Victoria, Edward Bunbury Foster was variously described working both
as a watchmaker and also as an Inspector of Slaughterhouses. Following his
marriage to Caroline Horsley in Sydney in 1842, Edward James became a successful
publican in Albury, NSW.
They had three sons – Edward JH Foster, Charles Bunbury Foster and George
Horsley Foster.
In 1995, a commemorative postage stamp was issued featuring one of Edward
Bunbury Foster's 'complex' clocks.”
-
- NSW National Trust First Day Cover showing the clock on the Stamp. This
is the same bracket clock as mentioned earlier in the article, and which
continues to be on display at Old Government House.
Marriage Certificate extract
Luke Foster watch maker and
Margt
Tyrell spr with Conl licence. By
Revd Richard Drury
Source: Jenny Grant (nee Street)
(Conl licence = Conditional Licence -
meaning they have not had
time to check if they were ever married before.)
Source: Michael Purcell
- No. 32
- New South Wales
- Government Gazette
- Published by Authority
- Tuesday, April 22, 1845.
In the Insolvent Estate of Edward Bunbury Foster of
Sydney, late Cattle inspector, now a watchmaker.
Whereas
the Estate of Edward Bunbury Foster was, on the 12th day of April,
placed under sequestration in my hands, by order of His Honor Alfred Stephen,
Esquire, Chief Justice, I hereby appoint a Meeting of the Creditors of the said
Insolvent, to be holden before me, on Monday, 5th day of May next, to
commence at 1.30p.m., and end at 2,p.m., for proof of debts, and election of an
Assignee, if necessary, for collection , administration, distribution of the
Estate; and unless at the said Meeting it be shewn, that the goods and effects
of said Insolvent exceed £100, the Chief Commissioner will summarily proceed to
rank the debts then proved, and will direct the proceeds to be distributed by
the Assignee accordingly. – Dated at Sydney, this 16th day of April,
1845.
William H. Kerr,
Chief Commissioner
Assignee – Hutchinson Bell.
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