William Henry Cox's parents

The "Official Burial Book" of Dowling Cemetery gives both the date and age of the death of William Henry. From this it can be deduced that John Cox was born in 1810 and Mary Ann in 1820.

A search of FreeBMD suggests that John Cox and Mary Ann Williams were married in the June Quarter of 1838.

Source: GRO Marriages
June 1838
John Cox           Tavistock  vol.9  page 580
Mary Ann Williams  Tavistock  vol.9  page 580

There is no record of their births or marriage in IGI. However, the 1841 census shows:

1841 Census Sun/Mon  6/7 June 1841
Source:   FHL Film PRO Ref HO107
          Piece  Folio  Page 
Dwelling: Brook Street
Place:    Tavistock, Devon
  
Name      Age Occupation  Whether born in the County
John Cox  30  Miner       Yes
Mary Cox  25              Yes

There were only two people in the house at the time of the census, suggesting that William Henry was the eldest living child.

Source: GRO Births
March 1842
William Cox   Tavistock vol.9 page  40
December 1843
Francis Cox   Tavistock vol.9 page 479

At the 1841 census John Cox, who lived at Brook Street, Tavistock, Devon, gave his occupation as a miner. The following short history of Tavistock sets his early life into some context.

After its ecclesiastical foundation Tavistock eventually passed into the hands of the Dukes of Bedford, who took over the social and economic responsibilities for the town and the area. The local mining benefited the town through the building, in 1817, of the canal and the use of the Duke of Bedford’s profits to rebuild the town. As a booming mining town Tavistock’s economic fortunes reflected the growth of the population from 3420 in the 1841 census to 8912 in 1861, with additional men walking in from the surrounding villages to the expanding copper mines.

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In the mid-nineteenth century the Crelake was the only mine, within the present town boundary, producing copper and lead. Today its pit head have now been replaced by a modern industrial estate and the underground workings are now below Tavistock College. Richer workings were to be found at the Mary Tavy, north-east to the town, which produced ore from the eighteenth century. Substantial copper reserves were found in 1844 when the biggest mine, the Devon Great Consol, over looking the Tamar River at Blanchdown, opened and employed 1200 men. In 1850 this mine alone produced one third of the world’s copper and, later, half the world’s tin. Right: Tavistock 1906, showing Brook Street

However the rapid urban growth, of the first half of the 18th century, brought social problems associated with overcrowded houses and infant mortality. Drunkenness was rife and illegitimacy levels were high. Brook Street today, having been redeveloped, shows no evidence of miner’s cottages nor of the Victorian redevelopment which ends at Duke Street, where the road narrows and enters Brook Street. Brook Street marked the physical feature of Millbrook, which ran to the north in an open channel to the original Vigo Bridge, and lead to a mill and the boundary of the important Tavistock Iron Works. Two non-conformist chapels, both now demolished, were built in the street.

Above:  Brook Street 1997

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William Henry Cox's birth
At the time of William Henry's baptism in 1842 the family was living in Brook Street, Tavistock, Devon.

Birth Date:     10 Apr 1842
Birth Place:    Tavistock, Devon, England
Death Date:     14 Aug 1882
Death Place:    Mount Jeffcott (Ballarat), Vic.
Occupation:     Farmer

His early life and marriage

Spouse:          Elizabeth Emily Milner CROMPTON 
Birth Date:      30 Jun 1847
Birth Place:     Launceston, Tas[mania]
Death Date:      1926
Death Place:     Bayswater, Vic[toria].
Occupation:      Servant

Marriage Date:   4 Apr 1867
Marriage Place:  Miners Rest Church, Vic[toria]

Their children

Charles francis Cox
Elizabeth emily Cox
John arthur Cox
Thomas frank Cox
Unnamed Male Cox - Francis Cox still born and buried Dowling Forest Cemetery 18may1875
Caroline louisa Cox
Annie florence Cox
William henry Cox

Whilst most towns declined in the recession of 1861the population of Ballarat, between the years of 1871 and 1901, remained stable at 40 000 people.  Its manufacturing, commercial and service industries grew with the garden city development and in the hope of another bonanza. During this same period the population of Melbourne grew phenomenally.

However the structure of the population changed with established families moving away during the seventies and a younger group, in the 15-24 age range moving out in the eighties and nineties.  Under the 'New Act' of 1^st December 1880 opportunities were provided by the agricultural expansion opening of lands in the interior in the eighties.  It is possible that William Henry moved to the Mt Jeffcott area to farm these new lands.

Melbourne attracted the younger people in the booms of the eighties and it is possible that this accounts for the spreading of the Cox clan to new areas, particularly those of Melbourne and its new suburb of South Melbourne.

In the nineties the experienced Ballarat miners moved to the Western Australian goldfields. Some joined the railway gangs, others made there way to New South Wales and others to Queensland's agricultural expansion. (Bate W., 2003, Lucky City The first generation at Ballarat: 1851-1901, MUP, Melbourne)

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His possible life at Mount Jeffcott (aka Jeffcote Jeffcot)

Mount Jeffcott is to be found at latitude 36° 21' 0S longitude 143° 7' 60E 30km north, north west of St Arnaud, Victoria and 235 km northwest of Melbourne. Opposite to the Queen Mary Botanical Gardens were the Kara Kara Shire Office (1902). According to Bailliere's Gazeteer of Victoria, 1865, Mount Jeffcott is a postal hamlet near lake Buloke or Banyeyong. The post office is at the Banyeyong W. station. The country is flat and pastoral only, consisting of grassy plains intersected by belts of timber, chiefly oak. St. Arnaud lies 28 miles south. There are two hotels three miles to the south: the Royal and the Mount Jeffcott. The settlement takes its name from the nearby volcanic hill called Mount Jeffcott. Bailliere's 1868 and 1869 post office directory lists a J & W Cox, farmers, Miner's R. Right: A map showing the general location, in the blue circle, of Mount Jeffcott.

THE PIONEERING LIFE OF JAMES LANDER, though six years before William Henry, may give an indication to his life experiences in the Mount Jeffcott area of 1880. William Henry's will describes several similarities.

In 1867 I got married I applied for a miners' right and afterwards purchased the piece of land that I built my cottage on in Miners' Rest. I lived there until our third child was born. I had acquired a pair of draught horses and bought a reaper and mower. I had bought my T Robinson machine, from Grey & Osburn, for £42. The first year it made £23.

... By that time Government lands were thrown open for selection and my wife and I considered it would be a good thing if we tried to get on land of our own. So I left a young fellow to carry on odd jobs under my wife's management and another chap who was desirous of going up to Corack shearing and myself, set about making preparations to go and select land while in the Donald district. At that time the chief places in Donald were the Mount Jeffcott Hotel, Myers' general store and Cobb & Co Hotel and stable, and who should I meet at Myers but an old friend Mr. Sherwood from Ballarat. He had come up a while before and selected land at Jeffcott. So he took me along and I selected a 220 acre block at Jeffcott North. That being the furtherest north block for selection in the pine forest at that time. The forest was infested with kangaroos, dingos and over-run by squatters' sheep. That being attended to, we went on to Gray's sheep station at Corack and got a job of shearing, and turned our poor old shaggy nags out on what is now known as Lake Bulloke common, to graze. It was part of Gray's run at that time.

We were there seven weeks and when our horses were mustered to return, they were rolling fat and shining. I went back by St. Arnaud and put in an application for block of land, and on south to Ararat to Youngs' station, shore there and also at another small place, and returned home in time to pay my survey fees, £8.8/- which had to be paid before the land was surveyed. It was then harvest time and as soon as harvest was over I had to go up to St. Arnaud to attend the land board in 1874. Shortly after I was called on to pay the half years rent and received a permit to go on the land. I then set off up to the block with a wagon load of shingles etc. fromDevils Creek Bungaree for the new home. Mr. Downie the man next to my block, gave me permission to camp beside his dam and keep the wild cattle etc. away, while I put down a 50yd dam for myself, by pick and shovel. a I then returned home, and sold my home for very little and prepared to go north with my wife and three children.

Above: This sketch "Mount Jeffcott, near St. Arnaud" appeared in The Australian News for Home Readers, 20 May 1867. From the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria

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We travelled in the wagon with lot of household things and one bag of flour and very little capital, bringing the reaper and mower, a plough and two cows along with us. We found our new dam full of water, and erected a temporary home. I then set to work to clear some land and got in 20 acres of wheat the first year and after saving my seed for the next year and a bit of hay, had 20 bags to cart to Ballarat for sale. I got 4/- per bushel for it, and got a load of potatoes to sell on my way home. I took anotherload of wheat for a man next block, as all he could get at Donald was 2/6 per bushel.

So he gave me £5 to cart 20 bags to Ballarat. It took a week to travel each way. I put that money into potatoes, sold most of them at a profit and saved some for the family. In the spring I planted one bag of potatoes as an experiment and had a good return. I took new potatoes to St. Arnaud before Xmas and sold them for 3d. per lb. and cleared £5 for them. Then we got early rain in February and self sown potatoes came up on the same patch and I dug nine bags this time and sold them to Mr. Myson in Donald for 9/- per bag.

Now as my family were getting on to school age, we had to see about getting a school, and secured a private room in Mr. Sherwood's house for a school room. And after a time our first state school was erected on the Donald-Charlton road. In 1884 we got our mail brought from Donald by loose bag to Mr. Clancy's place and looked forward every week to getting the Donald Times, published by Mr. Morgan to see what was the latest doings of the Kelly gang.

Source: Lander family tree web page.

His death
Typhoid fever killed many children at St. Arnaud North area in the 1880s and the disease was thought to have come from Chinatown, which was considered dirty. This may have been the cause of William Henry's death.

The probate document, dated May 1884, suggests that William Henry and Elizabeth had recently purchased their property in the parish of Jeffcott County of Kara Kara under the 'New Act' of 1^st December 1880. In the two years, up to his death in August 1882, improvements were to the value of £150; 28% of the total value. This either indicates a great deal of hard work or land value inflation.

The inventory of chattels suggests that the arable farm was well provisioned with machinery and horse power, plus two milk cows. He had a share in a stripper, by far the most expensive piece of equipment, for perhaps season use. He still owed money for his last purchase - his double furrow plough.

The probate records a 'small quantity of Household furniture' which suggests that investments had been made in the farm rather than the house. The sum of £1-6-0 was owing the Brown's chemist, suggesting that medication was required for William Henry's final illness.

His brother, Francis witnessed the will, which past £545-14-0 to Elizabeth. This is approximately equivalent to £27 283, based on converting to UK pound Stirling at 2000 conversion rates.

Right: The Dowling Forest Cemetery register shows that William Henry was brought from Ballarat for burial in a common grave at 3 o'clock PM, on 16 August 1882. It appears to be his third internment: perhaps at his Mt Jeffcott farm, then Ballarat and finally with his parents in Dowling Forest. His name was added to the headstone of his mother and father in what appears to be a family grave. He was a Wesleyan buried in grave 13B, of the Wesleyan Section by a Presbyterian minister. William Henry died of nephria [sic], likely to be a disease of the kidney. Click on the image to open a full image of 28Kb.

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The Official Burial Book of Dowling Forest Cemetery (the cemetery for Miners Rest) records other members of the Cox family:

Right: Mary Ann died of senile decay. She survived her husband and son by many years. The Dowling Forest Cemetery register shows that she was resident in Ballarat and buried in a common grave at 4 o'clock PM on 30 October 1901. Her son, Francis Cox, signed the burial register. Although a Wesleyan she was buried in grave 1 of Section B. There is no indication as to the denomination of the officiating minister. Click on the image to open a full image of 34Kb.

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Above: The Cox family grave, Dowling Forest Cemetery January 2005		Above: The Cox family headstone, Dowling Forest Cemetery January 2005

Other Cox's interned in Dowling Forest Cemetery

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This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass	Version B8 Updated 25 February 2006