the Cemetery image thread....

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William Edward Marmion (1845-1896) by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr

Project: Fremantle Cemetery Heritage Walk: Location No. 11 William Edward Marmion (1845 -1896), Merchant and politician.

This photo documents the grave site (No. 343) of Mr William Edward Marmion. William Marmion was the son of Patrick Marmion, who had come to Fremantle as an indentured servant.
By the time William was born, his father was a wealthy merchant.

William began work at 16. He was a master mariner at 21 and soon established his own business, W E Marmion and Co. The company was involved in merchandising, pearling and maritime activities. William Marmion was also an early station owner in the Kimberley, where he leased millions of hectares of grasslands. He also established mining companies.

Marmion married Anna Gibbons in the Fremantle Catholic Church in 1870. They had nine children.

On the introduction of representative government in 1870, Marmion was defeated for the Fremantle seat but was appointed an unofficial nominee member of the Legislative Council. He was elected for Fremantle in 1873 and until his death remained its member, from 1890 in the Legislative Assembly. Premier (Sir) John Forrest appointed him commissioner of crown lands and minister for mines in 1890. Under Marmion the gold-mining industry became the economic vehicle which transformed a quiet backwater into a colony attracting enormous international interest. He had financial acumen and understood the infrastructure requirements needed to service rapidly increasing trade and population. He was a member of the finance committee of the Legislative Council and of the National Australasian Federal Convention of 1891 in Sydney where he took no prominent part.

Marmion's sudden death from liver disease on 4 July 1896 caused widespread grief. It was reported that more people attended his funeral than any other in the colony to that time and that the streets of Perth were lined with thousands of citizens. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery, Fremantle. He died intestate with his affairs in some confusion.

A monument, a huge Celtic cross, was erected in Mayor's Park, Fremantle, by public subscription.

Source: Fremantle Cemetery Heritage Walk Trail One and Australian Dictionary of Biography.
 
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Vale Tommy Grant
by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr

From The Northern Advertiser, Feb 13, 1953, page 7:

A leading State professional rider, Tommy Grant, died last Saturday morning as a result of injuries he received in a fall in the aces 5-mile scratch race at Midland Junction the previous Saturday night. He had not regained consciousness and, after an operation on Friday, contracted pneumonia.

A gloom was apparent among the cycling fraternity on Saturday at York sports, for which [the] deceased had nominated. Prior to the start of the programme all riders assembled and observed a period of reverent silence for the late rider who; aged 24, was a son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Grant, of Marmion-st., East Fremantle. Riders also wore tokens of mourning.


The memorial as photographed in the Fremantle Cemetery was erected as a tribute to Tommy Grant from his fellow members of the Fremantle Professional Cycling Club. Rest for ever in peace Tommy Grant.
 
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Martha Rendell (1871-1909), convicted child murderer by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr

From the Fremantle Cemetery Heritage Walk Trail One guide:

“Details of the early life of Martha Rendell are sparse. It is known she left her husband and their several children in South Australia and came to Perth in her mid-thirties. Here she was instrumental in persuading carpenter Thomas Morris, who had known Rendell in Adealide, to leave his wife.

When Martha Rendell joined Morris at a weatherboard house in East Perth in 1907, she also took over the care of the five Morris children. Over the next 15 months, three of the children died from “throat afflictions”. It was only when another child became ill in 1909 that police became suspicious.

The Coroner found that Rendell had killed the children by regularly painting their throats with hydrochloric acid. Soon after, a jury found her guilty of one death despite the lack of a motive. They had heard that Rendell was a “sadist and pervert” and the judge said she was a “moral deformity”. Morris, who had been jointly charged, was acquitted. Rendell became the only woman to be hanged in Fremantle Prison. She died protesting her innocence. There was controversy at the time, with many claiming she did not get a fair trial. The debate occasionally resumes.”

===

The hanging of Martha Rendell is well documented in the newspapers of the day with Trove reproducing for example the report in the Kalgoorlie Western Argus from October 12, 1909, page 32. A very interesting if morbid read of the procedures of hanging.
 
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Major George Bland Humble - School Master and Town Clerk - 1839 - 1930x by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr

From the Fremantle Cemetery Heritage Walk Trail One guide [1]:

“George Bland Humble was the son of a Yorkshire farmer. He was a young headmaster at a London school when the Government of Western Australia offered him a position to teach at Greenough Flats south of Geraldton. He arrived in 1862 after a perilous ten-month voyage and took up his position at the hamlet’s tiny schoolhouse. Bland remained at Greenough for one year, narrowly escaping drowning when the Flats were flooded.

He moved to Fremantle to take up the position of headmaster of Fremantle Boys’ School, where he stayed until 1889. For some of these years he combined his teaching duties with the position of part-time clerk of works with Fremantle Council. In 1892 he became a full-time council officer.”

The Daily News, Friday October 24, 1930 [2] reported on his passing …

Major George Bland Humble, who was for many years Town Clerk of Fremantle and who, in early manhood, was headmaster of the Government School, died at his home, Queen Victoria-street Fremantle, yesterday, at the age of 90 years and ten months. Widespread regret was expressed at Fremantle
today by citizens with whom his many activities in the city had brought the deceased gentleman into touch."

[1] Fremantle Cemetery Heritage Walk Trail One

[2] MAJOR HUMBLE DEAD - Fremantle G.O.M. LONG USEFUL CAREER - The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950) - 24 Oct 1930
 
Often while travelling I enjoy a ramble in rickety cemeteries. This one is in Sofala, NSW Australia, a goldmining town in the 1800s, with headstones all earlier than 1980. The fourth one down is a real kicker.
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