Albert James Smith (1887-1985), better known as 'Alby', was born at Quindalup in 1887 and married Beatrice 'Beat' Mary Thorneycroft (Bourke; 1892-1983) at Collie in 1910. 'Beat' was born with the surname Thorneycroft at Broken Hill, NSW, on 7 February 1893 and came to Western Australia as a girl with her father. Beat was then fostered or adopted by Michael Edmund Bourke and his wife Caroline Frances Seymour, who brought her up as their own with their natural sons Tom and Frank. Michael Bourke and Caroline Seymour had been married on 8 April 1901 at St Brigid's Church in Collie, so the adoption must have occurred after that date.
When Beatrice Mary Thorneycroft married Albert James Smith in the Collie home of her adoptive parents on 22 January 1910, the marriage certificate stated that her father was Samuel James Thorneycroft, an engine-driver, and that her mother's maiden name was 'Waters'. Additionally, a 1980 newspaper article concerning the then aging couple Alby and Beat stated that "Mrs Smith was born at Broken Hill, NSW, and came to WA as a girl with her father". This must be our starting point in the search for Beat's parentage.
A New South Wales birth record has been located for 'Beatrice Winifred Watters' who was born illegitimately on 7 February 1893 in Wilson Street, South Broken Hill, NSW. Her mother was recorded as Hannah Watters, aged 38, who was born in Cornwall, England. Records suggest that Hannah was Hannah Scoble who was born at St Ewe in mid Cornwall, England, on 28 September 1854, and who migrated to South Australia with her family aboard the ‘Queen Bee’ as Assisted Passage immigrants, arriving on 10 March 1865. Her 31 year old father, William, was a miner, and her 31 year old mother was Mary Ann (nee Bawden). Hannah was the eldest of three children, her two siblings at the time being Richard (
and William (6).
On 25 July 1872 the marriage occurred of Hannah Scoble (17) to Samuel Watters (25), at the Wesley Church in East Moonta, South Australia (reg. 92/184). The brides father was William Scoble, while the groom's father was also named Samuel Watters. The couple had three sons in the Moonta area between 1873 and 1877, before moving to the Essendon/ Moonee Ponds area of Melbourne in Victoria, where they had another three children between 1878 and 1885.
Beat's great-grandson claims that Hannah entered into an affair with a Samuel James Thorneycroft, resulting in the illegitimate birth of a daughter, Beatrice Winifred Watters, on 7 February 1893. Hannah died at Broken Hill, NSW, on 15 October 1899 (reg. 12473/1899). Was this the catalyst for her father, Samuel Thornycroft, to take the child into a new marriage later that same year? Samuel James Thorndycroft (note the spelling) married Julia Louisa Simpson at Adelaide (reg. 198/134) in 1899 and that year Julia also gave birth to a son, Herbert William Charles Thorndycroft, at Port Adelaide (reg. 639/492).
Western Australia Railway records reveal that a married man, Samuel James Thorneycroft, was employed at Fremantle on 19 August 1899 as a labourer and lumper. On 6 December 1899 he was transferred to Kalgoorlie, where he remained until 30 November 1901, when he was transferred again, this time to Collie.
In 1900 Samuel and Julia's son Herbert died when he was just eleven months old. In 1901 the couple's second son, Sydney Frederick Thorneycroft (reg. 773/1901) was born in Kalgoorlie. Then in 1902 "Sam J. Thorneycroft" appeared in the Post Office directory living in Wittenoom Streeet, on the west side of Collie. Samuel resigned from his railway job on 18 January 1902. The following year, on 14 March 1903, local newspaper "The Collie Miner" published details of sales transactions that had occurred during the previous week, one being “the whole of Mrs. Thorneycroft’s furniture and residence at West Collie”. West Collie was also where Beat's adoptive parents were living and working.
The 1903 Electoral Rolls listed Samuel James Thorneycroft, an engine-driver, living with his wife Julia Louise in Gregory Street, Geraldton. This surely was Beat's father, who was described exactly that way on her marriage certificate. It seems that sometime between 1902 and 1906 Beat was fostered to Michael Bourke and his wife, Caroline, who brought her up as their own, along with their two biological children Tom (1903-1941) and Francis (1905-1964).
The 1903 and 1906 Electoral Rolls show Michael Bourke living with Caroline at Moira Colliery in Collie, where his occupation was a ‘carrier’. The mine site bordered the western edge of the Collie town site, where the Thorneycrofts also lived in 1902.
Finally, records have been discovered for the death of Samuel James Thorndycroft (note the spelling) who died on 8 March 1906 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery's Anglican section CA, gravesite 0138A.
Much of this story fits with Beat's description of her parents on her marriage record, but it is possible that some other undiscovered explanation could also satisfy the criteria. The 1893 birth record discovered for Beatrice Winifred Watters, may not be Beatrice Mary Thorneycroft, and so it is possible that the wrong trail has been followed. But since this is the only one we have at present it will have to do.
Beat's future husband, Alby, was a cousin (by adoption), and at the age of sixteen she married him while pregnant with his child.
