I am trying to identify a Dr Inch from Drayton near Toowoomba Qld about 1861. It's a long story so I will try to condense. Trove came up with a report on 4 March 1895 of a skeleton being found near Mudgee with a letter addressed to a Mr R J Inch of Blackheath nearby. Another man wrote to the paper saying he had known a Dr Inch in Drayton in about 1861 who had since disappeared and maybe it was him. No Christian name given.
The letter (12 March 1895) went on to say that Dr Inch was married to Miss Cramp, the daughter of John J Cramp who was the telegraph operator in Drayton at the time. Only problem is Miss Cramp was actually Mrs Walter Bennett at the time and there is no marriage to anyone else. I think Marianne Cramp left Sydney with her father only and that her husband had deserted her and left Australia (all supposition, no proof). She went on to have 4 sons, 2 born in Drayton 1860/62 (Charles & Frederick) and no births registered, and then 2 born in Banana, Qld (Walter and John). No mention has ever been made of a Dr. Inch although the family always suspected Walter Bennett was not the father of the 4 boys. The next two born in Banana Qld were registered with no father named and the certificates stamped illegitimate. Their death certs give Walter Bennett as their father.
The family thought the father's identity was forever lost when Marianne died in Banana in 1923 at the age of 90. Frederick Bennett's death cert gave his father's name as William with no surname. Was he William Inch? The letter to the paper went on to say that Dr Inch was a highly educated man and a good specimen of an Englishman. Why then was he working as a ganger on the railway and living at Bigge's Camp in Grantham and then at Drayton. This leads to speculation that he could have been a doctor who maybe became an alcoholic and perhaps a remittance man from England.
The father of Marianne's 4 boys was known to have come in and out of their lives at irregular intervals and it seems likely Marianne has left him in Drayton when she went to Banana but he may have visited on odd occasions as remembered by one of the sons.
Before this article in the paper was discovered the family had thought there was no possible hope of finding out who the father might be. If anyone thinks they can shed some light on this problem I can give a bit more detail about Marianne but nothing on William Inch. I have trawled through BDMs, Trove, immigration records, English census, cemetery records etc but cannot come up with any more information myself about a William Inch except that there was a notice in the paper to all owners of licensed premises in Tambo (which is near Banana) not to serve alcohol to a William Inch who was a blacksmith in Tambo. Any connection - who knows?
Andcarred