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I have since done some further research on Rev William French Clay and his family and found that he and his 4th wife Isabella Lucy Carpenter had a son (Robert Carpenter Clay) who was born in France in 1869.  As you know, the large family went to Australia in 1870, where three more children were born.  William was appointed Incumbent of All Saints’ Cathedral in Bathurst and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1871 from the University of Sydney.  He left Bathurst in 1873 to take up an appointment as Vicar of Christ Church in St. Leonard’s in the North Shore.

William was registered by the NSW Medical Board as a legally qualified medical practitioner on 7 April 1873.  He continued to study medicine during his ministry at St. Leonard’s and attended St. Paul’s College on the North Shore, an Anglican college for men affiliated with the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine in 1874.  William continued to perform his clerical duties at St. Leonard’s until 1878, but he became more active in the field of medicine with a keen interest in public health.  After completing his ministry at St. Leonard’s, William brought his family to Manly.

William's decision to return to England with his family in 1882 may have been prompted by the desire to allow his eldest son William Rudolph, a student at the Sydney Infirmary, to study medicine in London.  William and most of his family left Sydney on 31 March 1882 and sailed to London on the steamer John Elder.  Two of his older daughters (Maria Jessie and Emily Mona) were not on board and must have returned to England separately.  The steamer arrived in London on 20 May 1882.  After qualifying as a surgeon in London, William Rudolph returned to Sydney on 27 September 1886 on the John Duthie to settle.

Hope this helps.

If anyone is visiting the Worcester History Centre and has time to do a look up in Berrow's Worcester Journal, would it be possible to look for an obituary for Giles Shaw, who died on 24 January 1903 at his residence, Winterdyne House, in Bewdley.  Many thanks.

Dean
New Zealand

I am seeking information about my gggg grandfather William Shaw (b. 1870 in Mossley, Manchester), who was described as being of Glenanne, County Armagh.  He came to Armagh sometime after the birth of his eldest daughter (Mary Anne) in 1803 in Manchester but, by 1820, he had left and taken his wife (Sarah Willan) and six children (Mary Anne, Maria, Sarah, Giles, Joseph and Charlotte) to Celbridge, County Kildare.  As he was a cotton spinner and flax manufacturer in Celbridge at Temple Mills, I wonder whether he may have had an involvement with the cotton spinning mills in Glenanne.  I know it is a long shot, but I am also wondering if Shaw’s Lake near Glenanne was named after him.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dean
(New Zealand)

Can someone please tell me which church was the parish church of Cheltenham in June 1873?  I have a marriage notice from The Times (dated 13 June 1873) which says that the marriage took place at “the parish church, Cheltenham, by the Rev. Canon Bell, assisted by the Rev. Robert Tanner.”

Thanks
Dean