Australia emigration & immigration 1880 & 1890s

[sparrett]

I wondered if that 1892 address is him, but it must be I guess. I wish I knew how he could afford to leave Australia in 1894 and whether he intended for his wife to follow him back to England.

 

His occupation on the rate book record is tobacconist.
There was a cigar factory in Footscray I seem to remember.
Sue

[jonwicken]

I wondered if that 1892 address is him, but it must be I guess. I wish I knew how he could afford to leave Australia in 1894 and whether he intended for his wife to follow him back to England.

 

His occupation on the rate book record is tobacconist.
There was a cigar factory in Footscray I seem to remember.
Sue

Oh thank you! That is definitely him then.

[sparrett]

As to affording the fare.
He may have been quietly squirreling a little bit away each month for years.

I suspect he had lost interest in his family.
The funeral notice makes no mention of his children and, as you started out in your initial post, one wonders who composed it.

It is not the first  time I have seen warm and loving sentiments expressed in a death or funeral notice when the spouses had not spoken to each other for years or when the newspapers have made frequent accounts of their squabbles

I do not see the reports of desertion that you have mentioned.

[judb]

Looking at City of North Melbourne rates for 1894 Robert John Robey, tobacconist, is renting a house at 140 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne.  I assume this is the son?  You can see a house at 140 Abbotsford St on Googlemap and it looks likely yo be a house of the right vintage.  This is about a kilometre from Courtney St where Elizabeth was living at her death.

Perhaps he owned a business as a tobacconist and was able to sell the business to fund his voyage

Judith

[jonwicken]

Thanks for all the help with this so far.

So what I seem to know up to this point is that Robert Robey born c1836/7 left England for Australia in 1883.

His wife Elizabeth and son Richard joined him in 1884.

His son John Robert Robey (who appears to also be known as Robert John or Robert) and his wife and children joined them in 1890.

Robert left Australia and returned to England in 1894.

His wife Elizabeth died in 1897 and his son Richard died in 1899.

I now am actually wondering if Robert Robey came back to Australia in 1897 and left again in 1900.

There is a passenger in the lists that could be him as the ages fit. However the September 1900 UK arrival states he was a butcher.

This does not fit, but could be a temporary job or an error?

Robert married his brother's widow Charlotte  in London between October and December 1900. I have ordered the certificate.

There are two Robert Robey's in the Melbourne (Sands) Directory for 1898. One at William Road and another at Abbotsford Street. Is this the father and son in Melbourne together again?

Trying to unravel all this is a headache! Any thoughts or help would be really appreciated.

Thank you,
Jon

[sparrett]

I cannot see the Sands McDougall references you make.
What district or suburb is the Williams Street  address?

listing ones name in the directory was by application. It was not automatic and there was a cost involved.

Judith above has clarified the Abbotsford Street was Robert John ROBEY

John Robert ROBEY was in Melbourne in 1896 and wealthy enough to own a gold watch and chain
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/193978722

In 1898 objection to his to voting at Hotham as Robert John ROBEY
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9790666

BUT
In 1899 John R. ROBEY voted in the Federal Referendum. Tobacconist of 82 Hotham street Collingwood.

Seems to be a lot of swapping around of given names

Looking at Robert ROBEY in England from 1901
Who was the father of the girl named Mary E aged 6 years who is with Robert and Charlotte in the 1901 census?

He describes her as his niece.  Was she? To be that she would seem to belong to William and Charlotte Ellen, but William seems to have died well before her birth.
Who were her parents?


Sue

[sparrett]

 

 
Seems to be a lot of swapping around of given names

 
Sue

I wonder if some of the confusion lies around there being ALSO the child of John Robert ROBEY who arrived with his parents in 1890.
His name was Robert John ROBEY

ROBEY, Robert  John mms    BOWLING 
GRO R  1881  J Quarter
SHOREDITCH  Volume 01C/ 63

He came with sisters Grace and Beatrice.

In this telling of the gold watch theft  tale which I have given above, the victim is a young man. 1906

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8890781
 

Sue

[jonwicken]

Looking at Robert ROBEY in England from 1901
Who was the father of the girl named Mary E aged 6 years who is with Robert and Charlotte in the 1901 census?

He describes her as his niece.  Was she? To be that she would seem to belong to William and Charlotte Ellen, but William seems to have died well before her birth.
Who were her parents?

I have never been able to work out who this niece was, despite a lot of trying. The only reference I can find is this census. She is a bit of a mystery!

[jonwicken]

 

 
Seems to be a lot of swapping around of given names

 
Sue

I wonder if some of the confusion lies around there being ALSO the child of John Robert ROBEY who arrived with his parents in 1890.
His name was Robert John ROBEY

ROBEY, Robert  John mms    BOWLING 
GRO R  1881  J Quarter
SHOREDITCH  Volume 01C/ 63

He came with sisters Grace and Beatrice.

In this telling of the gold watch theft  tale which I have given above, the victim is a young man. 1906

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8890781
 

Sue

Yes I am confused about this too. But maybe the grandson named Robert John also swapped his names around like this father. It is hard to work out.

I had missed the 'young man' reference in that watch stealing article, so that does seem to rule out the fifty year old John Robert Robey born in 1857.

Thanks for all the input.