George Etienne Loyau (1835 - 1898)

Born 15 Apr 1835 in St Leonard's, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Eliza Ann (Sharp) Loyau — married 5 May 1862 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Husband of Paulina (Thorpe) Loyau — married 15 Apr 1865 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Eleanor Ann (Hart) Loyau — married 14 Jun 1875 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 23 Apr 1898 at age 63 in North Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia

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Biography

George Loyau is Notable.

George Etienne Loyau was born 15 Apr 1835 in St Leonard's, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom. ^[1] He was the son of Etienne Loyau and Catherine Chanson.

George claimed that his father died when he was an infant and that his mother spent most of her time "on the Continent" as a Companion to Lady. He was a pupil at the Preston Establishment in Sussex, England in 1841 aged 6 according to the census. . From the age of 8 he attended John Ackerman Erredges school for young gentlemen in Brighton, Sussex, England.

After he left school around the age of 15 he claimed to have been apprenticed as a surveyor in the home of Thomas Harwood. This is supported by the census of 1851. According to his autobiographical book "The Personal Adventures of George E Loyau" he ran away from his employer and was eventually rescued and returned to his mother.

George travelled to Australia in 1853, when he was 18 to seek his fortune at the start of the gold rush. His mother paid his passage and bought him clothing which he sold on the journey. He travelled around New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria for 7 years working at a variety of jobs, including gold digging, shearing, and working as a stockman, cattle drover, overseer, cook, tutor and press correspondent.

He became the editor of the Burnett Argus at Gayndah in 1861 and then editor of the Maryborough Chronicle a few months later. The following year, in 1862 he became a parliamentary reporter and then sub-editor of the Queensland Daily Guardian in Brisbane.

Marriage

George married three times:

1. George married Eliza Sharpe in Brisbane in 1862, but the marriage lasted less than 3 years and it is not known if there were any children.
2. In 1865 he moved to Sydney where he married Paulina Lynch née Thorpe, a widow with 2 children, that same year. They had 3 children together but their youngest child died in infancy in 1869. George's income seems to have varied in the 11 years he spent in Sydney. He worked in newspapers and did clerical work with periods of unemployment in between. He also wrote three volmes of poetry while in Sydney. In 1871, he published The Australian Seasons and Australian Wild Flowers and in 1872, he published Colonial Lyrics. His wife Paulina died in 1874, and her sister began caring for the children.
3. The following year, in 1875 George married Eleanor "Annie" Parker in Sydney, and his two children were admitted to the Randwick Destitute Children's Home. They were 6 and 7 years old and were each apprenticed when they were 12. George and Eleanor had 6 children over the next 12 years. Three of their children died by the time they were 5 years old.

In 1876, George became editor of The Gundagai Times for 6 months, after which he and his third wife Eleanor moved to Melbourne. Their first child was born there and George worked as a ticket writer and journalist. The following year, in 1877 they took a ship to Adelaide and George started a magazine, The Australian Family Herald: A Weekly Magazine of Interesting Literature, however, only three issues were produced. He also edited The South Australian Annual: Australian tales by well known writers in 1877. He was editor of the Gawler Bunyip in 1878-79 and twin daughters were born, but sadly, one of the twins died when 5 months of age. By 1880 - 1881, George was editor of the Illustrated Adelaide News. While living in Gawler, South Australia, he published several more works. These included The Gawler Handbook in 1880, Representative Men of South Australia and The Personal Adventures of George E. Loyau in 1883 and Notable South Australians in 1885. During this period, two more children were born, and both died in their first few years. By 1895 he and his family moved to Queensland, where he wrote The History of Maryborough in 1897.

Death

George suffered a severe stroke and was paralyzed. He died in Bundaberg in 1898, aged 63 and his widow Eleanor was left effectively penniless. ^[2] George wrote in a great variety of styles over his lifetime, and contributed many contemporary articles. His work also made a valuable contribution to local history. However he didn't make much money and lived in poverty for much of his adult life. His widow had to appeal to charity for assistance after his death, and she moved to Brisbane with her 3 surviving children.

George Ettienne Loyau's obituary stated "We have good authority for stating that George Ettienne Loyau was a member of the Earl of Chichester's family". This has not been verified.

Sources

1. ↑ London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124075376?search=true

• Queensland Births, Deaths & Marriages: Marriage Registration no. 1862/262

• New South Wales Births, Deaths & Marriages: Marriage Registration no. 1049/1865

• Family Notices from the Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954) of Friday 11 July 1879. Page 2. first accessed online 6 January 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97222583?searchTerm=%22George%20E.%20Loyau%22

• LATEST BY TELEGRAPH. from The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) of Saturday 30 April 1898, Page 824. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/21448185?searchTerm=%22George%20E.%20Loyau%22

• THE LATE MR. GEORGE E. LOYAU. from The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931) of Thursday 23 June 1898, Page 7. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2021 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/29410080?searchTerm=%22George%20E.%20Loyau%22

• George E. Loyau from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2021 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Loyau

• J. H. Love, Loyau, George Ettienne (1835–1898), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/loyau-george-ettienne-4044/text6433 published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 6 January 2021.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124075376/george-etienne-loyau : accessed 06 January 2021), memorial page for George Etienne Loyau (1835–1898), Find a Grave Memorial no. 124075376, citing Bundaberg General Cemetery, Bundaberg, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia ; Maintained by III (contributor 47426837) . (no gravestone photograph)

• Photographer: George & Walton's George Ettienne Loyau [B 5961] - Photograph from the State Library of South Australia Portrait collection. first accessed online on the 6th of January 2021 at: https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+5961 This image has no known copyright restrictions.