James Ridley (bef. 1834 - 1896)

Born before 5 Oct 1834 in Slaugham, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Charlotte (Cook) Ridley — married 29 Apr 1860 in Table Hill, Western Australia, Australia

Husband of Isabella (Ritchie) Ridley — married 20 May 1878 in Northampton, Western Australia, Australia

Descendants

Died 4 Jan 1896 after age 61 in Northampton, Western Australia, Australia

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Biography

The master version of this biography, which includes images, is maintained at http://www.dorneyfamilyhistory.net/famtree_web/History_maternal.pdf

James was born in the parish of Slaugham, Sussex to Edward Ridley and Amelia Collins, and was baptised there on 5 October 1834. Slaugham was his mother’s home village, and it’s not clear if his family were living there at the time of his birth, or if his mother had returned there to give birth at home. Most of his siblings were born in West Hoathly.

When the 1841 Census was conducted on 7 June James was living with his family in West Hoathly. There were 15 people in the household, which included the Payne family, the Kimber family, as well as James, his parents, four brothers and an older half-brother.

James left England for Western Australia on the Simon Taylor, arriving in Perth on 20 August 1842. More information on the ship and the voyage is in his father’s chapter.

His father died scarcely a year after arriving, on 27 August 1843. By 1844 at least James was probably living in the household of James Cook in Perth, who his mother was later to marry.

According to Amelia, by Bonnie Milne, in around 1847 James was employed, along with his brother Edward at George Green’s foundry in Perth. His brother Edward was later to marry George’s daughter Dinah.

James moved to the Northampton area with his older brother Edward and worked in the area for many years, in both lead and copper mines in which he and his brother had an interest. In a 1937 article about his son Amed, it was stated that James was the discoverer of the lead mines at Northampton. A 1908 article about Edward claimed he was the discoverer of the Yanganooka copper mine in July 1853, five miles to the north of Northampton2. It was worked for five or six years from 1855 until a slump in the price of copper caused it to close down. The same article also credited Edward with discovering the Wanerenooka copper mine, which was worked for eight or nine years. He was also credited with the Wheel of Fortune copper mine, four miles west of Northampton, with a main shaft 300 feet deep, and the Euga lead mine.

The 1908 article also pointed out that expensive cartage and high ocean freights impacted on the viability of the projects.

In reality James and Edward worked in partnership until May 1878, and credit for the finds probably goes to both men.

James married Charlotte Cook on 29 April 1860 at (King’s) Table Hill. Charlotte was only sixteen years old and the daughter of some of the very first English settlers to arrive in Western Australia. His residence was given as Lower Bowes, a locality about nine kilometres south of Geraldton. King’s Table Hill is about another ten kilometres south. The witnesses to the marriage were Samuel and Rachel Farmer.

James and Charlotte had five children together, Amelia (1862-1863), Frederick James (1865-1868), Mary Jane (1868), Edward Thomas (1870), and Amed George (1874).

James was working at the Gwalla mine at Northampton, or perhaps just living nearby, in May 1863 when he is recorded as donating ten shillings to the Lancashire Relief Fund.

James was living out at the Wheel of Fortune mine in May 1864. He was renting from and living with the owner, a butcher, in a two roomed house, the rooms being divided by a rug hung as a curtain for three weeks, when on 6 May, one of the other two tenants, a man named Theodore Krakouer was accused of stealing £490 (a staggering amount of money) from the owner.

Their first three children were born in the Northampton-Geraldton area, however by Edward’s birth in 1870 they had moved to Greenhills, a farming area 25 kilometres west of the town of York, and by 1874 to Wilberforce, a similar distance to the north of York. It’s not clear that James was living with his family all through this period as in December 1873 he was recorded donating ten shillings to the Perth Orphanage while at the Euga mine.

We know James still held land in the Geraldton area in 1874, as he was an elector in the region that year.

James wife Charlotte died on 25 June 1875 of consumption (tuberculosis). James was described as a mine proprietor on her death certificate.

James married for the second time on 20 May 1878, to Isabella Ritchie in a Wesleyan Methodist ceremony. The venue was Gwalla Church in Northampton. Isabella was much younger than James, and they were to have seven children together over the next sixteen years.

They were William James (1879), Matthew (1882-1882), Susannah (1883), Annie Agnes (1886), Francis Charles (1889), Gladys May (1892-1892) and Alfred Clarence (1894). All their children were born in the Northampton area.

In June 1881 James applied for a Wine and Beer Licence. It was objected to on the grounds that the house was not at all necessary, and, moreover, was not in the townsite. The application was adjourned to the next day for a decision, but I cannot find any article with the outcome.

James Ridley, miner, sold Geraldton Town Lot 359 to James Stone on 19 June 1883 for 45 pounds.

James attended a public meeting in September 1883 at the Miner’s Arms Hotel, where, amongst other things, a commonage of Northampton was discussed. James seconded a motion that the Governor on his arrival be memorialised (petitioned) for a commonage.

He was a co-executor of the estate of a William Read in December 1884.

James was still prospecting through the 1880s. An item in the The Herald (Fremantle) in May 1886 indicates that he had found a deposit of tin ore.

In November 1886 he posted notice of his intention to apply for a Gallon Licence at his premises on the Wanerenooka Road, Northampton. I don’t know if this application was successful.

As a respectable land-owning member of the community, James was eligible to serve on juries, and he was the foreman of an inquest jury in February 1887, delivering a verdict of “Accidental Death.”

In January 1890 he was again on an inquest jury, where this time the verdict was “ James Evans came to his death by running into the Linton Salt Lake whilst in a state of unsound mind.”

James would take on many kinds of work at different times. He was appointed Assistant Telegraph Messenger and Letter Carrier, Geraldton in February 1879, and was hold the position until 1882. The renumeration was only £12 a year, so certainly not full time work. The accounts of the Northampton Roads Board for 1889 show that he was employed for 73 days repairing roads, at a rate of six shillings a day.

He may have had a falling out with his son Edward, for in July 1888 he placed the following notice in the newspaper: I will not hold myself responsible for any debts incurred by my son Edward Thomas Ridley of Northampton, as he has left his home of his own accord, and is also under age. Further, take notice that the said Edward Thomas Ridley has no power to sell or dispose of any stock without my consent.

James died on 2 January 1896 on his property near Northampton. The cause of death was stated to be not known, but it was also stated that he had been ailing for some months. It was likely to be cancer as he had probably inherited his mother’s gene mutation that increased the risk of cancer.

He died intestate, with Isabella granted the letters of administration of his estate. The value of his property came to just £109. His cottage and one acre of land were worth £70, his livestock £36 and household furniture £3. From this had to be subtracted £9 of debt to various storekeepers. Funeral and probate expenses came to £11 12, not leaving Isabella with very much at all.

Browse newspaper items about James here http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?l-publictag=James%20Ridley%201834-1896

Sources

• Birth: "England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD6-T5FN : 9 August 2016), James Ridley, 1834.
• Death: WA BDM Index 1896/1162