William (Bartlett) Tritton (1873 - 1896)

Born 1873 in Merrendee (now Yarrabin), New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 1896 at about age 23 in Bourke, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

William Bartlett was born in 1873.^[1] He was the son of John Bartlett and Grace Lawrence.

The infant's mother died soon after the child's birth. Subsequently he was reared by a lady identified only as "Mrs Tritton" and the boy became known as Billy Tritton.

A search of records has thus far identified only one record that might relate to this son. New South Wales death registration 1896/9295^[2] records the death of "William Stretton, otherwise Tritton", a carrier by occupation, on 30 July 1896 "on the road from Bourke to Louth, 2 miles from Bourke". The record states that the verdict of the coroner was "accidentally run over by loaded waggon whilst in a state of intoxication." Details of the deceased person's parents are stated as "unknown". The death certificate states the deceased was aged between 30 and 35 years but young William Tritton would have been only 23 at this time. However if there was no family present, his parentage etc. was unknown and he had had a hard life, possibly with extensive intoxication, it may have been difficult to estimate the age of the corpse at the time of death. While other leads might yet eventuate, it seems probable that the young William Bartlett, who lost his biological mother at the time of his birth and was raised away from his biological family, died in a road accident while intoxicated in outback New South Wales. If so, he was not much older at death than his mother would have been when she died.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales birth registration 13999/1873
2. ↑ New South Wales death registration 1896/009295