William Charles Creed was born in Chelsea in the 2nd half of 1830. His birth and baptism were not recorded. His birthplace was consistently stated as Chelsea when he registered the births of his own children, and on his death certificate. Chelsea is also where his brother John was christened in 1824. William’s own birth or christening was not recorded. We believe Chelsea is correct.
The aged recorded at various times in William’s life indicate a birth date between 6 June 1830 and 9 Feb 1831.
He first appears in any record as William Creed, age 10, living at Marshgate, Mortlake, Surrey, with his mother and two older siblings on 6 Jun 1841. William and brother John are both stated as not born in this county (Surrey). Their birthplace, Chelsea, is across the River Thames from Surrey, on the Middlesex side.
William departed Plymouth on the “Catherine” on 8 Feb 1851 He arrived in Port Adelaide on 26 May 1851, aged 20.
William first worked as a ship’s officer sailing the numerous small ports on South Australia’s coast and between Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Mauritius. He wears maritime rig in an early photograph, taken while on shore leave, about 1854. He discharged from the merchant marine in Port Adelaide, 26 Apr 1858.
William must have liked Robe, where he entered into pastoral pursuits. William was a 29 year old stock holder when he married Mary Ann Bates at Comung Station, Biscuit Flat, near Robe on 21 Mar 1860.
By 1865 they were living in Mount Gambier. By 1867 they had settled at Mumbannar, Victoria. William, with local stonemason Owen Jones, built the Mumbannar School in 1874. A road at Mumbannar was for many years known as Creed’s Lane. Their property was 30 acres of gently undulating land on the south side of the Prince’s Highway, by the Mumbannar-Wanwin Road.
Their children were:
"Missing friends. Missing from Warrnambool, Belfast District, Charles William [sic] Creed, formerly of Surrey, England, a stonemason, age 35 [sic], 5 ft 6 or 7 high, very thin build and face, fair complexion, brown hair and eyes, thin sandy whiskers moustache and beard, straight nose, scar under the lip, slightly pockmarked, erect gait, had with him a light tweed cap and black wideawake, two short-skirted black coats, a pair of moleskins, and a pair of dark tweed trousers. He was lately working at the Reefs, Pleasant Creek [Stawell], but took to drinking and went away, leaving his swag behind. 20th Sep 1869".
William was admitted to Aradale Lunatic Asylum, Ararat, on 1 Jun 1909. He passed away in Ararat on 22 Feb 1912, aged 81.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQKJ-V6R
https://my.rio.bdm.vic.gov.au/efamily-history/6584c702b155e124ea22d4db/results?q=efamily
N.B. Beware the cherry pickers on ancestry.com who would turn William Charles Creed of Mortlake, Surrey, into a William Creed born Reading, who never bore the middle name Charles and never migrated to South Australia in 1851, so can still be found in English Cencus for 1851 and much later!
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