Eric Spencer Richter (1916-1987) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Eric Spencer Richter

Born 20 Jan 1916 in Portland, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Son of Herman Vincent Richter and Vera Margaret Emily (Spencer) Richter

Brother of Lorna Mabel Nixon (Spencer) Parsons, Reginald Richter, James Richter, [private sibling (1920s - unknown)], Peggy Richter, Margaret Richter and Dudley Richter

Husband of [private wife (1920s - unknown)]

Husband of Elsie Jane May (Barker) Richter — married 1937 in Victoria, Australia

Descendants

Father of John Richter, Jeanette (Richter) Warren, Carol (Richter) Unknown, [private daughter (1950s - unknown)], Karen (Richter) Conley, [private daughter (1950s - unknown)] and [private daughter (1960s - unknown)]

Died May 1987 at age 71 in Rosebud, Victoria, Australia

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Profile last modified 26 May 2023 | Created 7 Dec 2015

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Biography

Eric was born in 1916. Eric was the son of Herman Vincent Richter and Vera Spencer. Eric passed away in 1987 at the age of 71, and was cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery on 15 May.^[1]^[2]

Research Notes

Eric Spencer Richter (Richter-933) and Elsie Jane May Barker (Barker-5793)

ERIC SPENCER RICHTER, born in 1916, was the son of Herman Vincent Richter and Vera Margaret Emily Spencer.

In 1937, Eric Spencer Richter married Elsie Jane May Barker.^[3]

Birth records for children of Eric and Elsie are not publicly available, but it is clear that their first-born children were twins, Jeffrey and Marion, born 9 May 1939 in Mount Gambier, South Australia.

The Richter family, at that time, was residing in Puralka, in Western Victoria (near the South Australian border), and the deaths of the twins shortly after birth was reported in newspapers in Mount Gambier, South Australia, Portland, Victoria, and Melbourne, Victoria,^[4] referring to “...twin children of Spencer and Elsie Richter of Dartmoor...”. Other reports refer to the “...recovery of Mrs Spencer Richter...”^[5] The deceased twins were buried at the Lake Terrace Cemetery in Mount Gambier, South Australia, on 10 May 1939 and Cemetery records are specific regarding death dates and hours survived by each child.^[6] South Australian BDM Indexes show deaths for Jeffery Richter, 1939/613/2137 - Father: Eric Spencer Richter; and for Marion Richter, 1939/613/2142 - Father: Eric Spencer Richter.^[7]

Eric Spencer Richter died in 1987 in Rosebud, Victoria at the age of 71 and the death registration shows his parents as Herman Vincent Richter and Vera Margaret Emily (Spencer).^[8] Eric was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery on 15 May 1987.^[9]

Eric’s spouse, ELSIE JANE MAY BARKER, born about 1918, was the daughter of George Sanders Barker and Elsie Jane Fiddyment. George Barker and Elsie Fiddyment were married in 1914^[10] and, although Elsie Jane May Barker is said to have been born in 1918, no record of that is yet publicly available. Her marriage to Eric Spencer Richter in 1937 has been verified.^[11]

Other than the early years of that marriage, (i.e. the birth and death of the twins, mentioned above), Elsie’s life is somewhat of an enigma.

An outline of Elsie’s history has been found on another website - showing portion of a “Carrucan Family Tree”.^[12]

In this “Carrucan Family Tree”, there are no sources whatsoever listed, so all information must be treated as unsubstantiated. That document shows that Elsie Jane May Barker was born in April 1918 at Clifton Hill (Melbourne), Victoria, Australia, and died in 1987 at Ivanhoe (Melbourne), Victoria, Australia. She is shown as having married Eric Spencer Richter (no date) and having had three children - John Richter, Janet Richter (married to Des Warren), and Carol Richter. (No dates are listed for the births of these children and there is no mention of the twins.) Although there is no reference to how, when, or why that marriage ended, the document then goes on to show Elsie Jane May as having married Fred Berkley and having two more children - Kerry Berkley (married to Dieter Bmau), and Francis Berkley, (again, with no dates). A third marriage is listed, to Jim Butler (no details at all), and a fourth husband is shown as Bob Bransgrove. With this scant information, none of this history of Elsie Jane May Barker can be verified. However, Victorian BDM Indexes list a death, in 1987, of an Elsie Bransgrove ^[13] The death record shows “Parkville” as the place of death; this is most likely the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville, Melbourne. There is also a record of Elsie Bransgrove being cremated at Fawkner Memorial Park (Melbourne) on 22 January 1987 (having died on 18 January).^[14]

In the course of researching Eric Spencer Richter, another Eric Richter has been revealed by the Victorian BDM Indexes. This second Eric Richter died in 1962^[15] and the record indicates his age as 72 at death, (which signifies a birth date around 1890). There is no middle name recorded and parents are shown as Father: Unknown Richter and Mother as Unknown Unknown. Place of death is listed as Ivanhoe - (which, coincidentally, is the claimed death location of Elsie Jane May (Barker) in the Carrucan Family Tree). Another coincidence is that this Eric Richter was buried at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery (on 31 August 1962).^[16] Despite extensive searches, I have found no records at all for birth or marriage of this second Eric Richter in any State of Australia, (or in New Zealand, or in the UK). Nor have I found any apparent links to other Richter families in Australia, a great many of which were resident in South Australia in that era.

Peter Knowles Knowles-1375 19:47, 25 November 2016 (EST)