Here lyeth Interred the Remains of Ann wife of Mr Samuel WYBURN who departed this life the 20^th of January 1748 aged 44 years.

Also lyeth William son of William and Margaret LATHAM who departed this life …………. August 1751 …. aged 15 months.

Here also lyeth Margaret relict of Mr Nicholas BARRETT who departed this life the -- of April 1753 aged 80.

Here …………. body of Mr Nicholas Barrett who departed this life May 23 1755 aged 40. …

Here also lyeth the Body of Margaret daughter of the above said William and Margaret Latham who departed this lfie ……………………… March ye 25 1757 aged 2 years.

Mr William Latham late of this Parish died 22 April 1778 aged 55 an indulgent husband affectionate father.

Elisabett eldest daughter of the above William and Margaret Latham relict of John Shaw and John Leader died 23 March 1830 aged 82.

John Shaw Esquire eldest son of John and Elizabeth SHAW died 30 July 1832 aged 56. South side flat:

Edmund fifth son of John and Elizabeth Hester Shaw died April 1809 aged 3 months.

Als…..nod* their eldest son died August 30 1834 aged 24 years. *(Halsnod born 1800, died 1824)

William Shaw 1785 - 1872

William migrated to South Australia in 1851 on the ship “Omega” with his wife, Augusta, and their 2 children, Augusta[i] and William Willoughby[ii], then aged 6 and 3 yrs. William was aged 66 when he arrived and Augusta, 29 yrs., although the passenger list indicates less of an age difference. Their servant, Jane Sibbick[iii], also came with them. Augusta opened a little school at Willunga in 1852 and is recorded as having taught around 25 students however, sadly, she died in January 1853 and was buried in the Old Willunga Church of England Cemetery. The cause of her death is unknown, as her death does not seem to have been registered. (Willunga was still part of the Adelaide District at that time).

William was born in Bexley, Kent, in 1785, the youngest son of John Shaw and Elizabeth nee Latham. John Shaw[iv] was a surgeon in Charlotte Street, London and Elizabeth[v] was the daughter of William Latham[vi], a surgeon of Bexley.

In 1802, at the age of 17, William enlisted as a Bombay Cadet with the British East India Company and 2 years later received his Lieutenant’s commission and was appointed to the Marine Battalion. In June 1807 he was evidently injured or became ill and was granted furlough to return to UK however he did not return to India within the prescribed 3 years and was struck off the service registers. He may have chosen to forfeit his commission after inheriting property in Chobham, Surrey from his great-uncle Joseph Shaw, apparently providing enough income for him to marry and live the life of a “gentleman”. He married Frances Catherine Steer from Lincolnshire in 1809 and they had one daughter born in Sutton Bonington in 1813 before moving to Tours, France where 2 more girls were born in 1816 and 1820. To date no further records have been found of Frances and the girls but another genealogist has heard that Frances died in France c1837 and that one of the girls died, aged about 21, or in 1832 so in view of William's later life it seems probable that all 3 daughters died. In 1837 William received a bequest from an aunt and her Will says that he was living in Loches, near Tours, in France. (William may have owned property in Sutton Bonington as he gave that as his address in the birth registrations of 2 daughters in France.)

The next known is that William married Augusta nee Watt 26^th February 1844 in St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. Augusta had been born and lived near Caen in Normandy. Her father died in France in 1842 and sometime before 1845 William and Augusta, together with Augusta’a mother, moved to Devon in southern England. Their daughter, Augusta, was born in Tamerton-Foliott in 1845 and son, William Willoughby, in 1848. Their servant, Jane Sibbick, was already working for them when Augusta’s mother died in 1846. In the 1851 Census, taken less than 3 weeks before they left England, Augusta is described as a “Teacher of Languages” and William as a “Fundsholder” i.e having private means. On the voyage to Australia William was the ship’s Schoolmaster and Augusta the ship’s Matron and Jane Sibbick accompanied them.

The Shaw’s may have been attracted to South Australia by the success of Augusta’s cousin, Dr. Charles Davies[vii], who had migrated in 1839, prospered and become quite a prominent public figure. Newspaper notices inserted by the Davies’ family at the time of the marriage of Augusta (jnr) show that the Shaw and Davies families were in contact.

In early 1852 William was appointed to the position of District Clerk and Collector to the Willunga District Council and continued to hold that position after he was appointed Clerk of the Willunga Court in 1854. In 1853 the Shaw’s lived in a cottage in the Willunga township which belonged to Mr. Thos. Martin, then from 1855 to 1858 they lived in a house belonging to Mrs. H. Dawe. In the 1860’s they built a house near the Court House on the corner of Bridge Street and St James Street and William paid rates on that house up until 1871. The original house is still standing and now part of a larger house. William retired as Clerk of the Council and Court around 1868 (aged 83) and later moved to Adelaide where he died in June 1872. As his daughter was not living in Adelaide at that time I think that William was probably living with his son's family.

More detailed information on William’s family, his ancestors and descendants can be found online at the following link: Crossland Family Tree

[i] Augusta married Henry Barker Crossland, 4^th son of the well-known London & Sth, Aust. portraitist John Michael Crossland. They had 6 children but only their eldest daughter married and there are quite a number of her descendants in SA, Vic, NSW and WA. Henry Crossland was a Police Trooper but was dismissed after 4 years for improper conduct. He is then believed to have worked on Charles Todd’s Overland Telegraph survey party but later died on the goldfields near Bendigo, Victoria. Augusta seems to have had a very difficult life eking out a living from various activities such as teaching and photography. Charles Todd reputedly helped the family by giving them some work making blueprints for the PMG Dept. Augusta died on her 95^th birthday at her home in Wayville.

[ii] William Willoughby married Caroline Mary Pounsett, daughter of the local Postmaster. The couple had 3 children,. One died as an infant and is buried in the Old Willunga Cemetery near his Aunt Augusta's grave. William followed his father as Clerk of the Council at Willunga in 1868 but 2 years later was charged with embezzlement and sentenced to 2 years hard labour. He was released after 16 months and it appears that they then lived in Adelaide. Caroline died in 1875, aged just 34, and is buried in West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

5 years after that Willoughby married Catherine Ada Deane at Pt Augusta and in the 1890’s they moved to Brewarrina in NSW with Willoughby’s youngest son, Hubert Willoughby. Nothing more is known of Willoughby & Caroline’s eldest child, Elizabeth Caroline. There were no children from the second marriage but there are a number of Hubert’s descendants living in NSW, although none are now believed to carry the name SHAW. Willoughby died at Culgoa River, NSW 14.9.1896 of gastroenteritis and alcoholism.

[iii] Jane Sibbick, born on the Isle of Wight, married James Cooper in Willunga in 1853, 2 weeks before Augusta died. Nothing more is known of the couple.

[iv] John Shaw and William Latham had been in practice together in Bexley, along with William’s brother, Thomas, until William’s death in 1778. Thomas retained the practice and John Shaw signed an agreement to not practise within some miles of Bexley. Presumably this is when he started to work from Charlotte Street in London.

[v] Elizabeth Latham’s mother was Margrett Wyburn who came from a long line of landholders in Kent & Surrey. Wills and parish and other records in Bexley trace the Wyburn’s, Barrett’s and Judd’s back the mid-1500’s.

[vi] Both the Shaw’s and Latham’s originally came from yeoman families in Cheshire, the Shaw’s from Hulme Walfield, Gawsworth and Midgebrook in Somerford Booths near Congleton and the Latham’s from nearby Bradwall close to Sandbach. Their families can be traced back to c1600 and before.

[vii] Charles Davies, a doctor, became a grazier in the Flinders and, later, Gawler Ranges and a Member of the first Legislative Council of South Australia. His brother George, a goldsmith, arrived later and was involved in some of the early mining companies. Charles’ eldest son married the niece of Charles Todd of Overland Telegraph fame and Postmaster General of SA.

These pages prepared by Diana Comley.