Captain JAMES BAYLEY's two wives: Emma Elizabeth (Butchard) BAYLEY and Elizabeth BAYLEY
The McGREGOR family and their barque "Harriet McGregor"
The Bayley family home at New Town Tasmania, named Runnymede in 1863.
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2012 ARR
The Bayley and McGregor families
Elizabeth Bayley (1840-1910) arrived in Hobart, Tasmania from London on the 18th August 1872. She was 32 years old, unmarried, the daughter of R. J. Bayley, shipbuilder, of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It was her first voyage to Hobart and only the second return voyage of the new barque the Harriet McGregor under the command of Captain Richard Copping. It happened to be one of the most protracted voyages made by the Harriet McGregor, lasting 110 days because of adverse weather conditions.
Accompanying Elizabeth Bayley on board were three cabin passengers: her relative Captain James Bayley (1823-1894), aged 49 years, his daughter Harriet Louisa Bayley (1861-1931) aged 12 years from his first marriage to Emma Elizabeth Butchard (1837-1866) and Mr. John Bull, former third mate of the whaling vessel the Runnymede, to whom Captain James Bayley was deeply indebted for saving his life in 1866.
Pilot's Log of arrival of the Harriet McGregor, Richard Copping master
August 18th, 1872
TAHO Ref: MB2_39_1_33_Image_134
The new barque Harriet McGregor at New Wharf, Hobart
Stereograph by Thomas J. Nevin, 4th February 1871
Print from glass plate
ADRI: NS1013-1-1087
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
The barque Harriet McGregor was built in 1870 by John McGregor (1830-1902) at the Domain slipyard Hobart which was established by Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin's uncle Captain Edward Goldsmith back in 1854 prior to his sale of the lease in 1855 to John's brother, Alexander McGregor (1821–1896) . Alexander named the barque after his wife Harriet McGregor nee Bayley, sister of James and Charles Bayley. Harriet Bayley and Alexander McGregor married on 24 June 1847. He was 24 years old, she was a minor. She died on 23 October 1878, aged 49 years, of chronic hepatitis and peritonitis.
Emma Elizabeth Bayley née Butchard
Captain James Bayley's first marriage to Emma Elizabeth Butchard, daughter of Captain Tom Butchard, on December 30th 1856 ended at her death ten years later, on 4th December 1866.
BAYLEY.—On 4th December, at the residence of A. McGregor, Esq., Battery Point, Emma Elizabeth, aged 27 years, the beloved wife of Capt. James Bayley, and only daughter of the late Captain Butchard.Source: Mercury (Hobart), Monday 24 December 1866, page 2
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8843426
Witnesses at the marriage in 1856 were his brother-in-law Alexander McGregor and his brother Charles Bayley. Emma Elizabeth (Butchard) Bayley died of pulmonary consumption, aged 27 yrs at Battery Point. Her daughter Harriet Louisa Bayley, named after the Bayley brothers' sister, was motherless at just 5 years old. Her widowed father took her to England and when they returned on the Harriet Gregor in 1872, he was accompanied by a prospective new wife and stepmother to Harriet, his distant relative Miss Elizabeth Bayley.
A daughter of the master mariner fraternity of Hobart, Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, whose father Captain James Day was residing with her and her husband, photographer Thomas J. Nevin, at their city photographic studio in Elizabeth Street by 1874 when he was not at sea, numbered the women of the McGregor, Bayley and Morrison shipping families among her circle of close friends, many of whom were invited to the studio for a photographic portrait by her husband.
Questions about the identity of this young woman (cdv below) and the date she was photographed at Nevin's studio centre largely on furnishings seen only in portraits taken before 1870: the thick carpet bordered in white with a central floral motif; the dining chair with carved crest rail and cabriole legs; the single stem table with tripod base; and the full-length drape to the right of frame.
If this young woman in a vibrant check dress was Emma Elizabeth (Butchard) Bayley, 27 years old, who died in December 1866, then this portrait would be one of Thomas Nevin's earliest bearing his most common commercial studio mark, almost identical in design to his predecessor's which he modified only minimally to include his own name - "T. NEVIN late A. BOCK" . Questions arise then as to her state of health if this photograph was taken in 1866: was she just months from death? Given that Thomas Nevin had not begun professional photography much before 1866 - 1864 would be the earliest on record when he was producing mainly stereographs at his studio in New Town and selling them from the New Town Post Office - this portrait may well be one of the first he took from 1865 to late November 1866 at the latest (when Emma Elizabeth Bayley née Butchard died - between 1865 when he acquired Alfred Bock's lease on the studio and stock at auction and 1867 with Bock's permanent relocation from Tasmania to Victoria.
The provenance of this photograph, according to notes entered into the TMAG database (2015 - not online) was originally from a photograph album belonging to a Bathurst Catholic priest who died around the 1890s and was salvaged by a house-keeper. It contained -
"... an entry; hand written, on the front page of Emma Elizabeth Bayley". This death took place on the 4/12/1866 and is recorded in The Mercury (Hobart Tas 1860-1954) Friday 7th Dec. 1866 Page 1."While this information only raises more questions as to how a Bathurst (NSW) Catholic priest came to possess the cdv and what his housekeeper did with it on his demise, it does lend vigour to our conclusion that this young woman in the check dress was Emma Elizabeth Bayley née Butchard (1837 - 1866), first wife of Captain James Bayley, photographed at Thomas J. Nevin's studio ca. 1865-1866.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
TMAG Ref: Q2012.28.28
Full length cdv on plain mount: Emma Elizabeth (Butchard) Bayley, first wife of Captain James Bayley of Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania, 1866. She died in December 1866.. She is standing with her left hand (with wedding ring) on a dining chair, wearing a dress with small checks, and a brooch at the neck. Her gaze is direct to the camera.
Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin 1865-1866.
Verso with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection catalogue [not online]
Registration number: Q2012.28.28 [scans acquired here 2015]
Acquisition Date: 10/9/2012
Description : Photograph print album, albumen print carte de visite :
MAKER: Thomas Nevin, City Photographic Establishment [photographer];
TITLE: 'unknown woman in check frock'
Elizabeth Bayley née Bayley
If, on the other hand, this is a cdv of Captain James Bayley's second wife, Elizabeth Bayley née Bayley, she was photographed within weeks of her marriage on 21st December 1874, her wedding ring clearly visible on her left hand resting on the back of the chair. And while Nevin may have photographed the captain's second wife in the 1870s, her portrait has yet to be discovered or indeed identified, though she would have counted among Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's circle of friends, her cohort of younger women in the master mariner community who visited Nevin's studio for a portrait. Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's father Captain James Day had served extensively on vessels as navigator, chief officer and master with his brother-in-law, merchant trader Captain Edward Goldsmith from the 1830s-1850s, and on vessels owned by the McGregor and Bayley brothers on Pacific and Mauritius routes up to his death in 1882, licensed by Captain James Bayley at the Marine Board.
Marriage: BAYLEY and BAYLEY
Marriage registration of Captain James Bayley, widower, and Elizabeth Bayley, spinster, at the Church of St. Andrews, Hobart, Tasmania, on 21st December 1874.
Rites performed by Dr. John Stone, witnessed by J. E. Risby and D. Stanfield
TAHO Ref: Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:877691 Resource RGD37/1/33 no 204.
Marriage notice for James and Elizabeth Bayley, Mercury 29 December 1874
MARRIAGEThe Bayley shipyard, Ipswich.
BAYLEY-BAYLEY. - At Hobart Town, by the Rev. J. Storie, Captain James Bayley, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Mr. R. J. Bayley, shipbuilder, Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
British Museum number 1853,0112.2328
A Portrait of the East Indiaman built at Mr Bayley's Shipyard, Ipswich, Launched Augt 1817
Hand-coloured etching and aquatint
Print made by: Robert Pollard
One marriage, one birth and three funerals, 1874-1875
When Elizabeth (Bayley) Bayley became the second wife of Captain James Bayley on 21st December 1874, she was in the last trimester of pregnancy. She gave birth to a daughter, Bessie Mary, on the 25th February 1875. The baby's death was registered on the 17th March by their informant Thos. Whitesides of Liverpool St. Hobart. The baby had died twenty days later of diarrhoea. Captain James Bayley and Elizabeth Bayley had no more children.
Birth:
Name: Bayley, Bessie Mary
Date: 25th February 1875
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES: 976640
Resource RGD 33/1/11/ no 1044
Death:
Name: Bayley, Bessie Mary [aged 20 days]
Date: 17th March 1875
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES: 1151820
Resource RGD 35/1/8 no 2549
Although the marriage of Elizabeth (Bayley) Bayley to Captain James Bayley appears to have been tardy in the light of her late stage of pregnancy by 21st December 1874, the reason for the delay was most likely due to the Bayley family's state of mourning. Three weeks prior to their marriage, on the 2nd December 1874, Mrs Charles Bayley wife of James Bayley's brother, died at the house called Runnymede in New Town (Hobart, Tasmania) after a protracted illness. And six weeks later Captain Charles Bayley himself also died at Runnymede, on the 22 January 1875. That huge loss left Runnymede without a master. Captain James Bayley moved his daughter Harriet Louisa and his new wife Elizabeth (Bayley) Bayley into Runnymede and awaited the birth of Bessie, only to find themselves plunged further in mourning at her death at less than a month old, on 17th March 1875.
Maritime Museum of Tasmania
Captain James Bayley
Measurements 82mm
Object Type Glass lantern slide
Object number P_GSL029
Obituary: Captain James Bayley, 1894
Obituaries Australia https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/bayley-james-13657
Bayley, James (1823–1894)
Captain James Bayley, one of the early day Tasmanian seamen, died yesterday at his late residence, Runnymede, New Town, at the advanced age of 71 years. He served his time with his brother, the late Captain Charles Bayley, in the bark Fortitude, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he went to England to see his family, returning to the colony in 1846, in the bark Pacific in the capacity of second officer. He sailed in this vessel on her first whaling voyage, and subsequently joined his brother as chief officer of the bark Runnymede. When Mr Askin Morrison became owner of the bark Flying Childers the deceased took the vessel to China and brought her back to Hobart with a cargo of tea. The brothers Bayley subsequently took over Mr Morrison's vessels, and deceased assumed command of the old Runnymede. Like most of those who go down to the sea in ships Captain Bayley had his quota of danger. On one occasion when aloft trying to sight a school of whales the top gallant halyards, with which he was steadying himself, gave way and he was precipitated into the sea, just missing the bulwarks of his vessel through her heeling over. A Kanaka who was engaged on the vessel jumped overboard, and sustained his chief until both were rescued. On retiring from the seafaring life some years ago Captain Bayley became a member of the Marine Board, and remained in office until the nominee system was abolished. He was a director in the Derwent and Tamar Insurance Company at the time of his death. For years deceased was part owner with Hon. Alexander McGregor in the barks Lufra and Helen. As a private citizen and a seaman Captain Bayley was looked upon as one of the most kind-hearted and genial men in the port of Hobart. He leaves a wife and one daughter to mourn their loss. The latter is married to Mr H. V. Bayly, secretary to the General Post-office.The Mercury report of the incident on board the Runnymede (31 July 1866) named Captain James Bayley's rescuer by name, John Bull, and not by race.
The whaling barque Runnymede, Captain James Bayley, which returned from a cruise on 29th ultimo, was paid off at the shipping office yesterday. On the settlement of the lays being completed Captain Bayley in the presence of the officers and crew made reference to the following trite but expressive passage in the log book :-
" Monday July 9th, 1866, 8.30 a.m. The captain went up to the mast head and sat on the main top-gallant yard ; ship running about two miles per hour. 9 a.m., the main top-gallant tye carried away close to the yard; down came the captain, he struck in his fall the topsail yard, then the mainbrace, and then just cleared the waist boat, and fell into the water, a distance of 90 feet from the maintop-gallant yard. Though nearly all hands were on deck, not one had the presence of mind to throw anything overboard. The captain could not swim. Mr. Bull, the third officer jumped overboard with all his clothes on, and swam to the Captain's assistance. Just before the boat got there the cramp seized Mr. Bull in both legs and he had as much as he could do to keep up till Mr. Hill, chief officer, got to them with the boat just in time to save them. The captain was very much bruised."
Captain Bayley then addressed Mr. Bull thanking him in grateful and feeling terms for his manly behavior on the above occasion and begged Mr. Bull's acceptance of a very handsome gold watch and chain as a slight acknowledgment of Mr. Bull's saving his life at the imminent risk of his own. The watch and chain which are of the value of forty guineas were then handed over by Captain Bayley to Mr. Bull who made a short and appropriate reply expressive of the pride and pleasure he felt in having been the means of saving his captain, adding that he should always be ready to act in the same way should any shipmate or other person ever unfortunately stand in similar peril, and need of his assistance. The watch bore the following inscription on the interior of the case :-
"Presented by Captain James Bayley of the whaling barque, Runnymede, to Mr. John Bull, third mate of that vessel, who at the imminent risk of his own life leaped overboard to save Captain Bayley, who had fallen into the sea from the maintop-gallant yard 9th July 1866. "
The gratifying duty of presentation and acknowledgment having been gone through, three hearty cheers were given for Captain Bayley, and three for Mr. Bull, and ''the meeting then broke up."
Source: SHIPPING. (1866, August 7). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved August 15, 2015, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8840913
Captain James Bayley died on the 16th September 1894, aged 71 years. His second wife Elizabeth Bayley nee Bayley died on 19th May 1910 at Runnymede, aged 70 yrs. This photograph was taken of Elizabeth and James Bayley standing on the verandah of Runnymede, New Town, in the early 1890s.
Since their only child Bessie Mary had died in infancy in 1875, Captain James Bayley's daughter, Harriett Louisa Bayley by his first marriage to Emma Elizabeth Butchard, inherited Runnymede. In 1895, Harriet married H. V. Bayly (his real name, even if very similar). The house and grounds were held by her descendants, sisters Halle and Emma Bayley, until it was passed on to the National Trust of Tasmania. New Town residents in the 1950s would remember the two elderly Bayley sisters. Some might even remember the pale thin English immigrant children who stayed with them and attended the "Campbell Street Practising School" in 1960.
State Library of Tasmania
Elizabeth and James Bayley on the verandah at Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania ca. 1890
Unattributed
Ref: NS1619_1_106
Addenda: BDM documents
1. Emma Elizabeth BAYLEY nee BUTCHARD
Captain James Bayley's first marriage to Emma Elizabeth Butchard on December 30th 1856 ended at her death ten years later, on 4th December 1866. She died of pulmonary consumption, aged 27 yrs.
Name: Bayley, James William
Record Type: Marriages
Gender: Male Age:21
Spouse: Butchard, Emma Elizabeth
Gender: Female Age:21
Date of marriage:30 Dec 1856
Registered: Hobart
Registration year:1856
Document ID: NAME_INDEXES:855503
Resource RGD37/1/15 no 374
Emma Elizabeth BAYLEY died in 1866
Name: Bayley, Emma Elizabeth
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Female
Age:27
Date of death: 04 Dec 1866
Registered: Hobart
Registration year:1866
Document ID: NAME_INDEXES:1147277
ResourceRGD35/1/7 no 6492
2. Captain Charles BAYLEY
Death of Mrs Charles Bayley 8 December 1874
Death of Captain Charles Bayley 22 January 1875
3. Harriet Louisa BAYLY nee Bayley
Birth 21 March 1861
Harriet Louisa BAYLEY Marriage 1895 to H. V. Bayly
Name: Bayley, Harriet Louisa
Record Type: Marriages
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Spouse: Bayly, Henry Vincent
Gender: Male
Age:34
Date of marriage: 29 Oct 1885
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1885
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:896968
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