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EDWIN MAWNEY
SAYERS
Born
in Romford, Essex, in 1818 or1819, and supposedly arrived in
Hobart
with his father and siblings in 1834. His sister was married from the house of
“G. Sayers” in 1840 - possibly him or his father, despite the wrong initial.
There are records of Mr E. Sayers arriving in
Hobart
from
UK
on the Arab in 1839 and 1840, and E. M. Sayers arriving with Clara Sayers on
the Platina in 1840 . He lived in in Port Phillip (Melbourne) in 1838 and
1840-4, where he represented the Bank of Van Dieman’s Land. He was also said
to be the owner of store in
Collins St
,
Melbourne
in 1840. Whether in this period or later, “He was declared a bankrupt in
Victoria
.”
Edwin
is mentioned many times in the diaries of Rev William Waterfield in
the
Mitchel Library, Sydney NSW.
He
was a part of the group of dissenters: congregationalists, Independents,
Methodists
& Baptists for whom Waterfield came to
Melbourne
in 1838, to
serve
as missionary then minister.
The
arrival of his bride by ship, the marriage & celebrations following,
baptising
of his child, etc are noted in the diaries. He was involved in
some
scandal (probably financial)
1838,
8 Oct SAYERS returned to
Van Diemen's Land
with Mrs HOWE, who had
been
over visiting
1838,
11 August. Arrived Miss TYRRELL per "Endora" in preparation for her
marriage
to Edwin Mawney SAYERS, stayed with Mr & Mrs KETTLE
1838, 28 Aug, marriage of Edwin SAYERS to Anna TYRREL Tuesday August 28th.
Witnesses
Henry & Marion KETTLE
:
At the time WATERFIELD'S church had not been registered and he had not been
issued with a licence to
marry...
a bit complicated, but the marriage was never centrally
registered,
and the only copy of the certificate comes from the files of
Superintendent
LATROBE and the entry in the diary. These marriages were
legalised
retrospectively by an Act of Parliament 23 Sept 1840. After that
date
(when Waterfield received his blank register)all his marriages
appear
in the registered lists. ***
1839,
23 June Clara SAYERS baptised by Rev W daughter of Edward Mawney
SAYERS
and Anna TYRELL born 23 May, child at birth not expected to survive,
initially.
1839,
2 Sept Trustees elected for the Independent Chapel, Rev WATERFIELD,
J.P.
FAWKNER, J.R. MURPHY, E.M.SAYERS and R. BOURNE of
Sydney
.
He moved to
Sydney
about 1850.He was certainly living
in
Sydney
by 1851, when his youngest son died at St Leonards . He was a passenger
Liverpool
- Melbourne-Sydney in 1852, on the vessel Sarah Sands . He was listed in
shipping advertisements in the Sydney Morning Herald in January 1853 - the only
month sampled for the period - as an agent for various ships travelling to
Melbourne and beyond, with his contact address given as Port Phillip Ticket
Office, 489 George St.He is
mentioned in a book called History of North Sydney (p. 93 - author's name not
given in ref.) as a resident in 1855 . He builta two-storey brick residence, "Euroka", in
Lavender
Bay
in the 1850's, which he later sold to Sir Thomas Dibbs, who renamed it "Graythwaite",
and donated it to the Red Cross as a hospital during the 1st World War. He was
listed as living at Euroka Villa,
North
Shore
in 1859 and 1861, but by 1865, his private address was St Leonards,
North
Shore
.
He
was briefly involved in politics, as member for St Leonards of the first NSW
Parliament after the 1858 Electoral Reform Act. He was elected to the Third NSW
Parliament on 17/6/1859, but resigned on 16/4/1860. He was the successful owner
of coastal shipping vessels, said to be the first to run a shipping line between
Sydney and Melbourne.His business
address was merchant of
324 George Street
, City, in earlier years, and
Campbells
Wharf
in 1865, while in 1880 he was a shipping agent, at
75/69 Pitt St
, City,and in 1890, a merchant of
24 Bridge St
, City. He retired about 1890 and lived at
Lavender
Bay
.He lived at
Blues Bay Rd, North
Shore, in 1870, at "
Springfield
",
Lavender St
,
Victoria
, in 1880 and at "Ellematta",
Bradleys Head Road
, Mosman, in 1890and 1902and "
Melrose
",
Military Road
, Mosman, in 1908. He took a keen
interest in movements for the advancement of North Sydney - he was one of the
founders of the North Sydney School of Arts, and was Warden of St Thomas’
Church of England.
He
was first married in Port Phillip in 1838 -the first marriage there, according
to an article in the
Melbourne
Argus, 22/6/1931, citing Tyrrell: First Years at Port Phillip. There is no
record of this marriage in Victorian BDM.His
wife died in 1844: Vic BMD 1066/1844. He married again in
Melbourne
in 1844: SMH,27/12/1844 , Vic BDM reg 3840/1844. He was married for a third
time in 1892, to Edith Hayles - wedding reg 7801/1892.
He
is referred to as Captain Sayers, master of the "Hawkesbury" in a
quote from This Century of Ours (no author given, p.99 - SAG index card). In
1902, he was a Justice of the Peace.
Death
details, including age 90, are from his probate record 48400/1909: it gives his
death date as 9 Dec. Death reg 14170/1909: no parents listed. Death notice in
SMH on 8 Dec 1909: "Sayers, December 7 1909, at his residence,
Melrose
, Mosman, Edwin Mawney Sayers, in his 91st year". Funeral notice the same
day said the funeral would leave his residence at 3pm, arriving at St Thomas'
cemetery at 4pm. St Thomas' Nth Sydney funeral records give death date as 7 Dec
1909. Gravestone says: "Edwin Mawney Sayers, died 7 December 1909, aged 90
years. A man greatly beloved." Second wife and 6 of his children, plus
Clara Chamberlain (d. Dec 1903, aged 75 - his sister), are also listed on the
gravestone. Death certificate - informant WR Sayers - lists parents and first
two wives as “unknown”, and lists his living children as: by first marriage
- Clara (70), Maria (67) and Edwin T (65); by second marriage - Emily (59),
William R (57), Alice M (51) and Marian T (50). It notes that two males and one
female were deceased.
Obituary in the SMH of 9 Dec 1909 said: “Death of Mr E. M. Sayers/ There died
in his 91st year, at his residence
Melrose
, Mosman, on Tuesday, Mr Edwin Sayers, a very old and highly respected resident.
A native of
England
, he came to
Australia
in 1834, and took up his residence successively in
Tasmania
and
Victoria
. But about 60 years ago he came to
Sydney
, engaged in the shipping trade, and soon became the owner of several vessels
trading between
Sydney
and the neighbouring colonies. He was the first to establish a regular line of
vessels to
Melbourne
, and had the misfortune to have a brig names the Harp driven ashore. Mr Sayers,
nothing daunted, travelled with a number of men overland to the scene of the
accident - Broken Bay - and after considerable trouble refloated the vessel.
During this period, Mr Sayers resided at
Lavender
Bay
, and was to be seen daily rowing himself to and from the city. He took a lively
interest in all that made for the advancement of the district in which he lived,
and was one of the founders of the North Sydney School of Arts. Mr Sayers was
also a warden of
St Thomas
’ Church,
North Sydney
. /From June 17 1859 to April 16 1860, Mr Sayers represented the old
constituency of St Leonards in the Legislative Assembly. Mr Sayers left two sons
and five daughters, one of his sons being Mr W. R. Sayers, inspector of the
Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, and one daughter the wife of Mr P. T.
Taylor./ The interment took place at St Thomas’ Church of England cemetery
yesterday, the officiating clergymen being the Reverends E. C. Beck, S.
Hungerford and C. T. L. Yarrington.In
addition to the relatives of the deceased, there were...” (SMH, 9/12/1909.
page 8).
Obituary in The Bulletin, 16 Dec 1909: “Of the N.S.W. Parliament of 50 years
ago, there were two members left for certain , and possibly three; but the death
of Mr Edwin Mawby Sayers cuts the number down by one. Mr Sayers, who had walked,
rowed and otherwise navigated himself past the 91st milepost, sat for St
Leonards, andwas connected with
that and other parts of Sydney for most of his 60 years in N.S.W.” (Page 16,
column1).
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Gravesites Of Tasmania,
Honouring the past, building understanding.
