Anthony Stokes
| First name | Anthony |
|---|---|
| Last name | Stokes |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | 1832 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1859 |
| Submitted by | Edward Stokes |
Story
Anthony (sometimes recorded as Antony, the Irish pronunciation), born in Milford, County Cork, & baptised a Catholic, was the eldest of 6 children of Mark Anthony Stokes (corn merchant) & Ellen Murphy who married in County Cork, Ireland in 1831.
Anthony was literate so had the clerical skills necessary to join the Royal Irish Constabulary (service no.16812) on 8 June 1853 serving initially in the County of Meath. He also had the physical attributes being 5\’11-1/2′ high. Police department records describe him as having grey eyes, brown hair & a fresh complexion. In County Louth, Anthony met Mary Ann (Marianne) Atkinson who was born in 1838, daughter of David George Atkinson (publican at Mullacrew near Dundalk ) & Bridget (maiden name believed to be Gartlett). David owned the Mountrush Estate near Ardee. Anthony & Mary Ann married on 9 September 1858 in County Louth & he resigned his commission on 18 December 1858.
In January 1859 they left Cobh Harbour, Cork, on board the ship, ‘Nimrod’, arriving 7 April in Sydney in the Colony of New South Wales. Shipping records confirm both Anthony & Mary Ann were literate & Catholic. They also revealed Anthony had a sister, Catherine, already living in Surry Hills in Sydney.
Within a week of his arrival Anthony was appointed as a Trooper in one of the Mounted Road Patrols that operated in northern N.S.W. In January 1860 he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. The NSW Police Force was established in March 1862 absorbing the old Mounted Road Patrols & Anthony remained as a serving Sergeant in this district in the then new police force.
Although the headquarters of the Northern Districts were at Armidale, Anthony\’s services were needed at the time in the Casino-Lismore area where he was appointed an Inspector of slaughterhouses in October 1862.
During his police service he lived with his family in Casino serving in both the Casino & Grafton areas of NSW. However he resided in Grafton when he moved his family there in 1867. He was in charge of a mounted escort formed to protect the gold shipments. Following is an extract from the Clarence & Richmond Examiner dated 17th July 1909:
‘A retrospective view of Grafton Ð Glimpses of Early History by Thomas Page. A mounted escort under the charge of Sergeant Antony Stokes & four troopers were stationed at Grafton, the barracks & stables being at the corner of Victoria & Villiers Streets. The escort made a trip every fortnight & the gold was carried on pack horses. During the stay of the escort one of the troopers, Walker, died at the barracks from consumption & was buried in the Church of England cemetery, & over his grave was fired the first military salute ever fired in Grafton.’
Following their arrival in New South Wales, records from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages reveal that Anthony & Mary Ann had five children between the years 1860 & 1867 – Mark (1860), Ellen (1862), Ann (1864), David (1865) & Benjamin (1867) Ð mostly born during their period of residence in Casino, which in the early days was spelt Cassano after a place name in Italy.
On 12th January 1869 Anthony resigned from the Police Force. Little is known of him & his family for the next five years, but it is assumed he worked locally as they remained in the district. It is known that during this period the family took up residence in the Grafton area & that Mary Ann gave birth to two more children Ð Anthony (1870) & Arthur (1872).
It was also during this time that Anthony secured work as a fireman aboard a drogher (a flat-bottomed type of barge) named ‘The Settlers Friend’. On Friday, 4th December, 1874 Anthony (then 42 years of age) fell from the drogher at Whiteman Creek near Molleville as it proceeded up the Clarence River to Copmanhurst, & was drowned. The inquest published in the Clarence & Richmond Examiner revealed his body had been found on Sunday 6th December & he was buried that day in the Grafton Cemetery.
Mary Ann would undoubtedly have been grief stricken by Anthony\’s death & in a dire financial position. At 36 years of age she found herself widowed expecting her eighth child (John, later to die in infancy). Somehow she managed to support her other seven children (then ranging in age from two to 14 years) until 1886 when, at age 44, she married bachelor Charles Bailey at Grafton, NSW. At that time Charles was licensee of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Villiers Street Grafton. Mary Ann died at Grafton on 23rd August 1919.