Robert Fry

Story

Robert Fry was born about 1808, and on July 18th 1835, he married Margaret Williams, at Trevethin, Monmouth, England. Over the next twenty-one years Robert and Margaret Fry had a family of nine children.

Margaret Fry died on July 8th 1856, aged only forty. Her youngest child, Maria, was aged three months at the time, and she only lived until the end of that year. Robert was left with eight children, and the older daughters probably cared for the younger children until Robert remarried.

On April 20th 1859, Robert Fry, with his six youngest surviving children, and his second wife, Elizabeth, sailed from Liverpool aboard the Escort for South Australia. Robert was aged about fifty-one, but gave his age as forty-two, probably to gain a free passage. Elizabeth was recorded as being forty years of age, but this may also be unreliable. Robert Fry\’s occupation is recorded as Quarryman, and his two daughters, Mary and Sarah, aged sixteen and fourteen respectively, are recorded as Domestic servants. The other children and ages are recorded as follows; Ann, twelve; William, nine; Emily, seven; and Robert, five.

The Escort had been built in Sunderland in 1854, and was commanded by Captain D.Smith. The voyage took three months and three weeks, and the Escort arrived at Port Adelaide on August 9th 1859. The family initially settled at Prospect for about six months, before moving to Thorndon Park, where Robert was ‘prominently connected with the erection of the Thorndon Park Reservoir’. This was Adelaide\’s first reservoir, and the first water under pressure was supplied to the city on December 28th 1860.

Robert Fry took up market gardening at Thorndon Park after the reservoir had been completed, and he is also known to have built stone walls in the area. These walls acted as fences in areas where there was an abundance of stone, and building conventional fences was too difficult.

On March 10th 1870 Robert Fry was killed when he fell under the wheels of his own cart while returning home from the Glynde Hotel. He was buried at the Athelstone Independent Cemetery.

Robert\’s second wife Elizabeth died at the Adelaide Hospital on August 4th 1877. Hospital records give her age as seventy-one, and birth place as Devon. They confirm that she was a widow, and that she had arrived in South Australia aboard the Escort. Elizabeth was living at North Adelaide at the time.

CHILDREN OF ROBERT FRY

Harriet Fry b.August 11th 1836 d. ?

No information

Elizabeth Fry b. March 17th 1839 d. August 6th, Prospect, S.A.

Elizabeth, with her husband, Joseph Lewis, came to South Australia aboard the Art Union in 1864. Joseph and Elizabeth came from Monmouthshire, with their two sons, William, aged two, and Robert, who was born at the beginning of the voyage. They lived at North Adelaide, Nailsworth, and Prospect, and Joseph found work as a limeburner. They eventually had nine children, although three died in infancy.

Mary Fry b. September 21st 1841 d. August 25th 1927, W.A.

Mary had married Adolph Hersey in December 1863. He was a mason, and they lived at North Adelaide, and later moved to East Adelaide. They had seven children, and after Mary was widowed in 1903 she went to Western Australia, where her daughter Edith and son Fred lived.

Sarah Fry b. July 6th 1844 d. September 2nd 1927, Edithburgh, S.A.

In April 1868 Sarah Fry married James Oldland. They moved to the Edithburgh area about 1872, where James was a farmer and grazier, and they had eight children.

Annie Fry b. December 11th 1846 d. April 23rd 1932, St. Peters, S.A.

Annie Fry married John Kerney in 1865. He was an upholsterer, and they had two daughters, and lived at various addresses in the city.

William Fry b. June 11th 1849 d. June 5th 1926, St Peters, S.A.

William Fry married Eliza Starr in 1870, and was a market gardener at Thorndon Park and Athelstone. They had eleven children.

Emily Fry b. September 25th 1852 d. ?

In March 1883 Emily Fry married George Bolton at the Port Adelaide Registry Office, and at some time after this they went to South Africa.

Robert Fry b. November 25th 1854 d. November 15th 1926, Adelaide, S.A.

Robert Junior married Annie Woolige in June 1876, at his sister\’s home near Edithburgh on Yorke Peninsula. They had one son born in Yorketown at the end of the following year, then returned to Athelstone where they had five more children over the next fifteen years. Robert was a market gardener for most of this working life.

Maria Fry b. April 11th 1856 d. December 6th 1856

Maria died in infancy.

< Back to the Stories