James Walden
Contents
Background
James Walden was born in 1830, Shenfield, Essex and was originally apprenticed to Learmonth & Roberts, skin and leather merchants in London. His father was a customs officer in St. Katharines Dock as were two of his uncles and his grandfather. He arrived in Geelong in December 1852. He died in 1934 aged 103.[1]
Goldfields Involvement, 1854
James Walden walked to Ballarat and was there at the time of the Eureka Stockade riot but according to family had nothing to do with it.[2]
Post 1854 Experiences
He eventually walked to Melbourne with £100, and set himself up in business as a skin and leather merchant, making a lot of money. James Walden died aged 103 with a lot of property in Launceston including the family home he built which is still there.[3]
Family
James Walden married Jane McIlroy in 1869 in Melbourne. She died in 1915, and in 1917, he married Evelyn Rose Manton, who had been his wife's personal nurse. Evelyn was the granddaughter of celebrated London gunsmith Joseph Manton. She died in 1952.
He married another immigrant and had 4 children before moving the family to Tasmania and having five more children.[4]
1. Amy Rachael Walden (1860-1943 unmarried)
2. Emily Holborne Walden (b. 1861, married Arthur Crookes Reed, d. 1887. 2 children)
3. Jeanette Hansel Walden (Nettie) (b. 1864, married FWJ Moore, d. 1939. 2 children)
4. Dr. Frederick J. Walden (West Australia) (1865-1943 Married Ethel Luyers, d. 1943. 2 children)
5. Walwin Walden (b. 1869, d. 1870)
6. Lily Walden (b. 1971, married Percy C. Adams. 1 child_ (Elphin Road, Launceston)
7. Eustace Llewellyn Walden (b. 1873, d.1874)
8. Eustace Vivian Walden (b. 1874, d. 1962. Married 1. Marion Green, 1897. 2. Annie Fish in UK, 1920. 2 children with his first wife, and 4 daughters with his second.
9. Ernest Herbert Walden, (Elphin Road, Launceston). (b. 1876, married Maura Daley, 1965. one child.[5]
Obituary
- Mr. James Walden Aged 103 Years
- Mr. James Walden, who recently celebrated the 103rd anniversary of his birthday, died at his residence, Beauty Park, Penquite, Launceston, yesterday afternoon. Some little time ago he contracted influenza, and his demise was not unexpected.
- Mr. Walden was born in London, where his father was an officer in the Customs. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a leather manufacturer, and to the time of his death retained clear recollections of his early experiences at that trade. On October 5, 1852, he left England on the ship Nereus for Australia, and on December 22 of the same year he landed at Geelong (Victoria). He secured casual employment there, and the lure of the goldfields induced him to walk to Ballarat, where he was domiciled during the Eureka riots. Being unsuccessful at the diggings, he decided to return to Melbourne, and on the way secured employment with a road construction gang, subsequently rising to the positions of foreman and clerk. During the period of the contract he saved £100, and with this sum he laid the foundations of his fortune, and went from success to success. He was later engaged as a commercial traveller, and with the money at his command added to his salary by dealing.
- He married in Melbourne, and in 1860, hearing much about the prospects in Tasmania, Mr. Walden decided to try his luck in this State, and towards the end of 1867 arrived in Launceston. He commenced business in the wool, skin, and leather trade in Elizabeth Street, transferring afterwards to Charles Street in part of the premises now oc-cupied by Mr. T. J. Earley as a drapery and general store. Mr. Walden was afterwards for some time at Sydney Place, near the wharf, the present site of Boag's Brewery, and in 1893 he purchased the one-story building in Charles Street, close to Cimitiere Street, which was built as the first Presbyterian Church in Launceston. Mr. Walden added another story, built a new front level with the footpath, and put in two offices. There he conducted his business of wool, skin, and produce merchant until a few years ago.
- Mr. Walden, was a keen student of political matters, and was deeply interested in the recent State elections. Of a family of nine, six children are still living. They are Mesdames F. W. J. Moore (England), P. C. Adam (Elphin Road, Launceston), Miss A. Walden, also of Elphin Road, Launceston; Dr. F. J. Walden (West Australia), and Messrs. E. Walden (England) and Ernest A. Walden, of Elphin Road, Launceston.
- Dr. Walden attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Australian Army Medical Corps, and served with distinction in the Great War. He held the position of senior military medical officer of the A.I.F. in West Australia.
- Among the institutions that benefited by Mr. Walden's generosity is the Launceston City Mission, which 30 years ago was given a large area of land near the junction of Bathurst Street and Wellington Street, and the long-established church on the Rocherlea Road received substantial monetary assistance from him during the period of construction.
- Interment will be at Carr Villa Cemetery, Launceston, to-morrow, and will be private.[6]
