The researcher acknowledges the very considerable assistance of Garry and Rhonda Crompton, Jill Clark, Sandra Liddle and Denise Pianta in preparing this material.

James Crompton, the son of Thomas and Mary Elizabeth (Betty) (née Elmen?) Crompton, married Elizabeth Greenough, the daughter of Richard (a labourer) and Catherine (née Moss) Greenough, on 29 November 1841. The wedding service took place ‘according to the rites and ceremonies of the Established Church after banns’, in Tyldesley, Lancashire.

Elizabeth’s parents were married in Leigh, Lancashire, on 13 January 1811. She was born in Hindley in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Lancashire, on 23 March 1823 and christened on 31 May 1823. At the time of the 1851 census her widowed mother Catherine and her widowed sister Ellen were living with her and James.

James and Elizabeth Crompton and their surviving children arrived in Moreton Bay on the 1129-ton three-masted Hannah More (Captain William Brown) on 23 June 1863. They had boarded the vessel as free passengers in Bristol on or about 9 February 1863. Shipping records list the Crompton family as follows: James (40, a labourer), Elizabeth (40, wife), Nancy (20, spinster), Joseph (18, labourer), John (16, labourer), Mary Ann (14, spinster), Alice (11), Major (10), Thomas (8), James (5), William (3) and Elizabeth (1). The Thompson family, mentioned elsewhere in these pages, also boarded in Bristol and made the long and rather distressing journey with them.

There was a considerable amount of illness during this voyage, notably diarrhoea among the children. The infant Elizabeth Crompton (d. 14 February 1863) was among the 35 passengers who died, as were William Thompson Jr, William Hampshire and Maria Thompson’s 11-year-old son, and Maria Elcock (d. 19 February 1863), their grand-daughter.

There was an addition to the Crompton family a few months after their arrival. Charles Edwin was born on 22 November 1863 but died on 10 May 1864. It is not stated on his death certificate where he was buried.

Sad to relate, Elizabeth Crompton herself did not survive long in Australia. She died from phthisis on the Island of St Helena in Moreton Bay on 24 February 1865 and was buried there on the following day in the presence of two witnesses—John Entwistle and James Duckworth. Death struck the family once more when James and Elizabeth’s son John passed away on 18 June 1866. He was buried in the (Wesleyan) Presbyterian Cemetery, Brisbane, presumably at Paddington.

James married again on 18 November 1871 in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington, this time to Irish-born Mary Coles (or Cole), the daughter of Robert and Ann Robinson. Their son, Albert Edward, was born on 10 July 1876. Mary died on 26 January 1886 and was laid to rest on the following afternoon in the South Brisbane Cemetery (5A 258). Their family home at that time was in ‘Cambridge Street, Boggo Road’.

Twice widowed, James married Mary Olsen, the daughter of Thomas and Ann (née McGuinness) Henderson, in the Toowoomba Methodist Church on 12 September 1887.

James Crompton (b. Blackburn, Lancashire, 12 December 1822) died on 29 September 1890. His funeral moved from the Brisbane Hospital to the South Brisbane Cemetery (7B 182) on the following day.

The next generation. Details of the marriages of some of James and Elizabeth Crompton’s children follow. It is interesting to note that three of their sons married three of the daughters of George and Maria Catchpole. Nancy (m. John Henry Entwistle 15 August 1864; d?), Mary Ann (m. John Frederick Smith 1 August 1866; d. ?); Alice (m. William Edward Wuest 16 August 1866; d. 18 October 1896), Major (m. Marion Wood 15 February 1886; d. 23 November 1927), Thomas m. Sarah Louisa Catchpole 30 June 1880; d. 31 October 1929), James Jr (m. Abigail Catchpole 23 January 1884; d. 4 September 1929), and William (b. about 1860; m. Agnes Christi(an)na Catchpole 23 January 1884; d. 31 August 1943).

Abner Leslie Crompton was the first child of William (a labourer) and Agnes Christi(an)na (née Catchpole) Crompton who were married on 23 January 1884. Born in the family home at Oxley on 19 October 1884, he died on 1 July 1885 and was buried in ‘Grenier’s Cemetery’ on the following day. The Reverend James Samuel Hassall of the Church of England presided at the burial in the presence of William Francis Lyon (undertaker) and William Leichhardt Grenier, an uncle of the deceased, and Edward Flood (witnesses).

Ruby Alice Crompton, the sister of Abner Leslie, was born at Oxley on 3 January 1886. By the time of her death on 21 January 1887 the family had moved to Fortitude Valley and William had become an engine driver. Present in an official capacity at her burial in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery three days later were William Edmunds (clergyman?), William Ferguson (undertaker) and, as witnesses, James Sheffield and the child’s uncle Thomas Crompton. The following death notice appeared in the Queenslander:

CROMPTON. On the 21st January, at Thornton-lane, Valley, Ruby Alice, only child of William and Agnes Crompton, and granddaughter of Mrs. G. Catchpole, Cooper’s Plains, aged 1 year.

After the death of these two infants the following children were added to the family: William Charles (b. 18 May 1888; m. Amy Mitchener 21 December 1912; d. 5 January 1956), Violet Vera Maria (b. 25 November 1895; m. John Alfred Jackson 24 June 1914; d. 4 October 1958), Norman Roy (b. 2 July 1900; d.?), and Clyde Eric (b. 4 August 1905; d. 30 April 1906).

Clyde Eric Crompton, like his siblings Abner Leslie and Ruby Alice, died as an infant. He passed away on 30 April 1906 and was buried on the following day in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery. Present as official witnesses to the burial when the Reverend John Stewart Pollock conducted the graveside service were John Bruce and William Catchpole.
 

Thomas Robert Crompton, a cousin of the three deceased children mentioned above, was the son of Thomas Crompton (a storeman) and Sarah Louise Catchpole who were married according to the rites of the Church of England on 30 June 1880 at the residence of the bride’s parents at Oxley. He was born at Oxley on 6 September 1884 and died in Fortitude Valley on 11 October 1886. His funeral service was conducted by the Reverend James Samuel Hassall of the Church of England at the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery on the following day. The undertaker was Robert Hastie (Hostie?) and the witnesses to the burial were J and T Crompton.

The following in memoriam notice appeared in the Queenslander near the first anniversary of his death:

CROMPTON.—In loving memory of Thomas Robert, son of Thomas and Sarah Louise Crompton, and grandson of Mrs. M. Catchpole, Cooper’s Plains. He died 11^th October 1886, at Warren-street, Valley, dearly beloved by all who knew him. Aged 2 years, 1 month and 5 days.

And now we think of him as sleeping
Not as dead but gone before.

Thomas Robert’s brothers and sisters were as follows: George James (b. 17 April 1881; m.₁ Sarah (née Clarke) Collins 22 January 1908; m.₂ Alice Maud Raymont 4 April 1917; d. 27 December 1938), Maud Louisa (b. 5 June 1882; m. William Lane 27 February 1901; d. 4 March 1916), Percy Phillip (b. 16 February 1887; m. Christina Mackay 26 June 1909; d. 14 September 1964), Thomas William (b. 18 April 1888; m. Florence Messenger 10 September 1913; d. 26 March 1943), Sidney Leichhardt (b. 13 April 1892; m. Elizabeth Annie Betteridge in England 1917; d. 20 January 1959), Ivy Elizabeth (b. 13 November 1894; m. Lachlan Mackay 7 March 1918; d. 19 February 1932), Eric Harold (6 April 1897; d. 17 July 1949), and Kenneth Roy (b. 9 March 1899; m. Margaret May Beaton 21 July 1928; d. 24 October 1936).

Two of the above children—Private Major Crompton and Driver Sidney Leichhardt Crompton—served overseas in World War One.

Though Thomas Robert Crompton’s parents are not buried in God’s Acre, it may be useful to include here some details of them here.

Thomas Crompton, born about 1855 in Bolton, Lancashire, died at his residence, ‘Omrah’, Sidney Street, Nundah, on 31 October 1929. The following obituary records some of the details of his life in Australia:

MR. THOMAS CROMPTON

Mr. Thomas Crompton, who died at his residence, Omrah, Sydney-street [Sidney Street], Nundah, at the age of 74 years, was born at Bolton, Lancashire, England. He arrived in Brisbane in 1863, and first lived at St. Helena with his parents. With his father and brothers he was engaged in burning off at St. Helena for Mr. James Campbell. He was the first to find fresh water on the island. Mr. Crompton moved to Pimpama, where he grew cotton for the Lancashire Cotton Co. He afterwards lived at Cleveland and Redland Bay for a number of years. For more than 45 years he was in the employ of J. C. Hutton Ltd., and on completion of 40 years’ service was presented with an inscribed gold watch by the firm. He was a life member of the Zillmere School of Arts, for which institution he acted as secretary for some years. He was also secretary to the Zillmere Show Society and Zillmere Cricket Club, and a member of the Nundah Progress Association. He is survived by his widow, six sons. and one daughter.

The graves of Sarah Louise (d. 23 August 1944) and Thomas (d. 31 October 1929) are in the Lutwyche Cemetery (mon. COE2 13 A 42). Thomas’s parents were James and Elizabeth (née Greenough) Crompton; and Sarah Louise’s parents were George and Maria (née Balaam) Catchpole (cf. the entry under Catchpole).