Trove Tuesday: A deaf and blind cricketer

Every Chaundy in Australia is related to me. In fact, every Chaundy in the world probably. This family originated in a small village in Oxfordshire, England called Ascott-Under-Wychwood and there don't appear to be any others so it's been relatively easy to document them.

So who was Richard Chaundy the deaf and dumb cricketer? I've no idea where he fits in on my tree. Richard is definitely a family name so that's not a surprise. And the location of Prahran in Melbourne is not a surprise either because various family members lived in that area. According to the article below young Richard was five years old in 1924 and was deaf and dumb. If only the mother's first name had been added in the report (sigh).

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 2 April 1924, page 6

I'm presuming that this is the same Richard playing cricket in the deaf and dumb competitions in Adelaide in 1936 and in Hobart in 1938. I read in one online report that the first recorded deaf and dumb cricket match was played between Victoria and South Australia in December 1894. 

The West Australian  30 Dec 1936

The Mercury 27 Dec 1938

I'd be delighted to hear from anyone who knew Richard or who knows where he fits into the Chaundy family tree.

Sepia Saturday: Off the rails

I didn't have any photos of upsidedown people for this week's Sepia Saturday theme so I went with the railing instead. But then, any photo would have done because we're 'down under' anyway here in Aus.

Shirley and Mary Alford (somewhere in Adelaide I think)

All aboard a ship to somewhere

Mum, my siblings and me (on the left), in front of our farm house. All dressed up, so it must have been Sunday.

Phil in his 'cage'. There's no way my kids would have been happy about  being put in one of these.

Mary and friend

Now you can wander over to the webpage to see what other Sepians have done with the theme.

Trove Tuesday: In which two cousins are shot

In 1855 two brothers, William and James Alford, migrated together from Devon to Australia. Coincidentally each had a son who died of gunshot wounds.

One brother, William, was living with his family at Woodstock on Loddon in central Victoria and his oldest son, William John was 18 years old. Apparently William John was working nearby as a woodsplitter at Shelbourne (cutting timber for a bridge) when he picked up his gun by the muzzle and it caught on a log and shot him in the stomach. He didn't die immediately and was able to tell his father and others what had happened so his workmate, George Cousins, wasn't implicated in his death.

William John Alford's inquest
 Bendigo Advertiser  23 June 1871

The other brother, James, was living with his family at Maddingly near Bacchus Marsh in central Victoria in 1884 when his third-born son, Edward, died of gunshot wounds. Edward, who was 25 years old and a butcher, was working on a property at Arundel near Keilor north of Melbourne when he met up with a fishing group and led them to where hares were plentiful. As they were walking Cornelius Clancy's gun caught in his clothes and discharged, killing Edward Alford almost immediately. Clancy was arrested but later released.

Edward Alford, accidental death.
 Kerang Times and Swan Hill Gazette,  28 Nov 1884

In Trove it's worth checking all the newspaper reports available because they don't always write exactly the same information. In this case one report mentioned that two of the fishing party were women, and another report mentioned that Clancy was discharged.

Edward Alford's accidental death
 Evelyn Times and South and East Bourke Record, 28 Nov 1884 

Edward Alford's inquest
 Bendigo Advertiser, 26 Nov 1884

Sepia Saturday: holiday postcards

Cigarette dispensers, cigarette advertising, smoking. Hmmm. Can't follow the theme this week for Sepia Saturday with a photo from my family albums - I can't find a single photo with anyone smoking! But I have got a few postcards sent to a relative early in the 1900s. Smoking? Tick. Sepia? Uh, uh :(

Now you could wander over to the Sepia Saturday page to see what others made of the theme this week.