Individual Details
Alexander ROSS
(1821 - 30 Aug 1904)
Events
| Birth | 1821 | (about 5km west of Newcastle city centre) - High Row, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom |  | ||
| Baptism | 7 Oct 1821 | St Batholomew, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom | | ||
| Marriage | 1 Jul 1845 | Brunswick Place Chapel (now Brunswick Methodist Church built 1820), Brunswick Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Nothumberland, England - Mary ANDERSON | | ||
| Living (fam) | 1 Jul 1845 | Paradise, Benwell, Northumberland, England - Mary ANDERSON | | ||
| Living (fam) | 1851 | with their 3 children Alexander (4), Ann (2) & Elizabeth (8 months). Alexander's occupation was given as "coalminer deputy" - Longbenton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom - Mary ANDERSON | | ||
| Emigration (fam) | 21 Apr 1855 | on board the "Exodus" with 3 children & arrived in Sydney 26 Jul 1855. They paid 17-0-0 pounds. They initially settled in Wallsend near Newcastle but later moved to Bulli - Liverpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom - Mary ANDERSON | | ||
| Note (fam) | 22 Apr 1855 | Mary ANDERSON | |||
| Occupation | 26 Jul 1855 | pitman or miner | | ||
| Education Level | 26 Jul 1855 | read & write | | ||
| Note | 1856 | For the first 2 years in New South Wales Alexander was employed by the A. A. Company & did considerable prospecting work boring for coal on the Gloucester Estate with a Mr Mark Fryar. They discovered a very profitable thick seam | | ||
| Note | 1857 | From 1857 to 1860 he acted as overman at the Tomago Coal Mine near Newcastle. An overman was responsible for daily and hans-on tasks such as inspecting the pit for safety & recording the work performed. And from 1860 to 1863 he performed similar duites at the Wallsend Colliery | | ||
| Occupation | 23 Jun 1863 | appointed Assistant Mine Manager at Bulli Colliery & then Mine Manager from 1866 to 1889. On the 23 March 1887 a methane gas explosion occurred in the mine killing 81 men & boys. According to Joseph Davis (Thirroul Historian) on the day of the explosion Alexander was attending the Wollongong Flower Show with his friend, Mr John Young Neilson, who was manager of the Wallsend Colliery (we can speculate that they met when Alexander worked at Wallsend Colliery when he first arrived in Australia). It was reported by the Bulli Times that Mr Ross arrived at 6pm on the day of the explosion. | | ||
| Living (fam) | Jul 1863 | Bulli, New South Wales, Australian Colonies - Mary ANDERSON | |||
| News Pub (ind) | 1867 | On the 15th January 1867 the Illawarra Mercury reported that the mine strike was 'over. Shoobert arrived by steamer "Woniora" and with Mr Ross, mine manager, setlled the strike with justice to the men' | | ||
| Note | 1868 | Alexander featured frequently in local news during his time as Mine Manager. According to the "History of Bulli School" written by W. A. Bayley in 1959, in July 1868 the board of the Bulli Coal Company donated fifty pounds and land valued at one hundred pounds for the establishment of a public school. The land was on the western side of the road just north of the Company railway. Alexander Ross, manager of the Bulli Coal Mine, occupied the Chair. After the opening, Bulli Coal Company entertained about two hundred children to tea and buns in the playground and three hundred parents and friends to tea in the tent erected for the occasion. Alexander Ross, Richard White and Samuel Smedley were appointed members of the school board on 1 October 1869. In the 1880's the Bulli Coal Company Directors granted a sum for the purchase of prizes which were presented on 23 December - break up day by Alexander Ross. Prior to the presentation the "pupils gave recitations and otherwise entertained an interested audiences." | | ||
| Note | 1871 | He was superintendent of the Bulli Methodist Church Sunday School through the 1870's and 1880's. The Sunday School reached a peak enrollment of 250 children in the 1880's | |||
| Occupation | 1872 | colliery manager living in Bulli (according to Greville's 1872 Post Office Directory) | | ||
| Living (fam) | 1890 | with their grand-daughter Mabel King (nee Knight) at "Woorree" - Kiama, New South Wales, Australian Colonies - Mary ANDERSON | | ||
| Death | 30 Aug 1904 | "Rosemont", Wardell Road, Dulwich Hill, New South Wales, Australia | | ||
| Burial | 31 Aug 1904 | Methodist Cemetery Necropolis (Methodist Cemetery Necropolis (2C/OC No 350), Rookwood, New South Wales, Australia | |
Families
| Spouse | Mary ANDERSON (1822 - 1905) |
| Child | Alexander ROSS (1846 - 1934) |
| Child | Anne "Annie" ROSS (1848 - 1925) |
| Child | Elizabeth "Lizzie" ROSS (1850 - 1931) |
| Child | Mary Ellen "Polly" ROSS (1857 - 1934) |
| Child | Alice Mary ROSS (1860 - 1868) |
| Child | Emma "Emily" ROSS (1860 - 1926) |
| Father | Alexander ROSS (1793 - 1879) |
| Mother | Elizabeth HEMSLEY (1793 - 1879) |
| Sibling | George ROSS (1816 - 1849) |
| Sibling | William ROSS (1818 - 1862) |
| Sibling | John ROSS (1823 - 1900) |
| Sibling | Hannah ROSS (1826 - 1910) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth ROSS (1829 - 1908) |
| Sibling | Mary Ann ROSS (1832 - 1896) |
| Sibling | Alice ROSS (1835 - 1923) |
Endnotes
1. 1851 Census of England 1851
2. UK Baptism Record
3. FindMyPast - Parish Records
4. UK Baptism Record
5. UK Marriage Record: Vol 25 Page 367
6. UK Marriage Record: Vol 25 Folio 367
7. 1851 Census of England 1851
8. NSW Assisted Migration, "Exodus" 1855 Reel 2137, [4/4792]
9. NSW Assisted Migration, Reel 2137, 2469
10. NSW Assisted Migration, Reel 2137, 2469
11. The Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners' Advocate, 5 Sep 1904
12. The Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners' Advocate, 5 Sep 1904
13. Illawarra Coal Website www.illawarracoal.com
14. The Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong), 15 January 1867
15. Research by Joseph Davis (Thirroul, NSW), "History of Bulli School" by W. A. Bayley 1959
16. Grevilles 1872 Post Office Directory, Bulli
17. Research by Sydney Ross Smith
18. NSW BMD Index: 10001/1904
19. The Sydney Mail, 7 Sep 1904
20. Rookwood Cemetery Records, Rookwood Independent Cemetery