Henry Samuel Wellington

My mother's grandfather, Henry Samuel WELLINGTON, was a bit of a mystery for many years. His marriage certificate and eldest son's birth certificate said he was born in 1858 at West Maitland in New South Wales but his grand-daughters thought he was English. We could not find a birth registration for him in Australia. Then we were contacted with the fascinating news that he had indeed been born at West Maitland, had moved to London, changed his surname and religion, then returned to Melbourne as a young adult.
His parents were Abraham MYERS and Esther BENJAMIN and he was their second surviving son. He had a sister, three brothers and a step-brother. His father in Sydney died when he was 8 years old and his mother remarried in Melbourne in 1869, shortly before they left for England on Swiftsure.In the 1871 census, Henry was a Solicitor's Clerk, living with his family in Newington. His step-father was a draper. His older brother was not present. Henry was not found in the 1881 census. His younger brother Ben appears as Beresford WELLINGTON age 20 working as a draper's assistant in Sheffield.
There is a Henry Wellington listed among the passengers arriving in Melbourne aboard Lusitania in 1883. His death certificate in April 1947 states that he was born in England and had been in Victoria for 63 years.
Henry married Jessie Rose Bouts on Christmas Day 1884 at the Registry Office in South Yarra. She had arrived in Melbourne in three months earlier with her sister. We do not know whether they had known each other in London, but they all worked in the drapery business. They were both living at the same boarding house in Toorak when they married.
Henry was a warehouseman at Paterson, Laing and Bruce in Flinders Lane.
They had five sons who all attended Caulfield Grammar School and they attended the Anglican Church.

Henry maintained contact with his brother Ben who lived in Sydney.
He retired around 1933 and Jessie died in 1941 age 83. Henry was living at 31 Kooyong Road, Armadale, when he died at 90 years of age in 1947.