Australia
He left Calcutta on 21 December 1862 at 8:38pm on the "Madras" and arrived in Melbourne, Australia in January 1863.
William found work as a clerk and later met and married Elizabeth Slater, the daughter of William and Margaret Slater of Ripon, Yorkshire, England, on 16 September 1863 in Melbourne. William and Elizabeth had a son, Alfred Stephen Slater Napier, and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Napier, who both died in infancy. Elizabeth Napier died 25 April 1867, age 37.
William Napier married secondly, Ruth Ann Hirst, widow of Joseph Graham Hirst of Thornes by Wakefield, Yorkshire and daughter of Thomas Crompton Booth of Sowerby, Yorkshire, on 5 November 1869, at Bendigo, Victoria.
William Napier worked as a clerk and then a miner for a short time before he became a cordial manufacturer based in Mackey Street, Rochester. William was a member and treasurer of the Rochester branch of the Masons. He was involved in many duties in Rochester and was listed as a pioneer of the district.
Sergeant-Major William Napier moved to Melbourne after his property burnt down. After a few years in Melbourne he became sick and returned to Rochester in 1907. He stayed with John and Ethel Abbey in Mackey Street next to where his home once was. He died on 2 June 1908 at the Abbey home, leaving his wife Ruth Ann Napier and his adopted stepdaughter Eliza. Ruth Ann Napier and her daughter moved to Western Australia. Ruth died at her grandson Ernest Alfred Winch's home in 1924.
Read more about this topic: William Napier (VC)
Famous quotes containing the word australia:
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)
“I like Australia less and less. The hateful newness, the democratic conceit, every man a little pope of perfection.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)