Edmund Blacket - Later Life

Later Life

On 15 September 1869, Sarah Blacket died, aged 51 years. Cyril and Horace were at this time only 12 and 9 respectively. Marion, the third daughter, was 19. She was to remain unmarried and in her father's household, caring for her four young siblings. Sarah's body was buried in Balmain Cemetery with a simple headstone of a gabled Gothic form. According to Morton Herman, Blacket had "always consulted her about every important matter, before he ever gave a final decision, for as long as she lived."

A year after Sarah's death, Blacket sold "Bidura" and moved to Balmain, living for a time in a house owned by his brother Russell. He was to remain in Balmain until about 1880, despite the fact that it was a notorious place with its own force of six police necessary to keep order. In his last few years he lived in "Roland Villa", Petersham, near the home of his son Cyril and his wife.