Minters in Australia

Joseph Martin Minter was born in 1831 and evidently made several trips to Australia as a crew member before finally settling there around 1860. He married an Irish girl, Sarah Campbell, in St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney in 1860 and lived in the Macleay district of New South Wales (north of Sydney) before moving to the Sydney area towards the end of his life. As far as is known, Joseph and Sarah had no children.

Martin George Minter was born in Sparrow Castle (which is not a castle), Margate, Kent on 14 August 1838. He started his working life as a seaman and is said to have sailed seven times around the world before settling in Australia having jumped ship at Melbourne, Australia in the 1860s. It’s also said that Martin was one of three sailor brothers who left their ship at that time: Joseph Martin Minter was probably one of them but it’s not clear who the third was. In 1869 Martin married Rosannah Devlin of Sydney at Kempsey in the Macleay district and farmed in that area for several years. Later in life Martin became a cabinet maker; he died in New Lambton, Newcastle (about 150 Km north of Sydney) at the age of 84 in 1923.

Martin George Minter was the ancestor of more Australian Minters than anyone else. He had 10 children, nine of whom were boys who between them gave Martin and Rosannah 67 grandchildren. Martin's daughter Rosannah had 6 children, bringing the total to a barely believable 73. The details follow:

Henry Minter, born 19 October 1817 in Worth, Kent

Henry was a market gardener and it’s said that before that he was a sailor. He didn’t go to Australia himself but perhaps his days as a sailor imbued his children with a sense of adventure: they went not only to Australia but to America (and one died aboard ship in Rio de Janeiro). The Australian connection is as follows:

Henry Teetgen Minter, baptised 30 June 1816 in Deal, Kent

Henry was one of the nine children of Hockaday Minter of Deal, Kent who married Hannah Maria Teetgen in 1808. Henry was apparently the only one of the nine who left England.

Henry married Catherine Greenfield (who died in France in 1861) in London in 1842 and was an inn–keeper in Dover in 1846. He emigrated to Australia in 1862 and was a publican at the Criterion Hotel, Young, New South Wales. The Criterion Hotel’s website has a picture of the hotel which is believed to date from 1865. The caption says the picture was provided by Lance Cook of Warrawang, Murami, a great–grandson of the then owner Henry Minter. Henry died in Young in 1890.

Henry’s six children were born in France, when he was a hotelier in Boulogne sur Mer. It appears that the children didn't go with their father to Australia in 1862. However, son Joseph Edmund eventually emigrated to Australia: after marrying in Islington, Middlesex in 1876, he and his wife had children in England up to 1884. But their last known child was born in Australia in 1887 soon after the whole family arrived in Victoria on the ’Liguria’.

George Minter, born 28 April 1828 in Ickham, Kent

In 1841 George was living with his parents at Ickham. He got a Seaman’s Ticket at Ramsgate on the 21 March 1846 and in 1854 was buried at New Town Cemetery, Sydney, Australia. That is all that is known.

Albert Edward Minter, born 28 November 1924 in Penge, Surrey

Albert was an electrician, served in the Royal Navy and was discharged in 1944 in Australia, where he then continued to live. He married Valerie Jean Clark (who was cremated at Eastern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney on 15 November 1995) in 1950 in Sydney and they had a son Rodney John Minter in 1961. Nothing more is known about the family.

Edwin Thomas Minter, born 1894 in Hastings, Sussex
Frank Coquard Minter, born 1898 in Barking Essex

Edwin and Frank were brothers, two of the children of Henry Minter and his wife Helen Coquard.
It’s not known when either of them went to Australia but Frank was there in time to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force 1914 - 18 in Melbourne, Victoria. He married Freda Maud Scanlon (died 1975) in Victoria in 1941. Nothing more is known.
Edwin died in Victoria in 1976. He married Mary Alice Baxter (who died in 1960) and they had a son, Robert Henry Coquard Minter in 1927 - he maried Sylvia Veenie MacKinnon between 1949 and 1954 and had three daughters. Bob, as he was known, was a funeral director in Melbourne and died in April 2007.

Rex William Minter, born 22 January 1926 in Balham, London

Rex was the only child of William Herbert and Eleanor Lucy Minter. He was in the Royal Navy and lived for a time in Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, USA before leaving Los Angeles for Australia on 8 December 1964 on the ’Orsova’ with his wife Juanita Irene (nee Steward) who was born on 17 February 1926 and died on 9 April 2006, late of Balmain and Pennant Hills, and their two sons, who were both born in Los Angeles, Robert William Minter born 30 July 1957, married with two sons, and James Steward Minter born 28 August 1959, about whom noting else is known.

Rex was a high school teacher and keen genealogist and has contributed much to the history of the Kent Minters.

Reginald Charles Minter, born in Q2 1927 in Croydon, Surrey

Reginald, the son of Thomas Frank and Kate Elizabeth (nee Vallens) Minter, married Lilian Ann Bishop in 1950. They emigrated to Australia on 20 September 1965 and lived in Queensland, where Reginald died in 2010. Reginald and Ann (as she known) had no children.

Ickham, Kent

The Ickham group’s contribution to the Minter population of Australia is as follows.

William Minter, born 1842 in Goodnestone, Kent

In 1861 William was 19, a brewer’s clerk, boarding in Ash, Kent. He emigrated to Australia and joined New South Wales police in 1865, becoming a senior sergeant in 1869. He married Annie Hughston in the Scots Church, Sydney in 1867 and they had four children, three girls who married, and a son, William John who died at an early age and without marrying, in 1903. As far as is known, there are no Minter descendants of the family.

George Minter, born 14 October 1834 in Nonington, Kent

George and his wife Emily had nine children. The two youngest both emigrated to Australia although they arrived at different times and lived in different places.

• Arthur William Minter was born on 7 April 1879 in Heronden, Eastry, Kent. He joined the Merchant Navy, settled in Nambucca, New South Wales, Australia and was employed on steam ships using the river. In 1917 he was a seaman in Carrington, New South Wales, in 1922 a labourer in Newcastle, New South Wales and in 1943 he had retired to Adamstown, New South Wales. Arthur married Mary Elizabeth Noakes, born in New South Wales, at Port Macquarie, New South Wales and they had five children, four girls, two of whom married, and a son Arthur William Alfred Minter.
  Arthur junior married Nina Winifred Hughes in 1933 in Macksville and they had four children, three girls, two of whom married, and a son, Arthur William Alfred Minter.
  Arthur William Alfred (1913 - 1974) married Nina Winifred Hughes (c. 1912 - 2007) in 1933 in Macksville and they had four children, three girls and a boy, Arthur George Minter.More information is needed about Arthur George and his sisters.
• Ernest John Minter was born on 30 March 1882 in Farthing Gate, Eastry, Kent. Ernest left school at nine years of age and joined the navy about 1893. He put his age up by one year. He bought himself out about one year early, in 1907, for £20 at Port Adelaide, South Australia and settled there. He sent for Elizabeth Nicholls and they married six weeks after her arrival in South Australia. They had a farm at Kiopo Forest (Meadows) until a drought in 1914 forced them off the land. It’s believed he originally planned to go into market gardening with his brother–in–law, but his brother–in–law was killed in a wagon accident. This story hasn’t been confirmed.
  Ernest and Elizabeth had three children, two girls who married and a son, John Thomas Minter on 26 March 1921. John married Gwenda Barbara Merchant in Adelaide in 1944 and is understood to have had a son and a daughter but their names aren’t known. John died in 2002, Gwenda in 2003. More information is needed about John Thomas and his family.

Ada Blanche Minter, born Q2 1888 in Portsea, Hampshire

Ada is known to have left England for Adelaide in 1921, to have returned to England in 1928, and to have gone back to Adelaide the following year. No trace of her has been found subsequently.

Leonard Henry Minter, born Q1 1900 in Gravesend, Kent

It’s not known when Leonard left England but he’s believed to have married in Canterbury, NSW in 1929 to Florence May Kay (1906 - 1980). Leonard probably died in 1968 in the Campsie area. Leonard and Florence had two children, Molly who died in 1938, and David Herbert, who married Judith Margaret Kelly in 1957. It's not known whether David and Judith had a family.

John Minter, born Q3 1946 in Durham

John married Margaret Patterson in 1969 in Northumberland and they now live in Australia. Their daughter Susan was born in England in 1969 and also lives in Australia, in Perth, with her husband Paul Patrick Hogan. Paul was born in Glasgow in 1966 and married Susan in 2001 in Jersey, Channel Islands.

Henry Smith Minter, born 21 March 1849 in Tarbert, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Henry was the son of Henry Minter who was born in Kent in 1813, a Coastguard who initially worked in England but was transferred to Ireland in 1842. Henry Smith Minter married Elizabeth Charlotte Harness, the daughter of his father's friend, but appears to have left her for a new life in Australia. His life is a little shadowy but what is known is documented in the Ickham, Kent section.

Folkestone, Kent

Folkestone group’s contribution to the Minter population of Australia is as follows.

Michael Minter, born 12 January 1807 in Vlissingen (Flushing), Holland

Michael Minter was the son of John Minter, at one time mayor of Folkestone. John and his wife Ann had twelve children all born in Folkestone except for Michael, the youngest, who was born in Holland (a possible reason for this is that Michael's brother John had connections with Holland).

Michael was to become a doctor of medicine: he studied in London, became an MD in 1827 and was apprenticed to Dr Robert Peck at Newmarket, Suffolk. He then practiced in Whitstable, Kent between 1828 and 1837 and was a surgeon living in Folkestone at the time of the 1841 census with his first wife Sarah (Baldock) who died later in 1841 leaving no children.

In 1842, Michael married Eleanor Edmunds Jeffery and between 1843 and 1848 had four children. In 1849 Michael and Eleanor and their four young children emigrated to Australia aboard "The Brothers". They settled at Mt. Moriac, Geelong, Victoria, about 75 Km south–west of Melbourne.

The Minters were closely associated with the Peck and Hedley families. The story of these families is told in great detail in Helen Connell's 'The Hedley - Peck - Minter migration to Australia', which can be seen here.

Once settled at Mt. Moriac Michael and Eleanor had five more children and Michael evidently became a person of some importance in Geelong – by 1852 he was a magistrate. It’s also evident that partly through his own position and partly because of his apprenticeship with Dr Peck in Newmarket back in the 1820s, Michael Minter became very ’well–connected’. Dr Robert Peck was born on 20 July 1789 and in 1819 married Sarah Minter at Folkestone: Sarah was Michael Minter’s sister. This might explain why Michael did his apprenticeship in Newmarket although how Robert Peck met Sarah isn’t known. Robert and Sarah Peck’s first child was named Floyd Minter Peck. He and his brother James (who was 13 years younger than Floyd) went to Australia. Paul Saban has produced a fascinating website describing Newmarket medical history which includes Floyd Minter Peck and the medical Peck family In 1864, James Peck married Ada Minter, one of the four children who had gone to Australia in 1849 with Michael and Eleanor Minter – James and Ada were therefore first cousins.

A year before Ada married James Peck her elder sister Ella married Robert Copland Lethbridge. Robert was born in 1838, the son of Robert Copland Lethbridge of Launceston, Cornwall who married in 1826. Around 1830 Werrington House was built at South Creek, New South Wales, on land that had been granted in 1806 by the third Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, to his children. It was Governor King’s daughter Mary who married Robert Copland Lethbridge in 1826, thus the Australian branch of the Folkestone Minters became related through marriage to the Governor of New South Wales.

Michael Minter’s children made other interesting marriages which would have cemented his position in Australia. Altogether, his children produced 43 grandchildren for Michael and Eleanor. However, Michael and Eleanor had only one son who survived beyond infancy:

John Marsh Minter, baptised 28 September 1821 in Deal, Kent

John Marsh Minter was a solicitor in London between 1850 and 1853 and was listed in the 1857 East Kent Poll. He married Jemima Jones in 1841 in Stepney, London. It’s not known when the couple left for Australia but he evidently died there – the administration of his estate was granted (he was ’late of Sandhurst, Bendigo’) on 1 June 1861; he was buried at White Hills Cemetery and later re–interred in Bendigo Cemetery. Jemima arrived on the ’Norfolk’ at Port Philip, Melbourne, Australia in October, a widow, cabin passenger aged 30. They are not known to have had any children.

David Minter, born about 1823 in Holland

David Minter was the son of Michael Minter’s brother John who as noted above had connections with Holland, in fact several of his children were born there. David himself didn’t go to Australia but one of his sons by his second wife Rhoda Osborne went there:

Alfred Thomas Minter, born 1858, Folkestone, Kent

Alfred was one of the sons of the Folkestone solicitor, John Minter and his wife Emmeline. It appears that Alfred originally left England for America with two brothers, Robert and Frank, and worked on a farm in Kansas. But by 1890 he was living in Sydney, NSW and was a law writer or solicitor's clerk. He married a widow, Adelaide Maria Sleeman in 1890. Adelaide had had a son, Thomas Clarence, with her first husband in 1887. At some point Thomas Clarence dropped his original surname Lloyd and adopted Minter in its place. Thomas Clarence (and probably his mother) moved to Western Australia and worked as a lumper on the docks. He married Maitland Alice Drummond in 1925 and they had two daughters Mary and Bobbie about whom nothing is known.

It's not known what became of Alfred Thomas Minter or his wife Adelaide.

Albert Minter, born 1865, Barking, Essex

Albert Minter and his wife Alice Jane, born about 1866 in Camberwell, arrived in Victoria in 1912. They don’t appear to have had any children. Alice died in 1947 and Albert in 1952, both in Victoria.

Ernest Reginald Minter, born 1881, Islington, London district

Ernest, together with his wife Ethel and son Denys Biron, first left for Australia in 1913 on the ’Demosthenes’ and in subsequent years made a number of trips between England and Australia. Ernest probably died in Sydney in 1928 and it appears that Ethel and Denys returned to England, where Ethel later died and Denys married.
The son, Denys Biron Minter, his wife Hilda Mary and three children Denys John Biron, Felicity Mary and Guy Dudley Biron, left Tilbury in December 1948 and arrived in Brisbane in January 1949. Their subsequent history isn’t known, except that (1) Denys John Biron died in Queensland in 1962 and (2) Guy Dudley Biron married Anne Rosa Owen in 1966 in Brisbane and had two sons, David John (1967) and Michael Robert (1970), both of whom are married.

Canterbury, Kent

Two Canterbury groups contributed to the Australian Minter population. The first selection of names below is from the main Canterbury group. Herbert Minter of 1846 appears in the website group known as Canterbury(2).

George Minter, born 15 November 1790 in Canterbury, Kent

George was the son of a Canterbury butcher Charles Minter. At the age of 21 he joined the 3rd Ceylon Regiment as an ensign and remained in the Army until 1844. He married Emma Wood in Canterbury in 1824 and his wife evidently accompanied him when he went to New South Wales soon after they married. Their first child Robert Brownrigg Minter was born in Aberdeen, NSW in 1825. Other overseas postings followed, including a spell in India where George and Emma’s next two children were born. In 1840 George arrived in Sydney, New South Wales on a convict ship, the ’Woodbridge’ as an Army Captain in charge of 229 male convicts, but also on board were his wife and their six children. A seventh child was born in Sydney in 1841: it’s not known whether she survived but probably not because in 1842 it was reported that Captain Minter sailed from Sydney for Bombay with his wife and four children. It’s not clear who was left behind (or perhaps the report was inaccurate) but it is clear that George’s eldest son Robert Brownrigg Minter was to take up life in New South Wales. George and Emma eventually retired to England and spent their last days in Bristol.

Walter Minter, born 1862 in Camberwell, London

Walter Minter was the son of William Honeywood Minter who although born in Canterbury spent most of his life in London and Surrey, variously a butcher, a cowkeeper, a farmer and a dairyman. Walter was born while the family was in London, one of eight children, and married Frances Elizabeth Youngman in 1883, in London. They had three sons, all of whom emigrated to Australia. Walter and Frances evidently emigrated as well: both died in Queensland, Walter in 1940, Frances in 1931. Two of the sons, William Honeywood Minter and Henry Ernest Minter left London in 1907. Their brother’s departure date isn’t known but he was in the Australian army by 1917.

William Charles Thanet Minter, born 1877 in St Pancras, London

William was one of the seven children of William Minter who was born on the Isle of Wight, and Martha Emma Mott and, as far as is known the only one to emigrate. William’s emigration is deduced from the fact that he died in Marrickville, New South Wales in 1947. He married in Lena Coldham in 1903 and they had a daughter Evelyn Lottye Minter in 1905. More information needed.

Canterbury(2), Kent

Herbert Minter Marsh, born 1846 in Fordwich, Kent

Herbert was the son of Edward Marsh, one of the three illegitimate children of Sarah Marsh. The father of at least one of the children, Edward, was probably a Minter since Edward’s middle name was Minter. Herbert had two sons both of whom left for Australia:

Whitstable, Kent

Thomas Minter, born Q3 1847, Deptford, Kent (part of London)

Thomas was the son of Henry Minter, who was born in 1819 in Charlton by Woolwich, Kent, and his wife Susan Barker. Thomas married Elizabeth Jane Phillips in 1872 in Queensland: he didn’t appear in the 1871 UK census so presumably left for Australia in the late 1860s or very early 1870s. Thomas is believed to have died in 1900 in Western Australia. Their first two children were born in Queensland, the rest in NSW:

• Susan Jane Minter, 7 June 1873, Brisbane, Queensland; died in Burwood, NSW in 1914. Married James G Wilson in 1900 at Redfern, NSW.
• Charlotte Hannah Martha Minter, 26 January 1875, Brisbane, Queensland. Married James Clark in 1894 at Redfern, NSW, witnessed by her sister Susan Jane.
• Ellen Ada Minter, 1877, Sydney, NSW. Married John Crutchfield in 1901 in Queensland.
• Florence Maud Minter, 1880, Sydney, NSW. Married Ebenezer Robert Ashlin in 1909 in Queensland.
• Henry Joseph Minter, 1882, Paddington, NSW. Married Annie O’Toole at Paddington in 1910 and died in 1946 at Kogarah, NSW. Annie died, aged 90, late of Fairlight, formerly of Sans Souci, on 9 October 1973. Had (at least) two children:
• Henry Vincent Minter (born 1910, Newtown, died 5 September 2002, late of Eleebana, formerly of Sans Souci, aged 91). Married Esther Mary Donohue (died 16 June 1988, late of Sans Souci) in 1936 at Kogarah, NSW.
• Beryl Minter (1915, Annandale). Married Francis Alfred Johnson in 1942 at Kogarah, NSW.
• Kenneth Charles Minter (1924, Sydney). Married Joan Florence Fleming in 1946 and had two sons, Paul and John. Kenneth was an Australian champion in 16 foot skiff racing. Both Kenneth and Joan died in 2008.
• Eliza Louisa Minter, 1884, Paddington, NSW, died 1885, Paddington, NSW.
• Arthur J Minter, 1886, Redfern, NSW, died 1887, Redfern, NSW.
• Rose A Minter, 1889, Waterloo, NSW. Had a daughter, Iris E Minter in 1910 at Waterloo (no father’s name shown). Married Samuel Bowden in 1919 at Sydney. Iris married John Alfred Carroll Horgan in 1932.
• Ruby Minter, 1891 – 1892, Redfern, NSW.
• Ivy Cecilia Minter, 1893, Redfern, NSW. Married George Edward White in 1913 at Redfern. It seems likely that Ivy had a son, Philip F Minter, birth registered at Waterloo in 1910, death at Camperdown the same year.

Thomas Henry Minter, born 1869, and Charlotte Elizabeth Minter, born 1871, Deptford, Kent

Thomas and Charlotte were brother and sister, two of the children of Henry Edward and Louisa Minter. Thomas arrived in Australia, aged only 16, in 1884 and was followed in 1888 by Charlotte. Both married in Queensland.

Thomas Henry (died Queensland 1945) ,married Alice Elizabeth Burrows (1875 - 1931) in 1894 and had four daughters:

• Gladys Eleanor Myra Minter (1895) married Archibald James Lindsay in 1917.
• Irene Ruth Minter (1897) died the same year and was buried at Toowong Cemetery, Queensland.
• Iris Victoria Florence Minter (1898) married Thomas George Irwin Stumbles in 1920.
• Marjorie Jean Julia Minter (1911) married Archibald William Fogg on 14 March 1936 and had four children, all born in Brisbane.

Charlotte married Sven Adolf Svensson in 1890.

Earl Stonham, Suffolk

John Minter, born 1843

John Minter was originally John Minter HAILL, one of the children of William & Anna HAILL of Earl Stonham, Suffolk. He appeared with his parents in the 1851 and 1861 censuses. It's unclear why John's second name was Minter; although the surname of his mother is unknown, there's no evidence that it was Minter.

In 1864, as John Minter HAILL, John married Jane Elizabeth Haskell in London. This marriage cannot have lasted since in 1871 Jane was living (shown as 'married') as a boarder in London and John had become John MINTER and was living in Bolton, Lancashire with Mary Bates as his housekeeper. John and Mary eventually married. It's not known whether John and his first wife divorced, or whether Jane died before John remarried, or what became of Jane otherwise.

John (39), Mary (38) and their children Ellen (15), Annie (14), William (12), Lois (11), Arthur (8), John (1) and Bertha (infant) left Gravesend on 26 August 1884 on the steamer 'Dorunda'. They arrived at Brisbane, Australia on 21 October 1884.

Eyke, Suffolk

John Minter, born about 1829, Butley, Suffolk

John was born about 1829, one of the two sons of Samuel Minter and his wife Fanny. The other brother Matthew stayed in England. It’s not clear when John went to Australia but it must have been between the 1851 census (in which he appeared as a porter at the Burlington Hotel, St James, Westminster, London) and 1855, when he married Arabella Piercy in Victoria, Australia. Arabella was born about 1830 in London.
John and Arabella had four sons:

• John Samuel Minter born 1856 in Maryborough, Victoria, died 1920 in Victoria. He married Mary Anne Soutter (1855 – 1934) in 1881 and had three children:
  • Edith Margaret Minter born 1882, married George Richard Baker in 1904, had 10 children and died in 1939.
  • Adeline Ellen Minter born 1887, married John Edward Castle in 1914, had 4 children and died in 1927.
  • Horace William Minter born 1893, married Jessie May Winifred Matthews (1897 – 1975) in 1921 and died in 1975. Horace and Jessie had 4 children
• Alfred Minter born 1858 in Inkerman, Victoria, died in 1942 in the State Hospital and Home, Liverpool, NSW.
• Thomas Minter born 1861 in Maryborough, Victoria, died in 1937 in Moree Hospital, NSW
• William Minter born 1865 in Adelaide Lead, Victoria, married Jane Trickey in 1898 and had 9 children, including 6 sons, two of whom died in infancy. The other four were Eli William Minter (1900 – 1963), Alfred Howard Minter (1903 – 1979), Lindsay Minter (1920 – 1989) and Gordon Minter(1925 – 2012). All married (Alfred Howard married his first cousin once removed, Doris Edith Baker).

North Suffolk

Herbert Bertie Minter, born 1890, Peasenhall, Suffolk

Herbert was the son of Clifton Minter and his wife Ellen Naomi nee Kerridge. It's not known when Bertie went to Australia. He died on 15 August 1945 at the Sacred Heart Hospice, Darlinghurst, New South Wales and was cremated at the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium on 18 August; his ashes were taken away. Herbert married Leah (born about 1895, died 3 March 1980) and had four children, Jessie (who married Mr Patterson), Tressie, Marjorie Leah (who married Clyde Truitt Francis in 1944) and Douglas Herbert (who married Patricia Norma Riley in 1955).

James Minter, born 1831, Palgrave, Suffolk

James was the son of John Minter and Mary Knott, one of seven children. James married Sarah Judson (born in Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire) in Bourne Lincolnshire in 1852 and had two children, Mary and Robert both of whom died in infancy. On 14 January 1857 James and Sarah left Birkenhead, Lancashire on the ’Bee’ and arrived at Geelong, Victoria on 18 April.
The couple settled in Victoria and their son James was born at Ashby, Geelong on 14 May 1857. They went on to have nine more children, John in Ballarat, the rest in Bendigo, where they lived in a house owned by Sarah in Sheepwash Road, Sandhurst. Sarah died there on 26 April 1874 shortly after the birth of her daughter Emma who didn’t survive. After Sarah died her cousin Mary emigrated to Australia and married James in 1876. Of James and Sarah’s children the following is known:

Interestingly, members of both the families which originated in Suffolk were buried or cremated in the same place, Fawkner Crematorium & Memorial Park, Fawkner, Victoria, Australia.

Some of the North Suffolk family was apparently Roman Catholic since the family members whose remains are at Fawkner Memorial Park lie in the RC section of the graveyard.

Francis Ronald Minter, born 1915, Chesterfield, Derbyshire

Francis, his wife Florence Eleanor nee Woolven, born 1918, and their daughter Jean, born 1936, left the UK for Australia on 28 November 1951. Francis and Florence lived at first in New South Wales but moved to Queensland in the late 1960s. Jean married Oliver Bandini in 1954 and they had (at least) two children, Christina and Mario Francis.

Wickham Market, Suffolk

Leonard Victor Minter was born in the Woodbridge Registration area on 16 September 1924. Together with his wife Barbara Angela (nee Muncey) born 15 March 1925; daughter Susan Barbara Elizabeth born 17 July 1949; and daughter Lindsey Alison born 17 July 1952, he travelled on the ’Iberia’ departing Tilbury on 21 March 1964 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme.

Hammersmith, London

William Minter was born on 30 January 1857 in Turnham Green (then Middlesex, now part of Greater London). He is in the Hammersmith group because his grandfather was born there. Up until the 1871 UK census William lived with his parents. He doesn’t appear in the 1881 UK census and married Sarah Buttenshaw (1854 – 1915) in 1883 in Sydney, NSW. Research by Alan Buttenshaw suggests that William arrived in Brisbane on the 'Zoroaster' on 30 November 1874, having left London on 3 June. A few months later he appears to have been a passenger on the 'Civility' which arrived in Sydney from Brisbane on 30 November 1874. By the time she married William, Sarah Buttenshaw had had two children, both registered as Buttenshaw: Arthur in 1873 and Drusilla in 1879. Drusilla married James W Cook as Drusilla E Minter in 1918; Arthur's death as Arthur E Minter was registered at Sydney in 1918. It isn’t clear whether William was the father of Sarah’s first two children. After their marriage William and Sarah had four more children:

Further research by Alan Buttenshaw makes it clear that William Minter deserted his family and went off probably in search of riches in the goldfields of Western Australia. William probably left around 1897 and in 1899 his wife Sarah went to the authorities to see if they could help. This clearly had no effect and Sarah soldiered on, bringing up her children while working as a laundress. In 1915, about six months before she died, Sarah went for help to the police again.

It's not certain when and where William Minter died: the best estimate is 1933 in Perth, Western Australia.

Great Horkesley, Essex

Leslie Henry Minter was born in 1914 in the Woolwich district and married Marjorie Gray in 1942. He emigrated to Australia between 1951 and 1952 and married Moira Margaret Melbourne in 1958 in Victoria. They had three children, Amanda Moira, Daryl Leslie and Craig Donald, all of whom married. Leslie Henry died in Victoria in 1984 and was cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery on 14 March.

William Thomas Minter was born on 7 November 1944 in the Battersea, London district and died in Sydney where he was cremated at the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium, aged 62, on 20 September 2007. He is believed to gone to Australia in the 1960s, married and had two daughters, Allison and Susan.

Waifs & strays

This section is organised according to Australian States.

New South Wales

1. Sidney Minter married Catherine M R Jay in 1891 at Ashfield. They had a son on 13 October 1899 who was baptised as Sydney Edgar Beresford Minter at St Michaels, Surry Hills on 4 April 1900; the parents are shown as Sydney (a farmer) & Maud Minter of 78 Albion Street, Surry Hills. Sidney is possibly he of the Canterbury group (born c. 1859 at Cheshunt, Herts) who, aged 30, sailed from London on 8 May 1891 for Sydney, Australia on the ’Orizaba’.
The 1911 census has an entry which probably refers to Sidney’s wife and son: at 2 Bertram Street, Nottingham (5 rooms), Catherine, 51, married 13 years, 1 child, lacehand born Pinxton, Derbyshire, and Edgar her son, 11, born Sydney, Australia. Sidney himself hasn’t been found.
Sidney E B Minter married Elsie Hardy in the UK in Q3 1926 in the Bakewell, Derbyshire district. Their marriage certificate shows that Sidney Edgar Beresford Minter was 26, bachelor, a railway worker of Peveril Street, Nottingham and that Elsie Hardy was 30, spinster, of Vine Terrace, Matlock. Sidney gave his father’s name as Sidney Minter (deceased), farmer. Sidney E B Minter’s death at age 34 was registered in Q4 1934 at Nottingham Registration District (7b/244); he was buried on 13 October 1934 at Southern Cemetery (Wilford Hill), Nottingham (source www.deceasedonline.com). The National Probate Calendar shows his address as 14 Boseley Square, Lenton Abbey, Nottingham and that he died at the General Hospital in Nottingham on 14 October. Administration of Sidney's effects, £422 7s 9d, was granted to his widow Elsie, who remarried in Q3 1943 at Nottingham, to Walter W Gregson.
It seems likely that Sidney and Catherine Minter returned to England (as their son did). Catherine’s death at age 72 was registered at Nottingham in Q4 1927. The National Probate Calendar gives Catherine's name as Catherine Maud Coke Minter, her address as 1 Machine Terrace, Alfreton Road, Nottingham, a widow who died on 16 December 1927. She left a Will; her effects were £9 11s 2d.
More research is needed to establish whether Sidney came from the Canterbury group.

2. William Minter married Eliza Ann Flack in Braidwood, NSW in 1882. Alberta F Minter, born in Moruya, NSW in 1889, may have been their daughter.

3. NSW births which are unconnected with any other event

The list which follows contains the names of individuals born in New South Wales who have not been identified as belonging to any of the families listed above.

4. NSW marriages which are unconnected with any other event

5. NSW deaths which are unconnected with any other event. Entries in black are from the NSW BMD index.

Entries in blue are from the Ryerson index of death notices published in Australian newspapers or from the Sydney Morning Herald archive.

6. NSW 1980 Electoral Roll entries not connected with known families.

Victoria

1. Victoria births which are unconnected with any other event

The list which follows contains the names of individuals born in Victoria who have not been identified as belonging to any of the families listed above.

2. Victoria marriages which are unconnected with any other event

3. Victoria deaths which are unconnected with any other event. Entries in black are from the Victoria BMD index.

4. Victoria 1980 Electoral Roll entries not connected with known families.

Queensland

All events took place in Queensland unless otherwise indicated.

1. Queensland births which are unconnected with any other event

None at present.

2. Queensland marriages which are unconnected with any other event

None at present.

3. Queensland deaths which are unconnected with any other event

4. Queensland 1980 Electoral Roll entries not connected with known families

Western Australia

All events took place in Western Australia unless otherwise indicated.

1. Western Australia births which are unconnected with any other event.

None.

2. Western Australia marriages which are unconnected with any other event.

None.

3. Western Australia deaths which are unconnected with any other event.

None.

4. Western Australia 1980 Electoral Roll entries not connected with known families