William Henry Davies Heard

When William Henry Davies Heard was born in 1849, his parents, Richard John and Mary Mercy were living in Devon, as their families had for multiple generations before them. 

William’s grandfather, also called Richard,  was a cabinet maker but at least two of his sons, Richard and Charles, would be employed by the British Navy with Richard’s brother Charles recruited when he was 9 to sail on the HMS Beagle with Charles’ Darwin between 1831 and 1840.

Charles Henry Peters Heard would begin a new life in Adelaide after jumping ship from the HMS Beagle, on its third and final voyage with Charles Darwin in 1840.  He would marry first wife Priscilla on July 2, 1849 when he was 29 in Adelaide, and become a pioneer in the Balaklava region of SA.

Between 1852 and 1857, Richard and Mary would move their family to the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, possibly with Richard’s job as a Messenger to the Admiral. 

Memories of Williams’s childhood on the Isle would become a part of the stories reported in papers printed nationally celebrating his birthdays including where he fell through ice whilst ice skating on a canal in Sheerness.  He also reminisced being able to see the Nore Lightship at the mouth of the Thames Estuary from his home on a clear day.

At 103, William described the mood in Australia when he arrived as ‘people being agog at the building of the Exhibition Buildings”.    Built in 1879-1880, the carpenter had just arrived in Adelaide at the time and news reports across the Australia raced to capture the latest update on the building and the World Exhibition which Melbourne and Australia would take part in. 

During his time in Adelaide, William married Mary on May 4, 1881 with the Rev. B.P.Mudge of the United Methodist Church officiating.  Mary was born in Walkerville, a suburb in Adelaide and was 22 when she married William who was 32 by now.

William and Mary’s first child, Valentine Charles was born in Adelaide on February 14, 1882 but sadly, would die 12 months later on February 26. Three months later, their second son Richard Charles would be born.

It wasn’t long after this that William and Mary started making their way across to Melbourne with daughter, Mercy Mercy born in Goolwa in 1886 and son Frank born in Mortlake in 1887.

By end of 1887, the young family reached Melbourne and by 1889 were living in Hawthorn where son, Henry Simmons was born in Pleasant Road.  Henry’s middle name comes from the maiden name of William’s mother, Mary Mercy Simmons.

From 1893 to 1896 William and Mary would have another three children, Annie Isabella, Joseph Stanley and Agnes Robena.  By now the family were living near the corner of Burwood Rd and Power Street in Hawthorn.  In December, the family would tragically lose son, Richard,  with their 13 year old son drowning in the Yarra River, a week before Christmas.

Following Richards death, the family would move to Brighton.

The family’s tie with Hawthorn would remain and as the children grew up and married, many, including Henry, would return to Hawthorn. 

At 60 years of age, William was still working as a carpenter, building homes in Crystobel Crescent in Hawthorn and at different times during their later years, William and Mary would appear on the electoral rolls of the area, living with their children.

In January 1917, Mary would lose a short battle with bone cancer, her death certificate stating the cause being exhaustion and carcinoma of the hip.  Aged 58, Mary would be buried with Richard, the son she had lost 20 years before.

Now almost 70, William was living in the Parliament St Brighton home with his daughter Annie and ten years later would move to Elizabeth Street Brighton where he would live the remainder of his life with Annie and her husband.

The father of nine children, by the time William Henry Davies Heard died, only three of his children would be alive to say farewell on May 2, 1952.

The man who had taken a chance to leave his family as a 30 year old in 1879 and travel to a new country with just his skills as a carpenter would have been amused by the interest shown in him as he reached 100 years of age and then each for each birthday after that. 

He had seen Australia join wars a world away, worked through the Great Depression and watched as Melbourne grew in the flush following the gold rush.  He watched the Cold War from afar and listened to the radio as Don Bradman and Phar Lap captured the hearts of the nation.

Reporting on his 103^rd birthday, only three months before he died, a journalist from The Age would quote William and write, 

“I don’t think a man’s life is worth living after he’s 90, “ he said today.  “You can’t get about, you can’t dig potatoes, you can even go for a walk now.”  But his appearance and his abilities belie his words.  Alert, spry and cheerful, he bustled forward to greet visitors yesterday, and was ready to talk on any subject.

 

Published by The Age Newspaper: February 5, 1949

William Henry Davies Heard

Born: February 5, 1849  Devonport, England

Died: May 2, 1952, Brighton, Victoria Australia

Grandfather of Edward William Heard