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It was probably in 3 Little Bourke Street that William's wife, Elizabeth Honeycombe, died -
within a year of her arrival.
In fact the earliest record we have of the family in Melbourne is of her burial on 30 April 1851.
The funeral sen/ice, a Wesleyan one, was performed by John Harcourt. No other information is
given on the certificate, nor the place of burial, apart from the fact that Elizabeth's abode was
Melbourne and her age 53.
We do not know the cause of death, but the voyage out may have weakened her constitution.
Perhaps the unaccustomed 100 degrees heat of some days in her first Australian summer may
have been a contributory factor. Perhaps being in Melbourne distressed her, and she dreamed
of going home, of green fields and of Devon where she was born. She died ten months after
reaching Australia, with but four of her eight children with her when she died, the other four
13,000 miles away.
We know little about her, just a few dates. She wandered with William in England from town to
town, bearing children along the way, and then went with him to the other end of the world. She
suffered and perhaps was silent, never witnessing the weddings of any of her children, nor
seeing her grandchildren, nor sharing in their progress and that of the new nation. She died in
what was still called New South Wales, before the gold-rush began and the colony of Victoria
was born. She remained tied to the old country and, buried in an unknown grave in Melbourne,
has remained unhonoured till now as the mother of all the Australian Honeycombes.
William, although he might live without her, could not do without her, not with four children to
feed and clothe. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth was 13 two months before her mother died.
Martha would be 11 in May; and John nine in June. Five months after Elizabeth died William
remarried again.
It seems to have been a mistake, from everyone's point of view.
The marriage took place in Melbourne on 22 September 1851, in the parish of St James,
Melbourne. The vicar was Augustus Strong; the witnesses were George and Matilda Young.
William, described only as a widower and with no address given, signed himself 'Wm
Honeycombs'. His bride also signed her name. She was about 40 years old, a spinster, and her
name was Elizabeth Hicks.
We leam her age, approximately, from her death certificate, written out many years later, which
states that she, a widow ('other particulars not known') died in the Benevolent Asylum in North
Melbourne on 12 January 1898, when she was 86. The cause of death is given as 'Inanitia, 2
months'. In other words, she was out of her mind.
Her parents' names are given as William and Rebecca Hicks ('other particulars not known'). But
another, earlier document tells us much more - a form detailing her first admission to a
Benevolent Asylum in Dunwich (on Stradbroke Island east of Brisbane) on 22 February 1869.
In this her age is given as 60; the cause of admission as debility; her place of birth as Waltham
Abbey, Essex, England; her father's profession as baker; her mother's maiden name as Hudd;
and her own profession as schoolmistress.
ft seems that back in 1851 William Honeycombe married a teacher. Did he meet her because
she taught his two daughters? Or because she lodged in the same house? It was probably not
because they attended the same church, although both he and his second wife were at that time
C of E.
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