Sir Graham Berry 1822 Twickenham

→ Graham Berry (1822, Twickenham) → Melbourne. Arrived: 4 July 1852. On the ship Marlborough Master J.T. Webb bound for Port Phillip

Graham Berry 30, Harriet Ann Berry (nee Blencowe) 21, Harriet M Berry 2, James Berry 1 month

Synopsis

Sir Graham Berry is probably the most famous of all the emigrants in this project, his rise from humble beiging the knight of the realm and Premier of the State of Victoria , is a combination of resolute determination, a strong social concience and brilliant business and political skills. His marriage to Hannah Ann Blencowe 1830 and the 13 children they gave birth too is the reason he is included in the project of course. Sir Graham Berry (1822–1904) was the 11th Premier of Victoria and a pivotal figure in Australian colonial history. He is best remembered as a radical reformer who championed the working class and broke the political stranglehold of wealthy landowners.

Twickenham 1822

Son of Benjamin Berry, a Twickenham tradesman, and his wife Clara, née Graham. After elementary school he was apprenticed at 11, to a Chelsea master linen draper Charles Jesse in 1841 census at age 15 he lives in the Jesse house in Bloomsbury. One can only assume that he completed his Apprenticeship in about 1843 and received his freedom from his contract with Charles Jesse. Living in the same area as Harriet Ann Blencowe , ie Kensington West London he probably met her socially and by 1848 they had married. The 1851 Census shows them with first child living at 22 Beaufort St, Chelsea and he is a draper. Where he conducted business from is not found. But in 1851 Graham and his wife Harriet decided to sell up and take their opportunities in the new colony of Victoria.

The Voyage

The family boarded the ship Marlborough in early March 1852 . The ship was carrying about 200 fare paying passengers and like Graham Blencowe moving under their own means to either settle and conduct business in Victoria or go to the Goldfields and work to find that lucky seam. The ship departed 11 March 1852 and took almost 4 months to arrive at Port Phillip. There are no recorded deaths on the voyage attesting to how well these voyages were organised and how the passengers were treated.

Birth of James Berry in transit.

A strange contradictory record for the baptism of son James is made at St Luke, Sydney St., Chelsea on the 9th July 1852 . The date of birth is given as 19 June 1852 ie while we know the Berry’s were on the high seas. The image below is eveidence of the records. The explanation is a Private baptism that was employed at the time where retroactively an entry was made in the home country for a baptism the Berry’s presumably paid for a spiritual baptism while the child was in the mother before departing on 12 March 1852.

On arrival in the midst of a wet and cold winter on 4 July 1852 the Berry’s were a family of four with a baby and a very young daughter. In any event they were to discover a dire shortage of accomodation available. This may have meant the Berry’s spent a few weeks under canvas with these very young children, before obtaining more permanent accomodation. But Graham Berry had energy and resources and was a determine man intent of making it a successful move.

Prahran, South Melbourne.

The Berry family despite their background and some capital were to arrive into a situation and location in such stark contrast to the Georgian Townhouses paved streets and urbanities of Beaufort St Chelsea. The town of Melbourne was wet muddy and cold, the town overflowing with new migrants. They headed south of the Yarra river where the land was underdeveloped most mud tracks and low lying marsh susceptible to flooding. With no option but to live under canvas while the development caught up with the growing population. Prahran the area they first settled in was to grow from 800 in 1851 to 8,000 in ten years so you can see the time spentthere would have been in very dynamic times with the constant building of facilities etc. Graham Berry seeing the opportunity to be a general supplier, especially to those heading for the goldfields, opened a store initially under canvas. It was a general grocery and supply shop. Later he was able to build a house and shop front and this photograph is of that shop.

During thos particulary hard working time Graham developed a sense on comradeship with the working men around him that was to be is distinguishing clarion call when he moved into Politics.

In 1854 Graham was put on the jury of a very high profile case against those that took part in the Eureka rebellion. they were being tried for high treason but on hearing the case Graham and other jurors refused to convict them of that very serious crime . The fundamental cause had been an unjust tax of miners and this fermented in Graham the need to fight for the cause of workers treated badly and in 1854 he became secretary of the Prahran Reform League. He had moved into Politics. after just 8 years in the Colony things commercially were going so well he bought the Collingwood Observer. He even had time to take 8 month trip back to Britain to sought out estates affairs, his father Benjamin Berry 1798 was last found in 1861 Census a 63 years old widower and it may have been his death that Graham had to attend to the family estate.

1861 Newspaper owner

In 1860 Graham Berry strengthened his ties with Melbourne radicalism by buying the Collingwood Observer.

By the time he took time out to go to Britain he and Harriet already had 7 children, but on his return they continued with more children until in 1868 , Harriet died in her thirteenth childbirth. It seems Graham an big proponent of workers rights was ignorant of womens rights. This was the Victorian era ad it was abnormal but it was wrong by any standards to expect women to continually produce children almost annually.

Because this is a Blencowe emigration study I have chosen at the death of Harrit Ann berry in 1868 to finish this tribute page. There are many histories of Sir Graham Berry freely available in the public domain so anyone curious to read about his life after Harriet can do that.

Death of Harriet 1868

On the 2nd Seotember 1868 Harriet died giving birth to her thirteenth child, the child was still born and she died in the delivery. The Geelong Advertiser on the 3rd had no tribute just the plain facts

Graham Berry Timeline

Event	Date/Location	Details
Full Name	Graham Berry
Birth Date	28 Aug 1822
Birth Place	Twickenham, Middlesex
Census UK 1841 (6 Jun)	6 Jun 1841, St George, Bloomsbury, London	Age 15 an apprentice to Charles Jesse Master linen Draper
Marriage	27 Apr 1848, Saint Luke, Chelsea, Middlesex
Occupation	1851, London	Draper
Birth of Daughter Harriet Mary	1851,
Census UK 1851 (30 Mar)	30 Mar 1851, 22 Beaufort St, Chelsea, London	Graham Berry 28 Head Harriet A Berry 20 Wife Harriet A Berry 6 Mo Daughter Elizabeth Williams 19 Servant
Birth of Son James	19 Jun 1852,
Emigrated	4 Aug 1852, Australia	4 Aug 1852 Emigrated to Australia On ship Marlborough Master J.T. Webb bound for Port Phillip Graham Berry 30, Harriet A Berry 21, Harriet M Berry 2, James Berry 1 month Arrived 4 Nov 1852
Birth of Daughter Louisa	1854,
Residence	1856, Gardiners Creek Rd, South Yarra, Vic	Storekeeper
Birth of Son Benjamin	6 FEB 1856,
Birth of Daughter Emma	1857,
Residence	10 Feb 1857, Victoria St, Prahran, Vic	Letter to NewsPaper
Birth of Daughter Charlotte Woolard	abt 1858,
Birth of Son Unamed	1859,
Occupation	1860, Chapel St East Side, South Yarra	Grocer and Wine and Spirit Merchant
Birth of Daughter Jessie	1860,
Birth of Son Graham	1862,
Occupation	1862, 91 Smith-Street, Collingwood	Publisher Collingwood Observer
Occupation	1863, 91 Smith St. Collingwood	Member of the Legislature Assembly MLA (Lower House(
Occupation	1864, 93 Smith St	Occupation Printer Description Melbourne Directory (Sands) 1864
Birth of Daughter Eliza	1864,
Occupation	1865, Smith St, Collingwood	Member of the Legislature Assembly
Birth of Son George Blencowe	1865,
Residence	1866, Aberdeen Rd. Prahran, Melbourne	City Directories and Almanacs
Birth of Daughter Catherine	1867,
Death of Wife Harriet Ann Blencowe	2 Sep 1868, Skene Street, Newtown, Geelong.	In child birth, a still born child
Residence	1868, Skene Street, Newtown, Geelong.
Occupation	1869, Geelong, Victoria	Member of the Legislature Assembly
2nd Marriage	1872, Melbourne	to Rebekah Margaret Evans b. 1852 London
Premier Of Victoria	7 August 1875 20 October 1875
Premier Of Victoria	21 May 1877 5 March 1880
Premier Of Victoria	9 July 1880 9 July 1881
Deputy Leader Victorian Coalition Party	1883-86. Melbourne
Agent General Victorian Govt.	1886-91, Melbourne
Knighted	1886	He was immediately appointed K.C.M.G. for his part in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition,
Speaker of the House	1894-97, Melbourne
Death	25 January 1904, age 81 years	Pneumonia

Sources

• Daphne Austin genealogist’s Blencowe Database 2026
• State Library of Victoria
• Trove Newspaper Archives
• Ancestry
• Free BMD
• Family Search
• Australian Dictionary of Biography

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