Biography

Louisa married Evelyn Lockley in Deptford, her home parish, where her late father had been an “engineer”, on 19th October 1854. Evelyn’s brother Aubrey had been sent to bring Evelyn back to his family, but instead he witnessed the wedding to the seventeen year old Louisa Jane, and the three set sail almost immediately as immigrant passengers on the Shalimar arriving in Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia in February 1855.

Louisa’s first child, Mary Shalimar Harriet, was born in Melbourne. Evelyn and his brother then moved to Ballarat for work, where Louisa had two more children, named for Evelyn’s parents – George Frederick (born in 1856) and Harriet Elizabeth (born in 1858) before returning to Melbourne. Two further daughters were born in Carlton, the heavily populated area on the outskirts of the city, where they must have had many friends among the emigrant population.

A surprising development occurred in 1859 when the 4 year old Mary Shalimar Harriet Lockley was named on the passenger list of the White Star, sailing to the Mother Country. Perhaps Evelyn hoped that the adoption of her grand-daughter would reconcile his mother to his marriage to Louisa, but what happened to Mary afterwards is unknown. She may have been given a new name in England, perhaps adopted by the substitute mother who cared for her on the voyage – or she may have perished on the way.

The next daughter, Louisa, was born in 1861 and lived only a year, to be buried in the nearby Carlton Cemetery. When the next baby, Emma, was born in 1862, Louisa would have been weaned, a dangerous time for young children.

In 1863, Louisa travelled with her husband and children to New Zealand’s South Island, where Evelyn was a storekeeper and licensee of a hotel in Port Molyneux at the entrance to the Clutha River. There Evelyn’s namesake was born, and another daughter, Ethel Lily Adelaide. The last two children were born in Dunedin, Cecilia Blanche and the short-lived Edward Brewster Lockley, who died in 1871.

After her husband’s death in 1876, difficult times befell Louisa. The Otago Witness of 23rd July 1881, page 9, records that, “Dr Hocken, city coroner, held an inquest at the hospital on Monday on the body of Louisa Lockley, who died in the institution on the 14th. She was admitted into the Gaol on the 23rd of May to undergo a sentence of 3 months imprisonment for vagrancy. She appeared to be in a delicate state of health and on the 30th May her removal to the hospital was ordered. According to the evidence of Dr Roberts consumption was the cause of death and the Jury brought in a verdict to the effect that the deceased died from natural causes.” Louisa Jane Lockley died on 14th July 1881, aged 44 years.

(Summarised from an extensive Lockley family biography provided by Barbara Bolt, with some additional material from the Otago Witness as noted)