Biography of John Ward – pearl worker
by Rosslyn Clayton, great-great granddaughter [July, 2008]

John Ward, the son of Henry Ward and Truth Peppercorn, was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England in c1836. Little is known of his father, Henry Ward, except that he was a master butcher.

His mother, Truth, was born in Chingford, Essex on 18 December 1795, the daughter of Joshua Peppercorn and Elizabeth Sellsy. Truth was previously married to Thomas Gross in Walthamstow, Essex on 18 February 1816.

Two children from that marriage were George, born 1817 and Joshua, born 1820. Joshua, aged 19, was convicted on the 6 March 1838 at Worcester City Assizes Court for stealing sheep and sentenced to 15 years transportation to Australia. He was granted his ticket of leave on 18 June 1844 and on 1 August 1849, a conditional pardon was issued to Joshua. Conditional pardons freed convicts of their sentences with the condition that they remain in the colony and not return to their homeland. He continued to work on the Strathbogie Station owned by the Gordon family in the New England area where he was later promoted to Superintendent/Overseer of the property.

By 1841, Truth and John were living with Mr and Mrs James Ford, clock and watch repairer at 83 Hospital Street, Birmingham where Truth worked as a servant. John was aged five.

When Truth’s sister, Jane, died in 1849, Truth inherited the bulk of her estate. This would have greatly improved the family’s situation.

On 15 April 1860, John married Marion Cooke, daughter of Thomas Cooke and Jane Oseman née Northwood at St Mary’s Church in Handsworth, Staffordshire. The officiating minister was Rev E S Lowndes. Witnesses to the wedding were Frederick Foden and the bride’s sister, Louisa Sargent.

In 1861, Truth was living at 106 Brierley Street, Birmingham with her eldest son, George, and working as a laundress. Meanwhile John and Marion set up house just up the street at 104. John’s occupation was pearl worker.

Over the next few years, John and Marion had
Frederick George, born 1862
Louisa, born 1863
Alice Ellen, born 1864
John Edward (known as Jack), born 1867
Florence Rose, born 1871

With this growing brood, John and Marion moved to 16 Great Russell Street and then to 250 Icknield Street, where they lived with his mother, Truth aged 74 and his half-brother, George aged 53.

While working as a pearl worker, John was among the 758 artisans who entered their work in the Birmingham and Midland Counties Industrial Exhibition held at Bingley Hall. On Monday 29 August 1965, the exhibition was officially opened by the mayor, Mr Henry Wiggin with Lord Lyttleton presenting his inaugural speech in which he praised the skilful work of the men on display. John was presented with a 44 mm bronze medal created by J Allen and D Moore. On one side there is a beehive above the city arms with the legend “Birmingham and Midland Counties Industrial Exhibition” around it, upon a ribbon. On the reverse, there is a tablet on a laurel spray. The legend above is Exhibition Memorial and below, the date, 1865.

John and Marion’s family grew with a further three children being born.
Ernest Frank, born 1874
Edith Mary, born 1873
Gertrude Grace, born 1877

Sadly, on 26 November 1879, Truth died at 136 Leopold Street, Aston of senile decay aged 82.

By 1881 John and his family had moved to Wootton Wawen (pronounced Wōten Worn), a small village some 25 km southeast of Birmingham near Stratford upon Avon where he was a farmer of 44 acres. Living with him there at the time of the census was his wife, Marion, and children, John, Alice, Florence and Gertrude. Ernest and Edith were living as students in Aston in the household of a prominent journalist and historian of the day, Dr John Alfred Langford, LLD. Frederick was working as a blacksmith and lodging at 146 Leopold Street Aston.

In 1884, John and his family obtained assistance to migrate to Australia. Assisted passages were granted by the government to particular categories of immigrants, and their families. The categories included farmers, farm labourers and domestic servants. To be eligible, they had to be unable to pay the full passage, intend to permanently reside in Queensland and could not have previously resided in any Australian colony.

They were among the 400 passengers who sailed on the Indus which left Gravesend on her maiden voyage on Saturday 21 June 1884. The steamship, chartered by Messrs F Green and Co., contractors for the Queensland government, arrived in Brisbane on Friday 22 August 1884.

Frederick and his brother, Jack, did not migrate with the rest of the family when they came in 1884 and it is unknown when they arrived in Queensland.

The family had barely settled in 3 Tribune Street, Brisbane when tragedy struck. Their eldest daughter, Louisa contracted Enteric Fever and died in the Brisbane Hospital on 30 October 1884. She was only 22. She was laid to rest in the South Brisbane Cemetery on 31 October 1884.

By 1903, John, a storekeeper, and Marion were living on the corner of William Street and Fleur Road in South Brisbane. They continued to live there until they moved to Chatsworth Road, Coorparoo. By 1917, they were living in Cornwall Street, Annerley where Marion died on 26 July, aged 78. She had been suffering from cancer of the face for two years. She was interred in the South Brisbane Cemetery on 27 July 1917.

Throughout out his life in Queensland, John continued to work in pearl (a term used to encompass all shell work) and other material illustrating his skill as a master craftsman. He created the current display with a mixture of pearl shell and other material. It consists of the Australian coat of arms made of carved mother of pearl, mounted on dark blue velvet on board. The coat of arms has a kangaroo and emu, together with a thistle, rose and shamrock representing Scotland, England and Ireland. The inner section is surrounded by decorative borders (including scallops and stars) in pearl buttons. This work was entered into the Brisbane National Agricultural and Industrial Assoc. exhibition of 1916 where it won first prize in the Artisans' Section for "Excellence of workmanship in other materials" (i.e. other than wood or metal). It is said to have gained “much commendation" as an example of local skill.

John donated this pearl display to the Queensland Museum in 1918 while he was living with his children in Crow’s Nest near Toowoomba.

On 21 June 1926, at Sword Street, Logan, John died from an ulcer on his face and exhaustion. He had been suffering for a number of months. He was interred with his wife, Marion, at the South Brisbane Cemetery on 22 June 1926, aged 90. He was survived by John, Florence, Edith and Gertrude.

John and Marion’s eldest son, Frederick married Louisa Reckie in 1896. Frederick went on to serve in the Boer War in the 6th South African Contingent 1901–02. He died in August 1913. Frederick’s son, Frederick George also joined the military and served in World War I enlisting on 1 December 1915, aged 18 years and six months.

Alice Ellen married Andrew Adie More in Brisbane on 24 March 1899. They had eight children. She died 8 June 1916.

John Edward, known as Jack, married Rachel Baptista Haslam on 7 January 1891 and had five children. Jack was a professional artist who had work published in The Queenslander and The Sun and sold many paintings depicting Birds of Paradise and other New Guinea sights. One of his paintings, New Guinea natives, was sold in 1992.

He was also a keen ornithologist and naturalist making several trips to New Guinea. In 1929, under the auspice of the New York Zoological Society, he accompanied Lee Saunders Crandall, the Curator of Birds at the New York Zoo to collect live Bird of Paradise specimens for American zoos. He also wrote a number of articles about birds which were published in the Bulletin of the New York Zoological Society. Articles about Jack have also appeared the Women’s Weekly, Life and National Geographic magazines.

Jack died in Sydney in 1955.

Florence Rose married Benjamin William Collins in 1893. For a while they lived at Crow’s Nest on the Darling Downs where he was the manager of Denham’s Produce. They later moved to Sydney where Florence died in 1953. They had three children.

Ernest married Ruth May Evans in 1901 and in 1905 they lived in Maroon near Rathdowney, south of Brisbane. They were living in Hawthorne, Brisbane as listed in the 1913 electoral role.

Edith Mary married William John Wallace on 17 Oct 1893 and died 27 Nov 1966. They had seven children.

Gertrude Grace married James Francis Marshall in 1900 and had five children. She died 11 Nov 1955.