The Carter of Gowrie Street
Alfred Charles Baldock
1901–1976
A carter still living at his parents’ home into his thirties — twice married, the second time exactly eight years to the day after the first, and the marriage that held.
- Born
- 1901 · registered Newtown
- Died
- 19 July 1976 · Kincumber
- Married
- Sylvia Lilley Goldie — married 24 November 1934, Sydney (his second marriage; his first, to Josephine Taylor, ended in divorce in 1932)
- Lived
- 75 years
Alfred Charles Baldock was born at Newtown in 1901, the fifth of William Stanley Baldock and Jessie Frances Brooks’s nine children.1 He was still living at his parents’ home, 110 Gowrie Street, Newtown, as a carter, in the 1933 and 1934 electoral rolls — the same rolls that place his younger brother Keith and their father under the same roof.2
He married twice. First, on 24 November 1926 at Newtown, by the rites of the Church of England, to Josephine Taylor.3 The marriage did not last: on 15 December 1932 the Sydney Morning Herald’s divorce list reported “Baldock v. Baldock,” Alfred Charles Baldock against Josephine Baldock (formerly Taylor), decree nisi granted on the ground of his wife’s adultery, with issue of the marriage.4
He remarried the following year. On 24 November 1934 — exactly eight years, to the day, after his first wedding — Alfred Charles Baldock married Sylvia Lilley Goldie in Sydney.5 The marriage held: it was this second wife who stood beside him in his parents’ In Memoriam notices from 1939 on, and who was still “Alf and Sylvia” when his mother Jessie’s own death notices were placed fifteen years later. In time the couple settled well away from Newtown, at Kincumber on the New South Wales Central Coast. Alfred died there on 19 July 1976, aged seventy-five; Sylvia outlived him by twenty-seven years, dying on 8 September 2003. Both are buried together at St Paul’s Anglican Church Cemetery, Kincumber.5
BALDOCK v. BALDOCK. Alfred Charles Baldock v Josephine Baldock (formerly Taylor). Marriage, November 24, 1926, at Newtown, Church of England rites. Issue, adultery. Decree nisi. Mr. T. T. Henery (instructed by Messrs. Marsland and Co.) appeared for petitioner.
The Record
Sources & References
- 1
Birth registration, 1901
NSW BDM birth registration 15305/1901, Newtown district, father William S. Baldock, mother Jessie.
- 2
Electoral rolls, 110 Gowrie Street, 1933–1934
Commonwealth Electoral Roll, Division of Newtown, 1933, entries 252–255, and 1934, entries 237–240: Alfred Charles Baldock (carter), David Keith Baldock (labourer), Jessie Baldock (home duties) and William Stanley Baldock (painter), all of 110 Gowrie-street, Newtown.
- 3
First marriage of Alfred Charles Baldock, 1926
NSW BDM marriage registration index, Sydney/Newtown district, 1926: Alfred Charles Baldock, marriage age 25, parish of Newtown St Stephen, to Josephine Taylor; married 24 November 1926, Sydney, New South Wales; father William Stanley Baldock, mother Jessie Baldock.
- 4
Divorce of Alfred Charles Baldock, 1932
“Divorce List,” Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 15 December 1932, p. 6: “BALDOCK v. BALDOCK. Alfred Charles Baldock v Josephine Baldock (formerly Taylor). Marriage, November 24, 1926, at Newtown, Church of England rites. Issue, adultery. Decree nisi. Mr. T. T. Henery (instructed by Messrs. Marsland and Co.) appeared for petitioner.”
- 5
Second marriage, death and burial of Alfred Charles Baldock
NSW BDM marriage registration 15011/1934, Sydney district: Alfred C. Baldock to Sylvia L. Goldie, registered 1934. Cemetery transcription, St Paul’s Anglican Church Cemetery, Kincumber, Central Coast Council: Alfred Charles Baldock, died 19 July 1976, aged 75; Sylvia Lilley Baldock, née Goldie, died 8 September 2003 — both New South Wales death registrations, buried together.