The Baldock Family · Alfred & Frances Baldock

Frances Baldock & Charles Wakely

1830–1894

The “Frances (8)” of the 1838 passenger list — she settled in the Hunter Valley and, oddly, also married a man named Wakely.

Born: 24 June 1830 · England
Died: 5 May 1894 · Morpeth, NSW

Frances was one of the six children who sailed with the family aboard the William Metcalfe in 1838, recorded on the passenger list as Frances Baldock, aged eight, travelling with her parents.¹ She married Charles Wakely at Sydney in 1849 — his name given inconsistently across records, sometimes as Charles Samuel and sometimes as Samuel Charles, and, curiously, apparently no relation to her sister Eliza’s own husband of the same surname² — and the couple went on to have at least six children between 1850 and 1861: Charles Frederick, Joseph, James, a second Joseph, George, and Frances. Only three of the six lived to adulthood — the first Joseph died in 1854, James in 1858, and George in 1860, all still infants, which is why the name Joseph was given again, to a brother born in 1856 — and their births and deaths trace the family’s move out from the Sydney district to Morpeth and Maitland, in the Hunter Valley.⁴

Charles — son of John and Sarah Wakely — died at Morpeth in 1871, predeceasing Frances by twenty-three years, and was buried in the Morpeth General Cemetery.⁵ Frances herself died there on 5 May 1894, and was buried in the same cemetery.³

John Wakely, Charles’s father, had himself arrived in the colony under a fourteen-year sentence of transportation, aboard the Exmouth in July 1831.⁶⁷ Charles himself — baptised Samuel Charles, son of John and Sarah Wakely, at St George’s, Middlesex, on 5 March 1820, when his father kept a cheesemonger’s shop on the New Road⁹ — was very likely one of the three sons Sarah brought out with her two years later, arriving free in December 1833 aboard the Lonach, in the hope that a regulation newly introduced shortly before her voyage would see John assigned to her service.⁶⁷ Instead, as John put it in his own petition, she was left “most unhappy situated.”⁷ Sarah herself later described simply coming out “with her three Boys in the Year 1833.”⁸ By 1843, Charles — barely into his twenties — was already established in Sydney, named as a creditor in the insolvent estate of one George Dent.¹⁰

Charles surfaces a few more times in the Morpeth records. In February 1868 he stood for a seat on the Borough Council and lost, ninety-five votes to thirty-two, to Thomas Jones.¹¹ The following year he was one of those putting forward candidates for borough auditor.¹² By 1870 he owned both a store and a dwelling-house on No. 2 Lane, Morpeth, their rateable values confirmed that year at a council assessment appeal.¹³

The Family

Her Children

Six children are known, three of whom died in infancy, between 1854 and 1860. The other three all have their own pages below: two brothers who followed their father into the Post and Telegraph service, and their younger sister, a Morpeth postal assistant who married twice.

Charles Frederick Wakely & Alice Mary Hannaford 1850–1907

A Post and Telegraph officer for nearly forty years — from a junior operator at Morpeth to Postmaster of Edgecliff, in Sydney’s east.

Read their story

Joseph John Baldock Wakely & Elizabeth Brown 1856–1926

Charles Frederick’s younger brother — a country station-master who carried their mother’s maiden name, Baldock, as his own middle name.

Read their story

Frances Sarah Wakely, Ryan & Brydon 1861–1942

The youngest of the six, and the last to die — a Morpeth postal assistant who married twice, first at thirty-six and again at fifty-one.

Read their story

The Record

Sources & References

1
Frances Baldock, passenger list, William Metcalfe, 1838

NSW assisted immigrant list: Frances Baldock, aged 8, ship William Metcalfe, 1838, father Wm. Baldock, mother Louisa Colman [Coleman], travelling with family.
2
Marriage of Frances Baldock and Charles Wakely, 1849

NSW BDM marriage index: Frances Baldock, married 1849, registered Sydney, New South Wales, spouse Charles Wakely.
3
Death of Frances (Baldock) Wakely, 1894

NSW BDM death registration 8559/1894, Morpeth, City of Maitland, New South Wales — Frances Wakely, father William, mother Louisa; buried Morpeth General Cemetery.
4
Births and infant deaths of Charles and Frances Wakely’s children, 1850–1861

NSW BDM birth index, father Charles [S.], mother Frances: Charles F., 2214/1850, district CA; Joseph W.L., 3614/1853, district CT; James G.S., 3592/1855, district CT; Joseph J.B., 5755/1856, district Maitland; George S., 9639/1859, district Morpeth; Frances S., 9637/1861, district Morpeth. Three of the six died in infancy: Joseph W.L., death registration 1991/1854; James G., death registration 4415/1858, Morpeth; George S., death registration 4681/1860, Morpeth — all father Charles S., mother Frances. The first Joseph’s death confirms that the “second Joseph,” Joseph J.B. (born 1856), was named for the elder brother who had died two years before. James’s death notice survives: “At Morpeth, on the 27th instant, James, the son of Charles Wakely, aged three years and four months.” Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 3 July 1858, p. 1.
5
Death of Charles (Samuel) Wakely, 1871

NSW BDM death registration 4408/1871, Morpeth, New South Wales — recorded as Samuel C. Wakely, father John, mother Sarah; buried Morpeth General Cemetery. Elsewhere aggregated as Charles Samuel Wakely, husband of Frances (Baldock) Wakely and father of Charles Frederick Wakely; the given names appear transposed between sources.
6
Petition of Sarah Wakely (34/130)

“The humble Petition of Sarah Wakely Sheweth That your Petitioner and Three Children Arrived Free in the Colony in the Month of December 1833. That Petitioners Husband John Wakely arrived in the Colony A Prisoner of the Crown per Ship ‘Exmouth’ July 1831.” State Archives NSW, colonial secretary correspondence, item 34/130.
7
Petition of John Wakely (38/7399)

“The humble Petition of John Wakely respectfully Sheweth That your Petitioner arrived In this Colony per ‘Exmouth’ 1831 — under sentence of transportation for 14 years — and in 1833 My wife And Family of Three Children Emigrated per Ship Lonach with the expectation of me being assigned to Her owing to A New Regulation which taken place A few Months previous to Her arrival she was most unhappy situated.” State Archives NSW, colonial secretary correspondence, item 38/7399.
8
Petition of Sarah Wakely (38/7826)

“That Your Petitioner came to this Colony with her three Boys in the Year 1833.” State Archives NSW, colonial secretary correspondence, item 38/7826.
9
Baptism of Samuel Charles Wakely, St George’s, Middlesex, 1820

Parish register, St George’s, Middlesex, baptisms solemnized in the year 1820, page 188, entry No. 1502: “Samuel Charles, son of John & Sarah Wakely,” abode New Road, father’s trade cheesemonger, baptised 5 March 1820.
10
Insolvent estate of George Dent, 1843

New South Wales Government Gazette, No. 12, 3 February 1843, p. 193: notice of a creditors’ meeting in the insolvent estate of George Dent, “for proof of Debts of Samuel Charles Wakely, and George Talbot only” — William H. Kerr, Chief Commissioner.
11
Morpeth Borough Council election, 1868

“The poll taken in the Morpeth borough, to decide the election of a candidate for the seat in the Borough Council, vacated by Alderman Robertson, closed yesterday… and resulted in the return of Mr. Thomas Jones by a majority of 63 over his opponent, Mr. Charles Wakely… Mr. Thomas Jones, 95; Mr. Charles Wakely, 32.” Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 11 February 1868, p. 2 (official declaration of the poll, 13 February 1868, p. 3).
12
Nomination of borough auditors, 1869

“For auditors, the following names had been sent in by Charles Wakely and Samuel Ling:—William Stevenson Capper, Tilmouth F. Dye.” Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 4 February 1869, p. 4.
13
Rate assessment appeal, Morpeth, 1870

Morpeth Borough Council appeal court: “Charles Wakely, land and store, No. 2 lane; assessed rate, 7s. Confirmed. Charles Wakely, dwelling-house; 13s. 6d. Confirmed.” Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 26 May 1870, p. 3.