Robert Hopwood

Robert Hopwood, the son of Charles and Ann, born in Ickleton, UK, in 1850, was a family man. He didn’t marry young. He waited until his heart was won by the very prim and proper 22 year old Miss Victoria Rosina Pettigrove [1] . They were wed by a Wesleyan Minister at Macorna, Victoria on 10/9/1885 at the home of Victoria’s father, Mr John Pettigrove, in Greenbower West. Robert was 35 years old although his marriage certificate states his age as 32 years.
Robert came to the Riverina District separately from his brothers, Joseph and Charles. He was close to, and generous with, his children. He gave them a sense of fun and no doubt was a great tease [2] .
Robert did not enjoy the best of health, possibly due to the hardship he experienced as a young boy at sea, although he lived until he was 70 years old. He suffered from Gastroenteritis for 6 days and eventually died on 11th January 1920 at “Wilga”. Sadly his son Robert Joseph died on the 27th December 1919, just 2 weeks beforehand, aged 23. Family history has it that he drank water from a poisoned waterhole and became sick. However it has also been said that father and son drank from the same waterhole and developed typhoid.
This double loss must have hit poor Victoria very hard. However she was a strictly religious woman who probably sought solace in her Christian faith. She insisted on the observance of the Sabbath not only with her children but with her children’s children. Any breach of this would result in terrifying tails from her such as “undoing stitches in hell with your teeth” if you were caught doing embroidery on the Sabbath. She was also an ardent monarchist. If she heard the National Anthem played on the radio in her later years she would insist that everyone stand, even at home.

The children of Robert and Victoria Rosina Hopwood (née Pettigrove):
· Rosina Victoria B. 1888 (D. 8/10/1976, Sydney) M. 1912 at Narrandera to Frederick Slender
· Lilly B. 1890 (D.1952 or 1982 at Wollongong NSW. Possibly buried at Narrandera) M. in 1913 at Narrandera to George Andrew Bartley 2nd
· Jane B. 1892 (D.1982) M. 1916 at Narrandera to Charles Britten Chitts
· Charles (Farmer) B 15/5/1894 (D. 1936) M. 15/4/1919 at Narrandera to Alice Chitts B. 1/9/189? Hillston NSW Parents: John Chitts and Martha Rebecca Bennett (deceased) from marriage certificate of Alice and Charles
· Robert B. 1896 (D. 1919)
· Frederick B.1900 (D.1978) M. 1924 at Narrandera to Edith E Tonkin
· Amelia B. 1902 (D. ) M. Andrew Ryan
· Victor 1907 (D. ) M. Ivy Ecles

[1] Victoria Pettigrove, daughter of John Pettigrove and Rhoda Rosina Cook , was born at Tylden Victoria in 1863.John and Rhoda Pettigrove came to Australia about 1850 with one child, Arthur. Their other children were:
· Millie B. Australia
· Rhoda B. Australia
· Rosina B. Australia and died at 6 months
· Albert B. Australia
· Freddie B. Australia and died at about 10 or 12 years
· Theo B. Australia
· Ron B. Australia and died at about 2 years
The family property was at Macorna, Victoria. When it was sold the site was developed for the township. . The Pettigrove family and their descendents were declared “Pioneers of Australia”. The certificate as presented to Theo’s son Walter,
[2] Certainly Rosina his eldest acquired these traits from one of her parents and it was unlikely to have been her mother! She teased, tormented and joked with her own children and grandchildren (and probably her younger brothers and sisters)!

Frederick Hopwood

Frederick Hopwood was the eldest of Charles' and Ann's sons. Like Robert he was born in the UK, probably in Ickelton. He didn’t marry. He stayed with his parents at Inverleigh, Victoria. He was a comfort to his mother when her husband Charles died in 1895. Rather than stay in southern Victoria, Frederick started to think about moving north to be with his brothers in the Boree Creek – Narrandera area (Riverina District NSW). He and his mother moved there in the early 1900s and stayed for the remainder of their lives.

By the time that Frederick and mother Ann arrived, Joseph and Charles Hopwood were already well established in the district. The two brothers were close in age and seemed to have always been close to one and other. Therefore it was not surprising when they moved together to the district in 1880. Each acquired 640 acres of virgin bushland through the Lands Department. Their first home was built from upright pine poles. They grew into men of whom their parents must have been rightly proud.

From Ickleton to Australia: The Beginning

Based on research undertaken by an unknown Australian Hopwood

Peter Hopwood, the son of Richard and Dorcas, came into this world in 1771. As a man he became a thatcher and married Martha Sheldrick . Peter died in 1847 from “Paralysis not certified”; possibly what we might know as a ‘stroke”. Peter and Martha had 6 children. Their second youngest son, Charles, was a thatcher, just like his father, and possibly his brothers. Like generations of Hopwoods before him, he was born in Ickleton, England in 1812. At the age of 35 he married Ann Philpott the publican’s daughter. They must have been restless souls and true adventurers, no doubt he more than she. They heard stories about gold, and a life of promise beckoned them from the colonies; if not for themselves at least for their children. With this in mind they planned their voyage of a lifetime. In the year of 1853, Charles and Ann, along with their boisterous boys, 4 year old Frederick , 2/1/2 year old Robert and Baby Charles left England for good, bound for Australia on the “Sussex”. They paid their own way and planned to arrive in their new land as free settlers; not as convicts or as assisted settlers.
Life on board must have been much harder than they had expected. How many times did they wonder about the sense of what they had done? Sick of the sea and weary from their journey, they were looking forward to reaching the west coast of Australia in a matter of days. But this was not to be. They sailed into a violent storm and were blown back to the coast of Africa. On-board rations did not include any surplus for such a catastrophe.Starvation set in. Tragically Baby Charles was not old enough or strong enough to endure such hardship and he died. He was buried at sea in 1853 .
The grief stricken family eventually landed at Geelong in Victoria and then settled, close by, on land at Inverleigh. Father Charles became a farmer. Their young sons thrived and soon they had two more, Joseph, and then Charles who was named in loving memory of their adored but lost third born.
Unlike many colonials, such as the Kelly Gang [5] , the children of Charles and Ann did not run wild. However tempted they might have been by the easy wealth to be had in the nearby frontier towns of the goldfields, these boys never strayed from the values of their parents and each in their own unique way prospered.
A word about Ann Philpot
Ann Hopwood née Philpot was born in 1822 in Canterbury, Kent. She died on the 18th June 1910 at “The Chase”, in Narrandera NSW Australia. This property was owned by her son, Charles. Ann is buried in the Church of England Cemetery at Narrandera, NSW, Australia.
Ann's parents were Fletcher Philpott (B.1790 Ickleton D. 23/9/1842 Duxford, from Consumption ie Tuberculosis) and Ann Ilott (B. 1781 Ickleton D. 28/5/1868 Duxford due to Diarrhoea of Old Age). Fletcher was a “publican” . After he died his wife, Ann, carried on the family business and became the publican.
The name of their establishment is unknown. Was it the "Red Lion" which is still trading in Ickelton today?
The death certificates of both Fletcher and Ann feature the marks of a Sarah Mear (1842) and a Sarah Poulter (1868) respectively, confirming their presence at these two deaths. The relationship of these Sarahs is unclear. Could she have been the same person with a different surname? A relative? Any information would be welcomed.

The sons of Charles and Ann Hopwood:
Frederick B. 1849 England, presumably Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England
Robert B. 22/9/1850 Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England
Charles B. 1852 Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England (died at sea 1853)
Joseph B. 1856 Inverleigh Victoria, Australia
Charles B. 1859 Inverleigh Victoria, Australia

[1] the unknown author writes “This information was given by ..., obtained from her mother ....née Hopwood, daughter of Robert Hopwood”
[2] his death certificate
[3] Joseph B. 1856 Inverleigh Victoria, Australia
[4] Charles B. 1859 Inverleigh Victoria, Australia
[5] Family story from Rose Slender née Hopwood that the Kelly gang rode through her father’s property