Thomas Baird Hannah was born at 53 Eglinton Street, Tradeston, an inner suburb of Glasgow, Scotland on 12th September 1863. The eighth child of William and Agnes, his siblings were Robert (1844), Margaret (1847), Janet (1849), Agnes (1852), Jane (1854), William (1857), Mary (1859), Isabella (1861), and John Cooper (1867). Thomas was the only child born in Glasgow, the family having recently moved there from Ayrshire.
Little is known of his early days in Glasgow. Soon after his birth the family moved back to Kilmarnock where his brother John was born in 1867. His mother Agnes died in December 1873 when he was ten years old, and father William in August the following year. He and some of his siblings were possibly cared for by one of his married sisters for some time. No doubt he completed elementary schooling. He possibly then moved closer to his brother William in Paisley, and may have been employed in William’s timber business, perhaps becoming apprenticed as a carpenter or joiner, or working as a sawmill labourer. The 1881 census records his occupation at the age of 18 as a joiner. At that time he was living with a relative, Duncan Gilchrist, at 106 Stirling Road, Glasgow. This was a large tenement which was probably demolished shortly afterwards. It is not known what the nature of the relationship with Duncan Gilchrist was.
Shortly after the census, 18 year old Thomas left his home country and migrated to Sydney, Australia. He passaged aboard the sailing ship Orontes out of the Port of London, leaving on the 24th of May, 1882. Thomas stepped ashore in Sydney on the 19th August 1882. The trip by sailing ship was usually around twelve weeks. Thomas was an assisted passenger, his sister Margaret, already in Sydney, paying a five-pound deposit for him in the Colony on 25th January 1882. His address on leaving Glasgow was recorded as 14 Glen Street, Paisley. A reference was provided by Douglass Brennan, of Love Street, Paisley.
Thomas stated on his immigration papers that he had a sister Agnes present in the Colony. This was probably Agnes Foley, who may have arrived with her husband Patrick some time after the birth of daughter Margaret in October 1881. However, another child was born to the couple in Glasgow in September 1984, so they must not have stayed long in the Colony. So far, no documentation has been found to support their arrival or departure. Alternatively, Thomas may have mistakenly referred to his sister Margaret who we know was in Sydney at that time.
The ships’ list records his occupation as labourer, and home place as Renfrew. It was also recorded that he could read and write and that both his parents were dead.
On the voyage, he fell in with Albert Kitching, a 16 year old traveling from Yorkshire with his family. Albert was later to be a witness and probably “best man” at Thomas’s wedding.
Why he should now list as a labourer and not a joiner as stated on the 1881 census. Perhaps labourers were in greater demand in the Colony, and he was more likely to gain an assisted passage if he declared himself so; perhaps the census entry was simply wishful thinking. Working with timber was certainly his choice of occupation, as he settled in the Rozelle area of Sydney, gaining employment with the timber mills lining Rozelle bay. These mills imported their building and cabinet timbers from other parts of the country. It would then be milled and supplied to the blossoming building and furniture industries in the suburbs of Sydney.
In October 1885 his sister Jane arrived in NSW with husband Alexander Souter and daughters Agnes and Jane.
Six years after his arrival in Sydney, Thomas married Jane Jack on the 23rd of March 1888.
The Spalding family probably introduced Thomas to Jane. They were living in Rosebery Street, Balmain. William Spalding, his wife Ann and family had arrived in Sydney in 1884. Thomas and their eldest son, also William, appear to have become close friends. Perhaps the families had known each other back home in Glasgow. Either way, when Jane Jack (who was the niece of Ann Spalding) arrived in Sydney aboard the Belgic in September 1885, she would have soon after came to meet young Thomas. The relationship between the Hannah and Spalding families continued for many years.
The wedding took place “according to the forms of the Presbyterian church” in the home of William and Ann Spalding, attended and witnessed by Albert Kitching and Maria Carr, who was later to marry William Spalding jnr. The ceremony was performed by Reverend James Cosh.
In addition to the Spaldings, family members who attended may have included Thomas’s sister Margaret and husband Charles Burns (with cousins William, Charles, Mary and baby Robert), and sister Jane, her husband Alexander, and their daughter Agnes. Probably also Jane’s uncle John MacDonald, his wife Martha and family were there as well.
At this time Thomas declared himself to be a saw frame worker.
Thomas and Jane were to have three children. William Alexander was born on 3rd December 1888. The address was recorded as the Brennan Estate, 15 Halloran Street, Leichardt. This was (and still is) a small workers cottage, not far from Rozelle Bay along Lilyfield Road. Doctor Burgoyne of Balmain, and Mrs Sonter (or perhaps more likely Souter, Thomas’s sister Jane), a nurse and neighbour also from Halloran Street, attended the birth. Thomas was aged 25, and gave his occupation as a sawyer.
Their second child, Agnes, was born on 7th September 1892. By now, Thomas and Jane had moved to 120 Foucart Street, Balmain. Foucart Street runs away from Rozelle Bay and up the hill toward Balmain. In attendance at the birth were Doctor Davidson and Mrs Spalding. This could have been either Mrs Ann Spalding, or her daughter-in-law, Maria. Thomas was by now 29, and gave his occupation as labourer.
Their last child, Catherine (Kate) was born on the 11th December 1894. This is the first occasion when Jane officially recorded her name as “Jeanie”. Doctor Kelly and Mrs Spalding attended the birth.
When baby Catherine was almost five months old, tragedy was to strike the little family. On the evening of Monday the 8th of April, Thomas decided to go down to the wharf at the bottom of Gordon Street, Rozelle, and catch some prawns. The Daily Telegraph reported that an eyewitness alerted Balmain police that she had seen “a man” slip from the rocks after the net become tangled around his leg. The water police recovered Thomas’s body at 11 am on the following morning.
A magisterial inquest was held by JC Moore JP on the 10th April at the Carrington Hotel, Balmain. The magistrate found the drowning to be accidental, stating that “the said Thomas Baird Hannah in the waters of Roselle Bay, Annandale in the District of Sydney in the colony at one said on the 8th day of April 1895 was accidentally drowned whilst prawnfishing”. No autopsy was held. The report concluded that there was “no intemperance”, and that the deceased possessed no cash or property. He was 32 years old.
Thomas’s death certificate was witnessed by William Spalding, his friend and cousin-in-law of 21 Christie Street, Balmain, and his wife Jane, of Foucart Street, Balmain.
Thomas was buried at the Field of Mars Cemetery, North Ryde in the Old Portion Presbyterian section in unmarked plot 105. The funeral costs and plot were probably donated by William Spalding (snr), as William was laid to rest in the plot alongside when he died in 1913. The relationship between these men was such that William possibly looked upon Thomas as another son. Certainly William Alexander Hannah was to consider William Spalding as an uncle in later years.
Bruce Hannah, January 2004
