Edward John Lack

1. Edward John Lack was born 25/04/1801 at Edward Street, Portland Place, London and baptised 21/05/1801 in Marylebone, son of John Lack (1739-1824) and Frances Moss Parry (1739-1828). He married Lucinda Frances Nedham, 26/07/1828 at St Mary Lambeth, Surrey. Lucinda was the daughter of Rev. John Nedham and niece of Major-General William Nedham (q.v.) of Mount Olive, St Thomas-in-the-East, Jamaica.

2. Edward became a clerk at the Board of Trade in 1816, working his way up to Private Secretary to various Vice-presidents and Presidents of the Board of Trade from about 1830 to 1841 and Deputy Controller of Corn Returns 1842-1843. He went bankrupt in 1843 partly due to repaying his father's debts and partly of his own doing.

3. Edward J. Lack was living at 2 Bridge Road, Battersea, in the census of 1851, age 49, late Clerk to the Board of Trade, with his wife Lucinda F. Lack, age 48, and their children Frances M. (21), Marncis J. (14), Lucinda E. (13), Robert A. (12) and Charles (6).

4. Mr and Mrs Lack and five of their children emigrated to Australia in 1854, arriving at Sydney 18/03/1854 on board the Templar from London. Edward died 21/03/1875 and was buried in the cemetery of Windermere St Mattias Anglican Church in East Tamar, Tasmania, age 71. Lucinda was buried there in November 1886 age 84.

An email from Joan Wickham outlines the fortunes of the family in Australia:

"The family settled firstly in Goulburn, New South Wales, where the youngest daughter, Lucinda Ellen Lack, married the local apothecary, Joseph Nehemiah Webster, on 26th February 1856. These two are my great grandparents.

"The rest of the children, all sons, (Frederick William Lack, Robert Alfred Lack and Charles Arthur Lack), had stayed with the parents in Goulburn and later travelled with them in the early 1860s to settle secondly a long way north on a property called ‘Blenheim’ (later ‘Tiverton’) which was south west of Bowen in outback Queensland. This property was operated by two other sons Edward Nelson Lack and Francis John Lack who had emigrated about 1849 when they were very very young – only 16 and 14 years old respectively. How they managed to learn to operate, and then for Edward Nelson to purchase, a property on the wild Australian frontier in those days is anyone’s guess. They ran sheep for a while but this was not successful – it is cattle country to this day. The parents and the five brothers lived and worked on this property for some years but eventually left when things got too hard.

"The two brothers who had emigrated early to Queensland relocated to Sydney. Edward John Lack and his wife Lucinda Frances Nedham Lack together with Robert Alfred Lack and Charles Arthur Lack relocated to Tasmania where farms where purchased at Bridgenorth in the Tamar Valley near Launceston. Descendants of these two sons live there still. Edward John Lack and Lucinda Frances Nedham Lack are buried nearby in a beautiful little church yard at St. Matthias’, Windemere.

"The families of the ten children of Edward John Lack & Lucinda Frances Nedham Lack are as follows:

"Frances Mary Lack b. 6th August 1829 of Kennington married Charles F.D. Parkinson in Ipswich, Moreton Bay (Brisbane) on 25th March 1856, Reg.1460/1856 in the New South Wales BDM (as there was no other Australian State at this time) and again Reg.1859/C62 in the Queensland BDM as Queensland separated from NSW in 1859 and they wished to have all their people registered with the new State – they are still very parochial in QLD. Frances Mary and Charles had 4 children.

"Edward Nedham Lack b. 24th September 1830 of Lambeth, died 1831 Surrey, England.

"Sir Henry Reader Lack b. 7th February 1832 of Kennington married Lady Georgiana Matilda Marston in 1864 and stayed permanently in England and had children.

"Edward Nelson Lack b. 9th July 1833 of Wandsworth married Emily (sister of Jessie below) Hansard 25th February 1868 St. Paul’s Redfern, NSW Reg.216/1868 NSWBDM worked on his Queensland property for many years and retired to Sydney. Edward Nelson and Emily had 5 children.

"Frederick William Lack b. 8th May 1835 of Brixton did not marry, went shepherding and died in the outback of NSW presumed killed by bushrangers or aborigines. On the Lack family website Frederick William’s death is stated as 1835 – this is not correct. He did emigrate to Australia with the family and there is a letter in family archives from him to his mother stating roughly where he was and what he was doing – and then no more contact! Frontier life for lone travellers and shepherds was extremely dangerous in this era.

"Francis John Lack b. 3th July 1836, Tulse Hill, Surrey married Jessie Hansard (sister of Emily above) 30TH October 1878 Trinity Church, Bowen, QLD Reg.1878/C25 QLDBDM, worked in Queensland for many years and eventually retired to Sydney. Francis John and Jessie had 7 children.

"Lucinda Ellen Lack b. 23rd October 1837 of Kennington married the apothecary Joseph Nehemiah Webster 26th February 1856 in Goulburn, NSW Reg.V1856485 82/1856 NSWBDM. Lucinda Ellen and Joseph Nehemiah raised 10 children one of whom was my grandmother.

"Robert Alfred Lack b. 5th February 1839 Kennington married Fannie Crawford 29th January 1885 St. Michael’s Church, West Tamar, Tasmania; they had no children.

"Richard Parry Lack b. 30th November 1842 Barnes, Surrey; died 24th April 1850 Battersea, London, England.

"Charles Arthur Lack b. 26th May 1844 Putney, relocated from Queensland with his parents in 1870 to Tasmania and married Martha Margaret Joyce 29th January 1879 ‘Springfield’, Bridgenorth, Tasmania. Charles Arthur and Martha Margaret had 10 children.

"From all the children of these families there are many descendants scattered throughout the States on the eastern seaboard of Australia and even a few in New Zealand."

1. http://lackfamily.net/genealogy/names/whole%20family/f883.html#f41 [accessed 27/03/2013]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

2. http://lackfamily.net/genealogy/names/whole%20family/f883.html#f41 [accessed 27/03/2013]; London Gazette, Issue 20237, 27/06/1843, p. 2183, "Edward John Lack, of No. 8-Castlenau-villas, in the parish of Barnes, in the county of Surrey, up to the 26th of April last Clerk in the Corn Department of the Board of Trade, Whitehall, and since then unemployed, having been filed in the Court of Bankruptcy..."

3. 1851 census online.

4. Ancestry.com, New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922 [database online]; Ancestry.com, Australia Cemetery Index, 1808-2007 [database online].

Emails from Joan Wickham, 03 and 04/04/2013.

We would like to thank Joan Wickham for her assistance in compiling this entry.