The Family of Daniel KEITHJessica Amelia KEITH (1809-1852) - the youngest child of Daniel KEITH and Jane McPHERSONJessica Amelia KEITH was the youngest of the nine children of Daniel KEITH and Jane McPHERSON (see Daniel's story here). She was born in 1809 or 1810 at Hammersmith, probably at Kent House but as far as we can find she was not baptised in a church. She survived the Typhoid that killed her father and two siblings in early 1811. Jessica travelled to Canada with her mother and siblings after her fanther Daniel died in 1811 but returned with them to England, probably back to Bristol. Her mother died at St George, Bristol in 1824 when Jessica was only 15. On 25 April 1825 she and her sisters Susan and Frances accompanied their brother Edward Joseph and his new wife Anne on board the ship Mountaineer when it sailed from Plymouth for Sydney, Australia. The ship went by way of Cape Town, departing there on 5th September 1825. The Mountaineer then called into Hobart Town, where it arrived on 24 October, remained for nearly a month before departing for Sydney on 19th November. The shipping events were recorded in the local newspapers. On this voyage the family was accompanied by Mrs Saunders, their servant.
Life in SydneyWe know very little about Jessica's life in Sydney. She was aged about 15 when they arrived in 1829. It is unlikely she would have attended a school: more likely she would have assisted her aunt (Ann McPherson - her brother Edward Joseph's wife) in the house and engaged with Sydney society. She witnessed her older sister Susan marry John BEAL in Cape Town in 1825 and then Frances Jane Avice marry Robert MARTIN in Sydney in 1826. Neither of these marriages were to last long - Susan became an alcoholic and abandoned John and her daughter Sophia, whereas Frances eloped with John SHERIDAN in London. By 1833 Jessica had also witnessed the very public affair of her brother Edward fathering a child with his mistress Louisa HANKS (with another child expected later in the year) at the same time as having had three children with his wife Ann. We do not know the circumstances, but on Monday 15 April 1833 Jessica boarded the ship "Edward Lombe" and sailed direct to London. We can be certain that this was Jessica as she confirmed her arrival year whilst giving evidence to the House of Lords in 1847.
Life in LondonWe do not know what Jessica did in London after her arrival in 1833, nor where she lived, but by the time of the 1841 census for England she was living with her aunt Anne and Anne's three children all of whom had arrived back in London from Sydney in 1839. In 1841 they were living at Camden St, Islington. The 1841 census did not record the place of birth, only whether the person was born in the county. Note that Jessica was born in county (Middlesex) confirming she was Edward's sister. Note that the family no longer had their servant (Mrs Sanders) living with them, even though she had accompanied Anne back from Sydney. Mrs Sanders may have died (after all, she was the housekeeper for Anne's sister Jane in Bristol in 1823 (she was mentioned in a letter Jane wrote to her daughter Fanny in 1823) and probably worked for the family in Quebec much earlier. Anne was working as a school mistress but no occupation is given for Jessica.
Back to AustraliaWe know Jessica was still in London in 1847 when she testified at the House of Lords in the divorce case of her sister Frances, but she is not in the 1851 census for England. She had travelled back to Australia with her niece Ann Clara KEITH, arriving in Melbourne on 28 October 1850. The immigration record gives her place of birth as Sydney and that of Jessie as Hammersmith. Ann Clara was the daughter of Edward Joseph KEITH and Anne McPHERSON. She had been born in Sydney in 1829 and had accompanied her mother to London in 1839.
We do not know much about Jessica after she arrived in Melbourne. It appears she never married. She did not live long after arrival, dying at the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum on 10 December 1852. She was buried at St James, Melbourne on 11 December 1852, single, aged 42 years. The Melbourne Benevolent Asylum had been opened on 27 November 1851 on a site in North Melbourne. The objectives of the Victoria Benevolent Society were “to relieve the aged, infirm, disabled or destitute, of all creeds and nations, and to minister to them the comforts of religion". The building was expanded several times, catering for up to 700 patients. Eventually the asylum was moved to Cheltenham and the original buildings were demolished in 1911.
As a postscript, Melbourne did not treat Ann Clara KEITH any more kindly than Jessica. After arriving with Jessica in 1850, Clara found herself alone. In 1862 she was diagnosed of unsound mind and being a vagrant. The Courts sentenced her to 3 month's gaol which was served on the prison hulk Success, where she died on 22 June 1863. There was an inquest into her death, finding was death from influenza. Return to the Daniel Keith Family Index Page Last updated: 4 April 2026 |
