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BLOXHAM, Arthur – emigrated 1840s

Arthur Bloxham (1825-1865) was born at Badsey Vicarage in 1825, the sixth of ten children of the Reverend Charles Bloxham and his wife, Mary Hope (née Ouchterlony).  He was baptized in St James’ Church, Badsey, on 5th April 1825.  He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey, which was also the alma mater of his brothers, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.  His mother died in 1836 when he was 11 years old.  At the time of the 1841 census, Arthur was living in Badsey with his widowed father and younger sisters.

Following in the wake of his brothers, Arthur emigrated to Australia in the 1840s.  Along with his brother, Edward, he was largely connected with the lands of New South Wales and Victoria and lived, in the 1840s, at Deniliquin, close to the border with Victoria.  On 24th February 1848, Arthur applied for a publican’s licence for The Wanderer Inn at Deniliquin (the North Deniliquin School is now on the site).  It had been built in 1845 and was the first house to be built in the future township.

By 1853, Arthur was living in Melbourne.  On 14th November 1853 he was admitted to the Freemason’s Lodge of Australasia in Melbourne.  A month later on 12th December 1853 he married Anna Maria Staniforth at Christ Church, Sydney, who had emigrated to Australia with her widowed mother.  After just seven months of marriage, Anna Maria died.  Arthur then married Jane McAuley in Victoria in 1856.  They had two daughters:  Adelaide (1857-1858) and Avon (1859-1940).

Arthur died on 22nd December 1865 in Bourke, New South Wales, aged 40.  A report in The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser said that the cause of death was “a general decline of all the physical powers”.