Henry Erskine Gallwey

GEDCOM Note

Biography

He became private secretary to Chief Justice O’Connor and Librarian of the Judges’ law library of Pietermaritzburg in December 1881. Heleft South Africa in June 1885 for Sydney. Later he served as a seaman out of Port Adelaide, last address 3 Lipson Street (ref 2), travelling on the Larnaca (2287 tons) from Port Pirie, South Australia to Sydney, arrival 17 Jan 1898 (ref 1). He was reported(Ref 6) to be recovering from a serious illness in Adelaide Hospital (and he was in Flinders ward there again on Mon 26th Aug 1912 (ref 3). He won second prize in a newspaper short story competition (Ref 7). He was a friend of the Hills family, George Hills having been a forecabin steward and later superintendent of the Prince Alfred Sailors' Home, for 25 years, resigning in 1903. George’s daughter Annie (d. unm 9 Aug 1943) was forbidden to marry a man because he had TB; family lore was that maybe Harry was that man (ref 4). His short story is about a doomed love affair and ends with the hero writing “Goodbye my Annie – my own dear Annie”! He is buried at Cheltenham Cemetery, Port Road, Cheltenham (Adelaide), SA5014, very near to Port Adelaide and he is commemorated on the Hills family headstone (ref 5). He was my father's uncle, hence family lore.

Sources

<references /> 1. ancestry.co.au
2. www.saghs.org.au
3. http://trove.nla.gov.au/
4. Letter from a descendant of the Hills family.
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100574501/harry-erskine-gallwey
6. The Advertiser, Adelaide, 20th Dec 1910.
7. Daily Herald (Adelaide, SA) Saturday 14 December 1912 Page 11