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George Clarke Wilmot (1843-1923) started his photography business at 31 Malop Street, Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 1865-1886.
He photographed many Geelong residents, taking photographs to make them look afluent and in good health/clothes, to send home to families in England, some of whom may have doubted the choice to move arcross the world to the new land.
George was famous for his photo of the clipper Lightning burning in October 1869 which has been published all over the world.
Lightning was a clipper ship, one of the last really large clippers to be built in the United States. She was built by Donald McKay for James Baines of the Black Ball Line, Liverpool, for the Australia trade.
Her builder was the famous Donald McKay of Boston, a follower of John Willis Griffiths and his principles of ship design. Lightning is a prime example of a change in thinking that turned builders away from shaping ships' hulls like cod's heads and mackerel tails. She had 16 feet (4.9 m) of concavity in her bows and a beautiful fine run, yet she also had a moderate deadrise and a good full midsection with tumblehome, allowing her to be fast yet stable, with good sail-carrying ability.
When Lightning was built in 1854 in Boston, America's clipper boom was on the wane. The Australian gold rush was on, however, and McKay was building ships for James Baines of the Black Ball Line (house flag featured a black disk ("ball") on a red background) in Liverpool. Baines needed to transport passengers and cargo to Australia and had been impressed by the huge American ships. Lightning was powerfully and heavily constructed to handle the heavy seas and storms of the Australian run. Only the finest materials went into her construction. She cost ₤30,000 to build, and Baines put in another ₤2,000 in interior decoration, adding fine woods, marble, gilding and stained glass. It is said that her rooms rivaled those of the later Queen Mary. An on-ship newspaper called the Lightning Gazette was published for the passengers and crew.
After arriving in England, Lightning's hollow bow was ignorantly filled in by her captain Anthony Enright. McKay called the people who did it "the wood butchers of Liverpool". When the famous James "Bully" Forbes became her captain, he drove her mercilessly, often running with the lee rail underwater, and the fillings soon washed out. Lightning began to set records. For example, she crossed from New York to Liverpool in 13 days, 19½ hours, and she sailed 436 miles (702 km) in 24 hours, doing 18 to 18½ knots. In 1854–55, she made the passage from Melbourne to Liverpool in 65 days, completing a circumnavigation of the world in 5 months, 9 days, which included 20 days spent in port.
Lightning did a brief stint as a troop ship, taking British soldiers to India to fight the 1857 Indian Mutiny. At around 01:00 on 30 October 1869, Lightning caught fire at Geelong in Australia, when she was fully loaded and ready to sail with 4,300 bales of wool, 200 tons of copper, 35 casks of wine, and some tallow. Attempts to control the fire were unsuccessful, so at around noon the decision was taken to sink her. She was towed out to the shoals in Corio Bay where initial attempts to hole her below the waterline with cannon fire from the shore were unsuccessful. At about four in the afternoon some of the crew scuttled her by cutting holes on the waterline, and she sank in 27 feet (8.2 m) of water. The shoals became known as "Lightning Shoals".
George Clarke WILMOT Born Abt 1843 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Baptised Abt 1844 St James Church of England, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 1 Died Bef 12 Oct 1923 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 2 Buried 12 Oct 1923 Eastern Cemetery, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Father George WILMOT (1805- ) Mother Elizabeth CLARKE (1804-1883) Marriage 9 Dec 1874 Ashby, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3 Other Spouse Marie Louise IZOD (Abt 1851-1873) Abt 1869 - Victoria, Australia 4
Events Name Description: Date: Location: 1 Occupation 1865/1886 Geelong, Victoria, Australia Photographer at 31 Malop Street 2 Occupation Photographer at Fyans Street 1888/1890 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3 Occupation 1891/1923 Geelong, Victoria, Australia Photographer at 18 Malop Street 4 Residence 70 Fyans Street 12 Oct 1923 Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Wife Jessie Tomasina FARGIE AKA Janet Tomamina FARGIE, Janet Tomasina FARGIE Born Abt 1845 Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Baptised Died Bef 2 Sep 1925 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 5 Buried 2 Sep 1925 Eastern Cemetery, Geelong, Victoria, Australia Father John FARGIE (Abt 1804-Abt 1855) Mother Janet LUMGAIR (Bef 1804-Abt 1877) Other Spouse John CHAMBERLAIN (Abt 1836-Abt 1872) Abt 1865 - Victoria, Australia 6 Events Name Description: Date: Location: 1 Residence 70 Fyans Street 2 Sep 1925 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 2 Immigration 29 Jun 1849 Point Henry, Victoria, Australia Assisted immigrant on ship "Caroline Agnes" from London
Children 1 F Louise Josephine WILMOT Born Abt 1875 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 7 Baptised Died Abt 1954 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 8 Buried Spouse Herbert George RAYMENT ( - ) Abt 1940 - Victoria, Australia 9 Spouse John Louis POPE ( - ) Abt 1901 - Victoria, Australia 10
2 F Florence Elizabeth WILMOT Born Abt 1878 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 11 Baptised Died 17 Dec 1946 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 12 Buried 8 Feb 1947 Eastern Cemetery, Geelong, Victoria, Australia Spouse Never Married
3 M George Percival WILMOT Born Abt 1881 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 13 Baptised Died Abt 1950 Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia 14 Buried Spouse Helena Elizabeth Houston CONLY ( - ) Abt 1908 - Victoria, Australia 15
4 F Eva WILMOT Born Abt 1882 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 16 Baptised Died Bef 16 Dec 1882 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 17 (10 days old) Buried 16 Dec 1882 Eastern Cemetery, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
5 M Edgar Clarke WILMOT Born Abt 1884 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 18 Baptised Died Abt 1971 Canterbury, Victoria, Australia 19 Buried Spouse Ada HAUSER ( - ) Abt 1915 - Victoria, Australia 20
6 M Reginald WILMOT Born Abt 1886 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 21 Baptised Died 18 Jul 1968 Geelong, Victoria, Australia 22 Buried 22 Jul 1968 Barrabool Hills (Highton) Cemetery, Highton, Victoria Spouse Florence Agnes WOODWARD ( - ) Abt 1915 - Victoria, Australia 23
Produced by: Bellarine Historical Society Inc., PO Box 53, Drysdale Vic, Australia 3222
From "The Clipper Lightning in Geelong 1862-1869" by Jack Loney, between pp. 12 and 13 : Noted Geelong photographer G. Wilmot's famous photo of the clipper Lightning burning in 1869 which has been published all over the world.
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From "Investigator", Issue 54, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 1979, pp. 19, 24, from 'Geelong Photographers' by D. Davies : Another notable
Geelong photographer was Wilmot. He was born in Melbourne in a cottage at the north-east corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane, where the Cathedral Hotel was built some years later. He came to Geelong with his parents when he was only a young lad, and then became an apprentice to one of Geelong's photographers. When he was nineteen he went into business in partnership with a young man named Key. This partnership lasted until the 1880s; from then on Wilmot carried on his own business, and he was still taking photos in 1919-1920. Among Wilmot's first photos were three views of the landing of the Duke of Edinburgh at the Yarra Street pier in 1867. The best known of his early photos is the burning of the clipper ship 'lightning' on October 31, 1869, a fine action photo of an outstanding historical event. Unfortunately many of Wilmot's early negatives were destroyed some years ago but lickily six or eight ship photos taken in the late eithties and early nineties were in the possession of J. Lockwood, photographer of Ryrie Street. These ship negatives, together with several dozen interesting views around Geelong, taken by Wilmot in the 1890s and early 1900s, were obtained from the Lockwood studios in 1960, when the studio was closed down. A second batch of Wilmot's negatives, several hundreds, were obtained from Mr allan Morrison, of the Lux Leadlight Works, Ryrie Street, where they had been stored in the basement of the shop for 50 years, having been bought by Mr Morrison's father for the purpose of being used as small window panes and glass for picture frames.