ENGLISH ANCESTRY

---

*A note about references: Hovering your cursor over a reference number will produce a tooltip (if your browser supports them) denoting the reference being used, clicking on the reference number will bring up a popup window, with further details on the source of reference: Each individual reference number refers to one source, though it may be the source for multiple pieces of information and therefore used multiple times within this site.
 

Frederick William LYONS		Maria Ireland/Hyland MORAN
	Married 31 Dec. 1884[21], Nelson St.,Balaclava, Victoria
b. 27 May 1861[21], Bellarine, Victoria d. 5 Nov. 1922[20], East Melbourne, Victoria Father: Edmund LYONS Mother: Elizabeth Washer ASHLEY		b. 7 Oct 1862[21], Melbourne, Victoria d.Aug 1939[20], Moonee Ponds, Victoria Father: John MORAN Mother: Rebecca MONTIETH

Notes:
Frederick grew up around Bellarine and Geelong. He then went to Melbourne and gained employment with the Victorian Railways , as a signalman, later becoming Head signalman at Flinders St Station
  Fred was involved in judging sheep at The Royal Melbourne Show , eventually becoming Head sheep judge there
  On the 31.12.1884 , while living in Windsor, Melbourne , Frederick married Maria Moran. This ceremony took place at 'Hilder Cottage', 45 Nelson St, Balaclava (Maria's parents home). The service was performed by a Wesleyan minister, John Harle. The witnesses were John Moran ( Maria's father ) and Annie Elizabeth Lyons ( Fred's sister )
  Initially Fred and Maria lived in Prahran , by Oct 1885 they lived at 44 Peel St., Windsor; 1888 they were living at 79 Vion St., Windsor; 1889, the family moved to 'Ashley Cottage' 13 Marriott St., St. Kilda and they stayed there until at least 1905. It is possible that for a short time before the birth of their daughter Emily in 1903 , either Maria or the whole family were living with Maria's parents at 'Hilder Cottage' , Maria certainly gave birth to Emily at that address
  Frederick's father died within a month of Emily's birth. Frederick may have been in Geelong attending his dying father during this time , which may explain why Maria was living with her parents . Frederick was the informant on his father's death certificate, he gave his address as 13 Marrett St. , St. Kilda (Feb 1903)
  Frederick and Maria had seven children all told . Their home at 46 Filson St., Ascot Vale must have been quite crowded in 1916 . As not only would Frederick W. J. and Alan J. R. have been too young to have left home but Frank T. , his six year old daughter, Lyla; Ina , her husband Robert and their two sons were also living there. It is also very possible that Frederick and Maria's two other daughters were still at home
  In a letter written to the army on the 28 April 1917 , both Maria and her daughter Ina informed the army that the next of kin of Private R. Butler and Private F.T. Lyons had moved address to 60 Buckley St. , Essendon .
  Maria was the second eldest child of Irish immigrants, John Moran & Rebecca Montieth. She was born at the back of Mahers Hotel, Lonsdale St, West Melbourne (where else would an Irishman have his eldest daughter?!).
Maria grew up in Emerald, Victoria with her 11 siblings, until the family moved to St. Kilda in the early 1880's.
 

1. FRANCIS THOMAS LYONS, b. 8 Oct. 1885_[20], Windsor, Prahran, Victoria - d. 23 Apr. 1957_[20], Park., Victoria - 1st m. 1 Feb. 1909_[20], Melbourne, Victoria to Hetty Florence LOUDEN (remarried to a LE GRIFFON, d. 1950)
   Children:
   • Lyla Jean LYONS, b. 1909_[20],Carlton, Victoria - d. 20 Jul 1976, Newcastle, Victoria - 1st m. 18 Dec 1937 to Ron BENTLEY (divorced) & 2nd m. 1952 to Bryant Norman CHAMBERLAIN (1922-2002)
     
   • Alan Francis Victor LYONS, b. 1911_[20], Essendon, Victoria - d. May 1911_[20], Essendon, Victoria
     
   
   And Francis Thomas LYONS 2nd m. 14 Jul. 1919, Glouster, Eng to Rosie Edith Fanny NEWELL (1898-1969)
   Children:
   • Winifred Mae Rose LYONS, b. 1 Dec. 1920_[20], Essendon, Victoria - d. 10 Apr 2000 - m. 31 Jul 1943, Victoria to Duncan Edmund Kent SMITH (1913-1979)
     
   • Violet LYONS, b. 22 Jul. 1923, Victoria - d. 1997, Brisbane, Qld - m. 4 Jul 1942 to Maurice Daniel LAWSON (1918-2003)
     
   • Frederick Montieth LYONS, b. 17 Jan 1925, Moreland, Victoria - d. 4 May 2013, Horsham, Victoria - m. 10 Nov 1951 to Marjory Lillian RACHAM (1927-2002)
     
   
   
2. GERTRUDE "Gertie" MAY LYONS b. 29 Mar. 1888_[20], Prahran, Victoria (rumoured to have been 'with' several men, including a carnival balloon seller) - d. 2 Jun 1964_[20], Malvern, Victoria - 1st m. 3 Jan 1910_[20], Vic to Francis Leslie RAISBECK (divorced 1915, Gert was accused of adultery, which she did not deny) and 2nd m. 26 Sep 1916 to James Cecil INGRAM (married James under the name Gladys Marjory Lyons)(abt 1881-1940)
   
   
3. INA ASHLEY LYONS, b. 7 Mar 1890, St Kilda, Vic - m. 18 Jun 1910, Ricmond, Vic to Robert Absolom BUTLER
   
   
4. EVA RUBY ELIZABETH LYONS, b. 12 Feb. 1897_[20], St. Kilda, Victoria - d. 3 Jul 1989, Perth, Western - m. 7 Aug 1920_[20], Essendon, Victoria to Leslie Frederick SANDWELL (1896-1956)
   
   Children:
   • Shirley Lesley SANDWELL, b. 1921_[20], Ivanhoe, Victoria - d. 1921_[20], Ivanhoe, Victoria
     
   • Alwin Frederick SANDWELL, b. 1922, Ivanhoe, Victoria - d. 1 Apr 1998, Mt Western, Perth, Western (married 3 times)
     
   
   
5. FREDERICK WILLIAM JOHN LYONS, b. 7 Sep. 1898_[20], St. Kilda, Victoria - d. 3 Feb 1964_[20], Heidelberg, Victoria - m. 21 Jul 1923_[20], Melbourne, Victoria to Margaret Elizabeth PRESTON (b. abt 1899 - d.?)
   
   Children:
   • Gwen Margaret LYONS, b. abt 1925 - d. 12 Jul 1978_[20], Melbourne, Victoria - m. 1943 to Henry John FRITH (1920-1992)
   
   
6. EMILY MONTIETH LYONS, b. 8 Jan 1903_[20], St. Kilda, Victoria - d. 26 Jan. 1908_[20], Carlton, Victoria
   
   
7. ALLAN JAMES RICHARD LYONS, b. 10 Feb. 1905_[20], St. Kilda, Victoria - d. 5 Apr 1987, Perth, Western - m. 18 Aug. 1935, Western to Daphne SMITH (d. 1976?)
    

Newspaper Articles!

• The Age:- 27th Nov 1915
  DIVORCE COURT.
  The November sittings of the Divorce Court were contlnued yesterday before Mr, Justice a'Beckett.
  RAISBECK V. RAISBECK
  Francis Leslie Raisbeck, 30, of Macaulay-road, Kensington, butcher, sought divorce from Ger-trude Raisbeck. 27, on the ground of misconduct with Arthur Murphy, who was joined as co-respondent. There are no children of the marriage.
  Mr. W. G. Manchester appeared for petitioner.
  Evidence was given that shortly after the out-break of war respondent, commenced to remain away from home at night time. Petitioner discovered letters and photographs of soldiers in his wife's wardrobe and he accused her of having been in the company of soldiers at the military camps. He Ieft the house and paid respondent an allowance of £2 weekly. In October last, it was stated. respondent. made a declaration that she had been living with Murphy. It was allegded respondent and co-respondent lived together at Geelong, and that Murphy was arrested there as a military de-serter.
  A decree nisi was granted, without costs.

 
• (Frank Thomas Lyons divorced in 1916, due to a scandal, involving a man seen leaving Hetty's room euphemistically 'doing up his necktie' *gasp*. Rumour has it, Frank blamed his sister Gertrude for leading his 1st wife astray. Gertrude and their estranged aunt, Alice Moran (wife of Arthur Edward Moran) and her daughter Nellie Moran, Frank's cousin, all testified at the divorce hearing on behalf of Hetty. Interestingly, Hetty calls Alice Moran, her aunt but she is also the wife of Frank's cousin?)
   
  The Truth:- 4th Mar 1916
  ACCUSED OF ADULTERY WITH TWO MEN
  Giddy Games With a Gripman.
  A NEW FORM OF "HUNT THE SLIPPER."
  Husband Helped Out in Halting Divorce Suit'
  Paramouring Pair Put Their Own Pot'On
  Judge Finds Adultery Proved.
  In the Practice Court on Monday, before Mr. Justice Hood, Frank Thomas Lyons, 28, of McConnell-street, Kensington, fitter, petitioned for divorce from Hettie Florence Lyons, 26, on the ground of adultery with Frederick Fitzgerald, of Camden-street, Balaclava, tramway gripman who was join-ed as co-respondent. Mr. W. T. C. Kelly appeared tor the peti-tiner. There was no appearance of re-spondent or co-respondent.
  The marriage took place on February 1, 1909 at Holt's matrimonial agency, and ac-cording to the evidence of petitioner, the matrimonial barque encountered fair wea-ther until about, the end of 1911. Then matters became unpleasant, and speedily grew more so. The wife began to neglect her household duties and her child . She would not prepare petitioner's meals and she developed a habit of going out at night, and remaining away from home, sometimes until the small hours of the morning. More-over, she dressed in a style which petitioner was convinced she could not support on his wages. He asked her how she was paying for the expensive apparel she wore, and she promptly replied that SHE HAD A BETTER MAN than he to keep her someone who could afford to buy her the fashionable things she wanted, and therefore he could clear out and take his ---- kid with him, a mandate which he at once complied with. He left her the furniture, and for a couple of months he allowed her 15s. a week. Then from information received." he taxed her with adultery with Fitzgerald, and she did not deny the accusation, but he believed the evidence he then had was insufficient to sup-port a divorce suit, and therefore refrained from bringing one at that time.
  On De-cember 6, 1915, petitioner saw respondent leave the rear entrance to Tilley's art depot in Chapel-street, Prahran, and followed her to the South Yarra railway station, where she met a man, whom she accompanied to the Yarra bank. Petitioner and a private inquiry agent followed, and discovered the couple laying behind some bushes. Petitioner inquired of the man, "Do you know that this is my wife?" and the man replied that he did not, though he said he had been going out with her for 12 months. He gave the name of Richard Carr, and his address as 140 Clarendon-street, South Melbourne. But nobody of that name lived at that ad-dress, or was known there. When petitioner espied respondent on the ground her cloth-ing was disarranged, and in the course of the conversation he had with her and her : companion, she said she was GLAD SHE HAD BEEN CAUGHT, as she could be married again as soon as petitioner obtained his divorce.
  Nellie Moran, a girl 14 years of age, said she had seen respondent and co-respondent in bed together at her mother's house in St Kilda. At the time witness and her sister were in another bed in the same room. Other evidence went to show that the resondent and co-respondent had been to- gether in the kitchen of the same house during the greater part of another night. and a private inquiry agent declared that he had seen respondent repeatedly in the company of soldiers, mounted policemen, tramway conductors and gripmen, but ap-parently she was suspicious that she was being watched, and always succeeded in dodging him.
  His Honor reserved his decision for fur-ther evidence of service of the papers in the suit.
  On Tuesday the respondent and co-respon-dent appeared before his Honor, and through Mr. W. G. Manchester applied for permis-sion to intervene and defend the suit. His Honor granted the application, and pro-ceded to take evidence in defence of the suit. Respondent first gave evidence and denied that she had ever been guilty of adultery with co-respondent or any other man. She explained that when the petitioner left her, and a little later, as he stated discontinued an allowance of 10s. per week which he had been making her, she took THE ADVICE OF A POLICEMAN as to what she could do to enforce main-tenance. The policeman advised her that she could not secure an order for more than 10s., and accordingly she went to work, first as a jam packer and afterwards as a dress-maker. With regard to the incident at Mrs. Moran's, when, as stated by Mrs. Moran's daughter, Nellie, she and co-re-spondent were in the child's bedroom at night, she admitted they were there to-gether for about an hour and a half, talk-ing. They sat on a double bed, Nellie and her sister occupying a single bed in the same room. There was no impropriety. They had gone there in the first place to look for a collar stud which co-respondent had lost and could not find. Referring to the Yarra bank episode, respondent said she had previously met her male companion a week or two before at Fern Tree Gully, and on the night in question had met him again in company with a girl friend. The latter took train from South Yarra to the city, and she (respondent) then walked down to the river bank with the man, and was seated chatting with him where her hus-band and the private detective appeared on the scene. There had been no impro-priety there either.
  His Honor: Why didn't you defend the suit at the proper time?
  Respondent; I didn't think it worth while. I wanted him to get a divorce, be-cause he had ill-treated me ever since our marriage. I had no money either to pay a solicitor, but friends of mine were in court yesterday, and they came and told me my husband had BLACKENED MY CHARACTER.
  His Honor:- He could not blacken it here more than it had been blackened already in his petition, and that was served on you.
  Respondent: i never read the papers. I tore them up. I was advised to do so by my aunt, Mrs. Moran
  So before you received the papers you expected these proceedings? -- Yes: my aunt advised me. She said I would be well rid of a bad man.
  Alice Moran, of Brunnings-street, Bala-clava, mother of the girl who had given evi-dence the previous day in support of pettitioner's case, was called in support of respondent's case, and declared that she had never seen co-respondent at her house while respondent lived there: or at any other time.
  Frederick Thomas Fitzgerald, the co-re-spondent said that on one occasion he visit-ed Mrs. Moran's house, during a period when she was an inmate of a hospital and there he saw the respondent and Nellie Moran and the latter's sister. He chatted in the kitchen for a little while. The children went to bed, and respondent left him in the kitchen and also entered the bedroom. While she was there co-respondent missed a collar stud and called to respondent for it. She answered him, and he WALKED INTO THE BEDROOM, and they sat on a double bed together for about an hour and a half. Then he went home. There was not then nor at any other time any misconduct between him and respondent.
  Mr. Hely(?) : Had you known her before that night?
  Co-respondent: I had met her once in Chapel-street.
  His Honor: Why didn't you defend this case?
  Co-respondent: I didn't think there was any need. I kept putting it off. You knew the woman's reputation. was at stake? ---(Helplessly) I was put off my work yesterday.
  Did you go to her and tell her what was said against you? -- I couldn't see her. I didn't know where she was living.,br> Gertie Raisbeck (Fred's sister), of 558 Chapel-street, South Yarra, gave respondent a good character for cleanliness and attention to her household duties. She had been in the habit of visiting respondent two or three times a year during the period respondent was living with her husband.
  Mr. Kelly: Are you accustomed to di-vorce courts?
  Witness (bridling): Indeed. I am not.
  Did your husband get a divorce from you on the ground of adultery?--(Reluctantly) Yes: in November last.
  Esther Bowd gave similar evidence as to respondent's attention to her household duties.
  Mr. Kelly: You have been before the Di-vorce court too?
  Witness (acridly): Yes. What about it?
  Your husband divorced you? Yes; for desertion. You wouldn't live with him? Certainly not. If I'd lived with him any longer he WOULD HAVE KILLED ME,.
  His Honor adjourned the hearing until the following day, directing that the child Nellie Moran, who had given evidence on Monday, should then be in attendance for further cross-examination.
  On Wednesday the child child was in atten-dence, and was cross-examined by Mr. Man-chester. She said she had told the peti-tioner that respondent and co-respondent were on the bed in her room on the oc-casion of which she spoke, which was two or three years ago. Mr. Manchester: After the court pro-ceedings on Monday were you stopped out-side and accused of telling lies?
  Witness- Yes: Miss Moran said I had told lies; but I had told the truth.
  Did you say in court that day that Mrs. Lyons and Fitzgerald were sitting on the bed talking: --- I said they were on the bed.
  Were they in bed under the clothes?-- No.
  How were they dressed? -- In their proper clothes.
  Did anybody shake his fist in your face the court proceedings on Monday?
  Yes: Mr. Lyons. He said, "Wait till I get you."
  His Honor: You don't seem to have pleased either side. You swore on Monday that Mrs. Lyons and Fitzgerald got into bed together. Was that a lie?--(No answer)
  How long were Mrs. Lyons and Fitz-gerald talking in your bedroom? --- About 15 minutes. .
  They have both said they were there for an hour and a half: They weren't there that long. They ought to know better than you?
  (After consideration) Yes: I fell asleep while they were talking.
  Were you telling lies on Monday when you said they got into bed?--- Yes: THAT WAS A LIE
  Then why did you say it? (After a pause)
  I made a mistake in saying they got into the bed instead of on to the bed.
  In delivering judgment, his Honor said the first question for consideration was whether desertion, by the husband conduced to the misconduct of this wife. Mere deser-tion on the part of husband or wife was not an excuse for adultery on the part of the other. though desertion might take place under such circumstances as would lead to the conclusion that adultery on the part of the other should be excused---the case, for instance, of a man leaving his wife in conditions of tremendous temptation. There might be cases like that. But in this case his Honor was not satisfied that there ever was desertion by the husband. The latter left his wife, and for four weeks he sup-plied her with money. Then he stopped supplies. She was contented. She took no steps to make him maintain her. Even if desertion by the husband had been proved it would not have excused her adultery. Petitioner's case certainly was a weak one. but her own account of her actions had des-troyed her defence. She was accused of adultery with two men, of whom the co-respondent was one. Such an accusation would make the average woman fight for her life. What did respondent do? She tore up the paper's without reading them, and she said she thought she was GETTING RID OF A BAD MAN. His Honor did not believe respondent's ac-count of the Fitzgerald affair at Mrs. Moran's house. He believed that the girl Nellie Moran, had told the truth in her evidence on Monday. Why she drew back he could not say. But it was beyond human belief that respondent and co-respondent went into that bedroom as they said to look for a stud, and took an hour and a half over it. The evidence in support of petitioner's case was weak, but backed up by the accounts given by the respondent and co-respondent, his Honor thought it established adultery by respondent and co-respondent. As to the incident on the river bank , his Honor thought that was even worse. When her husband and the private detective discovered her, respondent's dress was above her knees: she was in the com-pany of a man whom, admittedly, she had met only once before: her husband made a dreadful accusation, yet she never so much as protested her innocence. Instead, she declared she was glad she had been caught, as she would be married as soon as her husband could get a divorce.
  A decree nisi was granted to the husband, with costs against the co-respondent. Re-spondent was allowed £5 5s. towards her costs of defending the suit.
   

Return to main
This site proudly made by DarkFyre