James Wilkinson & Family

Robert Wilkinson

The Wilkinson family arrived in Franklyn Vale in 1845 and later that year Mr. Robert Wilkinson (senior) took up land not far from Nicholas Street in Ipswich.

Robert Wilkinson (junior) had a deep interest in the cotton industry, having worked in a cotton factory himself in England. Robert purchased land near the railway station where he built a house and raised his family. He worked with his father in Ipswich, Rosewood and Pine Mountain in the timber cutting industry. His occupations included: hotel keeper, store keeper and he ran a boarding house in Nicholas and Brisbane Streets. Robert died at "Emscliffe House" on 20 March in 1905.

Mary Wilkinson (nee Farrell)

Seventeen year old Mary Farrell of Scarriff, County Clare was one of the Irish Famine Orphans who immigrated to Australia aboard the "Arbuthnot" in February 1850. Her parents Edward and Eliza Farrell had both died. She arrived in Port Jackson and then came to Moreton Bay from Sydney in 1849 to work for Mr Connell in Ipswich for one year.

The North Australian & Ipswich General Advertiser on 25 March 1865 listed business in the Town, noting that Mary ran the Ipswich Boarding House, located opposite Clare Castle Hotel in Nicholas Street.

Mary died on 5 January 1914 at her residence "Earnscliffe" in Waghorn Street, Ipswich on Denmark Hill at the age of eighty-four.

Robert and Mary had fifteen children:

• William Henry Wilkinson: born 1852 , died 1884
• James Wilkinson (member for Moreton): born 1853, died 1915
• John Robert Wilkinson (builder and contractor, Brisbane): born 1856, died 1930
• Mary Ann Wilkinson: born 1858
• Elizabeth Wilkinson: born 1860
• Richard Wilkinson: (leading had fitter, railway workshops), born in 1862, died 1927
• Sarah Wilkinson: born 1864, died 1871
• Maria Wilkinson: born 1865
• George Wilkinson (builder and contractor, Ipswich), born in 1867
• Edward Charles Wilkinson (journalist): born 1868, died 1919
• Helena Wilkinson: born 1870, died 1870
• Louisa Wilkinson: born 1870, died 1870
• Ann Wilkinson: born 1871, died 1871

Mrs. D. Dann

Mrs. J. T. Young

Mrs. T. Ivett

James Wilkinson (1854-1915)

James Wilkinson  (30th November 1854 - 11th January 1915) was the son of Robert Wilkinson (sawyer) and Mary Farrell. James married 19 year old Louisa Ann Smith in Harrisville, Queensland on the 7th November 1874.  They had eight children.

James is said to have been the first Ipswich-born person to represent the town in the Queensland Assembly, 31 March 1894 to 21st March 1896. He later served in the House of Representatives in the seat of Moreton, from 30th March 1901 to 12th December 1906. James was a member of the ALP and also served as an Ipswich City Council Alderman in 1914. He was a president of the School of Arts and a member of the Technical College Committee.

James owned a printing works in Martin Street and lived in the house next door. The Queensland Railway Times, published by the Queensland Railway Union was printed there. After his death in 1915, his son James Farrell Wilkinson (17th March 1884 - 1917) ran the business, until his own death in 1917, at which time the business was wound up.

James died on 11 January 1915 in Martin Street Ipswich at the age of 60 years, 1 month and 11 days. Services were held at his home in Martin Street and at the Ipswich General Cemetery by the Rev. Peter Robertson on 12 January 1915. His funeral procession which left from his home was followed by a large number of Ipswich residents including friends who travelled some distance to attend.

Louisa Ann Wilkinson (nee Smith)

Children:

• Luke William Wilkinson: born 1875
• Elizabeth Ethel Wilkinson: born 1876
• Robert Beresford Wilkinson: born 1879
• Louisa Maud Wilkinson: born 1881
• James Farrell Wilkinson: born 1884, died 1917
• Florence Ruth Wilkinson: born 1886, died 1887
• Charles Wentworth Wilkinson: born 1888, died 1889
• George Herbert Haraldson Wilkinson: born 1889, died 1891

James Farrell Wilkinson

James Farrell Wilkinson married Agnes Barker on 3rd November 1909. They lived with his parents and their three sons (one of the sons was named James Thomas Wilkinson). After James Farrell Wilkinson's death from Bright's Disease, his mother, Louisa (nee Smith) went to live with her daughter Elizabeth Skellern and her family at Basin Pocket. Agnes and the three boys moved in with her parents at Russell Street, Silkstone.