Since then many people have provided information on details concerning her appearance in official records both in Ireland and Australia, and these have been gratefully acknowledged as they were received. Now, thanks to Australian reader Margaret Barnes, who undertook exhaustive research into what she calls the "Adventures of Mary", a fuller, more definitive story is revealed. And for the first time we have a have a word picture of Mary who is described as "very small and thin, about 5 feet tall, had a very fair complexion and extremely red hair."
An e-mail from Margaret Barnes is reproduced exactly as received just two days before publication of this issue (April 2005) of the Canadian Vindicator e-zine:
The first mention I can find of Mary is in the Bench of Magistrates Cases for Wollombi, a rural area to the north of Sydney. On 28th July 1848 the Police Magistrate wrote to Francis Merewether, Immigration Agent, referring him to "the enclosed Affidavit relating to the conduct of the employers of Mary Allingham."
The Police Magistrate asked the Immigration Agent to remove Mary from the service of Mr. John Waugh Drysdale and cancel her apprenticed articles, and "place her in servitude where her morals and her religious instruction (she being a member of the Protestant Church of England) may be attended to; at the same time it may be necessary to mention that four out of seven of the parties who made the Affidavits are of the Roman Catholic Church".
Mary's apprenticeship to the Drysdales had been made on the recommendation of a Roman Catholic Clergyman of Maitland.
On 3rd September 1849 the Police Magistrate again wrote to the Immigration Agent acknowledging receipt of a Memorandum from the Orphan Immigration Committee. The Magistrate had the honour to solicit that in consequence of Mary having accompanied her employer Mr. Drysdale to the district of Brisbane Water that he may be excused from proceeding under the Apprenticing Act at his Bench. He begged leave to recommend that that the matter be communicated to the Gosford Bench (Brisbane Water district) that it may give the necessary instructions for the Police to protect "that unfortunate female from being led into scenes of immorality and vice at Mangrove Creek, the present place of residence of Mr. Drysdale."
On 27th September 1849 the Police Magistrate at Gosford wrote to the Immigration Agent referring to previous correspondence (as above). The Magistrate reported that "they had given their constable at Mangrove Creek express instructions to keep a strick (sic) surveillance over the parties and he had informed them that they have conducted themselves since their arrival in the district with every propriety. He begged to decline entering into any enquiries with the case initiated by the Police Magistrate at Wollombi."
An extract from the Diocese of Newcastle - Gosford to St. Albans - Register reveals that "Mary Allingham of this Parish, Spinster and John Elem of this Parish, Bachelor were married in this Parish (Church of England, Gosford) by banns with consent of Parish and guardians on 2nd August 1852 by Alfred Glennie in the presence of John and Harriett Ferguson of Mangrove Creek." Both John and Mary signed with their mark
I quote from a book written by a member of the Ellem family:
"John and Mary farmed growing corn and rearing cattle until in 1871 John decided to join his brothers on the long trek northward to the Clarence River. John and Mary raised a family of nine which eventually spread over many of the northern rivers
Mary, very small and thin, about 5 feet tall, had a very fair complexion and extremely red hair.
Mary died on 8th December 1917 and is buried in the old South Grafton cemetery."
In this book it states that Mary's family came from an area around the Warrewarren-Mangrove Creek junction where they were amongst the earliest settlers. I don't believe this to be true as I can find no trace of any Allingham family anywhere near that area.
Mary's Death Certificate states her parents as Robert Allingham (occupation unknown) and Fanny Marshall. Mary was said to have been born in Belfast, Ireland, and had been in the Colony 67 years.
Kind regards,
Margaret Barnes
If Mary was between 14 and 16 when she was taken from the Ballyshannon Workhouse, she would have been 81 or 83 years old at the time of her death in 1917. It is likely that some of her descendants still reside in Australia.
Starting with a mere mention of her name in those workhouse records, the story of Mary Allingham has intrigued readers throughout the world of cyber space. It is to be hoped that it will provide inspiration to some future poet, novelist, opera lyricist or film writer.
