George Horace Beecroft
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 2 Apr 1851 - Wilberforce, NSW, Australia 1
Christening: 2 Apr 1851 - Church of England, Wilberforce, NSW, Australia 2
Death: 11 May 1877 - Gunnedah, NSW, Australia
Burial: in Gunnedah General Cemetery, Gunnedah, NSW, Australia 3
Cause of Death:
AFN :
Events
• Occupation, mail-driver
• Event, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 10 Feb 1874
THE FLOOD AT GUNNEDAH.• Event, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 8 Sep 1874
(from the Correspondent of the Tamworth Weekly News.)
...
The mailman who drives the coach from here to Narrabri, George Beecroft, had an exceedingly narrow escape from drowning. It appears that on his arrival at a place called Baan Baa Creek with the coach and mails, he took one of his leaders out and attempted to ford the creek for the purpose of testing its depth. The current, however, was so strong that it quickly carried him and the mare he was riding down the stream. The mare came foul of a tree throwing her rider in the surging torrent, from which, with considerable risk, he extricated himself. The difficulties connected with the conveyance of mails in this district during a wet season are really immense.
...
Gunnedah, Feb. 5, 1874.
The weather during the present winter season has been unprecedentedly cold and wet; never within the memory of that venerable personage, - "the oldest inhabitant" - have the frosts been so oppressive. This fact and the frequency of heavy rain has rendered travelling in these parts a regular caution. The mails were delayed more so during this winter than in any preceding one during the last seven years. They are now running with more punctuality, and it is to be hoped they will continue so, as the contractor, Nowland, and his coachmen, Dan Leary and Beacroft, have had an amount of hardship during this winter as would make many other men cave in. The are well deserving of some testimonial in reward for their perserverance and pluck. To those grumbers who sit by the fire these cold nights, bemoaning the non-arrival of the mails in proper time, little can be said. They were probably created for grumbing purposes and are fulfilling their destiny. Unhappy, bilious creatures, who are irritated from the most trivial causes, are not the persons to take much heed of.• Event, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 16 Dec 1875
Gunnedah, Sept. 4th, 1874.
NARRABRI.• Obituary, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 12 May 1877
(from the Narrabri Herald, Dec 9.)
A singular accident befel the Gunnedah coach on
Maitland-street, last Friday evening, and it hap- penedin this wise : The driver had delivered the mails and was on his return to the booking-office, when, arriving opposite the Commercial Hotel, he was hailed by Modrsynaki, the watchmaker, who
wanted a lift to the Greyhound Inn to enquire after a certain parcel which he expected from Gunnedah George Beecroft pulled up, and the coach was just coming to a stop, when the near hind wheel came off and the vehicle settled down on the axle arm On examination it turned out that the box had worked loose in the nave and come out, and the necessary repairs having been effected the coach left again at the usual hour on Saturday. For- tunately the driver, who bad his foot on the break, kept his seat and no one was hurt.
GUNNEDAH.• Event, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 19 May 1877
Friday.
George Becroft, who has been for many years a mail-driver on the Namol, died last night. The deceased was universally respected, and his unexpected death causes a gloom over the community.
Weather abowery.
...
Quite a gloom was cast over our small town on Friday morning last, on account of the death of Mr. George Beacroft, who expired at eleven p.m. on Thursday night, in Gunnedah. He as been driving the mail between Gunnedah and Narrabri for the past four or five years, and was universally liked and respected for his kind and obliging disposition.
Boggabri, May 14.
Parents
Father: Edward Beecroft 4
Mother: Mary Bushell 4
Sources
1. LDS - IGI Index (familysearch.org). .... Online Australian Birth-Marriage-Death Index (http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/familyHistory.htm).
2. LDS - IGI Index (familysearch.org).
3. Australian Cemeteries Index (http://austcemindex.com/).
4. marycotter001@gmail.com, Cotters, Ruths, Kealys, Clancys, Lyalls, etc (http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=marycotter&id=I95300757&ti=5544).