John Reuben Eldridge was a merchant who married Caroline Chambers on 29 Sep 1868
at St James Church, Calcutta, India. John is recorded as the son of Reuben Eldridge.
Caroline was the daughter of John and Margaret Chambers and she was born on 10 Jan 1850
and baptised at St Phillip's Church of England, Sydney on 10 Feb 1850.
John worked in India for the East India Railway and he and Caroline had five children
with two still living when Caroline and two sons travelled from Bombay to Sydney
on the Tasmania arriving on 25 Jan 1886. John came to Sydney later and was
an auctioneer at Marickville. He later twice travelled to India and returned and
finally returned to India in June 1891. In 1893 Caroline divorced John on the grounds
of desertion. John Reuben died at Nagpur, Central Provinces, India as detailed in his death
notice published on page 1 of the Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday 10 Jul 1897.
ELDRIDGE. - April 7, 1897, at Nagpur, Central Provinces,
India. J. R. Eldridge, son of Captain Eldridge, Cape
Cod Massachusetts, U.S.A.; for may years a prominent
official of the East Indian Railway Company, Bengal,
India, and for some time a resident of Sydney and
Marrickville, N.S.W.; leaving a wife and two sons.
A death notice was also placed in the Sydney Mail of 17 Jul 1897.
ELDRIDGE. - April 7, 1897, at Nagpur, Central Provinces,
India, J. R. Eldridge.
Caroline died in the Emergency Hospital, Moore Park, Paddington on 21 Jun 1919.
Her death registration shows her children as John C 45, living; 5 males deceased.
This conflicts with her divorce case where she stated in 1893 that there were 5
children of her marriage. Her funeral notice published in the Sydney Morning Herald of
23 Jul 1919 shows she was relic of the late John Eldridge of Sydney and India.
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Their surviving son, John Chambers Eldridge, married in Sydney on
23 Oct 1895 to Marie Mertel. He was shown as a clerk, aged 23 and born
Sydney however when he enlisted at age 43 in the Australian Infantry Forces
on 29 Nov 1916 he showed his birth place as Calcutta, Bengal, British India.
Marie was a saleswoman, aged 19 and born in Berlin, the daughter of
Frederick Mertel, an engineer, and Caroline Wagner. They had 6 known children.
John Chambers was later an Accountant in the NSW Government and an Australian
Labor Party Member of the House of Representatives for the division of Martin in
the Federal Parliment from 12 Oct 1929 to 19 Dec 1931. He published a
number of books including An Australian Greeting to William Shakespeare
and Education and Science in a Working Class Ideology. Marie died on
6 Aug 1953 and John Chambers the following year on 17 Apr 1954.
His death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 24 Apr 1954 shows him as the
father of Jessie, Elsie, Marie, Jack, Dorothy and Hazel and shows him aged 82.
His baptism record shows his birth date as 27 Oct 1873 suggesting he was aged 80.
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John Chambers Eldridge
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Updated 26 September 2014
Reuben Eldridge ( - )
m ( ) (Unknown) ( - )
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John Reuben Eldridge (1844-1897)
m 1868 Caroline Chambers (1850-1919)
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(male) Eldridge ( - )
John Chambers Eldridge (1873-1954)
m 1895 Marie Augusta Mertel (1876-1953)
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| Elizabeth C Eldridge (1896-1896)
| Elsie Victoria Eldridge (1898-1963)
| m 1924 James Buprestis Bray (1890-1979)
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| | Joan Bray (1926- )
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| Marie Mertel Eldridge (1900-1975)
| m 1925 Rex Allison Geary (1900-1958)
| | |
| | John Haslam Geary (1926-1926)
| | John Robert Geary (1927- )
| | Bruce Geary (1930-1930)
| | June Geary (1934- )
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| John Cecil Eldridge (1901-1985)
| Nellie/Dorothy May Eldridge (1903-1993)
| m 1926 Leslie Shakespeare Young (1899-1979)
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| | Robert Young (1943- )
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| Hazel Marian Eldridge (1905-1990)
| m 1929 James Noel MacLean (1900-1978)
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| Noeline Hazel MacLean (1930- )
| James Alan MacLean (1939- )
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(male) Eldridge ( - )
(male) Eldridge (1876- )
Charles Eldridge (1879-1879)
| Home
| Copyright © Robert G. Eldridge, Toronto, NSW, Australia.
| robert.eldridge@mytree.au