A Record of the BAGE Family History

Documents held by the Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand;-

1. Bage, Edward fl 1875
   Letters
   Feb 1875
   MS-Papers-0623
   Issuable ITEM

Two letters, Feb 1875 giving account of travels in South Island describing Invercargill, Dunedin, Nelson, Christchurch and journey overland to Greymouth

2. Bage, Edward (Mrs) fl 1889
   Diary
   16 Apr-31 Dec 1889
   Reference No. MS-0115
   Issuable ITEM 

Diary describes journey undertaken by Mrs Bage, her husband, Edward, and children, from Australia to England on board the `Ionic' and then the `Coptic'. Diary comments on time spent in Christchurch, visiting friends in England and tour on to Europe and the Middle East.

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Brief Summary of the Diary of Mrs Bage (Mary Charlotte Bage, nee Lange)

The Diary consists of 191 A4 pages recording their travels and mentions some of their relatives who they meet. It begins at;-

Tuesday April 16th 1889

This morning with the assistance of Willie and Charlie we finished cording our boxes..................Soon after twelve we went to lunch at Pademba, where we found Grandmama & Grandpapa waiting for us & Grandmama had one of her very fine chickens ready prepared for us . We had brought with us a bottle of Moselle which had come from Hereford and we spent a pleasant half hour together. The time for parting came all to soon & with sad hearts we drove away from our happy home and the two dear ones.....

Emma with Freda, Ethel & baby Ted were in the first wagonnette, & Edward and I in the second. We called at Achernar & took up Gertie, Charlie & Alice & drove them to the W.S.S. & Co steamer Te Anan where we were welcomed by Mr & Mrs Grimwade & Bessie & Norton. J. Skene, Mr Sirconi, Mrs Gordon, Captain Haydon, Arthur, Auntie Louisa, Mr J Macmeikan & several other friends. Edward was introduced to Mr Sutherland by Mrs Couchman who said that here was a fellow passenger for the "Ionic".........

Wednesday April 17th

The dear baby's birthday. He spent the day rather sadly as both he and his sisters & nurse were very sea-sick. Edward & I escaped altogether.......

Thursday April 18th

Arrived at Hobart at 9 a.m. There was a great crowd on the wharf to meet Mr John Dillon, M.P. the Irish agitator, who is making a tour of the colonies. We all went to Hadleys Hotel were we had good hot baths except Edward who had a number of letters to write, to Mr Parr, thanking him for the address from the employes of F.G. & Co. to Mr Mack, Norton Grimwade, his mother & father, & Mr Crellin. I wrote to Gertie.................

Thursday 29^th.  We left Blaenau Festiniog at 10 A.M. & went by train past Bala & the Llangollen valley (which Queen Victoria visited a few days ago) to Shrewsbury. We went first to the Raven Hotel in Castle Street & after lunch went to see the house (Murivance) in which Edward’s father was born. It belongs to Mr. John Watton & we saw his daughter, a cousin of Miss Adeline Watton, whom we met three years ago. We were allowed to go into the pretty old garden in front of the house. We afterwards took a carriage & drove to see St. Chad’s Church, The Old Abbey Church, Lord Hill’s Monument, & St Mary’s Cathedral, & to order a photograph of Murivance to be taken to send to Grandpapa as Miss Watton had allowed us to have the house photographed.

We left Shrewsbury at 12.30 & after passing through lovely pastoral country we arrived at Cardiff soon after 3 o’clock. We were met at the railway station by Mr. Charles Evans the brother of Edward’s Aunt & drove at once to Tredegar Road. We were heartily welcomed by Edward’s Aunt Mrs. William Bage & her three daughters Emily, Frances & Ada. During the afternoon Mrs. Bage’s sister Mrs. Payne called to see us.

Ed; I looked up the family in the 1881 census:-

1881 Census;- 1 Herbert Terrace, Penarth, Glamorgan, Wales, U.K.

Saturday 28^th September.  This morning Edward & I left Slough at nine o’clock intending to go to Hertford but by the time we reached the Liverpool St. station the headache which had been troubling me since early morning became so violent that I was obliged to go to the hotel at the station & go to bed. Edward went to the British Museum & spent several hours there. Among other books he was interested in a novel written by Robert Bage his great-grandfather.

Sunday 29^th September. We left early by train & about 10 A.M. arrived at Broxburn. We then had a drive of three miles to Haileybury College near where John Whyte (son of Edward’s Aunt at Naples) lives. He is one of the twenty five masters at the college. He & his wife welcomed us very kindly & we saw their two children Florence (4 ½ years) & Robert Mervyn (16 months old). In the afternoon we went to see the College where there are about 500 boys.

Saturday 5^thOctober.  Edward went into town to get our passports, etc. & I took Freda & Ethel with me after lunch & we met him at the Paddington Station. We went to Kensington Park to see Miss Lydia Newsom & her sister Mrs. Morrison, second cousins of Mrs. Bage’s.

Thursday 24^th October.  This morning when we looked out of our porthole we saw Vesuvius smoking in the distance. It looked just as we expected it to look as it is very familiar to us in pictures. Soon after breakfast Mr. Holmes came on board & we got our luggage together & the guide got it into the boat & we rowed off to the custom house where it was soon passed & we all got into a carriage & drove through the crowded streets & up the steep hill of Capodimonte where we had to pass another custom house & at last arrived at Villa Bage where we were verily heartily welcomed by Edward’s Aunt Lydia, Mrs. Whyte. We had lunch early & then walked round the pretty little garden & admired the lovely view & the fine orange plants & the enormous camellia bushes in the garden. We then went over the farm & saw the poor cows that never go out of their stables & the orchard with many kinds of fruit trees with vines climbing up every tree & trained across from one to the other, & with crops of grain growing between the trees.

Ed; I looked up the family in the 1881 census:-

1881 Census;- 21 Ledbury Road, Kensington, London, U.K.

To be continued

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From ;-  Coopers History of Malvern: Published  10 Oct.1935

From Chapter 13;-

The dispute as to the over lordship of the Court House ended in a draw, each party in turn, to have the right to use the building. The Board then, May, 1860, built a stable at the Court House for stabling the horses of the members of the Road Board and the Magistrates attending the bench. Among other uses the stable was put to was that of the local morgue. The late Dr. Edward Bage, told us that he had made a post mortem examination of a corpse, housed in the stable.

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Rupert Simms Correspondence

Catalogue Ref. 87/87