John Jasper Joly Burke, like his brother Richard died when he was 23. The above rather poignant notice appeared in the Births, Death and Marriages column of the Bendigo Advertiser on the morning of  Friday 26th May 1893.

BURKE: At Bendigo, Victoria, John Jasper
Joly youngest and last surviving son of the late Rev.
William John Burke, Rector of Castlcjordan, Co Meath,
Ireland, in his 23rd year.

The advert placed by the undertaker, requested that his friends follow the funeral cortege to Bendigo Cemetery, it did not mention family.  When John Jasper died his nearest relative was his  sister Miriam who lived in New South Wales, which at the time was days away from Bendigo. His only other relative was Emily, who was at the other side of the world. Miriam may not have made the funeral, that was the sad reality of those that died in the colonies in those days.

It is likely that john Jasper died in an accident, the most probable being a mining mishap. However his name does not appear in the well kept records of Bendigo mining casualties. He may even have even succumbed to a tropical disease, that his constitution was not able to cope with.

John Jasper is laid to rest in Bendigo Cemetery the record book contains the following information:

Internment number 12656 is John Jasper Burke, 23 years of age, funeral 26 May 1893 in Monumental section L4 at Bendigo Cemetery. Religion Church of England , last address was Ironbark. (a small community approx 2 kms from the heart of Bendigo .) Have located the grave on the maps, no headstone at present.

Emily and Miriam Sophia were now the last of that branch of the Burke family. They never met in person again, Emily never visited Australia and Miriam never returned home.

Sources

With thanks

Bendigo Cemeteries Trust

Down Under

Like his older sister Miriam, John Jasper emigrated to Australia. John J Burke aged 21,    disembarked from the Oceania at Sydney Harbour 24th June 1890. His sister Miriam arrived two years before in 1888 and settled in  New South Wales. John Jasper may have joined her for some time but eventually left for Bendigo, formerly Sandhurst, in the state of Victoria.

Just about the time John Jasper arrived the town was in it’s second flush of prospering from the mining industry. Gold was struck in 1851, and later quartz was found. It was no longer a temporary structured town more substantial structures were being built. There was a variety of employment choices for young men.

John Jasper may not have intended to stay at Bendigo for long because, records show that he was boarding at the Fifeshire Hotel rather than at a more permanent address. The hotel was in Ironbark, a small community, about two Kilometres outside Bendigo town.

Sources

Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

http://www.bendigohistory.com/review.shtml

Clonmel, the Bank and the Masonic Order

With a good education as Richard had received, he went on to train as a bank clerk. He got a job in the Bank of Ireland’s Clonmel branch, where he worked for five years. Richard lived at an address at Queen St. in the town, and appeared to have settled in there quite well. He was popular, and seemed to have had a lot of friends, which would have made him quite like Emily in character. He was also active in the local church, this is probably due to his upbringing as a son of a clergyman.

Dublin Lodge

In 1887, at the age of 21 Richard McArthur Burke joined the Freemasons, of Lodge 44, Clonmel. It would have been a natural progression for him, again being a clergyman’s son and maybe it had to do with the influence of his father’s friend Samuel George Potter, most importantly his grandfather Richard McArthur was a Freemason. Records show that Richard McArthur was a member of the then Dublin Lodge 620 from about 1810 up into the 1820’s when he lived in Dublin.

The Minute Book of that branch from January 4th 1887 contains the following;

A ballot has been taken for Mr Richard McArthur Burke being of sound and clear of being, in attendance he was received and initiated by brother Charles Hernell. Lodge having been called to 2nd FC degree and Raised to the 3rd degree.
To read more about the Masonic Order: http://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/masonic-certificate.html

Richard, Received his full certificate three months later on March 3 rd March 1887.
He was a dedicated member attending most lodge meetings in the year he was a Free Mason. The last record of his attendance at Lodge 44, Clonmel was on 3rd April 1888. He took ill shortly afterwards. On the 26th June of that year Richard, Emily’s big brother died, he was 23 years old. Another tragedy in the young lives of Emily and her siblings.

Sources

Minute Book of Lodge 620 First Volunteers of Ireland

Minute Book of Lodge 620 1823 to 1857.

Minute Book of Lodge 44. 3rd July 1888. Reproduced by kind permission of Freemasons, Dublin.

Thanks to Rebecca Hayes, Archivist and the Freemason’s Dublin for their kind permission to publish photos.

Clonmel Chronical, Tipperary and Waterford advertiser. Saturday Evening, June 30 1888. Page 3

Richard McArthur Burke was born in Windsor Place, Edenderry on 6 May 1865, the first son of Rev William John Burke and his wife Emily. He was named after his maternal grandfather Richard McArthur, keeping the McArthur name alive for another generation. A cruel twist of fate, just like the man he was named after, Richard did not have a long life.

A ruin of an old school in Edenderry , that Emily’s brothers may have attended

As little can be told of the young Burke’s early childhood it can only be guessed at that they may have attended a local primary school before being sent off to complete their education at about ten. Richard and their youngest brother John Jasper would have being sent to an Irish Clergy Son’s School. There was a number of them around the country at the time, chances are they may have attended the one in Lucan, Dublin, as it took in sons of the clergy with limited means, such as their father.

Richard’s old school still stands and is better known as the Lucan Spa Inn. Read more about it’s colourful history:
http://www.lucanspahotel.ie/history.html