Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe MD (1774 – 28 May 1852) was a medical doctor whose family were early settlers of South Australia, remembered in several place names, namely Ayliffe's Crossing and Ayliffe Hill, which is skirted by Ayliffes Road in the southern Adelaide suburb of St Marys.
History Ayliffe was born into a wealthy and well-connected family whose details are somewhat obscure. His father died when he was four. Around the age of 12, Ayliffe, with a brother and two sisters, were placed in the guardianship of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (18 December 1751 – 11 November 1837), who was also executor of their father's will, and their surnames were changed to the earlier form of "Ilive". Thomas's eldest sister Elizabeth Ilive ( – 30 December 1822) was one of the earl's mistresses, and had several children by him, the eldest being George Wyndham (5 June 1787 – 18 March 1869), later to become Colonel Wyndham, then Lord Leconfield.
Thomas was sent to St John's College, Cambridge to study medicine. On 5 April 1796, before he had completed his course, Thomas, who had resumed the surname Ayliffe, married Hester Jinks. She was two years his senior, a Catholic and of unassuming parentage. The union was deemed unsuitable by the Earl, who withdrew Ayliffe from the university in disgrace and cut him out of his father's will. By the terms of the will this was within his rights until Thomas turned 28.
Ayliffe somehow completed his BA degree in 1800, and what formal qualifications he had to practise medicine are unclear, though he was styled "surgeon", and taught what he knew to his sons. After having seven children, the Earl and Duchess were married legally in 1801, then in May 1803 separated. The Earl died on 11 November 1837 and Col. George Wyndham (5 June 1787 – 18 March 1869), who inherited everything except the title, settled £40,000 on Ayliffe in the form of land in South Australia selected by Frederick Mitchell: some in the Adelaide foothills near Sturt Creek (sections 12, 13 and 14, Hundred of Adelaide), some near Clare, and a large area on Yorke Peninsula, as well as livestock and buildings. By the terms of the sale Ayliffe was obliged to settle on the property.
Thomas and Hester with their three sons and families emigrated to South Australia on the Pestonjee Bomanjee, arriving in October 1838. Governor Gawler, who came out on the same boat, became a family friend. They arrived in October 1838 and camped at Glenelg, near the site of the present Town Hall. Also on Pestonjee Bomanjee were Henry Sanders and his wife Sarah née Knott, parents of George Ayliffe's wife Elizabeth (1810–1844) and Dr. Henry Ayliffe's future wife Esther Sanders (c. 1815–18). Other Sanders family members on the ship had been engaged by the Ayliffes as servants or employees. Among their staff was head groom Henry Ayers, later Sir Henry. They had brought with them some livestock including brood mares and a stallion. They settled on their foothills property, dubbed "Wyndham Farm", their first residence being a prefabricated wooden structure, a "Manning's portable cottage" or similar, and a substantial house was completed soon after.
He lived at "Wyndham Farm" with his family,Alison Dolling The History of Marion on the Sturt pub. 1981 by Peacock Publications for City of Marion and opened a medical practice with his sons George and Henry as T.H., G., & H. Ayliffe, in the former residence of R. Craigie, Angas Street near Drummond's Scotch Secession Church. George died in 1844 and the practice continued as T.H. & H. Ayliffe.
Thomas died peacefully after a few hours' illness. He had been generally referred to as surgeon, but this appears to be the only instance of him being given the post-nominal "M.D." His wife Hester is recorded as Esther Ayliffe, wife of T V Ayliffe, died at Sturt on 10 June 1850 aged 79. Her name appears on the Pestonjee Bomanjee passenger list, as with their son Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe (c. 1812–1895).
The immigrants Two married daughters (Cecelia, who may have been born as early as 1791, and Frances) remained in England, and their second son (Thomas) Hamilton Ayliffe (c. 1812 – 28 July 1895), though booked on the Pestonjee Bomanjee, did not emigrate until years later; the reason is not clear. It is also not certain that Thomas Ayliffe's wife Hester was on board.
George Hamilton Ayliffe, in full perhaps George Edward Frederick Hamilton Ayliffe, (1810 – 13 October 1844) and his wife Elizabeth née Sanders (1809 – 26 October 1894) also emigrated on the Pestonjee Bomanjee in 1838, and settled in "Belle Vue" cottage, South Road, St Marys. They were particular friends of Sir Dominick Daly and Lady Daly. His son, also named George Hamilton Ayliffe (25 May 1840 – 2 November 1906), succeeded H. T. Whittell as Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages in January 1889.
He died after a painful and protracted illness. His wife Elizabeth never remarried and continued to live at "Belle Vue". She brought up their children with the financial support of her late husband's cousin, Lord Leconfield. Their children Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe (1834–1900), Ettie Bode (c. 1836–1920), Cecelia Hill (24 August 1838 – 6 November 1915), George Hamilton Ayliffe (1840–1906) and William H. Ayliffe (9 October 1844 – 1928) all had long and productive lives. Elizabeth died peacefully with all her faculties intact and in excellent health up to the last days.
Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe (1834 – 27 March 1900) was four years old when the family left for South Australia. At age 18 he joined the gold rush to Victoria and sent 6 oz. of gold to his mother. He was a contractor who did a lot of business for the Government, including the Bay Road, the South Road, the Morphett Street bridge and the Clarendon bridge and became quite wealthy. He developed on his property a valuable quarry, from which much quartzite and bluestone was obtained. He subsequently engaged in cattle speculation, and lost heavily, and was declared insolvent in 1861. In 1873 he went to New Zealand, where he invested in gold mining ventures, then eight years in the Northern Territory, then worked in Adelaide from 1881 or earlier as an auctioneer and commission agent, with offices in Currie Street. He returned to gold mining in Western Australia, and died in Kanowna.
Elizabeth Esther "Ettie" Ayliffe (c. 1836 – 3 August 1920) was born in Exeter, a daughter of Dr. George Ayliffe, who emigrated to South Australia when she was two years old. She was trained as a teacher, reportedly by T. A. Caterer, though this is most unlikely. Perhaps a confusion with Elizabeth Esther Cecelia Ayliffe (1857–1940) daughter of Dr. Ayliffe of Angaston, who taught at Daveyston for many years (see below).
Was she the Miss Ayliffe who ran a boarding school for ladies at her home "Saltram", in Glenelg in 1875 and 1876?
She married Joseph Adolphus Bode (c. 1819 – 10 June 1898) on 23 March 1877, lived at "Sunningdale Park" near Strathalbyn. She was his second wife; Martha Bode having died in 1865. J. A. Bode was eldest son of Gustavus Adolphus Bode of Mount Pleasant, Staffordshire, England, a prominent military man. J. A. Bode was a regular guest at Government House and a frequent writer to the Press on all manner of subjects.
She was the author of many poems printed in the daily Press, such as Want, Christmas Sonnet, The Story of Cree and Cri and published poetry collections:
Mrs J. A. Bode, The Islander "An island in the Australasian seas", 1878 poetry Mrs J. A. Bode, Lubra "Ours was the land, all ours, mine and my peoples: the tribes", 1885 poetry and several novels serialized in South Australian newspapers: Old Love Letters (1870) The Flaw in the Diamond (1885) A Tale of Colonial Life (1889)
Cecelia Hamilton Wyndham Ayliffe (24 August 1838 – 6 November 1915) was born on the Pestonjee Bomanjee. She married journalist and elocutionist Thomas Padmore "T. P." Hill ( – 28 November 1879) on 26 November 1859. She was author of Checkmated (1878), a roman à clef about the lovelife of J. E. Neild. In later life, while in transit from Venice to Sydney by the R.M.S. Mirzapore, Cecilia was one of the passengers detained at the Torrens Island Quarantine Station in January–February 1882 during an incident of smallpox. Cecilia made trips to New Zealand in 1887 and San Francisco in 1889, during which she falsely claimed that she was a correspondent for the London Morning Post. She subsequently left for England in search of a possible inheritance, but her court case failed due to forged documents; she died on 6 November 1915 in St John’s Wood, Middlesex.
Thomas Hamilton AyliffeSome references include "Paul" among his given names, and he may have been generally known as "Hamilton". (c. 1812 – 28 July 1895) was recorded as a passenger on the Pestonjee Bomanjee with his father and two brothers, but in fact came out later, perhaps via Hobart on 10 July 1843 or via Launceston, as an Ayliffe (no other name recorded) arrived in Adelaide on the Raven from that port in December 1847. One account had his vessel shipwrecked off New Zealand and he lived with Maoris for a year. He worked for a time as a ship's carpenter on a vessel working between Tasmania and New Zealand. made a visit to New Zealand, where he was made prisoner by the Maoris, but escaped at night and swam out to a trading boat which took him back to South Australia. He was a highly literate man and well-versed in history. He had some medical training, as had his brothers, but unlike them never went into practice. He married Jane Bell (c. 1828 – 9 August 1911) in 1845. He settled in the Sturt district, then moved to the Stockport – Hamley Bridge area, where he lived for 35 years. He served as clerk of the Local Court, on the Stockport District Council, and returning-officer for Wooroora and Light for several years. He was a pioneer of fruit-growing on the River Light. He died leaving a widow, six sons and three daughters.
Dr. Henry Ayliffe FRCS, LSA (1818 – 24 April 1890) studied medicine in London under his father, and emigrated to South Australia on the Pestonjee Bomanjee in 1838 with his father, brother George, nephew Thomas and nieces Elizabeth and Cecelia. He set up in practice and lived in Hindley Street to 1843 then Brown Street in the city. He returned to England for further medical training and higher qualifications at Guy's Hospital and St Bartholomew's Hospital, and returned to Adelaide in 1853, but not without incident, as the ship Anne Milne was wrecked off Portland, Victoria. He resumed practice in Grote Street, close to the Catholic chapel. He moved to Angaston, where he set up in practice, and in 1867 was appointed Government medical officer to the destitute poor.
Family The list below is not exhaustive, but is expected to include all members of the family likely to be encountered in histories of early European settlement. Bold entries denote members whose biographies appear in "The immigrants" above.
Dr. Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe (1774 – 28 May 1852) married Hester Jinks ( – ) on 5 April 1796. They had two daughters (who married and remained in England and are not listed here) and three sons:
Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe (c. 1812 – 28 July 1895) married Jane Bell (1 February 1828 – 9 August 1911) on 23 July 1845, farmed at Hamley Bridge. He was a brother of Dr. George Hamilton Ayliffe (1810–1844) and Dr. Henry Ayliffe (1818–1890). John Hamilton Ayliffe (14 April 1846 – 25 November 1919) married Catherine Mill (12 August 1850 – 24 May 1928) on 9 July 1872, lived in Coonatto (now Moockra), moved to Western Australia and farmed in the Dumbleyung district. Catherine and six children survived him.
Alfred Hamilton Ayliffe (14 March 1848 – 12 December 1931) married Esther Selina James ( – 1946) on 2 August 1884, lived in Balaklava
Alfred Sabastian Neil Ayliffe (20 January 1887 – 22 August 1962) married Margaret Matilda Wellner ( – 1952) in 1914