Family background
Edwin Berry was born on 5 February 1832 in Elton, a suburb of the town of Bury in Greater Manchester, England, one of nine children born to John Berry, a blockcutter, and Sarah née Raynor. Census records for the year 1851 indicate Berry, aged 19 and working as a labourer, was living with his mother and three of his siblings.
In December 1852 he arrived at Port Phillip, Victoria via Liverpool, England aboard the ship, Chaseley, reportedly ‘having been attracted by the opening of the goldfields’. On 28 April 1855 he married Eliza Anne née Collins at Balmain. The couple lived at ‘4 Elton Place’ on Pitt Street, Redfern; a terrace he named after his birthplace.
In April 1892 there was a gas explosion at the couple’s residence at 149 Pitt Street, Redfern. Mrs Berry was reportedly pouring water in a gas chandelier when the explosion occurred, severely burning Mrs Berry and blowing out a door and window. Edwin Berry had wrapped a rug around her to extinguish the flames and was also burnt in the process. She died as a result of her wounds at their residence two days later, aged 60.
On 1 October 1892 the widowed Berry married Mary Buckworth, at the time aged 34, at Bruce Street, Petersham. The couple had a son, Edwin, in 1893.
Berry died at his Redfern residence in on 2 March 1899, aged 67, and was buried in Waverley Cemetery. He left an estate and assets valued at £1,423.
Occupation & interests
According to the Australian Town and Country Journal, shortly after his arrival in Australia in 1852 and ‘after many reverses and hard struggles’, Edwin Berry was employed as an engine driver for the Railway Department of New South Wales ‘where he remained for fourteen years.’ In February 1858 he was declared insolvent with liabilities amounting to £75, five shillings and four pence and assets valued at seven pounds; however, no debt was proved and Berry was ‘allowed his wearing apparel and household furniture’.
He commenced a relatively successful business as a builder, as advertisements throughout the 1870s list Berry as a freeholder of Redfern with several properties for sale. In May 1878 he advertised two houses on Pitt Street, Redfern for sale, each constructed of brick and stone and containing six rooms and a bathroom. In November 1878 he advertised houses and a hotel on the corner of George and Redfern streets for sale, returning £218 per year.
In the early 1870s he purchased 350 shares in the Queen of Denmark Gold Mining Company and six in the Duke of Wellington Gold Mining Company, the latter of which he was also a director. Berry was granted a publican’s license for the Australian Eleven Hotel on Elizabeth Street, Redfern in 1890.
Community activity
Edwin Berry was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1887. He was president of the Redfern Free Trade Association, which was part of the Free Trade and Liberal Association of New South Wales.
Local government service
Edwin Berry first nominated as alderman for the Belmore Ward of Redfern Council in February 1878, however, received 105 votes to Joshua Jeremiah Farr’s 215 votes. He nominated again in 1879. Berry was elected an alderman for the Belmore Ward of Redfern Council in 1882 with 271 votes, following the resignation of Alderman J J Farr. He was an alderman on Redfern Council until 1899, served as Mayor in 1887 and 1899 and was the Returning Officer on a number of occasions.
References
‘Borough Council Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 April 1882, p.8, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13509037
‘Death of the Ex-Mayor of Redfern’, The Daily Telegraph, 4 March 1899, p.9, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236776711
‘Late Ex-Alderman Berry’, Evening News, 6 March 1899, p.4, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113699976
‘Municipal’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 4 June 1887, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71680413
‘Gas Explosion’, The Australian Star, 11 April 1892, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229585897
‘A Gas Explosion in Redfern’, The Daily Telegraph, 11 April 1892, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236059474