Family background
Henry Edward Vaughan was born on 13 November 1842 at Sydney, son of Henry Vaughan and Charlotte nee Chasmar. On 15 April 1862 at Sydney he married Mary Anne Brown who died on 8 September 1884. On 15 April 1885 he married Alice Selina Brownjohn at St Stephens Church Mittagong. There were 13 children from the marriages. He died at ‘Kilwinning’ Meredith Street Homebush on 5 January 1901, aged 58 years. and was buried at Rookwood with full masonic honours. Alice Vaughan died in 1927. His son Henry Neatby Vaughan was an alderman and mayor of Darlington Council.
Occupation & interests
Vaughan joined his father as land agents at 136 King Street Sydney in 1858 which became H E Vaughan & Sons, land and estate agents, King Street Sydney, still operating in King Street in 1885. He left an estate of 16,133 pounds sworn for probate purposes. He was director of the Equitable Building Society, a licensing magistrate for the Campbelltown district and president of Glebe and Katoomba Bowling Clubs. He was an alderman on Campbelltown Council 1892-94 and Katoomba Council 1899-1901.
Community activity
Vaughan was a prominent freemason and had a long and distinguished career in the order. He was initiated into freemasonry in Lodge Kilwinning No 378 at Newtown in 1868, and its worshipful master in 1871 and 1872. In 1875 he was elected Prov SGW of the Scottish Constitution and was Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons from 1875 to 1885. The Vaughan family lived at Llangollen, Leichhardt Street Glebe from 1880 to 1884. He was a member of a conference in 1888 to arrange union of all Masonic Lodges in NSW. Vaughan was a founding member of Glebe Masonic Lodge in 1881.
Local government service
The Royal Commission into Noxious and Offensive Trades was held in 1883, Vaughan’s first year on Council. Evidence was taken from 312 witnesses, with Glebe Island abattoir, a massive polluter of the air and harbour, featuring prominently. Industries producing unpleasant smells were believed to be important causes of ill-health. Boiling-down works, tanneries and other industries associated with processing animal hides and carcasses, and sometimes tobacco and chemical factories ,were classified as noxious trades.
References
Cramp, K R & Mackaness, G 1938, A history of the United Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of New South Wales, Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Royal Commission on Noxious and Offensive Trades, JLC of NSW, 1883, (2nd Session), Vol. 35
Sydney Morning Herald 15 February 1883 p. 11
Sydney Morning Herald 8 January 1901 p. 6;18 May 1901 p. 7
Australian Town and Country Journal 12 January 1901 p. 8