Family background
John Darby was born in Worcestershire in 1849. John Darby, carpenter arrived in NSW on the ‘Pericles’ on 10 November 1878 with his wife Caroline and three children. His wife and the children were born in Staffordshire, England. Another child, born in New York, USA had died on the voyage. Their religion was given as Baptist. In 1888, he was living in Knight Street. On 3 July 1888, Thomas Brown, builder transferred an allotments facing Amy Street at the corner of Knight Street to John Darby’s wife Caroline. They were living at that address in 1890. She sold the property on 17 June 1892. The family then appears to have left the area and possibly the colony.
Occupation & interests
John Darby was constructing the Masonic Hall for Progress Lodge No 42 at the corner of Bray Street and Cooks River Road, Macdonaldtown in October 1887. In August 1889, he called for tenders to supply cast iron columns and girders for the Ashfield Wesleyan Church.
Local government service
John Darby was an alderman on Erskineville Council in 1889.
References
State Archives of NSW, NRS 5316, Shipping List, Pericles, 1878, 4/4803
Sydney Morning Herald, 4 September 1888, p. 2
Sydney Morning Herald, 13 August 1889, p. 12
‘A New Masonic Hall’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 1887 p. 5, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28345802
Certificate of Title, Volume 873 folio 122; Volume 912 folio 191