Augusta Maria Julia (Suffield) Forrest (abt. 1814 - 1856)

Born about 1814 in United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Richard E Monck Forrest — married 1839 in Melbourne, Port Phillip District, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 31 Jul 1856 at about age 42 in Geelong, Colony of Victoria

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Biography

Augusta (Suffield) Forrest is Notable.

Augusta Maria Julia (Suffield) Forrest is an Australian gateway ancestor for descendants of King Edward 3rd. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Gateway_Descendants_from_Edward_III

Augusta was born approx 1815 in Ireland, her father was Captain Henry D'arcy Suffield and her mother was Maria Augusta Cramer.

Captain Henry D'arcy Suffield is a descendant of the Woode, Eyre and Bedingfeld families. Sir Henry Bendingfeld 1st Baronet of Oxburgh Hall is Augusta's GGGG Grandfather. The Bedingfelds are descended from Aristocratic families such as the Jerninghams, the Brookes, the Howards, the Boleyns, the Nevilles, the Beauforts, the Arundels and the Plantagenets. King Edward 3rd is Augusta's 14x Great Grandfather.

Augusta's maternal grandfather was the famous German conductor and violin virtuoso Wilhelm Johann Cramer, a friend of Johann Christian Bach's, and her uncle was the famous concert pianist Johann Baptist Cramer, a colleague of Beethoven's.

Her aunty Jane Mary Lucretia Cramer was married to John Neville Norcott D'Esterre RN who was killed in a notorious Irish duel in 1815 against the well known Irish politician Daniel O'Connell, her aunty then married John Gratten Guinness of the famous Irish brewing company family.

Augusta sailed to Melbourne Australia in 1839 upon the ship Westminster and was married on her arrival to Richard Forrest who had also travelled on the same ship. The ships Captain, Mr Mollison was a witness to the wedding, which was registered at Saint James old Cathedral Melbourne on 18th December 1839.

Augusta and Richard Forrest had six children in Australia. John Henry D'arcy Forrest b 1841. Matilda Henrietta Forrest b 1843. Lydia Forrest b 1844. William Suffield Forrest and Richard Forrest twins b 1847. Arthur Forrest b 1852.

The family settled in Geelong in the early 1840s where her husband Richard was a wine merchant, newspaper proprietor and Government auctioneer. Richard Forrest was an inaugural member of the Geelong Town Council and also the first Worshipful Master of the Geelong Lodge of Unity, prudence of the English constitution 801, in 1849-50.

There is a Forrest Street in Geelong named after Richard Forrest and family.

Augusta's husband Richard died on the 16th June 1854 in poor circumstances due to a protracted illness, most likely tuberculosis. The Masonic Lodge paid for his funeral and the cemetery where he is buried no longer exists.

Unfortunately Augusta died in similar circumstances to her husband 13 months later in 1856.

Before her death Augusta had her children re-christened Catholic as there was a Catholic orphanage in Geelong.

After her death in 1856, Augusta's eldest son John Henry D'arcy Forrest 15 yo became an articled clerk to a local solicitor. Matilda and Lydia were fostered by friends of the family, and Richard, William and Arthur were put into a Catholic orphanage run by the Christian Brothers.

The location of Augusta's grave in Geelong remains unknown.

Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic) Saturday 2 August 1856 p 3

DIED.

On Thursdy night, 31st July, the widow of Mr Richard Forrest, leaving a family of six, the eldest only 15 years of age. Old residents will remember Mr. Forrest as at one time proprietor of the Corio Chronicle, and latterly government auctioneer in Geelong. ^[1]

Research Notes

• Shipping records, state that she was 24 years old when she arrived in Australia in 1839 so I estimated her birth year to be 1814/15.

No baptism record located at FamilySearch, FindMyPast, or Irish Genealogy. Ford-7139 05:10, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Marriage record does not include parents' names. Ford-7139 05:10, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Death not registered. Ford-7139 05:10, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

DNA

I have done an autosomal DNA test with ancestry.com which indicates I have 47cMs in common with a 4th cousin who is a GGG Grandchild of Dr William Henry Suffield, and that I also have 19cMs in common with a 4th cousin who is a GGG Grandchild of Henrietta Poppae Georgina Judith Jones Suffield.

Since I am a GGG Grandchild of Augusta Maria Julia Suffield, the obvious conclusion is that our Suffield family tree is correct, and that Augusta, William and Henrietta are siblings, and that myself and the descendants of Augusta's siblings share common ancestors, and those common ancestors are Augusta's parents Henry D'arcy Suffield and Maria Augusta Cramer.

Mark Richard Hutchinson.

Sources

1. ↑ 1856 'Family Notices', Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 - 1856), 2 August, p. 3. (DAILY), viewed 10 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93143950

• Mark Richard Hutchinson (GGG grandson).

• Victorian BDMs