History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/William Philip Bechervaise/Wikipedia
William Philip Béchervaise (b. 28 October 1831, d. 20 November 1907) was born in Hampshire and was amongst the tens of thousands who travelled to Victoria in the 1850s in search of gold, but then decided to remain. He was the first of that surname to arrive in Australia. He was was nearby to the Eureka Stockade and professed to having been "bunted" by a trooper. Appointed to the Victorian Posts and Telegraphs Department in 1856, he was soon promoted as Telegraph Master at Ballarat in 1858, later combining the role as Postmaster. He remained with the Department in Ballarat till retirement in 1892, excepting for two years when he was transferred to Melbourne to reorganise that office. One of Australia's earliest telephone and telephony experimenters in 1878. As a member of the Telegraph Electrical Society of Victoria from inception in 1874, he was a contemporary of Samuel Walker McGowan, Peter Robert Challen and Henry Sutton. Famously exposed, in parliamentary enquiry, the nepotism within Victorian Posts and Telegraphs in the 1880s.
Parents and siblings edit
The Bechervaise surname (spelling is Béchervaise in French) derives from the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands and continues there to this day. His father was John Béchervaise (b. 1790, d. 1867) was born in Jersey, but migrated early to Gosport, Hampshire, England married twice and raised his children there, to the extent that was possible for a sailor. His first wife was Sarah Price (b. 1793, d. 1846) and they had 8 children together, with William Philip Bechervaise being the seventh child and fifth son. Following Sarah's passing, he married Charlotte Frisby (b. 1811, d. 1891) and they had one son. His voyages included time in arctic waters, and as a result he was one of of a large group awarded the first British Arctic Medal of 1818–1855. He published an anonymous memoir Thirty-Six Years of a Seafaring life by An old Quartermaster in 1839 which was widely distributed and well received.[1] Some sources misspell his name Berchervaise. The children were as follows:
- Charlotte - b. 1813, Gosport, Hampshire; d. 1897, Wareham, Dorset, England
- John - b. 1814, Gosport, Hampshire
- Sarah - b.1815, Gosport, Hampshire
- Samuel - b.1821, Gosport, Hampshire;
- Henry - b.1825, Gosport, Hampshire; d. 16 Apr 1901
- Edward Price - b.1829, Gosport, Hampshire
- William Philip - b. 28 Oct 1831, Hampshire; d. 20 November 1907, South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria
- James - b. 20 May 1836, Alverstoke, Hampshire
- John Savage - b. 1847, Portsea, Hampshire; d. 15 Mar 1917
Wife and Children edit
Bechervaise married Lucy Ann née Burton at Victoria in 1858. Lucy was born 7 July 1842 at Hobart, Tasmania to William Henry Burton and Christiana née Burch.
Further reading edit
References edit
- ↑ Thirty-six Years of Seafaring Life. Portsea, Hampshire: Printed and published by W. Woodward; and sold by Longman & Co., London. 1839.