Row Family

The Row Family of Stamford Park

This short history of the Row family was prepared by Debra Truin, an HSC student at Scoresby High School in 1981. Her article is based primarily on information provided by Ms Bev Foster, great grand-daughter of Edward Row, and from her extensive research of documents held by the La Trobe library. Reference is also made to Helen Coulson’s account of the history of Rowville in “Story of the Dandenongs”. This article is reprinted in an abridged form from the Knox Historian with the permission of the Knox Historical Society.

Frederick Row Arrives in Melbourne

In 1858, 424 acres of land on the north-western corner of Stud and Wellington Roads were sold to a Frederick Row for one pound ten shillings an acre. One hundred and twenty years later, 6000 acres surrounding this property have taken on the name ‘Rowville’. This name was suggested by the local blacksmith, Nicholas T. Bergin, in 1903 as appropriate to the impact on the area of the Row family.

Frederick Row was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England in 1825 and came to Australia in 1846. Both he and his cousin Richard Goldsbrough (who came in 1847) had arrived in a Melbourne that was soon to boom with the wealth of the Victorian goldfields.

Frederick Row joined his cousin in the wool and hide business, Goldsbrough having been fairly experienced as the owner of a small wool-stapling business in England.

There were enormous amounts of money circulating in Melbourne and Victoria at this time and Goldsbrough managed to acquire a great deal of it. His business activities eventually branched out into many areas of the wool trade and industry, so that for a while he was Melbourne’s leading wool broker.

Frederick Row prospered for many years with his fellmongery in East Collingwood. On 6th April 1853, at 28 years of age, he married Elizabeth Selina Strickland (born 1/1/1834) at St Stephen’s Church in Richmond.

On 23rd August their first child was stillborn. Then in 1854 a healthy baby boy was born. He was named Frederick. The second son, Edward, was born on the 15/10/1856 and named after Frederick’s brother Edward. It was two years after this that Frederick Row purchased his property in Rowville.

On the 21/4/1860 their third son was born and given the name Richard Goldsbrough Row after Frederick’s cousin Richard Goldsbrough.

Elizabeth, Frederick and their three sons appear to have lived from at least 1863 and for many years after in Thompson Street, East Collingwood. This was barely a few minutes walk from Goldsbrough’s mansion “The Rest”.

Edward and Richard at Rowville

According to accounts passed down through the family, when Edward and Richard were in their early twenties, the Stamford Park property was given to them by their father. Edward built the “Stamford Park” homestead in 1882. Richard chose to live in his own private cottage on the property. The eldest son, Frederick Row junior, joined his father in the wool business.

Edward appears to have been the more industrious and enterprising of the two brothers at Rowville. He was determined to turn the property into a small “piece of England” and not only planted English shrubs and trees, but also imported the first hares and sparrows into the area. Michael Sutton, a pioneer settler in the Rowville area himself, brought the sparrows in a dray from Melbourne. The first lot drowned on the way in a downpour of rain but Edward, undeterred, ordered a second consignment.

The name Stamford Park was taken from the estate ‘Stamford Park’ in England, not far from the town of Stamford, and owned by a member of the Row family. Frederick Row senior had come from Bourne, less than ten kilometres from Stamford.

Richard Marries Nellie Stewart

Richard appears to have been more the ‘playboy’ type. At 24 years of age, on the 26/1/1884, he secretly married the famous Australian singer and dancer, Nellie Stewart, at Scots Church in Sydney. She left him a week and a half later on the 6th February and sailed to New Zealand with the ‘Comic Opera Company’. Of her marriage with Richard Goldsbrough Row, she wrote: “Just a mad act to repent of at leisure afterwards – no love – just pity for the big noble man who told me that without me he could not live and would not. So I married him.” (My Life Story – Nellie Stewart)

The beautiful Nellie Stewart had been popular amongst Melbourne’s fashionable world and also at Stamford Park where she was regarded by all there from “parlour-maid to groom” as “indeed a smart lady”. For a while before the marriage it appears that she visited Stamford Park on quite a few occasions and each time made a suitable theatrical entrance.

“It was Nellie Stewart’s custom to drive from Melbourne in a four-in-hand, flash harness and flash drag, and a man on horse-back was stationed at the entrance (then from Wellington Road) to open the gate. Once the actress was through, the man galloped ahead and opened four other gates which lay between the road and the house.” (Story of the Dandenongs – Helen Coulson)

Edward Marries Emmeline Harper

Edward married two years after his brother on the 29th June 1887, at Saints Church, St Kilda. The marriage was with his cousin Emmeline Marian Harper (born 12/10/1860). Emmeline’s mother Mary Ann Strickland was a sister of Edward’s mother Elizabeth.

Their first child was a healthy girl named Vera, born on the 30th March 1888, but the next child Eileen was retarded. A further six children were to follow, all stillborn, as a result, it appears, of a house cleaning accident that had occurred during the pregnancy with her second child.

Their father’s wealthy cousin Richard Goldsbrough had died in 1886 and left most of his fortune to Edward’s brother Richard Goldsbrough Row. (He was left an annuity of 750 pounds until he was thirty, then 1,500 pounds for the rest of his life.) Frederick senior and Elizabeth were left his Abbotsford residence “The Rest”. They were also given an annuity of 1,000 pounds.

After this time they made regular trips back to England every four to six years. During these visits they bought, among other things, much of the furniture required by Edward and Emmeline at Stamford Park, as well as fine English clothing for their children and grandchildren.

Life at Stamford Park

On the Stamford Park property Edward bred both racehorses (especially jumpers) and horses for export to India as remounts for the Indian Army. His horses were used in the Melbourne Hunt Club and Edward – and most likely all the Row men – were members of the Victoria Racing Club. Edward presented his horses at shows around the Colony and it was said that when others knew of a Row entry beforehand they would withdraw their own.

His daughter Vera also grew up to be an accomplished horsewoman and frequently took horses to Nicholas Bergin the local blacksmith. Bergin was one of the most colourful characters of the area and he lined the shelves of his shop with prize tickets won by the Stamford Park horses.

On one occasion gypsies attacked Vera as she was riding a horse to Bergin’s shop but the fiery horse managed to escape their clutches.

Edward’s life seems to have revolved around his horses. He even devised a heating system for winter, enabling hot water to run down to the stables so that the horses would be kept warm. In 1901, however, the stables caught fire and many of the most valuable of the horses were burnt to death. The Row family blamed gypsies for this catastrophe though this was never proved.

Celebrations at the house revolved around events of the Spring Racing Season. Christmas was celebrated particularly extravagantly. There were usually between twenty and thirty guests staying at Stamford Park during the holiday season. They included very wealthy pastoralists and high officials and even on occasions the Governor of Victoria.

A day at Stamford Park for their daughter Vera began by rising at 6am followed by a cold shower, after which she practised the piano for an hour. She then went horseriding till breakfast at 8.30am. Lessons with the governess followed for the rest of the day.

Death of Edward Row

Edward Row had begun his working life in Australia as a jackeroo in Queensland. His rough life on the land, however, resulted in him developing Bright’s Disease. His health began to deteriorate rapidly in 1909 and thus he decided to sell Stamford Park. He left Stamford Park in 1910 having sold it to Thomas O’Keefe and moved to Murrumbeena. A year later he died.

His mother Elizabeth Row had died in 1896 while Frederick Row senior lived to 92, dying in 1918.

Of Frederick Row junior’s life little is known, except that the most publicised event in his life was that he served as captain of the Victorian Australian Rules football team in 1899.

At the Kew Cemetery, there is a family crypt which bears the names of Frederick and Elizabeth Selina, Edward Mawbey and Emmeline Marian, Frederick Richard and Richard Goldsbrough Row.

Debra Truin

Republished in the December 1992 edition of the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News.

ROW The Row Family of Stamford Park
This short history of the Row family was prepared by Debra Truin, an HSC student at Scoresby High School in 1981. Her article is based primarily on information provided by Ms Bev Foster, great grand-daughter of Edward Row, and from her extensive research of documents held by the La Trobe library. Reference is also made to Helen Coulson’s account of the history of Rowville in “Story of the Dandenongs”. This article is reprinted in an abridged form from the Knox Historian with the permission of the Knox Historical Society.
Frederick Row Arrives in Melbourne
In 1858, 424 acres of land on the north-western corner of Stud and Wellington Roads were sold to a Frederick Row for one pound ten shillings an acre. One hundred and twenty years later, 6000 acres surrounding this property have taken on the name ‘Rowville’. This name was suggested by the local blacksmith, Nicholas T. Bergin, in 1903 as appropriate to the impact on the area of the Row family.
Frederick Row was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England in 1825 and came to Australia in 1846. Both he and his cousin Richard Goldsbrough (who came in 1847) had arrived in a Melbourne that was soon to boom with the wealth of the Victorian goldfields.
Frederick Row joined his cousin in the wool and hide business, Goldsbrough having been fairly experienced as the owner of a small wool-stapling business in England.
There were enormous amounts of money circulating in Melbourne and Victoria at this time and Goldsbrough managed to acquire a great deal of it. His business activities eventually branched out into many areas of the wool trade and industry, so that for a while he was Melbourne’s leading wool broker.
Frederick Row prospered for many years with his fellmongery in East Collingwood. On 6th April 1853, at 28 years of age, he married Elizabeth Selina Strickland (born 1/1/1834) at St Stephen’s Church in Richmond.
On 23rd August their first child was stillborn. Then in 1854 a healthy baby boy was born. He was named Frederick. The second son, Edward, was born on the 15/10/1856 and named after Frederick’s brother Edward. It was two years after this that Frederick Row purchased his property in Rowville.
On the 21/4/1860 their third son was born and given the name Richard Goldsbrough Row after Frederick’s cousin Richard Goldsbrough.
Elizabeth, Frederick and their three sons appear to have lived from at least 1863 and for many years after in Thompson Street, East Collingwood. This was barely a few minutes walk from Goldsbrough’s mansion “The Rest”.
Edward and Richard at Rowville
According to accounts passed down through the family, when Edward and Richard were in their early twenties, the Stamford Park property was given to them by their father. Edward built the “Stamford Park” homestead in 1882. Richard chose to live in his own private cottage on the property. The eldest son, Frederick Row junior, joined his father in the wool business.
Edward appears to have been the more industrious and enterprising of the two brothers at Rowville. He was determined to turn the property into a small “piece of England” and not only planted English shrubs and trees, but also imported the first hares and sparrows into the area. Michael Sutton, a pioneer settler in the Rowville area himself, brought the sparrows in a dray from Melbourne. The first lot drowned on the way in a downpour of rain but Edward, undeterred, ordered a second consignment.
The name Stamford Park was taken from the estate ‘Stamford Park’ in England, not far from the town of Stamford, and owned by a member of the Row family. Frederick Row senior had come from Bourne, less than ten kilometres from Stamford.
Richard Marries Nellie Stewart
Richard appears to have been more the ‘playboy’ type. At 24 years of age, on the 26/1/1884, he secretly married the famous Australian singer and dancer, Nellie Stewart, at Scots Church in Sydney. She left him a week and a half later on the 6th February and sailed to New Zealand with the ‘Comic Opera Company’. Of her marriage with Richard Goldsbrough Row, she wrote: “Just a mad act to repent of at leisure afterwards – no love – just pity for the big noble man who told me that without me he could not live and would not. So I married him.” (My Life Story – Nellie Stewart)
The beautiful Nellie Stewart had been popular amongst Melbourne’s fashionable world and also at Stamford Park where she was regarded by all there from “parlour-maid to groom” as “indeed a smart lady”. For a while before the marriage it appears that she visited Stamford Park on quite a few occasions and each time made a suitable theatrical entrance.
“It was Nellie Stewart’s custom to drive from Melbourne in a four-in-hand, flash harness and flash drag, and a man on horse-back was stationed at the entrance (then from Wellington Road) to open the gate. Once the actress was through, the man galloped ahead and opened four other gates which lay between the road and the house.” (Story of the Dandenongs – Helen Coulson)
Edward Marries Emmeline Harper
Edward married two years after his brother on the 29th June 1887, at Saints Church, St Kilda. The marriage was with his cousin Emmeline Marian Harper (born 12/10/1860). Emmeline’s mother Mary Ann Strickland was a sister of Edward’s mother Elizabeth.
Their first child was a healthy girl named Vera, born on the 30th March 1888, but the next child Eileen was retarded. A further six children were to follow, all stillborn, as a result, it appears, of a house cleaning accident that had occurred during the pregnancy with her second child.
Their father’s wealthy cousin Richard Goldsbrough had died in 1886 and left most of his fortune to Edward’s brother Richard Goldsbrough Row. (He was left an annuity of 750 pounds until he was thirty, then 1,500 pounds for the rest of his life.) Frederick senior and Elizabeth were left his Abbotsford residence “The Rest”. They were also given an annuity of 1,000 pounds.
After this time they made regular trips back to England every four to six years. During these visits they bought, among other things, much of the furniture required by Edward and Emmeline at Stamford Park, as well as fine English clothing for their children and grandchildren.
Life at Stamford Park
On the Stamford Park property Edward bred both racehorses (especially jumpers) and horses for export to India as remounts for the Indian Army. His horses were used in the Melbourne Hunt Club and Edward – and most likely all the Row men – were members of the Victoria Racing Club. Edward presented his horses at shows around the Colony and it was said that when others knew of a Row entry beforehand they would withdraw their own.
His daughter Vera also grew up to be an accomplished horsewoman and frequently took horses to Nicholas Bergin the local blacksmith. Bergin was one of the most colourful characters of the area and he lined the shelves of his shop with prize tickets won by the Stamford Park horses.
On one occasion gypsies attacked Vera as she was riding a horse to Bergin’s shop but the fiery horse managed to escape their clutches.
Edward’s life seems to have revolved around his horses. He even devised a heating system for winter, enabling hot water to run down to the stables so that the horses would be kept warm. In 1901, however, the stables caught fire and many of the most valuable of the horses were burnt to death. The Row family blamed gypsies for this catastrophe though this was never proved.
Celebrations at the house revolved around events of the Spring Racing Season. Christmas was celebrated particularly extravagantly. There were usually between twenty and thirty guests staying at Stamford Park during the holiday season. They included very wealthy pastoralists and high officials and even on occasions the Governor of Victoria.
A day at Stamford Park for their daughter Vera began by rising at 6am followed by a cold shower, after which she practised the piano for an hour. She then went horseriding till breakfast at 8.30am. Lessons with the governess followed for the rest of the day.
Death of Edward Row
Edward Row had begun his working life in Australia as a jackeroo in Queensland. His rough life on the land, however, resulted in him developing Bright’s Disease. His health began to deteriorate rapidly in 1909 and thus he decided to sell Stamford Park. He left Stamford Park in 1910 having sold it to Thomas O’Keefe and moved to Murrumbeena. A year later he died.
His mother Elizabeth Row had died in 1896 while Frederick Row senior lived to 92, dying in 1918.
Of Frederick Row junior’s life little is known, except that the most publicised event in his life was that he served as captain of the Victorian Australian Rules football team in 1899.
At the Kew Cemetery, there is a family crypt which bears the names of Frederick and Elizabeth Selina, Edward Mawbey and Emmeline Marian, Frederick Richard and Richard Goldsbrough Row.