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Margaret Jane

Margaret Jane married Edward Eldridge-Smith on 20 August 1872 at the residence of the bride's parents. The Reverend Edward Griffith acted as marriage celebrant.Edward Griffith. ' Eldridge-Smith was the son of Richard Shepherd Smith (a sea captain) and Elizabeth (née Eldridge), and regularly used a hyphenated version of his parents' names. However Margaret is registered with the family name of 'Smith'. Her children showed only this name on their birth records.

Eldridge-Smith was born on his father's ship the 'SS Sea Horse' as it made its way up Sydney harbour June 6, 1849. The vessel was one of the first steam ships to arrive in Australia and was on its maiden voyage to this country. Being born at sea made him a member of the Parish of Stepney (London) and entitled him to a half penny per week for life. If his family had lodged a claim it would have realised 9 Pounds 7 Shillings and 11 Pence. 'Daily Mercury ' Saturday 29 February 1936 p8.

Eldridge-Smith held various posts with Her Majesty's Customs, including St Lawrence (between Rockhampton and Mackay) and Lucinda Point on the Herbert River near Ingham. From 1905-1925 the couple lived in Mackay where Edward was Secretary of the Mackay Harbour Board. They had a home on River Street where Margaret died. Eldridge-Smith died in Brisbane in 1936 and is interred at Mackay near Margaret. Edward was an uncle of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and held the post of Captain with the Moreton Regiment.

They had nine children, Louise Jane (b.1873), May Elizabeth (b.1876), Arthur Edward (b.1878), Amelia Carmen (b.1880), Percy Petrie (b.1882), Ernest Stanley (b.1884), Leslie Moreton (b.1886), Eileen Alice (b.1889), and Doris Marjorie (b.1892).

The daughters married accordingly; Louise Jane m. Edgar Horace Harley 10 April 1900,   May Elizabeth m. Thomas William Biggs 8 June 1903,   Amelia Carmen m. Sidney Stuart Beatty on 23 August 1905   Eileen Alice m. Donald Roy McLean 18 May 1914 and  Doris Marjorie m. Francis Henry Lindesay Black in 1916.

The sons married accordingly; Arthur Edward m. Alice Emelia Forssberg 4 December 1915,, Percy Petrie m. Marjorie Miler 10 December 1907, Ernest Stanley m. Maude Dorothy Deller 16 March 1914,  Leslie Moreton m. Marion Chalmers Blackburn 9 January 1922 see QLD Registry BD&M record Marriage C855 ref also made at