Charles HOOKINS (Tree 3Q)

Holy Trinity Church Exeter

Charles HOOKINS was one of 8 children born to John HOOKINS and his wife Ann (nee SOUTHEY). Charles was christened at Holy Trinity Exeter along with a brother, Robert, and a sister Frances. Robert was older than Charles by 2 years and Frances by 3 years. The church ceased to be a place of worship in the mid 1900s.
Charles' father was a schoolmaster which was the profession Charles himself would eventually take up but most of his career happened far from his native home.

Elm House, Brockley, Somerset

In the 1841 Census the family is recorded as HOSKINS. They were living in what appeared to be rather grand surroundings in Elm House, Brockley and 6 of the children were present. The two remaining sisters Fanny (Frances) and Lucy were pupils at a school in Yatton being recorded as living there as HOOKINGS.
Charles' father John was however to die in 1848 from heart disease at the age of 41.







By 1851 Charles' mother is living in Westbury on Trym as an Annuitant with two of her children and three of her sisters each of whom are living on their investments and they are able to employ a ladies' maid. But Charles is not with them as he has presumably emigrated to Australia in the interim period. On 29 October 1854 he marries Martha Ann MOORE at St Laurence C of E Church in Sydney. At about the same time he begins his Australian teaching career in the village of Berkeley near Wollongong before later moving on to Wollongong itself and subsequently to Albany.

Example of Emu Casket

By 1872 Charles is the headmaster at Albury Model Public School and later he moves on to become an Inspector of Schools , a post which he occupied for 10 years. In 1893 he was given a complimentary picnic by teachers and friends to mark his retirement. 120 people boarded "Dayspring" at Circular Bay in Sydney and enjoyed visits to various points of interest. Charles was presented with a gold watch suitably inscribed and Martha with a fully chased emu casket.

In 1894, 18 months after his retirement Charles died in Parramatta at his home which he had named "Brockley" after his childhood home. His obituary stated that he was one who had made thousands of friends young and old throughout the district and whose genial face would be missed very much by those who had the privilege of close acquaintanceship with him. It also indicated that he had to retire from his position as Inspector of Schools due to ill health in the form of an enlargement of the liver. His health was reasoned to have been seriously affected by considerable losses he had sustained financially especially concerning Abigail's Bank.