Willam STANILAND and Annie SNAPE

William STANILAND (1861-1917) and Ann (Annie) SNAPE (1861-1940).

They arrived in Australia separately – Annie arrived with her sister Lucy in Sydney on the ‘Illawarra’ in 1883. Annie and Lucy were born and grew up in Burslem in the ‘potteries’ (so called for all the pottery works in that district of Staffordshire).

Transcript of immigration records:
List of Immigrants per Ship "Illawarra" arrived on the 29th Day of July 1883
Snape, Ann. Female, 23. Calling: Domestic servant. Native place: Stafford. Religion: C of Eng. Read or write: Both.
Snape, Lucy. Female, 15. Calling: Domestic servant. Native place: Stafford. Religion: C of Eng. Read or write: Both.
Parents names, and if alive their residence: John and Mary, Stafford
Relatives in the colony: None

Two stories exist regarding their arrival – one was that the two girls following two boys, and the second was that they came to Australia on the doctors recommendations as one of the two girls was prone to fits and it was felt that the antipodean air would do her good. As the story goes, when the boat entered Sydney Harbour, the girl immediately dropped and had a fit. While that can;t be confirmed – Lucy Snape did marry William Sidney SIMMONDS in Sydney a year after arriving (1884) - William had been lodging at her parents home in Burslem in 1881, so at least the romantic half of the story can be verified!

Annie married William STANILAND a year later. William had been born in Whaplode (rural Lincolnshire) in 1861, and lived at his parents farm till sailing to Australia around 1883. I’ve not found his arrival records, but his death certificate indicates this period. They were married on 2nd March 1885 Sydney at St Bartholomew’s, Pyrmont, Sydney. William gave his occupation a gardener, living in Forest Lodge (near Glebe) and Annie as a domestic servant living in Glebe. Bill and Lucy Simmonds (Annie’s sister and brother-in-law were witnesses.

The couple lived in Glebe where they had three children, Albert Staniland (1885-1939), William James (1986-1962) and Ethel Frances (1891-1976), and later in life they retired to Croydon where their son William James was living. William died in 1917 aged 57 at Western Suburbs Hospital of what I would term kidney failure. His occupation was given as ‘Shop Assistant, Clothing’ though I’ve not determined where he was employed. Annie survived her husband by another 23 years, before dying in Highbury Private Hospital, Burwood. My grandmother Jean HALL nee STANILAND describes her in her short memoirs as quite a difficult woman to live with, and that she died of a heart attack. They are buried together in the Methodist Cemetery at Rookwood.