James A Bartram (1826/27–1905) was a leading pioneer in the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n town of

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

Early life

Bartram was born in the village of

Aylmerton Aylmerton is a village in the county of Norfolk, England. It is in the area of North Norfolk and lies south of the North Sea, south-west of Cromer and east of Holt, Norfolk, Holt. The parish is bordered by the parishes of Beeston Regis and W ...

(in the parish of

Erpingham Erpingham ( ) is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Erpingham is located north of Aylsham and north of Norwich, along Scarrow Beck. The parish also includes the nearby village of Calthorpe. History Erpingham's na ...

) in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England. He was the son of William John Bartram of Aylmerton and Ann Jane Strange. His mother Ann Strange (sister of Richard Strange) was a descendant of the Dukes of Atholl on the wrong side of the blanket. His mother died when he was young and his father died when he was 15. Bartram was one of seven children. His grandmother Lady Bartram was an Italian Jew who his grandfather met in Italy when he was visiting his Bartram relatives in Civita Vecchia. Their cousin

Richard Bartram Richard Bartram (1749–1826) was the English Consul of Civita Vecchia in the early 19th century and involved in the saving of the Jacobite Royal Papers. Early life Bartram was born in Trimingham, Norfolk, in 1749 the only son of Captain Richard ...

was the English Consul there. The above information needs some real referencing - rambling blog posts without references does not a reference make.

In Australia

In 1843 Bartram at the age of 16 went with his relative Thomas Carter to Western Australia. He firstly worked for Carter at his Merrow Farm Inn - the half way house between Guildford near

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. He later became a leading farmer in Beverley as well as the Justice of the Peace and postman. He also assisted the presentation Catholic nuns in Beverley even though he wasn't a Catholic.Cork to Capricorn: A History of the Presentation Sisters in Western Australia, 1891–1991 by Ruth Marchant James He returned to visit England in 1858 and brought back farm equipment including the first wheat stripper in the Beverley district. Bartram also was the first miller in the district, and built the first police station in Beverley in 1861. Bartram may have brought his horse drawn mill from England. Bartram and

George Kersley, Sr. George Kersley Sr. (1817-1906) was a pioneer of Western Australia in the Beverley and Dumbleyung districts. Early life Kersley was born in Medstead, Hampshire in England on 19 January 1817 and was baptised on 17 February 1817 at St Andrew's Chu ...

firstly leased Avon Dale from Nicholas Carey in 1844 (August 15) when Bartram was only 17. Carey had first come to Perth in 1835 and he returned to visit England in 1841 where he may have met Bartram through Carter who was also visiting England at this time. Carey, Carter and Bartram all returned together on the ''Janet'' in 1843. One document about the Avon Dale research station states: Today this property is the

Avondale Agricultural Research Station Avondale Agricultural Research Station or Avondale Discovery Farm is one of thirteen research farms and Station (Australian agriculture), stations operated by Western Australia's Department of Agriculture and Food (Western Australia), Department ...

. Bartram farmed at Avon Dale and Emerald Hills. He had a secret Jewish wedding ceremony in 1847 to Jane Ann Williams (born 1830) the daughter of Thomas Williams of Kilmagig Wicklow,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and Eliza Leason (Pollard) of

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

, Palestine. They legally married in 1851 in a registry office. They had eight children - two sons and six daughters. His son Henry Bartram was a leading pioneer of the area around

Lake Dumbleyung Dumbleyung Lake, also widely known as Lake Dumbleyung, is a salt lake in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The lake has a length of and a width of ; it covers a total area of . Description The traditional owners of the area are ...

. His younger son John Robert Bartram remained in the Beverley district and farmed Emerald Hills and married his relative Julia Sophia Strange. Bartram went bankrupt at one stage. He died in Beverley in 1905 as a revered pioneer of the district.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartram, James People from Beverley, Western Australia Year of birth uncertain 1905 deaths