Person:Edward Mumford (4)

Link to profile on Wikitree Edward Mumford

In the 19th century, the Mumfords of this family were based in Hertford and neighbouring Bengeo. For several generations some of the men were in the building trade as bricklayers and brickmakers. Two such bricklayers, Edward MUMFORD junior (1825-1898) with wife Grace PEACOCK (1834-1910) and his brother William MUMFORD (c1835-1890s) with wife Frances SKEGGS (c1835-1914) emigrated to NSW in 1855-56 and 1858-59 respectively, settling first in the Camden-Picton area, and then from early 1860 in Wagga Wagga.

The Journal off the Wagga Wagga and District Historical society has a page on Edward which says;

“Another notable specialist was Edward Mumford. Born at St. Albans, Hertfordshire in England, Edward had emigrated with his wife, Grace (née Peacock) at the age of thirty-one, arriving in Sydney on the "Morayshire" in January 1856. He built the Camden Court House before moving to Wagga at the end of the year. He and his brother, a bricklayer, were responsible for many of the principal buildings of the late 1850s including the impressive Australian Family Hotel. Its proprietor, Thomas Byrnes, advertised in December 1857 that the hotel contained twenty-two rooms and a large ball or concert room and had been fitted up in the best of style. He claimed the stabling was of the first order, there being a private parlour upstairs, with bedrooms attached and kept especially for that purpose.

“The Mumfords also built the flour mill for Robert Nixon and the Anglican Church for £6 per rod for brickwork and 10/- per perch for stonework, as well as many nice brick cottages. Edward also built Whitehand's Royal Hotel; the Pastoral Hotel; the country residence for William Macleay MLA near his vineyard at Lake Albert; and the dining room at the hospital in 1880. He owned the brickyards run by John Newman in Docker Street in the 1870s.

“According to J.B. Edney, Edward Mumford was considered a real good fellow... the real stamp of a true Englishman in all social gatherings. Edney said he always had a smile on his face and over a glass of beer could relate some amusing yarns. An outstanding citizen, he was chosen to read an address of welcome on behalf of the workmen of Wagga to the Governor, Lord Belmore, when he visited in 1868. When Wagga was incorporated in 1870 he stood for election as one of the first Aldermen. He entered the contest in real earnest, addressed the electors from balconies for many nights before polling day, and won the highest number of votes for the East Ward. He remained an Alderman until 1876.

“He purchased Lot 3 Section 51 in Baylis Street, Newtown, when it was only sparsely settled, on 15 February 1860; and built a brick home, one of the first in Wagga, for himself and his family. He lived at this home which he named 'Tillington' until his death on 3 January 1898 at the age of seventy-two. His wife Grace died in 1910, at the age of seventy-seven.”

Contrary to the quoted pasage above, the Mumfords apparently remained in Camden for about three years where Edward helped to build the now historic stone bridge at Camden, before moving to Wagga Wagga.

A number of descendants of Edward and Grace still live at Wagga Wagga, but one of their sons, EDWARD HENRY MUMFORD in 1881 moved to Dubbo (New South Wales), where he worked for John Dunn, drapers, but by 1885, with one of his brothers, he had bought out Dunn's Store in Macquarie Street, Dubbo, and founded Mumford Brothers 'Beehive Stores', which functioned for almost 70 years (very much rebuilt and modernised in 1939).

This Edward Henry Mumford married MARY ELIZABETH SAMUELS in about 1887 in Dubbo. He died in 1936; she had already died in 1932. There are plenty of Mumfords scattered about, but some still live in Dubbo and the vicinity.

1.   William Charles Mumford (1853-1889) Lambeth to Wagga Wagga, in GenForum.

   http://genforum.genealogy.com/mumford/messages/1104.html
   Tony Rainer

2.   Journal of the Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society No.9 1996. (Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia: Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society)
   No. 9, 1996.