From my observations of family and friends, women who marry a serviceman need to be tough. They may be left alone for months at a time while their husbands are away or if they accompany their husband on his postings, they could rarely call one place ‘home’ for very long. Their children may be born in different parts of the country or even different parts of the globe and she may be raising them with very little assistance from her husband.

Rebecca Jones (ms Moore) in middle age. Image passed to author by Mr Harry Barlow.

Rebecca Jones, one of my late wife’s paternal great-grandmothers, was such woman. In 1867, when she married William Jones, a farrier in the army, she was Rebecca Moore and about nine years William’s junior.^[1] Unlike many eighteen year olds, who may have been ‘in service’ as a female servant in someone else’s home, she was a machinist working in her father’s shoe-making business. I tracked Rebecca’s birth, occupations and marriage in the UK using Ancestry and the UK Census but after her marriage and general disappearance from public records, it became easier to track her movements via her husband and their children.

I’m unsure if she moved with William in all of his army postings after their marriage, but it is clear that she was in Ireland in 1871 and 1872 when he was with the 8^th Kings Royal Irish Dragoons. Their first daughter, Helen, was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, where Rebecca had been raised, but their second daughter, Lucy Elizabeth, was born in Newbridge, Ireland, in September 1871.^[2] A year later, William was discharged at The Curragh, Ireland, and the next five children were all born back in Wellingborough.

As was advised in my previous blog, women do not leave the same paper trail as men. They require a different strategy. So for this research, I assembled a timeline for Rebecca’s life. It covered the period from her parents’ marriage in Wellingborough, Northampton, England in 1837 through to Rebecca’s death in Maryborough, Queensland, in 1939. This helped guide me on where I might look for documentary evidence. It also enabled me to recognise any inconsistencies in dates and events, add some context to her life, and raise a few questions for further exploration. For example, why in the 1881 England Census was Rebecca the ‘head’ of the household with her children? Where was William, her husband? He reappears in 1885, when the whole family migrated to Maryborough, Queensland on the ship, ‘Quetta’, which probably passed through the Suez Canal that had opened in 1869. On arrival in Maryborough, the family stayed with Rebecca’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Robert Evans.^[3] Perhaps it was they who nominated or sponsored the Jones family for migration?

In the 1881 England Census, Rebecca’s occupation was ‘grocer’.^[4] So it’s no surprise that once established in Newtown, Maryborough and after giving birth to her ninth child, she set herself up as a ‘general store keeper’.^[5] To discover further events in Rebecca’s life, I found the National Library of Australia’s ‘Trove’ immensely helpful to find evidence of Rebecca’s strength of character.

By the late 1890s, William had taken to drink and become abusive towards his wife. When he struck her in August 1897, she took him to court. In introducing herself to the court, Rebecca stated that ‘her store had kept her children’, implying that William was not helping. On the occasion of the physical assault, Rebecca’s eldest son had come to her aid, struggled with the father and locked him outside. In spite of the abuse, Rebecca told the court that she didn’t want him imprisoned but wanted to be protected from him. The court bound William over with a surety of £40 ‘to keep the peace towards his wife for 12 months’.   In coming to that settlement, the court added that, ‘Had it not been for her own exertions she and her children would have probably been thrown upon the community, but instead she was a credit for what she had done’.^[6]

A year later, Rebecca was back in court. This time she was defending her son, Bert, in a paternity case brought against him by a girl he had gone out with.^[7] Rebecca’s three youngest children were already married by this time, according to Queensland’s Birth’s Deaths and Marriages. By her action to defend her adult son, it was apparent she was a strong woman, but there was more to come.

The next big blow came on 28 Aug 1905, when her store caught fire.^[8] It may have been a blessing when her husband died in 1907.^[9] He was a storekeeper at the time of his death but one wonders how much help he really was, given his past behaviour. On two more occasions, in 1909 and again in 1917, Rebecca lost her store to fire.^[10] In the latter incident, on 23 December 1917, she lost all her Christmas stock, as well as the extensive damage to the store. She was insured, but not enough to cover all the damage and loss of stock.

Advertisement for Fort Street Baptist Church Jubilee Celebrations in 1933 to which Mrs Rebecca Jones was sure to have contributed and enjoyed.

Rebecca died in Maryborough in August 1939.^[11] She had seen all but one of her children marry and no doubt would have enjoyed welcoming the many offspring from those marriages. In fact, she was survived by six daughters and a son, as well as 28 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.^[12] During her long lifetime, she may have been surprised, horrified or even affected by the wars, floods, shipwrecks, financial crises and health scares, widely reported in the newspapers.

What really caught my attention, though, was Rebecca’s dedicated role in volunteering in her community. An obituary found in Trove praised her kind and charitable disposition and referred to her membership of the Fort Street Baptist Church and outstanding work for the Baptist Church Ladies’ Guild, Barnardo Homes, Salmon Lane Mission and Hoxton Market (London).^[13] At ninety years old and due to failing health, she had only given up these activities three months before her death. So, more than a tough lady, Rebecca was a compassionate, hard-working woman. I wish I had met her.

[1] Marriage of William Jones to Rebecca Moore, 30 Dec 1867, Parish Church, Wellingborough, Northampton, photocopy of Certified Copy of entry of Marriage, General Register Office, London, Number MX 042178.
[2] Baptism of Helen Jones, 18 Jul 1869, Wellingborough, All Hallows, Northamptonshire, Parish Registers, Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 22 Jul 2025; Birth of Lucy Elizabeth Jones, 25 Sep 1871, Newbridge, Kildare, Ireland, irishgenealogy.ie accessed 10 Oct 2023.
[3] Residence of Jones family on arrival in Maryborough, Handwritten note by unknown author on copy of Immigration details, held by author.
[4] Rebecca Jones, head, with family, Wellingborough, Northampton, 1881 England Census, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 22 Jul 2025.
[5] Rebecca Jones, storekeeper, Maryborough, Queensland, 1905, Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, Ancestry.com.au, accessed, 22 July 2025.
[6] POLICE COURT’, ‘ASSAULT”, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 28 Aug 1897, p. 3, viewed on Trove 30 Sep 2023.
[7] POLICE COURT’, Rebecca is witness for son’s paternity case, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 22 Sep 1898, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148026890.
[8] Fire in Mrs Jones’s store, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 29 Aug 1905, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148683128, viewed 21 Jul 2025.
[9] Death Certificate of William Jones, died 14 Sep 1907 at Tooley Street, Maryborough, Aged 65 years, photocopy of Certified Copy of Register of Death, General Registry Office, Brisbane, Number 8851.
[10] Fire in Mrs Jones’s store, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 30 Mar 1909, p. 2,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150567433, viewed 21 Jul 2025; MRS. JONES’S GENERAL STORE DESTROYED.’, Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), 24 December 1917, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152545264, viewed 20 Apr 2023.
[11] Death of Rebecca Jones died 23 Aug 1939 at St Mary’s Hospital, Maryborough, Aged 90 years, photocopy of Certified true copy of entry in Register of Deaths, General Registry Office, Brisbane, Number 7000.
[12] Mrs. Rebecca Jones Dead; Maryborough Pioneer’, The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947), 25 August, p. 6. (SECOND EDITION), viewed 20 Apr 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184896581.
[13] Mrs. Rebecca Jones Dead’.