Thomas Livingstone Learmonth
Thomas Livingstone Learmonth of Parkhill (2 May 1818 – 28 October 1903) was an early settler of Australia, of Scots descent, who established himself as a squatter on land around Ballarat, Victoria, in the 1830s.
Thomas Livingstone Learmonth | |
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 An 1888 illustration of Learmonth | |
| Born | 2 May 1818 Calcutta, British India |
| Died | 28 October 1903 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Spouse(s) | Louisa Jane Florence Harriett Reid |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | Somerville Learmonth (brother) |
Life
He was born simply Thomas Learmonth in Calcutta in India on 2 May 1818, the son of Thomas Learmonth (1783-1869), and his wife, Christian Donald (1788-1843).[1] His parents were both Scots.
He and his family arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on 20 October 1835 aboard the Perthshire from Leith, Scotland.[2]
The family adopted the name Livingstone-Learmonth after Margaret Livingstone, an heiress living at Parkhill House in Polmont around 1825.
Having been attracted to the new settlement at Port Phillip, he started with a pioneering party from the shores of Corio Bay, in August 1837, to explore the unknown country to the north-west, directing their course, in the first instance, to Mount Buninyong, near to which, in conjunction with his brother, Somerville Livingstone Learmonth, Mr. T. L. Learmonth subsequently entered on pastoral pursuits on the fine country the party then discovered farther to the north-west. In the following year the two brothers and some friends explored the course of the Loddon, and reached a prominent peak, which they afterwards called Ercildoune, from an old keep on the Scottish border associated with their ancestral history. Here the brothers established a second station.
In 1853, he wrote a memoir of his early years on the land in Victoria that, together with other similar accounts, were later published.[3]
In November 1859, Thomas Learmonth made a donation towards building a church in the town:
Thomas Learmonth, Esq., of Ercildoun, with his usual liberality has contributed £20 towards the erection of a Church of England place of worship at Lake Learmonth.[4]
After many years of prosperity the Messrs. Learmonth disposed of their Buninyong property, and subsequently sold the famous Ercildoune estate to Sir Samuel Wilson.
Mr. Learmonth was for some time a member of the Upper House in Victoria, and finally left for England in 1868. Mr. Learmonth, later lived at Parkhill House in Polmont near Falkirk, and was a Justice of the Peace for Stirlingshire.
He died at his Edinburgh house at 28 Northumberland Street[5] on 28 October 1903.[6] He is buried with his siblings in Warriston Cemetery in north Edinburgh. The distinctive grave lies on the south wall of the main cemetery, backing onto the Water of Leith Walkway.
His grave says he was "a sinner saved".
Family
He married, firstly, in 1857, Louisa Maria Burer Valiant (d.1878), daughter of Major-General Sir Thomas Valiant; and, secondly, in 1879, Jane Florence Harriette Reid, daughter of Lestock Robert Reid, of the Bombay Civil Service.[7] Between his two wives he had at least ten children.[8]
His uncle, John Learmonth, was Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
His grandson Tom Livingstone-Learmonth competed as hurdler at the 1928 Olympics.
References
- https://www.ancestry.co.uk/genealogy/records/thomas-livingstone-learmonth_45300591
- The Tasmanian, 23 October 1835, p.2
- Bride, Thomas (1898). Letters from Victorian Pioneers; Being a Series of Papers on the Early Occupation of the Colony, the Aborigines, Etc (First ed.). Melbourne: Government Printer. pp. 37–43.
- "News and Notes". The Star. IV (272). Victoria, Australia. 15 November 1859. p. 3. Retrieved 18 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1902
- Grave of T L Learmonth
- Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- Burke, Bernard (1895). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry ... Harrison. p. 664. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
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