Mary Eliza Austin

Life in Canterbury and London

Mary Eliza Austin, pictured at right,¹ was born about 1814 in Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight.² She was the eldest child of George and Eliza (Pedder) Austin.³ Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Canterbury, Kent, where they lived in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, and where all of her surviving siblings were born.^{4, 5}

Based on family sources, Mary had the following siblings:⁶

George, a solicitor for the Canterbury Dean and Chapter,
Jane, who married William Gardiner,
Kate, who married George Gardiner (a cousin of William above),
Herbert George ("Harry"), who succeeded his father as surveyor,
Harriet, who married Louis Soley,
Geoffrey, who immigrated to New Brunswick to manage oyster beds in the Bay of Fundy owned by George and Harry, and
Elizabeth ("Bessie").

At one point, Mary, Alfred B. and their family lived at Laleham on the Thames River in Surrey, and later in nearby Staines. Kate and George Gardiner lived just upriver at Old Windsor. Their families played together, and Alfred B. was also briefly in business with George Gardiner.⁷

Mary's father George Austin and brother Harry both showed significant artistic skill, and Mary grew up in an environment that placed a high importance on religion and the appreciation of art. In fact, up until the time of her marriage, she was employed producing architectural drawings for her father.⁸ According to family sources, Mary's artistic ability was also expressed through painting.⁹

How she met Alfred Boydell Lambe is a mystery, but it was natural that their wedding would take place at Canterbury Cathedral, which was her father's place of business. As with so many women of her time, Mary spent her married life raising children. All but one of her children who were recorded in censuses were born in London - either on New Bond Street in Westminster, or in Chelsea, both of which are now part of London. The youngest child was born in Erith, Kent.¹⁰ Several of these children achieved great things in the fields of sport and business, and at least one inherited her artistic ability.

Life in Toronto

After immigrating to Toronto in about 1871,¹¹ Mary Eliza Austin remained there to see many of her children marry. She died on August 24, 1893, and was buried in St. James Cemetery in Toronto.¹²

Footnotes

¹Mary Eliza Austin, date unknown, courtesy of Laurie Wallace and Anna Lambe.

²1861 UK census record for Alfred B Lambe and family, Erith, Kent, household #34.

³Marriage notice, The Times, August 20, 1839, p. 7, col. 6.

⁴1841 UK census record for George Austin and family, Ville of Christchurch, Canterbury, Kent, p. 7.

⁵1851 UK census record for George Austin (jr.) and family, Ville of Christchurch, Canterbury, Kent, household #25.

⁶Letter from Alfred Boydell Lambe (jr.) to Aldyth Lambe, September 24, 1925, p. 4, courtesy of Hugh van Nostrand.

⁷Letter from Alfred Boydell Lambe (jr.) to Curzon Lambe, December 12, 1925, pp. 1-2, courtesy of Hugh van Nostrand.

⁸Letter September 24, 1925, p. 4.

⁹Conversation between Mary Clarkson and the author, c. 2007.

¹⁰1871 UK census record for Alfred Boydell [Lambe], St. Luke's, Marlybone, 17 St. Luke's Road.

¹¹Her husband, Alfred Boydell Lambe, immigrated with at least eight family members in 1871. See records for A.B. Lamb in the Toronto Emigrant Office Assisted Immigration Registers Database on the Archives of Ontario website, accessed July 12, 2005.

¹²Province of Ontario Death Registration of Mary Eliza Lambe, dated September 5, 1893.