Delivered at the Family Home by Midwife, Mrs. Berry
Father, aged 39 Mariner; Mother, aged 34
Clara, during the year 1895, committed the ultimate crime according to her Family at the time and forced the leave the family home, she was unmarried and pregnant.
This in itself was not something out of the ordinary, according to the records that exist showing the number of children born to unmarried Mothers during this period.
Clara gave birth to a Son, that she named Claude Patterson, at a residence in Gowie Street, Waverly - called "Strathmore" - that was run by Marie Ray, Accoucheuer (Midwife), under the fictitious name of Jane Patterson on the 15th of November, 1895.
The Birth Certificate shows it was corrected by Marie Ray(Informant) from Jane Patterson to Clara Jane Fleck.
Claude's life on this earth was but short, both he and his Mother were admitted into a Benevolent Asylum (Refuge for the Elderly or Homeless) Waverley, following recommendations by the Police.
Entry in their 'Daily Admissions & Discharge Book', shows: "Friday, 29 November, 1895
Admitted.
"Fleck, Claude, 2 weeks, Religion not known - Constable Davidson (Paddington Police) who brings the child to the Asylum states that the Mother, Jane Fleck is insane, and is at present at the Central Police Station.
The woman was confined at the Lying in Home of Nurse Ray, Gowie Street, Waverley.
Fleck is unmarried."
The case of the Mother of the Child is one of supposed Puerperal Mania." Claude's Death Certificate, dated 26th March. 1896, shows he died of `Marasmus' (Progressive Emancipation) at the age of 4 months, and that he was buried at Rookwood Cemetery under the Rites conducted by W. H. Saunders, Minister, Church of England.
The admissions to the Asylum during the time covered by this Book (1894-1896), shows a predominance of Mothers admitted pregnant, where the Father was either `Not Known' or `Whereabouts Unknown'.
There were also numerous cases where an Infant and/or Baby was found deserted by the Police and taken to the Asylum for protection. If we could but imagine the terror and humility that Clara was feeling at the time, it would appear that she was turned out of her home and left to her own resources at a time where both she and the Baby needed all the comfort and assistance to carry them through this extremely difficult period.
In order to protect the family name she registers her name as Jane Patterson; this also may have been the Father's Surname, we will know.
Whether Clara was subsequently reunited with her family following the tragic death of her Son, Claude, we will never know - she is shown as living on her Mother's Death Certificate, 12th January, 1912, by her Brother, Robert - apart from this all trace of Clara has been lost.
1918 NSW B.D.M. records show that Clara Jane gave birth to two more children both at 7 Victoria Street, Alexandria.
"Thomas Hudson b. 19 Jul 1908 - d. 22 Aug 1908 of Acute Gastritis & Heart Failure, bur. Independent Cemetery, Rookwood by John Beckenham (Congregational Minister)."
"Leslie Hudson b. 1910." No record of his death or marriage.
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(The Benevolent Asylum changed its name to Benevolent Society during the early 1920's)
The Asylum, administered by the NSW Benevolent Society, established in 1818 as a philanthropic organization caring primarily for the needy of Sydney.
In a colony where so many had been separated from their families through transportation or emigration, it served a vital role throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries caring for the poor, abandoned, destitute and sick.
It was an asylum in the sense of being a place of refuge; it did not house the insane.
The Asylum was located on George Street close to present-day Broadway. It backed on to the Old Sydney Burial Ground (Devonshire Street Cemetery) and was demolished to make way for the current Central Railway Station in 1901.
Prior to 1850, its chief purpose was to assist married women, especially those nearing confinement, older men and families.
After the government resumed the Liverpool Hospital in 1862, men were no longer processed through the Sydney Benevolent Asylum and went directly to Liverpool.
The focus of the Sydney Benevolent Asylum then shifted to helping pregnant women, both married and single, during their confinement.
The database index available on this site will therefore be useful for finding a wide range of people who fell on hard times throughout the 19th century.
