Friends of Hastings Cemetery

BD I03

William Lewis

Born 1st August 1909 Melbourne, Australia.  Died at Buchanan Hospital, Hastings.  

Beloved only son of Ethel and Russell Lewis, Stoneleigh, Beaufort, Victoria [Most of inscription buried in grass.]

Marriage : LEWIS—RICHARDS.—On the 28th December, 1907,

at St. Columba's (Church of Scotland), Pont-street, London, S.W., by the Rev. Archibald

Fleming, D.D., Robert Russell Lewis, third son  of the late William Lewis, of Stoneleigh, Beaufort, Victoria, Australia, to Ethel Fraser Calvert  Richards, of Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria. [His parents]

The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889 - 1930) View title info Sat 14 Aug 1909

LEWIS. — On the 1st August, at Domain Road, South Yarra, the wife of Robert Russell Lewis, of a son.

Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic.   Thu 22 Jan 1925

The Russell-Lewis's leave for England in March, and have let their bungalow, "Sunnyside," Barwon Heads to Mrs. John Bell.

On the tenth of March 1925 the Herald recorded the departure of "Themistocles”, bound for London.  Listed among the passengers are Mr & Mrs Russell Lewis and Master Russell Lewis.

The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) Mon 27 Jul 1925  

A cable message from Hastings (Eng) records the death of William Lewis, 15, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Russell Lewis, of Barwon Heads, and grandson of the late Mr. W Lewis, pastoralist, of Stoneleigh, near Beauport.

The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.)  Sat 8 Aug 1925 offers slightly more information.

A cable message to relatives from Hastings, England, announced the death of William Lewis, aged 15.  He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. R Russell Lewis, Sunnyside, Barwon Heads, and grandson of the late Mr. W Lewis, Stoneleigh, Beaufort.  Mr and Mrs Lewis had taken their son home on account of his health and he was at school in Hastings.

According to an online source, William was known as Billie.  His grandfather William was born in Boglily, Fife, Scotland in 1825.  He was William Lewis, but his sons all appear to have adopted the hyphenated form of Lewis Russell though Billie's birth is notified under Lewis

William Lewis was an early colonialist and pastoralist.  His was the property "Stoneleigh" which was sold in lots after his death in 1900.  We are unsure whether Robert inherited the house and maybe some property, but at the time of their trip to England their home was 'Sunnyside.'

His parents were still in England in 1928 but later returned to Victoria.  Ethel died in 1940, and Robert in 1941.