Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 84

ARCHIVES
COULD
SHERLOCK
HAVE
SOLVED IT?
How John McVane became
Bertram William Vale Carmichael
For 142 years, all Scotch had recorded in its second Register, on
11 October 1877 at entry No. 2455, was the name Bertram W Vale,
enrolled by Mrs Vale, of Grey Street, East Melbourne (on which street
Scotch was then located). Born on 20 April 1869, his religion was not
given. Years of research failed to find anyone born or dying with this
name – until now.
Ongoing digitisation through the National Library of Australia’s
Trove website, the growth of online genealogical resources, knowing
how to use them, and getting lucky because there is something to be
found, all combined to solve this very old mystery.
A fresh look for information, searching for ‘Bertram Vale’ in Trove,
found a death notice for a Bertram William Vale Carmichael. Was the
Scotchie’s ‘W’ for William? Why the name Carmichael? Was this the
same man, or someone quite different? How old was he?
This man had died on 22 April 1941 in Queensland. He was buried
in the Lutwyche Cemetery. Its records claimed that man was 72
years old: an exact match for the Scotchie’s age. His death certificate
index entry was detailed and fascinating. His parents were named as
Thomas Kelley [sic] and Margaret (nee McNicol) McVane. Why was
there no mention of Vale or Carmichael in their names? The fact this
couple had married in Victoria in 1868 at least established a promising
connection with him to this state. However, they had only one son,
John McVane, born at Dundas in 1869. This matched the Scotchie’s
birth year. John McVane’s mother died in Victoria in 1869 aged 38.
Perhaps following the father’s trail could fill in the missing pieces?
Thomas McVane was arrested at Woodford on 16 December
1883 for misbehaving himself in a public street. A day later he was
arrested at Warrnambool under the Vagrancy Act for being a rogue
and a vagabond. He was then arrested for passing valueless cheques,
and on 21 December 1883 was sentenced to six months’ jail. He
was released on 6 June 1884 and was noted as having two prior
convictions. On 19 September 1898, as Thomas McVane, the son of
unknown parents, he died at Cooramook, near Woodford.
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Great Scot Issue 158 – December 2019
His mother having died young, and his father not being a candidate
for ‘Father of the Year’, perhaps Mrs Vale was a relative or a friend
in whose responsible care John/Bertram was left? With his father’s
uncommon and blackened surname, taking on the name Vale seems
sensible. If so, how, did Carmichael become added? In some electoral
rolls his surname was given as Vale-Carmichael.
On 15 February 1879, two years after Mrs Vale enrolled Bertram,
she married Thomas Carmichael. This record revealed her Christian
names as Maria Elizabeth. When she died on 11 March 1924, her
death certificate index entry named her parents as William and
Martha (nee Nicholls) Meatyard. Could her Nicholls and Mrs McVane’s
McNicol be misspellings of the same surname, making them related?
Working backwards revealed that she had married William Vale in
1853. They had no children, and he died on 9 June 1877. She soon
received William’s large estate of £18,655 and, months later, enrolled
Bertram Vale at Scotch.
In theory, the link from McVane to Vale to Carmichael was
established, but the final piece of proof required was that John
McVane was the man who became Bertram William Vale Carmichael.
His birth certificate provided that proof: John McVane was born on
the same day as the Scotchie. No other Scotchie’s story has been so
convoluted.
In 1903 Bertram was a bookkeeper at Cubbie Station, near
Dirranbandi, Queensland, which is said to be the largest irrigation
property in the southern hemisphere. In 1913 he was an overseer
at Tambo, and in 1915 an overseer at Laidley, Queensland. On
8 July 1916 Bertram married Elsie Belle Jones, and they settled
down in Brisbane, where he worked as a clerk. In his final two years
he represented the Brisbane Fat Stock and Producer Brokers’
Association at the Cannon Hill saleyards. Incorrectly named as ‘D.B.
Carmichael’, he was being driven from the saleyards to Brisbane when
he collapsed, and was dead by the time the car stopped. Thus ended
the life of a man whose name changed more than most, for reasons
not of his own making.