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RILEY
John Coyne Riley
[1852-1911]
Spouse: Amelia Ann [nee Wright]
[1856-1934]
1852 John Coyne Riley was born in 1852 at Manchester England the son of John Riley and Eliza Tideswell.
1853-55 His father traveled to Victoria Australia around 1853, his mother following him in 1855 as an immigrant with John aged and his
sister Catherine. His father worked as a Land Agent in Melbourne and as John grew to manhood he became a bookmaker at
Melbourne's Racecourses.
1880: Around 1880 John met Amelia Ann Wright who had traveled to Australia on holiday with her sister Julia, using part of the
inheritance left to her from her father's Estate.
Amelia Ann Wright;
Amelia was born in London in 1859 the 2nd youngest daughter of Thomas Wright and his wife Fanny nee Ashurst.
She had four sisters.
1881: John Riley marries Amelia Wright;
John and Amelia were married on the 16th August 1881 at St.Paul’s Church in Melbourne, Patrick Carey a friend and
Amelia’s sister Julia witnessing the Register.
The couple settled in Melbourne and Amelia's sister Julia remained living with her sister and new husband.
1882;
Child 1: Eight months later on the 19th April 1882 Amelia gave birth to a son, John Lawrence.
The infant did not survive more than a few hours.
1883;
Child 2: Sixteen months later on the 5th August 1883 Amelia gave birth to another son Clarence.
Within hours of his birth, the infant weakened living for only eight hours.
1884; The couple moved to Sydney.
1885;
Child 3: While in Sydney Amelia gave birth to a daughter, Olive Pendennis Riley on the 10th March 1885.
Family legend says that Julia acting as her sister's midwife presented John with the newborn. John was said to turn
away saying “Why bother, it will only die anyway.”
The child survived and Olive grew up to be as petite as her mother, spoilt and adored by her doting parents.
1889;
Child 4; Three and a half years later Amelia presented John with a son, Harold Francis Lytton Riley. This child also survived but
Amelia now only aged thirty, it would be her last birth.
1890-1897; Amelia hated living in Australia and longed to return to England. Contact from her family in 1891 brought news of her elder
sister's death, leaving behind children still very young and Amelia wanted to return to be with the family. She never fulfilled
her dream.
During the next few years it has been said that John was asked to leave the family home when after a disagreement with Amelia
he turned to her stating “I will exert my authority in my own house!” The house, it seems was paid for out of Amelia's inheritance
which she reminded him in no uncertain terms and demanded he leave.
After John left, Amelia and her sister Julia had enough money to invest in a small Haberdashery Shop nearby, which with their
skills learnt during their early life, the business providing for their needs.
John still stayed in constant contact during this time.
1898: At the age of thirteen Olive was granted Permission for Exemption from further education. A Certificate supporting this
application [assumed by her mother] was given by the State School at Collingwood;
'I hereby Certify that Olive Riley has been educated up to the standard of education required by
"The Education Act 1890."
Dated at Collingwood this sixteenth day of September 1898. [Signed Samuel [illegible]. Inspector.
State School No. 2462, Vere Street, Collingwood. A. Hanson Head Teacher.
Amelia then nurtured her singing talents, securing private tuition and continued to dote on the children under the protective eye
of John, at a distance.
1903: Amelia's sister Julia dies;
On the 18th December 1903 Julia was suddenly rushed to hospital where she died soon after of a cerebral hemorrhage, Amelia
was devastated. John rushed to her side. Julia was buried in Melbourne Cemetery unmarried and without issue, her age given
as 43 years [she was actually forty-nine].
1906: By 1906 Olive now twenty-one met a young clerk, Alfred Adams, her brother Harold was now aged seventeen.
After Julia's death John had moved back into the house at 275 Hoddle Street, Collingwood. Amelia continued to work in her
small shop and of a Sunday afternoon she would go to Church and John would mind the store usually with one of his friends to
keep him company.
1911: John Riley dies;
It was one such afternoon, on the 15th October 1911 that John it was said, not feeling well had lay down on a divan in the back
room of the shop. When his friend returned from a chore he found John motionless on the couch.
The Post Mortem revealed ‘a Ruptured Aortic Aneurysm’. John was buried in the Riley Family Grave at Melbourne Cemetery
aged 60 years.
Epilogue
Amelia Ann Riley [nee Wright]: wife of John Coyne Riley;
Amelia continued working in the shop and in her later years lived between the homes of her two married children. Olive in
Melbourne and later moved to Sydney and Harold who remained living in Melbourne.
Amelia departed this life at the home of her daughter Olive at Chatswood Sydney on the 26th July 1934 at the age of 75
succumbing to Hipotalic? Pneumonia and Heart Failure. She was buried at Northern Suburbs Cemetery in Sydney, survived by
her two children and five grandchildren.
Olive Riley: only daughter of John Coyne Riley and Amelia [nee Wright];
Olive was twenty-six when her father died, and had been engaged to Alfred Adams now since 1906. It was six weeks after her
father's death that Alfred put an end to their seven year long engagement and the couple were married at Collingwood on the
2nd December 1911. Alfred worked as a Commercial Traveler. They had four children. Details withheld.
Harold Riley: only surviving son of John Coyne Riley and Amelia [nee Wright];
Harold became a successful publican. He married Ada Alberta 'Daisy' Watson in 1913 and they both ran the Batman’s Hill Hotel
in Spencer Street, Melbourne. They had one child. Details withheld.