Mrs Julia Benjamin's Labor Office

This post, like others in this blog, started with a photo that I came across to put on the Lost Melbourne Facebook page - it's this great photo of  a row of horse and carts outside the Cobb & Co. coach office in Bourke Street in Melbourne. This area is now the Bourke Street Mall. The line-up of carts, the Cobb & Co coach lantern on the left and the Royal Mail Hotel which was established in the 1840s are all interesting. Then I noticed, at 62 Bourke Street,  Mrs Benjamin's Male and Female Labor Office - with the two signs - Employers  not charged until suited and Town & Country Orders supplied. I wondered who Mrs Benjamin was and this is what I found out.

 Bourke Street, Melbourne, south side between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets, looking east, 

Dec. 17 or 18, 1860.

State Library of Victoria Image H3044

We first meet Mrs Benjamim when she places advertisements in The Argus in January 1857. She has  a large and eligible selection of first-class Domestics, Housemaids, Cooks, Laundresses, Parlor and Nurse Maids, Needlewomen, Monthly women etc. She will also give satisfaction to employers and employed.

Mrs Benjamin's advertisement

The Argus  January 24, 1857 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7143573

Mrs Benjamin was a regular advertiser in the papers and initially was located in Collins Street, but in 1860, the year the photo was taken, Mrs Benjamin moved to 62 Bourke Street.

Mrs Benjamin moves to Bourke Street

The Argus August 30, 1860 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5688901

It would appear that operating a Labor Office was  a very equal opportunity business as the paper has other advertisements from women operating the same type of business. In February 1860, The Argus had advertisements from not only Mrs Benjamin but Mrs Elderton, Mrs Main, Mrs Krom, Mrs Horn, Mrs McCormack, Mrs Byrne and Miss Currie (1).  Providing servants and other staff was a booming business in the Colony however at times employers railed against the type of person migrating to Victoria - loose London girls, or half-decayed male paupers were not suitable as servants, especially in rural areas (2).

One man wrote to the paper and said that he paid good wages  My wages are - man, £65; cook, £35; laundress £30; housemaid, £30; nurse, £25; under nurse £20. So you see I am not niggardly, every servant has a separate room, which is comfortably fitted up. The nurses, of course, sleep in the small children's rooms. However, he found that some servants were untrained, untidy, unsystematic and lazy (3).  In 1867, a letter to the paper said that - It is often said that a good servant is a treasure. This is quite true ; but, unfortunately, these treasures are, like angels visits, few and far between. The race seems to be rapidly dying out. In former times it used to be a master and a servant's boast that they had lived together for so many years ; and it was not unusual for generation after generation of servants to remain in the same families. But all this is changed now. The truth is that servants, especially female ones, fancy themselves above their position. In their own minds they think they are as good as their mistresses, if not better, and try to ape them in their dress and manners (4).

In 1859, Mrs Benjamin had some publicity in the papers when the talented Irish actress, Ellen Mortyn, died at her house. Miss Mortyn had been playing at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne and  three weeks before she died she had a rupture of  a blood vessel. Then on June 23 at five minutes to six o'clock she died in the house of Mrs Benjamin, the proprietress of a labor mart in Collins street. The cause of death was hemoptysis (coughing up of blood) and pthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis) (5).  Mrs Benjamin gave evidence that Miss Mortyn had lodged in my house in Collins Street. She had been with me for about ten months (6).

In 1861, the newspapers reported on a court case involving Mrs Benjamin and listed her first name as Julia, the first time I came across her given name. I later found she also listed herself as Julia in the 1865 Sands and McDougall Directory. The State Library of Victoria have digitised every fifth edition of these directories (1860, 1865, 1870 etc).

Mrs Benjamin's entry, 1860. 

Sands, Kenny & Co 's Commercial and General Melbourne Directory for 1860. 

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

Mrs Benjamin's entry, 1865.

Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1865.

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

Mrs Benjamin was charged with obtaining money under false pretences and the case was heard at the City Police Court in September 1861.  Mary O'Callaghan had paid Mrs Benjamin five shillings to obtain a job as a barmaid. She then paid her another 30 shillings which would be used to send her to the job at Beechworth at a hotel owned by a Mr Marshall. When Mary asked for a written contract, Mrs Benjamin kept putting her off. When Mary made enquiries she was told that no such person had a hotel in Beechworth, so Mary decided not to go. Evidence was given that a Mr Marshall had a hotel in Rutherglen and he had apparently used Mrs Benjamin's services before  and he needed to as the place was a good one for young girls to get married...seven or eight [had] married from the place.  In the end the Court dismissed the case against Mrs Benjamin, but said that she should return the 30 shillings, which she hadn't done and that Mary O'Callaghan should sue for her money in the other court.  This appears to me to have been an unsatisfactory outcome for Mary O'Callaghan (7).

Whether it was this court case or the trouble with supplying the right type of servant, by 1870 Mrs  Benjamin had changed the focus of her business and according to the Sands and McDougall Directory, she became a  a stay and corset maker although she still had  a 'servants' registry.'

Mrs Benjamin has a new career as a stay and corset maker.

Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1870.

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

However, by 1875 Mrs Benjamin's business concentrated solely on stay making. 

Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1875.

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

 

Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1880.

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

I wanted to find some information about Mrs Benjamin's family life. There are two women named Julia Benjamin who died in Victoria between 1850 and 1920 - one was from Dimboola and the other from St Kilda (8).  I felt the St Kilda Julia was the most likely one, so I concentrated my research on her. 

Julia Benjamin was married to Benjamin Benjamin (not the Benjamin Benjamin who was Lord Mayor of Melbourne, received a Knighthood and was a member of the Legislative Council,  read about him here) - it was another Benjamin Benjamin.  Our Benjamin died July 21, 1889 at his house 23 Dalgety Street in St Kilda at the age of 63 (born c. 1826). His death certificate said he had been in the Colony of Victoria for 37 years, which is from 1852, that he had been married in London to Julia Marks. Their marriage was registered in last quarter of 1847 (9). Julia's death certificate says she died May 13, 1897 at the age of 72, born c. 1825,  and she had been in Victoria about 40 years (it was more likely 45 years.)  They are both buried at the St Kilda cemetery. 

Benjamin and Julia Benjamin's headstone on their grave at the St Kilda Cemetery. 

The headstone has lovely tributes to Benjamin and Julia -

Benjamin - a kind husband, an affectionate father and esteemed by all who knew him

Julia - an affectionate wife, a good and loving mother.

Photo: Isaac Hermann.

There were six children listed on the certificates (ages are from Julia's 1897 death certificate) -  Henry (47 years old), Rachael (46), Mark (45), Lizzie (43, listed as Elizabeth on Benjamin's certificate), Sarah (41) and Nelly (38, listed as Helen on Benjamin's  certificate). There was also another daughter between Sarah and Nelly - Caroline born in 1857 - but for some reason she is not listed on either parent's certificate (10).

When Julia died her assets according to her will included a house in Bond Street in Collingwood - described for Probate purposes as a six roomed brick house, building very much out of repair and scarcely habitable. It was valued at £170. She also had around £550 in debentures and money. Julia also had a third interest in the estate of her late husband, who had died without a will, this was a block of land in Smith Street in Collingwood, valued at £66 (11).

I still wondered if I had the right Julia Benjamin until I came across this listing (below) in the 1885 Sands McDougall Directory for Misses L. & N. Benjamin - anatomical and surgical belt, brace and prize stay makers - Lizzie and Nelly - following their mother's career as a stay maker. When I looked for advertisements in the newspapers they had been advertising their business since 1881.

Mrs Benjamin's daughters, Lizzie and Nelly, continue the family business.

Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1885.

State Library of Victoria https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/popular-digitised-collections

Of the other children, Rachael married Albert Levi in 1869 and they lived  at Tranmere, 50 Dalgety Street in St Kilda. Their  family donated a summer house to the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in memory of their parents in 1928 (12)  and it was erected the next year. Their son, Joseph, was Mayor of St Kilda in 1924/1925. Rachael died in 1928.

Left: The summer house donated by the family of Rachael and Albert Levi at the St Kilda gardens. Photo: Isaac Hermann.

Sarah married Solomon Mirls, locomotive superintendent at the Victorian Railway who died in 1889 (13) and  she then married  Fredrick Blacker in 1894, and she died in 1930.

Lizzie married Albert Gordon in 1891 and died in 1926. Mark married Ellen Myers in 1904. He died November 12 1919, aged 65. There are no children listed in the death notice. A year later his wife Ellen and his sister Rachael placed In Memoriam notices in The Argus (14).  I have no other information about Henry and Nelly.


Left: The plaque from the Levi family summer house.
Photo: Isaac Hermann.

In the 1851 English Census (15) Benjamin's occupation is listed as a Clerk. When he died his occupation was listed as gentleman.  On Julia's death certificate she had no occupation listed even though she was an established entrepreneur and business woman, in a time when many women's lives focused entirely on domestic and family responsibilities. Even more remarkable was that when she established her Labor Office in 1857 she already had six children under seven years of age and then gave birth to her last child two years later.


Trove list -  I have created  a list of articles on Julia Benjamin. All articles I have referred to here, plus many more, are on the list, which you can access here.

References
(1) The Argus February 29, 1860, see here.
(2) Hamilton Spectator March 30, 1861, see here.
(3) The Argus January 19, 1863, see here.
(4) The Age February 19, 1867, see here.
(5) Geelong Advertiser June 24, 1859, see here.
(6) The Age June 25, 1859, see here.
(7)  The Argus September 10, 1861, see here and Leader September 14, 1861, see here.
(8) Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) Index https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history
(9) England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index on Ancestry.
(10) I found Caroline's birth listed in the Victorian BDM Index, but cannot find her death listed. One source on Ancestry database said she died in 1886, but doesn't list a source.
(11) Wills and Probate records at the Public Records Office of Victoria www.prov.vic.gov.au
(12) Prahran Telegraph December 21, 1928, see here.
(13) Leader January 4, 1890, see here.
(14) The Argus November 12, 1920, see here.
(15) 1851 England Census on Ancestry.