Captain Kenney of St Kilda - his Baths and his Family

In 1854 Captain William Kenney established his bathing ship baths at St Kilda, at a location in line with the end of Fitzroy Street. J.B. Cooper, St Kilda Historian, wrote -

Thus it was, in the year 1854, that Captain Kenney bought the Swedish brig, of 200 tons, the "Nancy," after a protracted voyage  from Hong Kong. At the time of her purchase she was laid up in the port of Melbourne for sale, in the same way as dozens of other ships were deteriorating in Hobson's Bay, wanting, and unable to obtain, crews. Sailors of such ships had deserted them, and made off to the gold diggings. The seagoing conditions of the "Nancy" were probably much worse than those of the ships for sale anchored about her. It was said that her timbers were worm-eaten, green with marine growth, and carpeted with barnacles. The ship's surveyors condemned her as unseaworthy. She was believed to have been sailing the seas for a period of one hundred and fifty years, or more. (1)

The brig of the Nancy was dismantled, and scuttled in ten to twelve feet of water. Later, fences to keep fish out were established to extend the swimming area and a narrow pier built from the shore to the bathing ship. Nancy the bathing ship survived until 1912. You can read a full account of Captain Kenney's bathing shop in J.B. Cooper's History of St Kilda (2)

Kenney's Baths are marked on this 1900 map, to the left of the pier. Hegarty's Baths, Kenney's Ladies Baths and Hegarty's Ladies Baths are to the right of the pier. 

St. Kilda,  photo-lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne by T. F. McGauran, 1900

https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/166881 

This post is actually about the circular structure on a stand, on Kenney's Baths which I noticed on this postcard, below. It is the second structure on the right.

The same structure is in this painting (shown below) by John Clifton Rowland Clark (1859-1908). 

The circular structure is in the left and is shown in detail, below.

St Kilda Pier by John Clifton Rowland Clark, 1899.

State Library of Victoria image https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/459490

The mystery circular structure on Kenney's bathing ship.

Details of St Kilda Pier by John Clifton Rowland Clark, 1899.

State Library of Victoria image https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/459490

Our structure is also in this photograph by N.J. Caire, taken c. 1900

St Kilda Foreshore, c. 1900. Photographer: N.J. Caire

State Library of Victoria image H2014.184/123. Image has been cropped from a stereograph, see original here https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/460134

It is also pictured here, in this image from J.B. Cooper's History of St Kilda, v.1. 

The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 1 by J.B. Cooper (City of St Kilda, 1931).

What was the purpose of this circular structure on a stand? Initially we thought it might be a small ferris wheel, but the structure in the painting looks more like a windmill, with pennants attached. I believe it was a decorative windmill, used for advertising the baths or to attract attention to them, perhaps the forerunner of the 'big thing' fad.

Then I found that in 1882 Captain Kenney advertised to purchase a water-wheel, 30 feet or 9 metres in diameter. The advertisements appeared in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser, between June and August 1882.

Captain Kenney's advertisment

Ovens and Murray Advertiser, June 15, 1882  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199462488

Was Captain Kenney successful in obtaining this large water-wheel? I believe he was successful, and that he mounted it on the bathing ship on a stand, attached some small colourful flags to it to attract people to his business. If you have any information about this circular structure, I'd be interested to hear it, leave a comment below. 

Acknowledgment - I found out about this structure through my research colleagues, Isaac Hermann and David Brand, both St Kilda history experts and we discussed the possible options of what the structure might be. Isaac also alerted me to the John Clifton Rowland Clark painting and N.J. Caire  photograph. Thank you!

Captain William Kenney 

I had heard a lot about Captain Kenney and his baths, so I decided to find out more about him and his family. Captain Kenney was born in 1820 in  Harwich, the seaport of Essex. Now we return to J.B. Cooper for some information on his early life and arrival in Melbourne -

He went to sea as a ship's boy in a collier that sailed the cold grey North Sea. Brighter days came with his manhood, when he rose to be a ship's captain. He arrived in Melbourne, from Liverpool, on December 16, 1852, in command of the ship "Yarmouth," which he had chartered to convey emigrants to Victoria. After completing that charter successfully he decided to make his home in Melbourne. He bought a small vessel called "The Apprentice," and commenced to make trade ventures in her along the coast, and continued to do so until "The Apprentice" was wrecked on King Island. Marooned on that island, Captain Kenney decided to attempt to make the adventurous voyage through Bass Straits to Port Phillip. A small open boat, the ship's dinghy, had been saved from the wreck. She was partly boarded over before Captain Kenney, with his crew of two men, started for Melbourne. They reached Hobson's Bay, and the Captain's dauntless seamanship was admired by shipmasters, who knew the perils of the passage, and by others. That experience closed Captain Kenney's sea career as a ship's captain. (3)  

William Kenney was born, as J.B. Cooper noted in Harwich to Edmund Kenney, a ship owner, and his wife, Mary Anne (nee Pyman) Kenney. William married Mary Jackson on November 16, 1863 (4) at St James Church in Melbourne, when he was 37 and she was 29. Mary was the daughter of William and Frances Jackson (5) and she had been born in Nassington, in England. William and Mary had six children -  two at least were born before they were married - Emily Selina (born c. 1860), William Edmund (1862), Beatrice Maude (1864), Arthur Thomas (1866), Frances Hana (1867) and Edith Eleanor (1870). All the children were born in St Kilda (6).

William died on March 6, 1907, aged 86 at his home (which was at the Baths) on The Esplanade, St Kilda. Mary, who operated Kenney's Ladies Baths, died on September 14, 1918, at the age of 74, at 42 Selwyn Avenue, Elsternwick. (7) They are buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery. 

The children of Captain William and Mary Kenney
Emily Selina Kenney died on February 14, 1920, at the stated age of 58. I can't find a record of her birth, however on her father's 1907 death certificate she was listed as being 46; on her mother's 1918 death certificate she was listed as being 58, so a birth year of 1860 or 1861 seems reasonable. She never married and worked at the family Baths. Emily was living at 42 Selwyn Avenue at the time of her death. (8)

William Edmund Kenney was born on January 14, 1862. He married Elizabeth Mary 'Lily' Stach von Goltzheim on August 26, 1891 at All Saints Church, St Kilda.  They had two sons - Arthur Ralph born in 1893  and William Harold born in 1894. Tragically, Arthur Ralph was Killed in Action in France in July 1916 and William Harold Died of Wounds, sustained at Gallipoli, in October 1915. That is so sad,  William died on June 30, 1935, and at the time of his death he was living  at 10 Loch Street, St Kilda. Lily died on May 24, 1950. (9)

Beatrice Maude Kenney was born in 1864. She also worked in the family business; in 1919 she was living at the family home at 42 Selwyn Avenue, Elsternwick. By 1930 she was living with her brother Arthur, in Lindfield, in New South Wales. Beatrice never married and died on June 8, 1939 in New South Wales. (10)

Arthur Thomas Kenney was born in 1866. He became a champion swimmer, winning races in Australia, Canada and the United States. Arthur studied Dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania. After he returned to Australia he had a dental practice in  Collins Street. Arthur  married Gertrude Chandler in Melbourne on November 15, 1911 and they had two daughters, both born in New South Wales - Marie Beatrice in 1915 (married George Martineau Heald in 1937 and died in 2008)  and Valerie Athena in 1918 (died 1975). By 1930, when his sister Beatrice was living with them in Lindfield, he was listed in the Electoral Rolls as an Orchardist. Arthur died on January 3, 1945 and Gertrude on May 26, 1963. (11)

Frances Hana Kenney (sometimes called Frances Flora)  was born in 1867. Frances married William Gordon Fyson in 1892, and they had one daughter Alma Beatrice the next year.  William died on June 1, 1913, less than two months after Alma had married Herbert Evans on March 12, 1913 at the Brunswick Presbyterian Church. Alma and Herbert, who was a Doctor, moved to Queensland, where they had two children Margaret Julia born in 1919 and Ralph William in 1923 - named it seems  in honour of  Alma's  two cousins who died in World War One.  After her husband's death, Frances lived at various addresses including Windsor,  St Kilda and South Yarra.  Frances died on June 18,  1950 at the Melbourne Home and Hospital for the Aged at Cheltenham. (12) 

Edith Eleanor Kenney was born in 1870. She never married  and also worked at family Baths. From around the time her mother died she is listed at various addresses, sometimes living with her sister Frances. As noted in her Inquest -  Edith was admitted to the Sunbury Mental Hospital on April 5, 1934 in a very frail condition, was very restless and troublesome over taking sufficient nourishment...her condition did not improve and she died on April 26th, 1934. The Inquest also said that her sister,  and a Minister  had visited her on the day of her death. (13)

Captain Kenney's had a high public profile and his Sea Baths were very well known, but I feel that his family seemed to have much misfortune -  his daughter Edith died in the Sunbury Mental Hospital; his two grandsons were tragically killed in World War One; grand-daughter Alma's husband died young, when her children were only 8 and 12 years old. But his six children seemed close to each other - they  lived together on occasions and placed loving notices in the paper such as the one below for Edith. Interesting that his daughter, Beatrice had two of her nieces named for her - Alma Beatrice Fyson and Margaret Beatrice Kenney, she must have been the favourite sister!

Edith's death notice.

The Age, April 30, 1934 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203835331

Footnotes

(1) Cooper, J.B. The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 1 (City of St Kilda, 1931), p. 160. You can read Cooper's 2 volumes of St Kilda history on-line on the St Kilda Historical Society website - https://www.stkildahistory.org.au/publications/ebooks

(2) Cooper, op. cit., chapter ix, pp 156-180.

(3) Cooper, op. cit., p. 157.
(4) Information from William and Mary's marriage certificate. On their son, William's 1862 birth certificate they state their wedding date as April 1, 1860; a fib to cover the fact that they weren't actually married at that time. 
(5) Frances Jackson's maiden name - on her daughter, Mary Kenney, death certificate Frances' maiden name is listed as Hana. On Mary and William's marriage certificate Frances' maiden name is listed as Ainer. On Frances' own marriage certificate her surname is listed as Eanor. Hana, Ainer and Eanor - essentially homophones. 
(6) Victorian Indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(7) Death certificates of William and Mary Kenney.
(8) Emily - Death certificates of  Emily and William and Mary Kenney; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com.
(9)  William - Birth certificate; Marriage notice - The Australasian, October 3, 1891, see here;  Victorian Indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages. AIF Personnel dossier at the National Archives of Australia - Arthur Ralph Kenney -  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7367477 and William Harold Kenney - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7371251

William's death notice - The Argus, July 1, 1935, see here; Elizabeth's death notice - The Argus, May 25, 1950, see here.
(10) Beatrice -  Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Death notice - Sydney Morning Herald - June 9, 1939, see here.
(11) Arthur - Weekly Times, December 16, 1893, see here;  Obituary - Sydney Daily Mirror, January 4, 1945, see here; Marriage - The Australasian, November 25, 1911, see here; New South Wales Indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Death notice -  Sydney Morning Herald, January 5, 1945, see here;  Gertrude -  Sydney Morning Herald May 28, 1963, p. 26 from Newspapers.com.
(12) Frances -named as Frances Flora on her mother's death certificate. Marriage - Victorian Indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages; William death notice - The Argus,  June 2, 1913, see here; Alma wedding report  - Punch, May 8, 1913, see here;   Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Queensland Indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages; Death Certificate.
(13) Edith - Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com.; Public Records Office of Victoria Inquest Deposition Files (VPRS24) https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/0607C31A-F1B4-11E9-AE98-4790453846AC?image=1