Harpur family photographs, papers and other material

fonds

1840-1992, predominant 1840-1922

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Textual Records, Clippings, Ephemera

9675147

63 photographic prints - black and white, some colour
10 photographs - daguerreotype, ambrotype
0.43 metres of textual material (1 box and 1 outsize box)

Henry Kidd Harpur (1817-1891) and his brother Josiah (1825-1898) were born in Ireland to Rev Samuel Harpur (1784-1834), a Methodist preacher, and Jane Anna Kidd (1789-1858). They emigrated to Australia on the ship “Brothers”, arriving in the colony on 11 March 1841.

Henry initially worked in stores in Sydney and Bathurst before he married Henrietta Elizabeth Walker (daughter of Rev William Walker and Eliza Cordelia Hassall). Their six children were born between 1854 and 1866. Between 1853-57 he joined his brother Josiah in a business in Sydney before he was gazetted a Magistrate in Wollombi in 1859. The family then moved to Muswellbrook before returning to Sydney to set up another business at 426 George Street, Sydney. Henry Kidd Harpur’s family lived in several locations in Sydney. He died in his home at Leichhardt.

In the 1850s Josiah Harpur spent time at the Bendigo and Turon goldfields. Josiah moved back to Sydney and worked with his brother in a wholesale wine and spirit business in George Street, Sydney. He also assisted in founding the Empire newspaper and was an early member of the Sydney Stock Exchange. He married Eliza Caroline Walker in 1856 and they had seven children. Josiah, his wife and several children died in Brisbane House, their home in Glebe.

Both men married daughters of William Walker (1799-1855 - known as ‘the first missionary of Blacktown) and Eliza Cordelia Hassall (sister of Rev Thomas Hassall, daughter of Rev Rowland Hassall).

Reference:
Library correspondence file

By descent from the donor’s uncle Kenneth Richard Harpur, David M. Harpur and Raymond James Harpur. Source: ML19/73

This collection includes photographs and manuscript material relating to Henry Kidd Harpur (1817-1891), his brother Josiah Harpur (1825-1898) and their descendants.
It comprises logbooks, journals, daguerreotype and ambrotype photographs in decorative cases, various family letters from Australia and Ireland, photographic prints of the extended Harpur and Hassall families, papers relating to Henry Kidd and Josiah Harpur’s business dealings and various published books with Harpur family provenance.

Series 1:
Harpur family photographs

Series 2:
Harpur family diaries, letters and other material

This collection is arranged into two series by format.