Edward Goldsmith (Francis Edward Goldsmith, 1825-1875) was the youngest brother of my 2x great grandmother. He and his seven siblings were orphaned when their father John died in 1825 (Edward was born two months after his death) and their mother passed away just four years later.[1] John had been a chemist whose father owned land in Bedfordshire and a bookshop in London. The family lived in Bridge Road, Blackfriars, London.
The children were raised by maiden aunts and stayed close. Brothers were witnesses at their sisters’ weddings, and in the 1841 census young Edward was with his eldest sister Emma, visiting in Seddlescombe, Sussex.[2] There would have been sacrifices to ensure the boys all received training in ‘suitable’ occupations.
It’s likely Edward attended Christ’s Hospital, a charitable boarding school then located on Newgate Street in the City of London, as had his next eldest brother Charles (Charles Henry Goldsmith, 1824-1912).[3]
In 1848 Edward became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London (MRCS) and in 1849 a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA). On 13 September 1859, Edward registered with the General Medical Council, the official register of medical practitioners in the United Kingdom, giving his address as the Royal West Indian Mail Service.[4]
On 12 November 1858 he wrote to his brother Charles, then living in South Australia, from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company’s ship Oneida, for which he was the ship’s surgeon, describing the ship’s anticipated voyage from Southampton to Bombay, Suez and thence Sydney.[5] It is likely he remained with the Oneida on its two subsequent journeys between Suez and Sydney carrying the mail from Europe. He then continued with the Onieda as it travelled between Southampton and South American ports, most likely ending his service when Captain Leeds left the ship in December 1859.[6]
At this time a ship’s surgeon provided medical care to sick and injured crew and passengers, managed the ship’s medicine chest, maintained basic hygiene to prevent disease outbreaks, and kept official logs of births, deaths, and illnesses on board. They relied on the captain’s authority to enforce hygiene or dietary orders. A good relationship between the two made both their roles easier.
In February 1860 Edward sat and passed the Edinburgh Royal College of Physicians exam to be licenced as a physician.[7] Edward was in England in April 1861 when he visited a fellow surgeon, Dr Bletchly, in Gloucestershire.[8]
The following year he travelled to Melbourne, perhaps again as ships surgeon, and then visited his brother Charles who was a Methodist minister in South Australia. In November 1962 he advertised his services as a doctor in Yankalilla, where his brother Charles lived.[9] This town is 72 km south of Adelaide and was first settled by Europeans twenty years before Edward arrived.
Life in a small colonial town was not for Edward. In 1864 he was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in South Australia and Surgeon and Protector of Aborigines in the Northern Territory.[10]
The Northern Territory had been annexed by South Australia in 1863, and land was sold “off the plan” to speculators in Adelaide and London before any European settlement occurred. Surveying and selling of land allotments to English investors was central to the financial viability not only of the new settlement and port but also for the infant colony of South Australia. It was also expected to provide an export port and trade route to Asia.
An expedition was sent in June 1864 to establish a settlement and start surveying the land.[11] Led by Government Resident Boyle Travers Finniss, a 40-strong party, including Edward, arrived at Adam Bay and established a short-lived, ill-fated settlement named Palmerston at Escape Cliffs near the mouth of the Adelaide River. A second party arrived on 5 December.[12]
The expedition was not a success, with much aggravation between its members. It was affected by clashes of personalities and difficulties with Finniss’s leadership style, which impacted on the reputations of several participants, including Edward. Edmunds, the leader of the second party, described the settlement on their arrival as:
“I found the settlement was not besieged by blacks [as had been advised to Adelaide], nothing had been done in the way of surveying the town…. There appeared to be very little control over the men at the settlement who were nearly all drunk before noon and the Officers could do nothing without instructions from Mr. Finniss…. “[13]
By January it was known in Adelaide that the Government intended to act on Finniss’s instructions and recall both Edward and Ebenezer Ward, the Clerk in charge, Accountant, and Postmaster for the expedition, although neither man had knowledge of this.[14]
It was not until 29 April 1865 that Edward’s resignation was given to and accepted by Finness and he, along with several others, returned to Adelaide. Several newspaper articles reveal the key disagreements between Edward and Finniss, including one authored by Ebenezer Ward and one by Edward himself.[15]
First, Edward found the water in the first well dug at the settlement to be unfit for consumption, with which Finniss disagreed, despite it causing illness until subsequent potable water was found. Finniss’s ongoing correspondence implied that Edward continued to declare all water unfit, when it is clear that he was referring only to the water from the initial well.
Second, an inquest was held into the death of an aborigine on a punitive expedition led by Finniss’s son. The expedition and subsequent events were discussed in Adelaide.[16] Edward had asked to accompany the expedition in his role as Protector of Aborigines but was refused by Finniss. In his role as the expedition’s Justice of the Peace and Coroner, Edward conducted an inquest into the aboriginal’s death. Finniss took exception to all aspects of the affair and considered Edward’s actions in direct opposition to his command.[17]
Back in Adelaide, Edward was appointed the District Medical Officer in Payneham.[18] In December 1865 he married Emma Hallett, the daughter of John Hallett, an early South Australian settler, prominent landowner and former member of the Parliament of South Australia.[19]
In February 1866 the Goldsmiths moved to Robe, where Edward was Government Medical Officer.[20] Here two sons were born, Frederick in 1867 and John Willan in 1869.[21] The family remained in Robe until 1869 when they moved to Adelaide.[22] Sadly, baby John died of congestion of the brain in 1871.[23]
Edward’s first sign of illness was a brief hospitalisation in 1869 for paralysis.[24] His ongoing paralysis and dizziness caused the family to move to Glenelg, and later to Norwood.
Francis Edward Goldsmith died on 24 Jul 1875 in the Adelaide Hospital, aged 49. An inquest determined he died as ‘through taking poison whilst he was in an unsound state of mind’. He had self-administered an overdose of a patent medicine for pain relief made of a mixture of laudanum, tincture of cannabis, and chloroform.[25] His brother claimed that he poured his evening dose in the dark while feeling dizzy and had no intention to take his life.[26]
Edward was an intelligent man who found opportunity despite a difficult childhood. He fell foul of colonial incompetence but found a place to raise his family until a brutal illness ended his life.
References:
[1] For Edward’s birth see “London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1559/), entry for Francis Edward Goldsmith, 1825. Original data: Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906 and Church of England Parish Registers, 1813-2003. London Metropolitan Archives, City of London. For father’s death see “Kent burials,” Findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com.au/search-world-records/kent-burials ), entry for John Goldsmith, 1825. Original data: Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Burials, Canterbury Cathedral Archives. For mother’s death see “London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1559/), entry for Emma Goldsmith, 1830. Original data: Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906 and Church of England Parish Registers, 1813-2003. London Metropolitan Archives, City of London.
[2] “1841 England Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/8978/ ), entry for Frances Goldsmith, Sedlescomb, Sussex. Original data: The National Archives (TNA): HO 107, Piece 1109, Book 12, Folio 19, Page 7.
[3] “VETERAN PREACHER.” Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912) 20 June 1912: 1. Web. 4 Feb 2017 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204512365).
[4] The Medical Register 1861 (London 1861), 139; TheGenealogist, Occupational Record Collection: (https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/).
[5]“THE REAL PROPERTY ACT.” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 8 January 1859: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49899751).
[6] For arrival of the Oneida with Captain Leeds: “The Brazilian Mails,” Sun (London), 7 December 1859, 2. For Oneida’s departure with Captain Bevis: “Sailing of the Oneida,” Morning Advertiser (London), 10 January 1860, 5. Both at Findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com.au/search/newspapers).
[7]British Newspapers, “Hampshire Telegraph”, “Local Intelligence”; 25 February 1860, p 4. Findmypast (https://search.findmypast.com.au/search/newspapers) Entry for F.E. Goldsmith.
[8] “1861 England Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/8767/), entry for Francis E Goldsmith, Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire. Original data: The National Archives: RG 9, Piece 1750, Folio 23, Page 8.
[9] “Advertising”, South Australian Register, 21 November 1862: 1. Web. 15 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50171899); and for his brother’s role see “YANKALILLA.” Adelaide Observer, 28 February 1863: 7. Web. 8 Jul 2021 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159516500).
[10] “THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 1 April 1864: 3. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39127258).
[11] “The Advertiser ADELAIDE : MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1864.” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 18 April 1864: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31835600).
[12] “THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.” The Adelaide Express (SA : 1863 – 1866) 3 January 1865: 3. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207598522).
[13] R.H. Edmunds. The settlement of the Northern Territory by South Australia: An account of the second expedition to Escape Cliffs 1865-1866. Microfilm, 1983. Held by the Northern Territory Library.
[14] “The Advertiser.” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 5 January 1865: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31845208).
[15] “RESIGNATION OF DR. GOLDSMITH.” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 28 August 1865: 3. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31852981); and “MR. WARD’S CONDUCT AS AN OFFICER OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 30 January 1865: 3. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31846064).
[16] “PROTECTION OF ABORIGINES.” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 25 January 1865: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39128445).
[17] “RESIGNATION OF DR. GOLDSMITH.” 28 August 1865: 3.
[18] “DISTRICT COUNCILS.” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 5 March 1866: 3. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41029955).
[19] Genealogy SA, “District Certificates of Marriage,” marriage certificate transcript for Francis Edward Goldsmith and Emma Hallett, 1865. Original data: District Certificates, Adelaide district.
[20] “GUICHEN BAY.” The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 – 1965) 3 March 1866: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77131634).
[21] “Family Notices” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 16 July 1867: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39189198); and “Family Notices” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 25 February 1869: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31986939).
[22] For leaving Robe: “SOUTH EASTERN DISTRICT.” South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1868 – 1881) 3 July 1869: 6. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92279059). For living in Adelaide: “Australia, City Directories, 1845-1948,” facsimile collection, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/60845/ ), entry for F Goldsmith, 1870. Original data: South Australian Almanac and Directory, 1870, 68.
[23] “Family Notices” The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889) 4 November 1871: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28605779).
[24] “South Australia, Australia, Adelaide Hospital Admission Registers, 1841-1952,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/62318/ , entry for Francis Edwd Goldsmith, 1869. Original data: State Records of South Australia; Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; Admission Registers-Adelaide Hospital 1841-1946, reference GRG78/49.
[25] “DEATH OF DR. EDWARD GOLDSMITH.” Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 – 1904) 31 July 1875: 4. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159481803).
[26] “THE LATE DR. GOLDSMITH.” South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) 3 August 1875: 7. Web. 22 Aug 2026 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40082907).
Leave a Reply