St. John's Anglican Church in Port Fairy.
Nathaniel Billing was the architect. [9]
1850 Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Heybourne were married on July 17 at Hillingdon Parish, Middlesex, England. [1] [2]
1851 Nathaniel Billing (age 30, born Oxon, Brightwell), architext, and Henrietta Billing (age 25, born Bucks, Bledlow) lived in Brightwell, Oxon, England with Ann Fenton (age 19), a servant. [3]
1852 Emma Jane Billing, daughter of Nathaniel and Henrietta Billing, was baptized on August 25 at Upton cum Chalvey, Buckingham, England. [4] She was born July-September 1852 at Eton, Buckinghamshire. [5]
1853 Nathaniel Billing went to Australia on the ship Ballarat in September. [6]
1853 Samuel Fletcher Billing was born in Prahran, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Heybourne. [7]
1855 Mary Evangeline Billing was born in Belfast, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Haybourne. [8]
1852-56 Nathaniel Billing was the architect for St. John's Anglican church in Port Fairy. It is a Gothic Revival church constructed from basalt between 1853 and 1856.
1858 "St Patrick's Church in Port Fairy, Australia, was completed in 1858 at a cost of £6500 to a design by the notable local architect, Nathaniel Billing. The church, which is located on the Princes Highway, was built of basalt and Hobart stone in a typical Gothic Revival Style. Port Fairy is located 290 km west of Melbourne on the eastern headland of Portland Bay." [10] [11]
1859 On 9 January, Alfred Osbert Billing was born in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Billing. [12] [13]
1861 All Saints' Anglican Church, cnr Dandenong Road and Chapel Street, St Kilda East. In late 1857, the Reverend John Herbert Gregory began the campaign to build All Saints' on land reserved for that purpose by the government. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Perry in November 1858 and the church was opened on 8 December 1861. The church's architect was Nathaniel Billing and it was built by Christopher Joseph Glynn. As for most Anglican churches of the period, the Gothic style was chosen with the focus on the altar rather than the pulpit, placing the emphasis on worship and the Sacraments rather than preaching. Billing was born in England and claimed to have been a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Gothic Revivalist architect. [14]
1861 High Church, Gheringhap Street, built in 1861 of bluestone with sandstone dressings, was designed by Nathaniel Billing in a decorated Gothic style for the Free Presbyterian Church. [15]
1861 St. George's Church, La Trobe Terrace, was built in 1861 to a design by Nathaniel Billing, a noted ecclesiastical architect. [16] [17]
1861 On May 29, Alice Isabel Billing was born in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Heybourne. [18] [19]
1864 On 30 April, Miriam Gertrude Billing was born in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Billing. [20] [21]
1865 Nathaniel Edward Billing was born in Mulg, Victoria, Australia to parents Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Heybourne. [22] Nathaniel Eduard Billing, son of Nathaniel Billing and Henrietta Heybourne, died at age three months the same year in Victoria, Australia. [23]
1867 Henrietta Billing, age 41, died in Victoria, Australia. Her parents were "Heybourne Will" and "Rolfe." [24]
1868 Nathaniel Billing and Mary Anne Hooke were married in Victoria, Australia. [25]
1910 Nathaniel Billing died on January 29 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. "Deaths, Billing - On the 29th January 1910, at Whimen, Westbury street, E. St Kilda (suddenly) Nathaniel Billing, architect, dearly beloved husband of Mary Anne Billing, aged 89 years. Interred privately 31st January, St Kilda Cemetery. Peace, perfect peace." [26]
The State Library of Victoria, Australia has images of of 19th- and early 20th-century architecture designed by some of Victoria's greatest architects, Nathaniel Billing, William Pitt, Joseph Read and Walter Butler. [27]
The "Geelong Album" (a collection of photographs by Eugen de Balk in the Western Victoria Collection at the Waterfront Campus Library, Deakin University) includes photographs of churches designed by Nathaniel Billing. [28] [29]
Research Notes:
A biosketch reports [30]
Nathaniel Billing was born at Brightwell, Oxfordshire in 1821, articled to the Gothic revivalist architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) and practised at Slough. He emigrated to Australia in 1853 and was Government Clerk of Works in the Port Fairy, Warrnambool area from 1853 to 1855, where he also practised privately. In 1857 Billing left the public service and came to Melbourne where in 1859 he took out a patent for a form of hoop iron bond. He was president of the Victorian Institute of Architects in 1884-5 and argued for the establishment of a chair in architecture at the university.
Evelyn Miles Krase and Edith Marian Miles Todd wrote in their notes that the family of Nathaniel Billing in Melbourne, Australia has a bible with entries showing death dates of brothers and sisters.
In addition to its own extensive collection of architectural drawings, etc., the State Library holds a substantial collection of around 3,600 architectural drawings which came from the University of Melbourne architectural collection. These were lodged at the La Trobe Library owing to their fragility and rarity. Dating from the 1850s to the 1960s, this is a significant collection incorporating material from such practices as Nathaniel Billing, Walter Butler, J J Clark, Leonard J Flannagan, Walter Burley Briffin, William Pitt and Albion H Walkley. It also includes photographic prints and negatives, architectural specifications and other documents, and a large number of measured drawings of historic buildings (in towns such as Portland, Port Fairy, Bendigo and Maldon) prepared by undergraduate students. The collection is located at Level 4A of the building at the corner of La Trobe and Russell Streets (entry 5 in La Trobe Street).
[1] London Metropolitan Archives, Saint John The Baptist, Hillingdon, Register of marriages, DRO/110, Item 017, in London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921, [AncestryImage].
[2] England Marriages, 1538–1973, Marriage Allegations, Canterbury, Vol. 257 Jul-Dec 1850, [FamilySearchRecord].
[3] England Census, 1851, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[4] FamilySearch.org, 0919253-4, [FamilySearchRecord].
[5] England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008, [FamilySearchRecord].
[6] Personal Communication, Philip George Billing, billing@one-name.org.
[7] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[8] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[9] St. John's from Regent Street [picture] / Lillian Powling. Powling, Lillian Isobel, 1906-1997, photographer, [URL].
[10] St Patrick's Church in Port Fairy, [URL].
[11] Description of Port Fairy, [URL].
[12] FamilySearch.org, [FamilySearchRecord].
[13] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[14] All Saints' Anglican Church, [URL].
[15] High Church, Gheringhap Street, [URL].
[16] 1869 Photo St. George's Church, La Trobe Terrace, [URL].
[17] St. George's Church, La Trobe Terrace, [URL].
[18] FamilySearch.org, [FamilySearchRecord].
[19] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[20] FamilySearch.org, [FamilySearchRecord].
[21] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[22] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, [AncestryRecord].
[23] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985, [AncestryRecord].
[24] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985, [AncestryRecord].
[25] Australian Registrar's Offices, Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950, [AncestryRecord].
[26] Newspaper, The Argus (Melbourne), Tuesday, February 1, 1910.
[27] No longer available: http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/collection-strengths/architecture, State Library of Victoria, Architecture: search for Nathaniel Billing.
[28] Geelong Album small images, [URL].
[29] Geelong Album larger images, [URL].
[30] With an Album of architectural drawings by Billing, Nathaniel, 1821-1910, architect, [URL].