John Reuben Eldridge was a merchant who married Caroline Chambers in 1868 in Bengal, India. She was the daughter of John and Margaret Chambers and was born in 1850 and baptised at St Phillip's Church of England, Sydney. John Reuben died at Nagpur, Central Provinces, India as detailed in his death notice published on page 1 of the Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday 10 Jul 1897.
ELDRIDGE. - April 7, 1897, at Nagpur, Central Provinces,
India. J. R. Eldridge, son of Captain Eldridge, Cape
Cod Massachusetts, U.S.A.; for may years a prominent
official of the East Indian Railway Company, Bengal,
India, and for some time a resident of Sydney and
Marrickville, N.S.W.; leaving a wife and two sons.
A death notice was also placed in the Sydney Mail of 17 Jul 1897.
ELDRIDGE. - April 7, 1897, at Nagpur, Central Provinces,
India, J. R. Eldridge.
Caroline died in the Emergency Hospital, Moore Park, Paddington on 21 Jun 1919. Her death registration shows her children as John C 45, living; 5 males deceased. Her funeral notice published in the Sydney Morning Herald of 23 Jul 1919 shows she was relic of the late John Eldridge of Sydney and India.
Their surviving son, John Chambers Eldridge, married in Sydney on 23 Oct 1895 to Marie Mertel. He was shown as a clerk, aged 23 and born Sydney however when he enlisted at age 43 in the Australian Infantry Forces on 29 Nov 1916 he showed his birth place as Calcutta, Bengal, British India. Marie was a saleswoman, aged 19 and born in Berlin, the daughter of Frederick Mertel, an engineer, and Caroline Wagner. They had 6 known children. John Chambers was later an Accountant in the NSW Government and an Australian Labor Party Member of the House of Representatives for the division of Martin in the Federal Parliment from 12 Oct 1929 to 19 Dec 1931. He published a number of books including An Australian Greeting to William Shakespeare and Education and Science in a Working Class Ideology. Marie died on 6 Aug 1953 and John Chambers the following year on 17 Apr 1954 aged 82. His death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 24 Apr 1954 shows him as the father of Jessie, Elsie, Marie, Jack, Dorothy and Hazel.
Updated 28 November 2007
John Reuben Eldridge ( -1897)
m 1868 Caroline Chambers (1850-1919)
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John Chambers Eldridge (1873-1954)
m 1895 Marie Augusta Mertel (1876-1953)
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| Elizabeth C Eldridge (1896-1896)
| Elsie Victoria Eldridge (1898-1963)
| m 1924 James Buprestis Bray (1890-1979)
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| | Joan Bray ( - )
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| Marie Mertel Eldridge (1900-1975)
| m 1925 Rex Allison Geary (1900-1958)
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| | John Geary ( - )
| | June Geary ( - )
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| John Cecil Eldridge (1902-1985)
| Nellie (Dorothy May) Eldridge (1903- )
| m 1926 Leslie Shakespeare Young (1899-1979)
| Hazel Marion Eldridge (1906- )
| m 1929 James Noel MacLean ( - )
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(male) Eldridge ( - )
(male) Eldridge ( - )
(male) Eldridge ( - )
(male) Eldridge ( - )
(male) Eldridge ( - )