Weaste Cemetery

Biographies of people buried between 1880 & 89

James Albert Bostock (1848 - 1880)


 James Albert Bostock was a member of the Bible Christian Church in Salford and went to an International Temperance Conference in Melbourne, Australia in 1880, but he died and was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery. He is remembered on his wife's family gravestone at Weaste Cemetery, Salford.


He was born in 1848 in Bunbury, Cheshire and baptised on 22nd May 1848. His father was John Bostock (b.1824 at Whitegate, Cheshire) who was a Slater. His mother was Mary, nee Bird (b.1829 at Bunbury, Cheshire).


In 1851 the family lived at Woodward Green, Bunbury. John was a Slater, Mary was a Dressmaker, James was 2 years old and Elizabeth was 9 months old. In 1853 another son William was born, but he was to die in 1855. In 1861 at Higher Town Bunbury, James was 12 and Elizabeth was 10. In 1871 at Parsonage St, Salford, James was aged 22, but Elizabeth was with her uncle, William Bird, in Oldcott, Staffordshire.


In 1875, James Bostock married Mary Alice Peacock at the Bible Christian Church, Salford. Mary Alice was born in 1853 at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, and was the daughter of James Peacock (1882 – 1870), a Machinist and Draper and Anne, nee Strettles (1818 – 1891). Anne's father was Rev John Booth Strettles (1795 – 1853), Schoolteacher and Minister of the Bible Christian Church who used to deputise for Joseph Brotherton MP when Joseph was away on Parliamentary business. James and Mary Alice had two children, but tragically they both died in infancy. James (junior) was born and died in 1877 and Marian was born and died in 1879.


James planned to attend the International Temperance Conference in Melbourne, Australia, scheduled for November 1880. The shipping Index shows that he arrived in Melbourne in December 1879 on board the "Sobraon." It was described as one of the finest sailing ships ever built, not only the fastest one, but by far the largest to be composite built (iron frame and teak planking). From 1872 to 1891 it sailed the Melbourne route carrying 90 first class and 40 second class passengers, sailing once per year, leaving in September for the best weather. Her fastest trip to Melbourne was 68 days. Registered tonnage was 2,131 tons and overall length was 317 feet.


When James arrived in Melbourne he took a short term job as Assistant Secretary with Young Men's Christian Association. But his date with the Conference was not to be, as he died of phthisis (TB) on 17th August 1880 at his lodgings at 33, Prince's Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, aged 32. He was buried in the Baptist section of Melbourne General Cemetery on 19th August.


The 1881 census shows that Mary Alice moved in with her parents, who had moved to 97, Liverpool Road South, Birkdale, Southport. Also in the house was her mother's sister Mary (nee Strettles) Bennett, who was also widowed since her husband Leonard Bennett had died in 1857. In 1896, Mary Alice married Herbert Frost in Ormskirk. In 1901 they lived in Southport including Mary Bennett and in 1911 still in Southport. Mary Alice died on 6th August 1933, aged 80 and was buried at Birkdale Cemetery.