Joseph Pittman: Stationer and Artist

Pittman’s Advertisement in Mouritz’s 1847 Directory

Joseph Pittman arrived in Melbourne on 11 April 1843 on the 281 ton barque “Enmore” (Captain Henry James Ellis) from London (11 November 1842). He was met here by his brother Frederick who had already been in business in Melbourne for a number of years. Before the end of April 1843 Joseph was advertising supplies of stationery ex the “Enmore” for sale by commission at Mathew Holmes’s Stationery Warehouse in Collins Street.

Joseph was also a skilled artist. Three buildings, sketched and drawn by him and lithographed by Thomas Ham were printed and published in 1844-45. These were “The Union Bank of Australia, Melbourne,” “The Government Offices, Melbourne,” and “St. Francis Church, Melbourne.” On the latter two of these there is a note indicating that they were distributed to subscribers of the “Port Phillip Patriot” newspaper.

Union Bank of Australia, Melbourne c1844

Joseph continued in business as a stationer for many years. Both he and Frederick entered into short-lived partnerships with others at various times and also became insolvent at times. Joseph had contracts to supply the government with stationery but he also worked as a draftsman and map colourist with the Geological Survey of Victoria. In December 1851 he wrote a lengthy letter to his mother in England describing conditions in Victoria at the height of the gold rush. In it he describes his difficulties in finding staff to run his business with so many men having gone to the goldfields. This letter was published in “The Essex Standard and General Advertiser” of 23 April 1852.

On 21 May 1844 Joseph Pittman married Frances (Fanny) Bolger at St. James Church of England, Melbourne. Fanny was the daughter of William Bolger of Dublin, Ireland and his wife Mary Ann, nee Ellis and also the sister of Emily Bolger, wife of Joseph’s brother, Frederick Pittman. Joseph and Fanny had two children, Mary Ann Ellis Pittman (b.1846) who was married in Victoria in 1870 to Richard Hugh Dickson Kelly, second son of J. W. Kelly, Esq., of Sydney, New South Wales; and Edward Fisher Pittman (b.1849) who was married in Victoria in 1883 to Kate Glass Eadie. Joseph’s wife Fanny died on 29 March 1862 at Brighton, Victoria.

On 17 April 1863 at St. Kilda, Victoria, Joseph Pittman married secondly, Mary Sarah West, second daughter of Lieutenant Matthew Thomas West, R.N., of London, England. Their children were Joseph Matthew Pittman (1864-1903) and Mary Eliza Frances Halden Pittman (1870-1942). Joseph Matthew was born on 21 January 1864 at Upper Hawthorn, Victoria. He was educated at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon, England where he won a scholarship to study at Balliol College, Oxford. There he graduated with a Master of Arts and became a minister in the Church of England at St. Saviour’s, Stoke, next Guildford, Surrey, England. He died on 23 January 1903.

Mary Eliza was born on 25 July 1870 at Barkers Road, Upper Hawthorn, Victoria. She did not marry and died on 13 February 1942 at ‘St. Kilda,’ Fengates Road, Redhill, Surrey, England.

Joseph returned to England in the 1870s, living for a time at Pinhoe, Devon before taking up residence at Oxford where he died on 17 April 1882. His widow, Mary Sarah Pittman, died on 16 May 1905 in England.

Joseph Pittman had been born on 11 May 1810 and baptised on 3 September 1812 at Barking, Essex, England. He was the son of John Joseph Pittman, farmer of Manor Farm, Barking, Essex and his wife Elizabeth, nee Fisher. Besides Frederick, Joseph had a number of other siblings, including Edward Pittman (1814-1873); Emily Elizabeth Pittman (1817-1889); Henry Fisher Pittman (c1815-1848); and John Thomas Pittman.

Edward was a clerk in the British Gas Company who rose to be a superintendent. He married Isabella Trussell in London in 1840 and they had a daughter named Fanny Fisher Pittman (c1844-1885) who married the Rev. George Tuthill (c1843-1901), Vicar of St. Paul’s Church, Wednesbury, Staffordshire, England. They in turn had three daughters, Catherine Isabella Tuthill (b.c1877), Monica Emily Tuthill (b.1880) and Dorothy Mary Tuthill (b.c1884). Edward Pittman died on 15 June 1873 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Emily Elizabeth Pittman lived most of her life in London, England. She did not marry and died at South Lambeth on 4 January 1889.

Henry Fisher Pittman died in London, England in January 1848.

John Thomas Pittman was a grocer at Gravesend, near London in the early 1850s.

Of their parents, John Joseph Pittman is believed to have died in 1823. His widow, Elizabeth, lived in London for many years and died in June 1857 while living in Aston Street, Limehouse, London, England. She was buried in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

Government Offices, Melbourne c1845

Frederick Pittman is thought to have arrived in Sydney, New South Wales in July 1831 as a crew member on the “Georgiana” and then travelled to Van Diemens Land in 1834. He arrived in Melbourne in October 1837 on the “Port Phillip Packet.” He was in partnership with William Phelps Pickering for a time up till the middle of 1838. He was then in business as a merchant, shipping and commission agent. On 2 March 1841 he married Emily Bolger in Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land. Their children were William Pittman (b.1841) who went to Dunedin, New Zealand; Elizabeth Pittman (1843-1927) who married James Johnston Twining; and Edward Ellis Pittman (1847-1871) who apparently died unmarried.

Elizabeth was married in Victoria in 1868 to Captain James Johnston Twining of the 35th Royal Sussex Regiment. He was born c1837 in Nova Scotia, Canada. They had a son, Charles Frederick Twining who died in infancy on 11 February 1870. James Johnston Twining died 1 October 1901 in Melbourne and Elizabeth Twining on 25 January 1927 at St. Kilda, Victoria. They are buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton, Victoria.

St Francis Church, Melbourne c1845

Source of Images: State Library of Victoria

Contributed by Alexander Romanov-Hughes – PPPG Member No. 52