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Orphan Number: 4589
Orphan: Matilda REVELL
Mother:TOBIN, Mary
Father:REVELL, Henry
Mother's ship:William Hammond
Father's ship:Lady Kennaway
Age when admitted:4yrs
Date admitted:26 Feb 1869
Date discharged:18 Dec 1874, 6 Jan 1875
Institution(s):Queens Orphan School
Discharged to: Anderson, T H McGrath, Argyle St
Remarks: won Roman Catholic and good conduct prizes 1871 - mother dead
References: SWD26/11, 27, 32/1, 52/1, 53, 54, Mercury 26 Apr 1867


This orphan has been claimed by: Faith Rees

Isabella Matilda Revell (her full name as listed on her birth registration) was my Great Great Grandmother. I never met her, but my Mother spoke of her and I have one solitary photo.  She was from what I know a remarkably strong and independant woman, who married twice. Her first husband Samual Brown died in 1888, not long after they arrived in Melbourne, leaving her with three young children. She married again, to Henry Watts Knight and had another two children quite late in life for that time. The marriage ended, although she never divorced. I know very little of her personal turmoils as according to my mother she never spoke of them. My mother. who was 11 when Isabella Matilda died, remebered her to be stern and did not have many happy memories of her.  Given her early life I am no surprised though she never talked of her past life to her family.  It was only quite recently that I learned of Isabella Matilda's incarceration in the Queen's Orphanage,  have since visited the site and was overwhelmed by the aura of sadness that permiates the remaining buildings and surrounds.



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