James Bain 1836 - 1892

Owned by Liz Hardie
Last updated: Dec 21, 2020

James Bain (1836 - 1892)

James Bain was born in Tillicoultry in 1836. Record of his baptism has not been found. He was illegitimate the son of Robert or Alexander Bain and Margaret Cairns. (NB on his marriage certificate his father is recorded as Alexander Bain, and on his death certificate it is recorded as Robert Bain)

It appears the James spent most of his child hood living in Clackmannanshire. Based on census records :

  • In June 1841 James was living at West of Burn Tillicoultry, Clackmannan with his mother Margaret and aunt Jane (who are both working as a woollen winders and are recorded as Cairns), as well as his 2 year old sister Agnes Morgan
  • In March 1851 James was using the surname Morgan and was working as an Apprentice Blacksmith to William Murray and living with the Murray family at Toll Road Tillicoultry. James sister Agnes is with her father George Morgan (a tailor) who was visiting his sister Ann Bowie at High St Clackmannan
  • In App 1861 James was living at Borrowmeadow Farm near Stirling where he was working as a Blacksmith, most likely for the Galloway family. His mother Margaret is living at 7 Cairnton St in Tillicoultry with her daughter Georgina

On 14 December 1860 he married Elizabeth McPherson McFarlane in Auchterarder, Perth by William Milne. Elizabeth was born on 16 July 1838 in Dundee Angus the second child and eldest daughter of James McFarlane and /wiki/spaces/HFHW/pages/63209473. The couple obviously met a white prior to this as Elizabeth was heavily pregnant at time of the marriage and the marriage was witnessed were Alexander Bain and James MacFarlane. On the records, James father is noted As Alexander Bain Ploughman (deceased). There is a possibility that the Alexander Bain who witnessed the marriage is related in some way, but it is not possible to confirm this. The couple stayed in Auchterarder for a couple of weeks after the wedding, with their eldest child born there 5 days after the wedding on 20th December. They had moved to Stirling by 4 January where the birth was registered at St Ninians.

 James and Elizabeth had 7 children - 3 daughters and 4 sons - between 1860 and 1880:


In August 1862 James travelled - by himself - to Southampton where he boarded the Conway to travel as an assisted immigrant to Queensland. The Conway was a 1148 tonne clipper that was built by Owens and Duncan at Portland, St John, New Brunswick in 1851 departed Southampton on August 16 1862 and arrived in Brisbane on 27 November 1862. with 426 immigrants. The trip took 102 days and there were no deaths. At the time Queensland was using the land order system to generate an influx of immigrants to the colony James land order was 1015 or 1016

James obituary notes that upon his arrival he travelled up to Caboolture where we worked as a blacksmith for Captain Claudius Buchanan Whish (who arrived in August 1862 aboard the Young Australia and established the Oaklands sugar plantation at Caboolture). By 1864 he was working for Richard Joseph Smith at his Town Marie Sawmill and Boiling Down Works at Chuwar on the Bremer north of Ipswich.

In 1864 his wife and young daughter followed him as a remittance migrants - "people sent for by friends or relatives in the colony", boarding the Earl Russell at Plymouth on 23 April 1864 and arriving in Moreton Bay on 19 August 1864. After their arrival, they travelled to Town Marie where they lived until James acquired the lease on the Ipswich Corporation Bath in 1866

The Corporation Baths were built by the Ipswich City Council in 1865 on the banks of the Bremer River near St. Marys Church. The baths were quite small and were open to the public from 5am to 9pm. Men and women were not allowed to bath together so there were set times when women could bath alone and times allotted for male bathing. The facility had a pool, as well as hot and cold showers and baths. Hot tea and coffee were also available

James maintained his lease on the baths until they were swept away in the great flood of January 1887, James and the family stayed on site as caretakers and the new baths were constructed behind their residence in 1891. 

About 1872 he started a vinegar works and cordial factory in a two storey building on Martin Street in Ipswich, producing table and pickling vinegar as well as a range of cordials including ginger win, raspberry, peppermint, cloves, pineapple, orange bitters and lemon syrup.

IPSWICH MALT VINEGAR WORKS.
MARTIN STREET
By advertisment, James Bain informs the storekeepers, merchants, and general public that he has recommenced making vinegar, and hoped that they will give him a trial, as the article he will supply .will be found equal to any purchased in Queensland. Those who give him a trial can be supplied at from 2/ to 2/3 per gallon. If casks are sent by persons requiring vinegar, it will Be supplied at 2/ per gallon.

There was a fire on premises in 1878 but it did not cause any substantial damage

(Scottish emigrants from Perth who arrived in Australia in 1862). James Snr was a blacksmith who became the lessee of the Ipswich Municipal baths.

OBITUARY JAMES BAIN.  

In our last issue we announced the serious illness of Mr. James Bain of the Corporation Baths. Mr Bain lingered until Monday morning last, when he peacefully expired. He was conscious almost up to the last and received the kindly ministrations of the Rev. P. Robertson and the members of his family. The deceased was a very old colonist, having come out from Scotland, for the good of his health, in the ship "Conway" in the year 1862. Upon arrival in Queensland, he went up to Caboolture as a blacksmith under the late Captain Whish, who was lost in the wreck of the Quetta. He then came to Ipswich and worked as an engineer at the late Mr R J Smith's Town Marie sawmills and boiiling down establishment on the banks of the Bremer, near the present Waterstown. From this place he came to Ipswich, and with the exception of about twelve months has been at the baths on the banks of the Bremer for about twenty five years.

He leaves a wife and family of two sons and three daughters to mourn their loss, the youngest son being eleven years of age while the eldest daughter is the wife of Mr F Gehrmann of the Railway department. Though of an unassuming disposition, he took a deep interest in everything concerning the welfare of the town, and was much respected as a citizen. He was an energetic work in connection with the Presbyterian Church, and at the time of his death and on many previous occasions was Chairman of the Church committee. The funeral will take place this afternoon, and the members of the Loyal Rose of Queensland Lodge, MUIOOF are requested to attend at the lodge room at 3 o'clock to take park in the last sad ceremony.