Albert Edward Oaten

     NOTE: The information on this page is my research to date and is subject to change as I become better informed. I very much welcome any corrections or additional info you might have - my email address is at the bottom of this page. Whilst historical facts are not copyright, my writing about these facts are. If you wish to use any text from this site on Ancestry or on any other website, please ask me first - Tim Hill.


Albert was born at Sackville Street on Monday, 16 April 1888 at the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.^1,2 He was the son of Charles Henry Oaten and Catherine Carroll.

In the early 1890's, the family moved a number of times, never staying more than a year or two; to 58 Easey Street Collingwood, then Henderson Street Northcote, then back to Easey Street but this time at number 134 (a small single storey, single-fronted terrace house). By 1896 they finally came to 44 Hilton Street in Clifton Hill - also a single storey, single-fronted terrace house - where their next two children were born.^3,4,5,6,7,8 He presumably lived with his parents at at 105 Spensley Street in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill in December 1897. This house was a wooden house, marked as 103 in the rate book for this year but likley No. 105 (as was same house renumbered in the subsequent year).^9,10

The Oaten family moved house again, firstly to 84 Sackville Street, then to 35 Emma Street Collingwood.^11,12,13

On 23 July 1901 Charles apparently left the family home leaving Catherine and their seven children aged 2 months to 14 years.¹⁴

His mother died 6 October 1901 at the age of 35. Albert was aged 13 when this happened.

On Wednesday, 9 October 1901 three days after the death of her mother, Lydia went to live with the nuns in an Abbotsford convent (most likely Sisters of the Good Shepard) in about 1901. Maggie and Kate went to live with the St. Vincent de Paul's Orphanage in Emerald Hill. Their brothers went to a Catholic boys home in South Melbourne (probably St. Vincent de Paul's Boy Orphanage), whilst the youngest daughter Alice initially went to live with neighbours until she was four.^15,16,17,18

A family legend has it that Albert Edward Oaten was born Church of England, but was brought up Methodist by the Battle family (his first cousins, once removed). This is likely to have been either Charles John Battle (with his teeming family) or Thomas Hamilton Battle who had no children - both lived on Easey Street for long periods around the turn of the century.¹⁹ Albert lived in 1908 at at 27 Reilly Street in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.²⁰

Henry was discharged from the orphanage on Saturday, 17 April 1909 to the care of his brother Albert at Collingwood.²¹

On Saturday, 22 May 1909 Margaret was discharged from the orphanage to the care of her brother Albert.²² He was a boot-last maker in his adulthood. This was apparently with G. N. Raymond, a well-known manufacturer of lasts. in 1909.^1,23,24 "By 1895, Raymond had moved to a larger factory in Easey Street where he produced a wide range of bootmakers' equipment including rollers, presses, lasting jacks, heel breasters, sole knives, heel knives and heel rounders, as well as wooden & iron lasts in hundreds of different sizes. During the early 20th century G.N. Raymond's works continued to expand until they eventually covered almost the whole block down to Budd Street and back to Kelle Street". At this time, the factory seemed to be located at 6-34 Easey Street Collingwood.²⁵ Allan Marshall may well have been describing Raymond's factory - a two storey brick building located on a Collingwood suburban corner - when he said "The Modern Shoe Company was a two-storey. brick building sitting squarely on a Collingwood street corner. No area of grass surrounded it, no yard ... it was an upward extension of the asphalt street, the bluestoned gutter and the pounded roadway. The building was welded to the earth covering on which it stood and through it to other buildings, to other streets, to the city itself. A hundred factories grew aong the streets of the poor surrounding it. They elbowed each other for room in cramped alleys; steam and laden air walled upwards from their breathing windows and doors; their chimneys flung scarves of smoke across the narrow sky" (In Mine Own Heart.)²⁶

He married Violet Barbara Cheyne, a confectioner, daughter of Robert Cheyne and Agnethe Evensdatter Sørum, in a Congregational Church ceremony at at the manse 101 Gore Street on Wednesday, 24 November 1909 at the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. He was 21 and his wife Violet was 20. Violet needed the consent of her father to marry; both Violet and Albert had lost their mothers in their early teens.. Brothers and sisters who may have attended include Lydia Amelia Oaten, Catherine Oaten, Charles Henry Oaten, Henry William Oaten, Margaret Mary Oaten, Lily Hawthorne Cheyne, Albert Robert Cheyne and Daisy Agnnete Cheyne. Violet and Albert went on to have four children together, three of whom lived to their adulthood.^1,27

Bootmaking was not a particularly well paid job and the hours were long. In June 1902 the minimum wage for skilled members of the boot-making trade was raised to 7/6 per day or 45 shillings a week for a week of 48 hours. The award for less skilled workers was somewhat less.²⁸

Albert, aged 22 and Violet Barbara Cheyne, aged 21 became the parents of their first daughter Violet Agnette Oaten on Saturday, 18 June 1910 at the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.²⁹ Albert (and presumably his spouse Violet) lived in 1911 at at 14 Fergie Street in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy.³⁰ Albert (and presumably his spouse Violet) lived in 1913 at at 868 Nicholson Street in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy.³¹ Albert (and presumably his spouse Violet) lived in May 1913 at at 15 Coleman street in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy. They were to stay in this house for another four years.³²

Albert, aged 25 and Violet Barbara Cheyne, aged 24 became the parents of Mavis Lily Oaten on Thursday, 1 May 1913 at North Fitzroy.^32,33

Albert died on 2 May 1919 at the Emergency Hospital (broadmeadows Hospital), in Campbellfield, Victoria, at age 31 of pneumonic influenza that he had had for 6 days. He was one of about 1400 people receiving treatment, and one of about 15 people who died of the flu that day. A family story was that he had contracted bubonic plague (a common Belief amongst the families of sufferers) after helping unload a Red Cross ship at the docks. Fifteen thousand Australians died of this pandemic..^{34,23,35,36,37,38}

Death for Spanish Flu victims was particularly unpleasant; "their lungs filled with fluid; lack of oxygen caused their skin to turn blue and sometimes almost black. they died rapidly."³⁶ His body was interred at Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery on 3 May 1919 at the Melbourne suburb of Coburg. He is buried in the Church of England section in plot CO-COE*D***543, and is buried with his wife who died 43 years later and their son Albert..^23,39,4039

A year after Albert's death, his wife Violet published a memorial in the paper:



One year after Albert's death, his brother Charles published a memorial in the paper:



A year after Albert's death (and just a few short days after her own husband's death), his sister Catherine published a memorial in the paper:



One year after Albert's death his sister Margaret published a memorial in the paper:



One year after Albert's death his sister Lydia published a memorial in the paper:



One year after Albert's death his sister-in-law Lily Hawthorne Cheyne published a memorial in the paper: