Babington, William Charles Hume - The Life of

Babington, William Charles Hume - The Life of

William Charles Hume Babington was born in March 1870 in the home of his parents, Daniel and Ellen Buckley (nee Sherry) in Townsend Street, Albury. In later years William adopted his step-grandfather’s name of Babington. Babington is the name he was married under and his children were given.

William’s mother, Ellen, died in childbirth in January 1874, she was 39 years old, and William was only four years old at this time. In 1882, William’s father Daniel placed his son, then aged 12, with the Culnane family at Morven. It was not unusual in those times to be sent out to work from that age. Both the Buckley and Culnane families had a lot to do with horses. It appears that William had been sent there as an apprentice, working in the stables. William’s occupation when he was older was a jockey and groom. William continued his schooling at Morven until he turned 14 years old.

William rode in many local races he travelled the circuit around Victoria and in the late 1800’s he won the Mooney Valley Cup. William was a kind and compassionate man. My mother, Judy Babington, said she loved to watch her father working with horses. His gentle hands, calm manner and voice were very soothing to a nervous or sick horse.

William married Mary Ann Ada Holder at Germanton (Holbrook) on 17th September 1912. William had a perfect set of teeth, though he never used a tooth brush or tooth paste. He cleaned his teeth by chewing charcoal, then rinsing his mouth with water. He did this twice a day.

William was a good jockey, and like all jockey’s he had to keep his weight down. The method the jockey’s used in those early days was to make up their own sauna by piling up a huge mound of horse manure out in the hot sun. Inside its depths, the manure fermented, generating scalding heat. Riders dug holes in the surface and burrowed in, burying themselves up to the neck in the manure for extended periods. William was an asthmatic, his wife Mary, always believed it was caused by the many years of losing weight by this method.

William Babington died in his home at Morven on 31st July 1930 - he was 60 years old. William’s coffin was carried from his home at Morven to the Culcairn cemetery in an open black carriage pulled by four Blood-Black Clydesdales.

By Patricia Payne

Patricia Payne