John Henry Stonehouse Lydiard

Born at Guildford, Surrey, England, the son of George Lydiard, a naval officer and Mary née Sturt, aunt of the explorer Captain Charles Sturt.  He arrived in Victoria in 1852 to join his famous cousin, and instead joined the Victorian Police on 1 April 1852 and was believed to have been the first cadet appointed to the gold escort, stationed at Carlsruhe and Castlemaine.  During the Eureka uprising in December 1854, Lydiard was one of twelve troopers sent to Ballarat.  He later became a well-known pastoralist in the Riverina district as owner of Moolpa on the Edwards River and later Coree near Deniliquin.  Residing at South Yarra, Lydiard died on 26 May 1918 and was predeceased by his wife Louisa née Mackinnon (d 1915) whom he married in 1856 and bore him at least five children; Anne (1858-1944), Mary (c1860-1929), Charles (1861-1928), John (1864-1941) and Francis (1870-1944) who in 1888 joined The Argus co-owned by his uncle Sir Lauchlan Mackinnon (1848-1925).  Lydiard Street, Ballarat is named after John’s elder brother Charles John Pitfield Lydiard (1828-1889), a police superintendent who was one of the first policemen to be stationed at Ballarat.

Monumental Headstone

Source:

Corfield, J, Wickham, D & Gervasoni, C., “The Eureka Encyclopaedia” (2004).

Sadleir, J., “Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer” (1913).

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