John Lawrence Medd Wright Sleight

1812 - 1871  (59 years)

• Name	John Lawrence Medd Wright Sleight
  Born	1812	Rotherhithe, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
  	John Lawrence Medd Wright Sleight, parents, John Sleight and Elizabeth. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 Blacksmiths, Wheelrights and Undertakers There is nothing about the ordinary funeral that absolutely requires that it be conducted by a funeral director. Undertakers did not invent funerals. Nor should funerals be preserved merely to keep what one writer has described as the dismal trader in business. We do not know who was Australia's or even Melbourne's first undertaker and it would be many years after colonisation before any individual operated a funeral exclusive business. Other trades people such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters and furniture makers often fulfilled the functions of the undertaker. One such person was James Rooke, cabinet and chair maker of London, who had established a furniture manufacturing business in Pitt Street, Sydney and also advertised to his clientele that his services included performing funerals. Robert Frost advertised as a ?carpenter, joiner and undertaker in Melbourne in 1839. Frost assured the public that funerals will be attended on the shortest notice, while his competitor Samuel Crook opened a cabinet and upholstery warehouse in William Street Melbourne and also advised that funerals would be furnished punctually and conducted in the neatest manner possible. Crook was later to establish a coffin making plant in Collins Street. Crook took an employee John Sleight into partnership and in due course the A.A.Sleight firm evolved and was to handle the funerals of many of Melbourne's more prominent citizens. Reflecting on the names of some of the first undertakers, it can be observed that few callings can claim both a Rooke and a Crook among its pioneers even in a country largely settled by convicts. The funeral industry of the twenty-first century is professionally operated and fulfils its tasks and responsibilities with care, empathy and understanding. Properly managed the funeral can play and important role in the process of grief resolution and help families come to terms with death and at the same time celebrate life. Graeme Griffin's and my book In the Midst of Life. The Australian Response to Death asserts that how we deal with death can significantly impact on how we live and how we might better deal with death as a part of life. (Blacksmiths, Wheelrights and Undertakers) Funeral directors or undertakers are given on Victorian death certificates. In the early days the person who dug the grave may be listed; this could be a relative or a friend of the family. See Death Records. Funeral directors or undertakers are also given on death notices in newspapers. See Newspapers, Magazines and Journals. Funeral Director and Undertaker Records Name: John Sleight Place: Melbourne, St Kilda, Windsor, Richmond, Brighton and Elsternwick Records: Daybooks Time Period: 1847-1880 Death: After 1880? A Death Record information Event: deaths Registration number 6841 / 1871 Family name: SLEIGHT Given name(s) Jno Laur Mead Wright Personal detail Mother's name Mother's family name at birth Father's Name: , John (VictoriaDeath Index) The Providence was built in Lynn in 1812. Convicts were transported to Australia on the Providence in 1822 (VDL and NSW) and 1826 (VDL) Name: Sleight, John Record Type: Departures Departure date: 8 Mar 1837 Departure port: Launceston Ship: Enterprize Bound to: Port Phillip Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:608080 Resource: POL459/1/1 p4 (Tasmania Names Index Online) Sleight John, Castlereagh-street, an upholsterer's boy. Government Gazette Notices-New South Wales Government Gazette, Sydney, NSW, Wednesday, 15 Jan 1834 Sleight, York-street, at twelve o'clock, Household Furniture. The Sydney Herald, New South Wales, Thursday, 25 Sep 1834 On TUESDAY, the 10th Instant, on the Premises of Mr. Sleight, Cabinetmaker, York street, the Proprietor retiring from the Business, FOUR-POST BEDSTEADS AND HANGINGS, Mattresses, Couches, Chair-Lounges, elegant Loo, Card, and Dining Tables, Sideboards, Chairs, Chests of Drawers, Wardrobes, Bedroom Chairs, Commodes, Wash stands, and a great variety of other articles of Furniture, which will be sold without any resci ve. Terms of Sale-Cash. The Sydney Herald, New South Wales, Monday, 8 Sep 1834 The Chronicle, Launceston, Tasmania, Saturday, 26 Sep 1840 Samuel Crook was listed in directories at William Street in 1841, Collins Street in 1842 to I85O, and 71 Collins Street in 1851. Samuel owned the properties at 69 to 71 Collins Street in 1851. The Melbourne City Council rate books for that year showed the rates for those properties was the substantial amount of £130. In 1854 the properties had been sold by Samuel, and John Sleight was listed as the owner of the property at 71 Collins Street. Sleight was probably an old acquaintance from Sydney, who was listed in the New South Wales census of 1828 as an apprentice with Edward Hunt, a cabinetmaker in George Street, Sydney. John Sleight held an auction at his premises in York Street, Sydney in 1834, when he closed his business there and went to Tasmania, where in 1840 he was manager at the workshop of Robert Bell in Launceston, while Bell was overseas. By 1841 John Sleight was employed by Samuel Crook in Melbourne and soon after joined him in partner-ship. John Sleight was listed in directories in Melbourne as a cabinetmaker at McKillop Street in 1847 and 174 Latrobe Street in 1851 - After the purchase of the property at 71 Collins Street, Sleight continued there as an undertaker until 1868, when he was listed in directories at 83 Collins Street. (THE AUSTRALIANA SOCIETY NEWSLETTER ) There was a rare chance here yesterday, it was neither more nor less than an invitation to tender for the trust estate of John Sleight, undertaker, for his good-will, stock-in-trade, consisting of coffins, plumes, and other fixings, besides the rolling-stock, being a well-assorted mournful-looking lot of hearses, coaches, carriages, horses, harness, and I suppose the driver goes with the lot. This was a good opportunity for enterprising men from the West, who like this line of business. Hamilton Spectator, Victoria, Wednesday, 31 May 1871
  Christened	2 Sep 1812	Saint Mary, Ealing, London, England, United Kingdom
  Gender	Male
  Died	2 Sep 1871	No. 83 Collins-Street East, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  	John Lawrence Medd Wright Sleight Birth 1812 Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark, Greater London, England Death 2 Sep 1871 (aged 58?59) Melbourne, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia Burial Melbourne General Cemetery Carlton North, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia Memorial ID 195246589 Created by: Val Sullivan Added: 9 Dec 2018 Find a Grave Memorial 195246589 SLEIGHT-September 2 at his residence, No. 83 Collins-street east, Mr. John Sleight, (only son of the Late Captian John Sleight of Sydney), aged 59 years. The Sydney Morning Herald, New South Wales, Friday, 6 Oct 1871 Eliza Ann Aitkinson Sleight Birth 1815 Death 28 Oct 1866 (aged 50?51) Burial Melbourne General Cemetery Carlton North, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia Plot MGC-PRE-Comp-H-No-03 Memorial ID 198925181 Created by: Tony M. Added: 7 May 2019 Find a Grave Memorial 198925181
  Buried	6 Sep 1871	Melbourne General Cemetery, Victoria, Australia
  	THE remains of Mr. JOHN SLEIGHT will be interred in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The funeral leaving his late residence, No. 83 Collins-street east, at half-past 2 o;clock on Wednesday, the 6th instant. The Argus, Melbourne, Victoria, Wednesday, 6 Sep 1871
  Person ID	I17003	Hickey, List, Bundesen, Thomsen, Jensen, Jessen
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2020

  
  

  Father	John Sleight,   b. Abt 1784, London, England ,   d. 1 Apr 1833, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia  (Age ~ 49 years)
  Mother	Elizabeth,   d. 13 Mar 1852, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  Family ID	F6089	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Eliza Jane Atkinson,   b. London, England ,   d. 28 Oct 1866, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  Married	2 Sep 1836	Scots Church, Launceston, Tasmania
  	Marriage Sleight, John Record Type: Marriages Gender: Male Spouse: Atkinson, Eliza Gender: Female Date of marriage: 02 Sep 1836 Registered: Launceston Registration year: 1836 Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:822997 Resource: RGD36/1/3 no 3488 (Tasmania Names Index Online) John Sleight per ship Providence snd Eliza Atkinson per ship Layton, married by Banns, Scots Church.
  Children	+ 1. Alfred Augustus Sleight,   b. 4 Feb 1839, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia ,   d. 10 Nov 1896, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,  (Age 57 years)
  Last Modified	30 Nov 2020
  Family ID	F6084	Group Sheet

  
  

• Photos

  John Sleight 1812–1871 BIRTH 1812 • St Mary, Rotherhithe, Surrey, England, DEATH 1871 • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia SLEIGHT.—On the 2nd inst., at his residence, No. 83 Collins-street east, Mr. John Sleight, aged 59 years John Sleight was listed as the owner of the property at 71 Collins Street. Sleight was probably an old acquaintance from Sydney, who was listed in the New South Wales census of 1828 as an apprentice with Edward Hunt, a cabinetmaker in George Street, Sydney. John Sleight held an auction at his premises in York Street, Sydney in 1834, when he closed his business there and went to Tasmania, where in 1840 he was manager at the workshop of Robert Bell in Launceston, while Bell was overseas. By 1841 John Sleight was employed by Samuel Crook in Melbourne and soon after joined him in partnership. John Sleight was listed in directories in Melbourne as a cabinet maker at McKillop Street in 1847 and 174 Latrobe Street in 1851 - After the purchase of the property at 71 Collins Street, Sleight continued there as an undertaker until 1868, when he was listed in directories at 83 Collins Street. Created by: Val Sullivan Added: 9 Dec 2018 Find a Grave Memorial 195246589 John Lawrence Medd Wright Sleight Birth 1812 Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark, Greater London, England Death 2 Sep 1871 (aged 58–59) Melbourne, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia Burial Melbourne General Cemetery Carlton North, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia Memorial ID 195246589 Created by: Val Sullivan Added: 9 Dec 2018 Find a Grave Memorial 195246589