Laurence and Ellen Sinclair

Laurence Sinclair was the youngest of three Sinclair brothers to come to Western Australia from the Shetland Islands in the mid-19th Century. He was born in Skelberry, Dunrossness, on the 30th of January 1831, to parents George and Margaret Sinclair.¹

It’s not known precisely when he arrived but it may have been in the early 1850s on one of the ships arriving in the Swan River Colony. There is a record for a Laurence Sinclair from Shetland in the UK Merchant Navy Seamen Records, but it cannot be established that this was him.² If it was, he might have arrived in Fremantle and decided to stay rather than continue with the ship. Family historian Margret Sinclair thinks he may have arrived in Western Australia on the ship John Panter, but there is no firm evidence to support this idea. His name has not been found on any of the documents relating to arrivals in the colony at this time.

He got a job as a ‘tidewaiter’ (a customs inspector inspecting incoming ships) in Fremantle in 1857.  He went on to become a coxswain with the Water Police, a position he held until 1888.³ He later became a committee member of the Fremantle Working Man’s Association.

Laurence married Ellen Hogan, who came to Western Australia on the Sabrina in 1853. They were married in St. Patrick’s church, Fremantle, on the 25th of April 1857.

Laurence died in 1900 at his home, 126 Beaufort Street, Perth. He is buried in the Roman Catholic portion of Fremantle Cemetery. Ellen was to die thirteen years later in a tragic accident. A newspaper report of the time said

Mrs. Ellen Sinclair, aged 70 years, was the victim of a shocking burning accident at the residence of her daughter, in Harley Street, Highgate Hill, on Saturday night. By some means the unfortunate lady’s clothes caught fire , and before the flames could be extinguished serious and painful injuries were sustained. Mrs. Sinclair was hurried to the Perth Public Hospital by the ambulance, but despite medical aid she succumbed to her injuries at five minutes after one o’clock yesterday morning. An inquest will be opened this morning.⁴

Ellen Sinclair was buried with her husband in Fremantle Cemetery and the funeral was attended by a large group of mourners.⁵

1. Laurence Sinclair, baptism registration, Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929, ↩︎
2. Laurence Sinclair, United Kingdom, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KC3H-SGR, accessed 30 March 2026. ↩︎
3. Rica Erickson (ed), The Bicentennial Dictionary of Western Australians, Vol 4, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 1987, p 2825. ↩︎
4. The West Australian, 1 September 1913, p.6 ↩︎
5. The West Australian, 6 September 1913, p.7 ↩︎