John SPALDING [4042]

  General Notes:

Cressy and Lismore Pioneer and Western Plains Representative (Vic. : 1915 - 1918) Wednesday 5 January 1916 page 3
OBITUARY.
LATE MR JOHN SPALDING.
It is our painful duty to have to record the death of Mr John Spalding, which occurred as the result of an accident which he met with last Friday morning.
From what can be gathered, it appears that on the day in question Mr Spalding, accompanied by his four youngest sons,varying in ages from two to six years, left his home in Cressy and drove to the milk receiving depot near Kilburnie bridge with some cans of cream. He got there safely, and delivered the cream. On the way coming back the mare he was driving got the reins under her tail,and in trying to free them Mr Spalding put his foot on the shafts and one hand on the mare, when the animal gave a sudden jump and swerve, capsizing the buggy into a deep drain, and fell over on her side.

Deceased, apparently, must have been underneath the buggy, and that the mare in struggling to get up kicked him. The four young children either jumped or were thrown out, the youngest one of two years being thrown over his father's body. They all escaped without a scratch. The mare after righting herself went for home with the buggy. When Mr P. M. Nelson was coming along shortly afterwards he saw the four children sitting on the bank of the gutter crying .and he asked them what was the matter. They answered, "Daddy is lying over there in the drain, and can not talk." Not knowing whose boys they were, Mr Nelson made investigations, and when he saw the body stretched out he recognised it at once. Mr Nelson then quickly summoned Mrs John Nelson and Mrs Anderson, and they did all they could. Mr Spalding was then brought to Mrs Nelson's place, and kept there until Dr. Hicks arrived. The doctor soon came, and after an examination, which disclosed a broken collar bone and three ribs, also a bad fracture at the base of the skull, he ordered his immediate removal to the Colac hospital. At the hospital Drs. Brown and Gibbs operated on him, but he never regained consciousness, and died at 20 minutes past 1 on Saturday morning. The news of his death cast quite a gloom over the. town and district, as deceased was so well known and respected by all.

There is not one person in the whole district who had an unkind word to say about deceased. Although born in Ballarat, the late Mr Spalding had lived in Cressy for over30 years. He married a daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas Nelson, of Duverney-st., Cressy.

His remains were brought from Colac on Saturday and conveyed to his late home. The funeral to the Cressy cemetery on Sunday afternoon was largely attended.
The pall bearers were the members of the board of management of the Presbyterian church, of which deceased was a prominent member. The coffin bearers were his three brothers-in-law, Messrs Charlie, Robert and Jack Nelson, David and Andrew Spalding, his brothers, and his eldest son, Willie. Rev. A. S. Lawson read the burial service at the graveside. The greatest sympathy is expressed for Mr and Mrs Spalding and family in their sad loss. Deceased was 52 years of age.

John married Jane Ann NELSON [4029] [MRIN: 1247], daughter of Thomas NELSON [4027] and Eliza Ann PERKINS [292], in 1894.⁴¹⁰⁵ (Jane Ann NELSON [4029] was born in 1874 in Cressy, Vic, Australia ⁴¹⁰⁶ and died in 1960 in Colac, Vic, Australia ¹²⁹⁵.)