Life Story

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Gerard Weatherilt was exactly fifty-five years, twenty-nine weeks and two days old when he died. His wife Jane ensured those details were recorded in full on his death registration.

She was equally determined that his history be preserved on his headstone – perhaps while planning her return to England.  Though it is faded now, the headstone originally read

IN MEMORY OF
GERARD HORNBY WEATHERILT 
BORN AT LIVERPOOL ENGLAND
MAY 26 1819
DIED AT COLAC DEC 16 1874
AGED 55 YEARS 
THROUGH GREAT TRIBULATIONS

Gerard was born in Liverpool in 1819, the son of Samuel Weatherilt and Sarah Cook. Following his father’s trade, he trained as a watchmaker and repairer — a skilled and meticulous profession that would define his working life. In 1844 he married Jane Bennett in Rugby, Warwickshire, daughter of Thomas Bennett, hairdresser and perfumer, and Margaret Weatherilt.

The early years of the couple’s marriage were spent in Liverpool, before moving to Middlesex, near the Tower of London. It was a world far removed from the quiet rural township of Colac, where Gerard’s life would ultimately end.

After seventeen years of marriage, and with no children, Gerard travelled alone to Australia, arriving in Melbourne aboard the Roxburgh Castle in July 1861. Jane joined him the following year and by 1866 the couple had settled in Colac, where Gerard established his watchmaking and repair business. Here they lived quietly for the next thirteen years.

In his last three years Gerard suffered from a debilitating heart condition. He died in December 1874, and it was noted that many townspeople attended his funeral — a mark of the respect he had earned within the community.

Jane left Colac just weeks after Gerard’s death, returning to England aboard the Superb. She died there in 1891. Gerard is remembered here with care and precision, just as Jane intended.