John Briggs Children

Marianne, Sarah and Joseph Briggs 1846

This poignantly sad memorial is to the 3 Briggs children, who all died within the space of 4 months, highlights the fleeting nature of life for some in previous generations. 

John Briggs was a farmer and maltster from Kings Newton, a small village, less than a mile from Melbourne. He lived for 88 years at Elms Farm on Trent Lane which had been owned by the Briggs family for 300 years.

John married his cousin, Mary Briggs and their first child was John Joseph Briggs, born in 1819. John Joseph became a writer of poetry, natural history and local history. He published three histories of Melbourne, the first in 1839 when he was only 20 years old.

John Joseph Briggs

Then disaster struck the Briggs family. In the space of 4 months they lost 3 of their children.

All three seem to have died of unrelated causes.