The Goodliffe Family of Nottingham

Thomas Arnold Goodliffe - Eldest son of Thomas William Goodliffe - eldest son of Arnold Goodliffe

Arnold and Ann Goodliffe had 7 children. Their oldest son - Thomas William - was born in 1831 and he married Anne STAFFORD in 1853. They arrived in Melbourne in October 1853  where they had three children, the oldest being Thomas Arnold Goodliffe, born in 1854.

The family returned to Nottingham in 1861.

Thomas Arnold is recorded in the 1871 census at 39-43 Snig Hill, Sheffield, working as a pawnbroker's assistant, aged 15.

Thomas Arnold returned to Australia on the ship Durham, arriving in Melbourne in March 1875, aged 20. He married Jessie Glen SINCLAIR in Hotham, Victoria in 1877.

The family of Jessie Glen Sinclair
Jessie was born in Paisley, Glasgow, Scotland in 1852, the youngest of the 7 children of James SINCLAIR and Margaret (nee CRAIG). James & Margaret married in Paisley on 14 October 1830. They had 7 children:

Margaret 1837 Glasgow
Robert 1840 Glasgow
Catharine 13 Feb 1842 Paisley
Elizabeth 11 Feb 1844 Paisley
James 15 Mar 1846 Paisley
John 1850 Paisley
Jessie Glen 1852 Paisley

Margaret married John CLARK on 18/04/1857.

In 1841, the family were at 18 Broomlands, Paisley. James was a salesman and baker.
In 1851, the family, now with 7 children, are at 8 Broomlands, Paisley. Jessie was 1 month old.
In 1861,  the family were at 3 Broomlands, Paisley. Margaret is listed as a Laundress, was Head of household, and married. Her husband James was not present. I cannot find him in Scotland at the time of the census.

Broomlands is a street in central Paisley, dominated by terrace apartments. The street backs on to the cemetery and crematorium. A typical scene shows a multi-storey building of small apartments.

A view of Broomlands Street, Paisley

Emigration to Melbourne

In July 1862 Margaret and the 5 younger children arrived in Melbourne aboard the ship Mistress of the Seas. Apparently, John was not on that voyage and there are no records of a Sinclair of appropriate age arriving in Melbourne. Nor is there a death record for James Sinclair in either the Scottish or Victoria records. I cannot find what happened to James.

The family of Thomas GOODLIFFE and Jessie Glen SINCLAIR

Thomas and Jessie had 4 children:

Ethel Stafford 1880 - 1880 Prahran
Arnold Percival 1887 - 1888 Prahran
Norman Oswald 1890 - 1968 Prahran
Jessie Glen Sinclair 1891 - ? Prahran

Thomas died on 15 April 1921 aged 65, at 53 Donald St, Prahran.  The informant was his daughter Jessie, aged 29. Thomas is buried in the Melbourne Cemetery.


Jessie Glen died on 26 July 1933 aged 78,  at 53 Donald St, Prahran.  She was also buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.



The Family of Thomas and Jessie

Norman Oswald GOODLIFFE

Norman  was born 27 February 1890 in Prahran. He worked as a clerk for the AMP Society (insurance company). He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 7 June 1917, aged 27 years and 4 months (see his enlistment form here), service number 7485.

Norman married Flora MCCALL in East Melbourne on 15 Sept 1917. Both aged 26.

His service record shows that on 21 November 1917 he embarked on HMAT "Nestor"  for Suez, embarked HMS "Sarnia" in Alexandria for Southampton via Taranto, arriving on 9 January 1918.

He was advised that his wife Flora had died of TB on 20 April 1918.


Posted to France on 29 August 1918, to join the 8th Battalion.

Granted leave to return to England on 10 November 1918 (the day before Armistice) but was soon admitted to hospital at Harefield, then being attached there until 1 February 1919. He was posted to Admin HQ, London.

Norman was granted leave from 17 July 1919 to 17 October 1919. During this time he was working as a "Mercantile Clerk" in Paisley, Scotland, where he married Donaldina Henderson MACLEAN on 9 October 1919 (see the marriage certificate here or the Army transcript of it here). Ina (as she was known) was born at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis on 10 April 1894. She may well have met Norman at the hospital at Harewood.

Norman returned to Australia on the "Konigin Liuse" on 4 February 1920, and was discharged medically unfit (long sighted and chronic influenza) on 18 April 1920.

Donaldina, his wife,  travelled alone to Melbourne on the ship "Bahia Castillo", departing London on 17 April 1920.  It appears that she returned to Scotland, probably in early 1922, for she gave birth to their first son, Kenneth Norman GOODLIFFE in Paisley on  1 July 1922.

Donaldina and Kenneth travelled to Australia departing 14 December 1922 on the ship Ballarat.

Norman and Donaldina had three children:

Kenneth Norman 1 Jul 1920 1 Dec 1944 Born Paisley
Died Lae, Papua New Guinea
Arnold Sinclair 4 March 1923   Prahran
Donald Henderson 1924   Prahran

Donaldina and son Arnold (aged 8) returned to Paisley, Scotland aboard the "Bendigo", arriving in London on 12 June 1932:

This was a short visit, as they returned to Australia, departing London on 24 November 1932 on the ship "Baradine":

Norman died on 3 September 1968 at 24 Percy St, Balwyn, Victoria.

Donaldina died in Parkdale, Melbourne on 6 October 1980:

Kenneth Norman enlisted with the Australian Army and was killed in Lae, PNG in 1944, aged 22. His enlistment form is here, and his Will is here

Kenneth Norman from his Army file


Jessie Glen Sinclair GOODLIFFE

Jessie Glen was born 27 Oct 1891 at 53 Donald St, Prahran.  She lived at the same address until she married in 1929, aged 33.


Soon after the death of her father Thomas (in April 1921) Jessie and her mother (Jessie Glen) travelled back to Paisley in Scotland. They sailed on the Berrima, arriving in London on 24 July 1921. They stayed in the UK for nearly 16 months, departing on the Ormuz on 11 November 1922 bound for Melbourne:

Jessie and mother travelling Melbourne-London in July 19521

The return trip in November 1922

Jessie Glen married James ROBERTSON on 8 January 1929 at the Baptist Church, Geelong Rd, Footscray, Melbourne. She was a waitress aged 33 and still living in the family home at 53 Donald St. He was a plumber aged 35, living at 5 Tiernan St, Footscray.


James Robertson was born in Melrose, Scotland on 16 December 1892, along with his twin sister Margaret Alice. Their parents were William and Caroline (nee TAIT) ROBERTSON, married 17 January 1873. In the census of 1891 the family was living at Hoebridge Farm, Melrose, Scotland.

I have not been able to find any more information about Jessie and James. Their deaths are not in the Victoria BDM records up to 1985. 


Return to the family of Thomas and Ann Goodliffe

Last updated: 13/01/2011