Sharp-Healy Family
The Story of the first two Generations
Links:
Generation 1
Frances Healy 1886-1967
Frances, or Fanny as she was popularly known, was born in Kyeburn on 7 January 1886. She was baptised on 28 November 1886; father Thomas Healy; mother Margaret Gallagher; address Naseby; minister John Sheehan; godparents: Andrew Kearney & Isabel Kane; Omakau Book 11 (# Bap 1), pg 47/3 (two local residents). She went to school at Kyeburn, starting on 1 November 1894 (Register No. 217) The teacher at the time was Miss M.R. Sherriff.
She married Arthur Ernest Bryant (1884-1962), born on 31 December 1884 from Lambton, New South Wales, in Auckland on 25 May 1921 and they had three children. He had been married previously to a Mary Ann Elizabeth Osborn (1870-1942) in Lilydale, Victoria on 25 January 1914 and they had one daughter Leila Winifried Bryant (1914-2002).
- Berniece Margaret Jane, born 2 October 1922, died 13 September 2008 aged 85 years in Duncanville, Dallas, Texas, USA; married Kenneth Allen Miller (1920-2007)
- Beverley Ernine Frances, born 9 January 1924, died 8 May 2018 at Tweed Heads, NSW, aged 94 years; married Denis John Thomas Sharp
- Odette Vivienne Rose, born 30 November 1927, died 14 October 1994 in Auckland aged 66 years; married David Ernest Leather
The family lived in Rosebank Road, Avondale, in Auckland in the early years after their marriage. After losing their home to a mortgagee sale, the marriage broke up and Frances was left to bring up her three daughters alone. Arthur Bryant's parents emigrated from Yorkshire to Newcastle, Australia, where they managed the Marquis of Lorne Hotel, in Lambton, Newcastle. Arthur managed the hotel at Wairakei near Taupo for many years.
Frances taught all her girls a high standard of morals, and encouraged them "never become as poor as she was and to enjoy spending money when you had some" according to Beverley. Her mother was capable and independent in nature. Her kindness to people in need and her "open house" hospitality was well known even though they had little money when the girls were young.
Beverley's story
Beverley says she was named after a Hollywood (silent) film star named Beverley Bayne, the Irish Ernine instead of 'Ernest' for her father, and Frances after her mother. She tells the story of her upbringing and education in her memoirs, and her teenage years during the war with her two sisters. She describes in great detail how she met her cousin Denis (Denny) when he arrived in Auckland in June 1939 on his way to London "to take up a short Service Commission as a pilot in the English Air Force, and together with about six other young officers-in-training, they were sailing from Auckland on board the SS Rotorua." She describes her cousin as "extremely good looking - very dark, tall, slim and had a confident, very smooth approach. I liked him straight away and years later events proved he must have been attracted to me too".
Beverley Bryant eloped with her first cousin Denis John Thomas Sharp. They were married on 30 April 1945 at St Barnabas Church, in Roseneath, Wellington. Beverley liked Denis because "he looked after me, was loving and kind, handsome, strong and manly. He never really asked me to marry him, rather just told me I was going to" when they became secretly engaged at Easter. Their courtship had lasted about one week, but their parents were horified when they were told that they had got married. "Everyone will make a fuss because we are cousins, so we will marry first and tell everyone afterwards. So we eloped!" She says they were both very nervous on their wedding day, and Beverley was worried - "What was my mother going to say to me!" The bride wore a cream dress and coat with a small green hat. They celebrated the marriage by having a party at the home of Dr and Mrs Morris, which was "very kind of them since we had never met them before." The couple honeymooned at the Waitomo Caves in the Waikato before settling in Auckland.
Beverley says, "Denny's mother took twenty years to forgive me for marrying her 'favourite' son. I knew I was forgiven when she eventually presented me with her most treasured piece of jewellery, a Victorian gold locket on a magnificent elaborate necklace of almost pure Indian gold, which I had long secretly admired." The remainder of Beverley's story is told on Denis Sharp's page and in her memoirs. View more photos in the Photo Gallery.
Fanny Bryant died on 8 December 1967 aged 81 years, and is buried in Lawn Tilted Plaque Red Row D Plot 73, at the Mangere Lawn Cemetery in Auckland (enter Gate 3).
Her husband Arthur Bryant passed away on 12 October 1962 and was cremated. His ashes were scattered at Waikumete Cemetery.
Also buried at Mangere are Odette and her husband David Leather. Photo taken by Dale Hartle, January 2008.
Beverley's online tribute is found in the Sydney Morning Herald.
References
(1) Grandmother Remembers - a Written Heirloom for Angela Sharp (by Beverley Sharp)
(2) "As I Remember It", Memoirs by Beverley Sharp
Clarke Family Tree (DarrellClarke38) - Ancestry.com (Arthur Ernest Bryant - https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/29210924/person/12312191259/facts