Susan: Convict's daughter, soldier's wife, nobody's fool

by Stella Budrikis

Susan Mason, the child of an Irish convict and his wife, was uneducated but streetwise and canny. From colonial Adelaide to the barracks towns of the British Isles, she fought her way, sometimes literally, through life. One man called her a little whore. Her husband once accused her of being a drunkard. Life often dealt her a poor hand. Yet she managed to survive the poverty of her childhood, the indignities of being an army wife and the joys and tragedies of being a mother with her fighting spirit intact. In following her story and that of her family, the author reveals not only the complexity of Susan’s character, but also what life was like for women on the edges of society in the Victorian era.

Genres: Biography

168 pages, Paperback

Published March 6, 2017

About the author

Stella Budrikis was born in England but has lived in Australia most of her life. She began writing articles for magazines and newspapers while working as a doctor in a rural community, then wrote cover articles and discussion papers for her church during a break in her medical career. She has now retired from medical work and is enjoying time to concentrate on research and writing.
Her first book, Susan, reflects her fascination with family history and the way that people respond to their genetic inheritance, upbringing and experiences. It grew out of a series of articles that she wrote for her family history blog, Clogs and Clippers, about her great great grandmother Susan Mason. In October 2020 her second book, The Edward Street Baby Farm was published by Fremantle Press.
Stella and her husband live in Perth in Western Australia. They have two grown up daughters.

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susan: Convict's Daughter, Soldier's Wife, Nobody's Fool by Aussie author Stella Budrikis is a biography of her great great grandmother, Susan Mason. Susan was born in Australia in 1848 to Irish parents who had travelled to the colonies, originally settling in Sydney then moving to Adelaide in South Australia. When Susan married David Whybrew, he was a member of the British army, and they eventually moved back to the British Isles.

Moving around constantly with David’s job in the army, Susan was continually pregnant, eventually giving birth to fourteen children. Susan was illiterate but managed under dire circumstances to raise her surviving children by becoming a laundress, which was a hard and demanding task where everything was done by hand, boiling the copper and using the mangle, then ironing it all when it was dry. David’s meagre wage with the army was barely enough for the family and when the older children began work, their little bit helped.

Susan’s story is interesting; it has obviously been researched well – but it’s a little like a history lesson. Nevertheless, those interested in Australian history, and that of our British cousins are sure to enjoy this look into the harsh and brutal life of one family in the mid 1800s to early 1900s. Recommended.

[Irene Sauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author at a family event (baptism of my great-nephew at his mother’s church) when she was introduced to me by a mutual acquaintance. She gifted me a copy of her book which I promised to review. The Susan of the title is the author’s great-great-grandmother. I immediately felt an affinity to the story, which is similar to that of my own great-great-grandmother.
Susan Mason was born in 1848, the daughter of an Irish convict. Uneducated, unable to read or write, she was considered among the lowest class of Adelaide society where she grew up in a large family, familiar with the women of the street and of the Ship Inn near her home. She was also fierce in defence of her own self-worth and managed to find herself in court several times, once, at seventeen, suing a man who made rude gestures to her and called her a whore.
Susan kept company with a soldier, David Whybrew, whose unit was posted to the City and had a child, Harriet, by him before they finally married. Marriage was not easy to arrange for a soldier, as he needed the permission of his superior officer. David was given permission, but it was unofficial, which meant the marriage was not recognised by the Army. When David’s unit was relocated, Susan didn’t have the luxury of travelling with him, as official wives and their families did. She had to make her own travel arrangements and find accommodation at the other end.
Susan followed her husband to England, and then Ireland. By the late 1880s they were living in Colchester, Essex, where they remained. Life was hard and money was in short supply. Susan was constantly pregnant, giving birth to fourteen children over 27 years. Their eldest daughter, Harriet, who had been brought up by others in Adelaide, joined them. She was a determined young lady like her mother, and had spent a year in the Reformatory School at Adelaide and several months in prison for riotous behaviour at the School. The reunion was not without its problems and Susan herself continued to have run-ins with the law and with her neighbours. David Whybrew left the Army after 25-years and and worked at various labouring jobs until his retirement.
Of the Whybrew’s fourteen children, five died in infancy and two died while serving in the Army: David Henry in South Africa in 1902 at the age of twenty, and William in France in 1918 aged 34. Their surviving children all married, the last, Ada, living until 1980 (born when Susan was 47). David Whybrew died in 1917, aged 78, and Susan in 1921 at the age of 73.
The story of Susan is well written, and is based on extensive research, for which the author should be congratulated. She has included a detailed record of the references used, which provides a valuable resource for anyone doing their own family research. This is a recommended read for anyone interested in Irish migration in the nineteenth century, and for all with an interest in the history of Australia. It is one woman’s history that provides a view of life for the less privileged at that time.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. The story was well researched, in such a way that the reader felt as if they were travelling with Susan.
This is such a detailed account of Susan's life and the times she lived in.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I received this book from the author and Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

[Kate Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a free for honest review. What I liked about this biography is the way Stella took one person from the family tree and set her in time and place. By doing this, she made it of more general interest than a family history might otherwise be. It accentuated the challenge of family research where members are illiterate or so poor that there are extremely few records to track. What do you do when your family member is only recorded in court proceedings or poor relief registers? I would have liked even more in depth social context. For instance, Susan was cared for in her senior years by a daughter who had married a Salvation Army officer. What happened to old people, rough and always ready for a fight, in poor circumstance? I think nobody's fool is a better description of that daughter who chose a different, though no less arduous, path to help people like her parents. So a 4 for colouring Susan's world and for reminding me of two other Australian works, of fiction, which drew on time and place for hardscrabble lives: Amanda Curtin's 'The sinkings' and Hannah Kent's 'Burial rites'.

[denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Susan

I found this book boring. I was going to stop reading it, kept going thinking it would get better. I was very disappointed in reading this, the book did not improve.