Historical information

Edith Sarah Pickford was born and raised in Clunes, Victoria. She is the only daughter of John Pickford and Betsey (Robbins) Pickford and sister of Henry Pickford, John Pickford, William Harold Pickford, Horace Pickford DCM, Arthur Pickford and Charles Alexander Pickford.

Edith's maternal grandmother was a descendent of Donald Cameron, the first recorded European settler in the Clunes area.The Pickford family's pioneer settler legacy in the Clunes- Glendaruel district is commemorated with a Pickford Road and displays in the Clunes Museum. A collection of Edith's song music was donated to the Clunes Museum by her great grand-daughter in 2023.

Edith married a local farmer, Henry Smerdon Holmes from "Sauchieburn" Ascot, Victoria. Henry was a descendant of the family who had inherited their maternal ancestor's, Catherine Coghill (nee Holmes), Ascot - Coghills Creek property. This branch of the Coghill Family descended from the district's pioneer settler, Captain Coghill. Edith and Henry spent all their married life, and raised 4 children Jack [John], Bill [William], [Mary] Elizabeth and David, at Ascot.

She was buried in the Coghills Creek Cemetery with her husband, Henry Smerdon Holmes, and their son, David, in 1967. Her children, Bill Holmes and Elizabeth Chatham, and their spouses are buried nearby.

Significance

Social and historical

Physical description

Mounted black and white photo of a young girl wearing a white dress and ribbon.