Historical information

Edmund Samuel Parkes (1834-1887) married Nancy Penrose Lawry (1831-1886) in 1855 in London. They travelled to Australia aboard the Damascus in November 1867 with their six children and other relatives to enable Edmund to take up an appointment as inspector of the Bank of Australasia. Four more Parkes children were born in St Kilda. They lived at Iron (later called Willyama), 241 Carlisle Street, Balaclava.
Edmund Parkes was one of the best educated banks in Victoria. Following his appointment as superintendent of the Bank of Australasia in 1876, he purchased a Remington typewriter for the bank and employed Australia's first woman bank employee, Mary Swifte, to operate it. Nancy died in 1886. Edmund died in a train accident in 1887. His life is commemorated with a stained-glass window and memorial plaque at Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava.

Physical description

Black and white photograph mounted on plywood and cardboard

Inscriptions & markings

Handwritten notes on the back: Edmund Samuel Parkes Father of Agnes Sargood nee Parkes