Labour Australia

On Saturday last the death was announced of Mrs. Frances Sarah Ann Symonds Burford, widow of Mr. W. H. Burford, founder of the firm of Burford & Sons. The deceased lady arrived in South Australia in 1849 by the ship Marion from London, and though only 17 years of age she at once took up the business of knitting the woollen jackets largely worn by women at that time. In the course of business, she met Mr. J. H. M. Hawkes, and subsequently became his wife. In 1858 Mr. Hawkes died, leaving a family of three children, to whom the deceased was devotedly attached. She went into business again in the drapery trade, and did very well, until 1880 she became the wife of Mr. W. H. Burford. In 1895 Mr. Burford died at the ripe age of 88, so that his wife survived him by a little over six years. For 47 years she was a member of the Church of Christ, the site of the little chapel in which the congregation used to meet in the early days being now built over by the more imposing edifice known as Maughan Church. On Sunday evening Mr. T. J. Gore conducted a memorial service in the Park-street Christian Church, Unley. Mrs. Burford's three children are still living. They are Messrs. J. H. M. Hawkes, of East Adelaide, and J. S. Hawkes, of Sydney, and Mrs. E. A. Humphreys, of Maylands.