Hertfordshire publican

William Aldridge came to Australia in July 1859 on the Glentanner, arriving in Brisbane, Queensland. The Aldridge family of Hertfordshire were mainly involved in running pubs or as carriers mostly in Welwyn and Stevenage. There is book about the life of William’s eldest son, Henry.

It can be found at this link on Amazon.

Briefly, Henry worked as a rouseabout/stockman on several south western Queensland properties, joined the Gympie gold rush in the 1860s, and was both a miner and butcher at several locations in Queensland including Charters Towers.

In 1883, he went back to England where he received an inheritance from his namesake uncle Henry Aldridge which enabled him to set up business in the Welwyn public house his father once ran.

Henry conducted gold panning displays at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London in 1886.

He took his family back to Australia that year and went back to gold mining in Queensland. He was involved in a failed venture at Mt Morgan and also ran a pub at nearby Bouldercombe.