Sarah Jane Cheeseman
(1872-1948)

(last updated: 30 July 2009)

Sarah Jane Cheeseman was the oldest daughter of Alfred John and Jane Elizabeth Cheeseman. Born at Carngham in Victoria on 15 September 1872, she married Edward John Haggis (1867-1939) at Carngham in 1893. Edward was the son of John Haggis and Mary Donelly and brother of Elizabeth Haggis, wife of Herbert Benjamin Cheeseman). He and Sarah had five children:

Alfred John Haggis (1895-1960) who married first Louisa Margaret Davis (1893-1941), daughter of William George Davis and Ann Rebecca Tiley, in 1913, and second Dorothy Amelia Sparrow Maher nee Yates (1899-1968) in 1942. Alfred and Dorothy had one child, Maureen Alice Haggis who married John Denning. He and Louisa had five children we know of, all born at Beaufort: 1) William Edward Haggis (1913-14); 2) Eric Alfred Haggis (1915-64) who married Lyle Shegog in 1936 and had four children we are aware of: Claire, Patricia, Bryan and Marilyn Haggis; 3) Dorothy Mavis Haggis (1917-85); 4) Maxwell Graham Haggis (1919-76) who married Jennie Atkinson in 1940 and had three children; and 5) Nancy Margaret Haggis (1921-71) who married Fullerton Rossborough in 1940 and had one child.

Stanley Edward Haggis (1898-1953). Records in the Australian Archives show that Stanley enlisted in the First AIF on 22 February 1917. He was 18 years old and had just completed school. He embarked from Melbourne on the HMAT ULYSSES on 18 December 1917 and after training in England was posted to France on 6 May 1918 where he served initially in the 37th Battalion's Light Trench Mortar battery. Sometime before his departure overseas his mother had written to the Army stating: 'hearing that my son Stanley Haggis has been put into the machine gun section, I am writing to say that his father and I both object to him being sent away from Australia till he is over 19 years as we think he is not mature enough for a soldier's life in foreign parts as he only left school last Christmas'. Although he spent some time in hostpital, Stanley survived his time in France serving with first the 37th Battalion and then the Graves registration Unit before returning to Australia on the KANOWNA on 28 August 1919.

We believe that Stanley may have been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1825, was Elsie Maud Bainbridge. His second wife who he married in 1930, was Ruby Vera Weeks (1903-83). Stanley and Vera are thought to have had two girls, Beverley and Shirley Haggis.

Wilton James Haggis (1900-27) who married Alice Isobel Ranking (1901-45) in 1925.

Lilian May Haggis (1902-97) who married John Philip Stranger (1902-78) and had two children, Valma and Philip.

Alice Jane Haggis (1907-77) who married first Archibald John North in 1928 and, second, Benjamin Bell Hamilton (1906-68) in 1939.

Sarah Jane Haggis nee Cheeseman died at Northcote in Melbourne on 21 February 1948. Her husband, Edward, pre-deceased her by ten years, dying at Heidelberg on 4 June 1939.

(last updated: 30 July 2009)