Nat Gould

Mary Vulliamy 1781-1865

St James's Piccadilly

Mary Vulliamy was born on 27 September 1781 at Holcombe Rogus in Devon, the daughter of Benjamin Vulliamy 1747-1811 and his wife née Sarah de Gingins 1758-1841.

She was baptised on 30 October 1781 at St James's church, Piccadilly in London. On a prestigious site in the West End of London, the church was consecrated in 1684 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It was severely damaged during the Second World War but has been restored.

Her father was a famous clockmaker, who built the Regulator Clock for the King's Observatory at Kew in London. It served as the Prime Meridian and provided the official London time from 1780 until Greenwich Royal Observatory took over in 1884.

Mary Vulliamy was married in 1806 to Charles Worsley Boys 1779-1809 at St James's church, Piccadilly in London, where she had been baptised. They had the following children:

Mary Jane Boys. She was born in 1807 and died in 1860.

Charles Boys. He was born in 1809. He married Caroline Goodrich Dobbie 1816-1876, and died in 1898.

Their father Charles Worsley Boys died on 17 November 1809 on board a ship taking him to the United States of America.

William Varlo Hellyer

On 9 May 1818 their mother Mary Boys was married to William Varlo Hellyer 1780-1868 at St George's church, Hanover Square in London. He was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn in London, Vice President of the Royal Institution, and acquainted with the scientist Michael Faraday and the pioneer photographer Fox Talbot. His brother Henry Hellyer 1790-1832, a surveyor and architect, was one of the first explorers to survey and map the rugged interior of northwest Tasmania.

William and Mary Hellyer had a son George William Maine Hellyer 1820-1899.

He was born on 29 October 1820 at Chelsea in London, and educated at Shrewsbury. He was then articled to Isambard Kingdom Brunel as a civil engineer, and worked on the building of the Great Western Railway and Paddington Station in London. Under contract to the East India Company he built the first railway in India. On returning to Britain he operated a slate quarry in north Wales He died on 9 June 1899 at Bettws-y-coed in Wales.

Mary Hellyer née Vulliamy died on 27 August 1865 in London (1).

(1) "HELLYER - August 27th, at her residence, in Coleshill-street, Eaton-square, London, in her 83rd year, Mary, wife of William Varlo Hellyer, Esq., barrister, of Lincoln's Inn." Sydney Morning Herald 21 December 1865.