Background
Barratt was born in Buckingham, England.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Enoch Barratt
Edit ProfileCareer
They had three children: Elizabeth Mary (b Newport Pagnell, 4 December 1839), James Enoch (b Deptford, 8 October 1845) and Emma Matilda (b Deptford, 23 December 1848). In 1846 Barratt was employed as a switch turner for London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Deptford. On 12 May 1851 he was convicted of stealing and sentenced to ten years transportation.
He was imprisoned in Newgate Prison in London, where he remained until 30 April 1852 where he departed from Plymouth on the ship William Jardine.
They had a fourth child, Federick Pearson (b Perth, 28 December 1856). In 1858 he received a full pardon.
In 1860, he established the Wellington Nursery at his Murray Street residence, which bordered the wetlands near Lake Kingsford, north of Perth. These wetland fringes were utilised for market gardens and were ideal for growing horticultural crops and nursery stock.
In 1868 he successfully applied for the position of Government Gardener to tend Government Gardens (now known as Stirling Gardens), which he held until he retired in 1880.
The nursery"s first advertised plants included Melia azedarach (white cedar), and by 1870 its stock included grapevines and fruit trees. By 1874, the nursery stocked the Western Australian native Callitris preissii and other ornamental trees. Seeds followed in 1878 and then shrubs and roses in 1884.
The nursery exported its own seeds and was an agent for William Shepherd"s Darling Nursery in Sydney and Suttons Seeds in England.
The nursery relocated to Douro Street (which was later renamed as an extension of Wellington Street) in 1876, and retail premises were opened in Hay Street in 1895. Barratt died on 14 December 1895 at the age of eighty-three and is buried at the East Perth Cemetery.
