FW Barnes & Son

About

The Ballarat funeral home of F.W. Barnes and Son has its origins in the business Jordan and Tippett Furnishing Undertakers which began trading from premises in Armstrong Street South in Ballarat about September, 1895. The business was a partnership of Mr William Woolridge Jordan, a funeral director with some experience, and Mr George Francis Tippett, a Canadian-born tailor who arrived in Australia as a 10-year-old. After the untimely death of Mr Tippett in 1912, Mr Jordan decided he could no longer continue in the business and decided to sell the business to F.W. Barnes in June of 1913. Frederick William Barnes was already well known in the area as the son of Thomas C. Barnes, a prominent operator of a bakery, general store and undertakers in Learmonth. Frederick Barnes had worked in partnership with Mr H. Laughlin in the large and well-respected funeral firm of Charles Morris and Sons Furnishing Undertaker. Charles was a good friend of Thomas Barnes. The Morris firm operated during the gold rush period, arranging funeral services from a series of funeral parlours in Ballarat, namely in Bakery Hill, Sturt Street, Mair Street and Grenville Street. F.W. Barnes struck out on his own in June 1913 under the Jordan and Tippett name. Over a series of years the Jordan and Tippett name was slowly removed and the F.W. Barnes and Son name took over. The company has traded under F.W. Barnes and Son title since the mid-1920s. Frederick’s son Doug joined the firm after he returned from the World War One. He had been promoted to the rank of major and received an MBE. Doug and his father worked together for about 20 years until F.W. died suddenly in 1940. Doug continued on in the business until about 1960 when he decided to sell the firm to long-time acquaintance Les Lillingston. Leslie Royce Lillingston had lived most in his life in and around Ballarat, except for his time in service during World War Two. In about 1965 Les transferred the F.W. Barnes and Son Funeral Home from premises at 14 Armstrong Street to a new site at 1311 Sturt Street. He retained the strong traditions of service that F.W. Barnes and Son Funeral Directors had become known for until 1990 when ill health forced him to consider selling the firm.