Duesbery, William

DUESBERY, William (1843–?1905) jnr was born in Manchester, England, only son of William Duesbery, snr an architect and builder, and Charlotte Russell. He seems not to be related to the Duesbury’s of Derby. William jnr may have trained with his father. In 1861, he was listed as a builder’s clerk but later he was reported to “have spent considerable time in the studio of an artist in Manchester”. Soon after he arrived in Brisbane in July 1863 Duesbury advertised for employment as a clerk or draftsman in a builder’s office. Presumably he found employment, for he settled at Bulimba and on 3 October 1865 married Emily, daughter of Henry Bostock. In Ipswich from April to May 1866 Duesbury advertised as an architect, sharing an office with his brother-in-law, the surveyor Enoch Bostock (c1836–1905). While there, Duesbury was a member of the Ipswich Punch Club and the Caledonian Lodge. By 1866 he had moved to Dalby where he practised as an architect and surveyor and was active in public life. By 1867 he was editor of the Dalby Punch and in that year offered to teach drawing and painting at the Dalby School of Arts, but in the depressed conditions his offer met with little interest. Recurrent sickness eventually caused his practice to fail after 1869. Duesbury left Dalby indebted to the town’s businessmen and to his landlord and in April 1870 was declared bankrupt. By then, he had returned to Ipswich as assistant to Enoch Bostock, though himself a licensed surveyor. He was still at Ipswich in 1873, advertising as an architect, accountant, and land agent. In 1874 after he became Auditor for the Ipswich Municipal Council. he painted a life-size portrait of John PETRIE, said to be an excellent likeness, for presentation to Petrie by his grateful staff. In March 1877 with his wife and only one of their three children, he departed for London. By June 1877 Duesbury was at Hanley in Staffordshire, England. When his father died in 1882 his whereabouts were unknown to his English relatives, who enquired after him in the Brisbane press. He may have died in 1905 at an asylum in Yorkshire, England. His wife died at Fylde, Lancashire in 1917, predeceased in England by two of her three Queensland-born children.