Charles Badham Print Page

The cross over the grave commemorates (Reverend) Charles Badham (1813  -1884), who was a university professor. On either side of the cross are two smaller crosses in memory of his son, William and daughter Edith who was first principal of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School. The smaller crosses were relocated to the cemetery in the 1970s. 

A plaque near the graves gives details of Edith Badham and the family.  

Having taken holy orders, Badham was appointed headmaster of Louth grammar school, Lincolnshire (1851–1854), and subsequently headmaster of Edgbaston proprietary school, near Birmingham. In the interval he had taken the degree of DD at Cambridge (1852). In 1860 he received the honorary degree of doctor of letters at the University of Leiden. In 1863 was made one of the examiners in classics at London university. In 1866 he was also appointed classical examiner for the Indian civil service.

In 1867 Badham left England to take up the professorship of classics and logic in Sydney University, New South Wales (Australia), arriving in April, which he held until his death. The university had been established some 15 years but had fewer than 40 students. The professor's official duties were not heavy but Badham was not content to laze in a backwater and he even went so far as to write to the leading newspapers in New South Wales offering to correct the exercises of students who might be studying Latin, Greek, French or German, in the country. Some years later he travelled over the country holding meetings and endeavouring to get the people to become interested in the university and to found bursaries for poor students. When the government of New South Wales decided to found a great public library at Sydney, Badham was nominated as a trustee and was elected as the first chairman of trustees. He took the greatest interest in the library, and his wide knowledge was invaluable in its early years. He became the representative man of the university, and his speeches at the annual commencements were eagerly awaited. He always insisted that there must be the same standard of examination for degrees at Sydney as in the leading British universities, and he spared no pains in helping his students to reach that standard.

On 1 September 1883, in a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald, Badham suggested for the first time that evening lectures should be established at the university. He had been ailing all the year and in December became very ill. He died on 27 February 1884, almost his last act being the writing of a farewell letter in Latin to his old friend C.G. Cobet. A selection from his Speeches and Lectures was published at Sydney in 1890, and there is a bursary in his memory at the university. At his funeral the coffin was carried to the grave by former students who had received the bursaries for which he had worked so hard, it was they who subscribed for the monument over his grave, severely simple as he would have desired.

 

Location

Address:	West Street, St Thomas Rest Park, Crows Nest , 2065
State:	NSW
Area:	AUS
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -33.823761 Long: 151.206433 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Cross
Monument Theme:	People
Sub-Theme:	Education
Link:	http://adb.anu.edu.au/

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:	Circa 1885

Source: MA, ADB