James Ingram 1828-1928

𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬

1 May

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.

It's 1 May, the birthday of 'Beechworth's Grand Old Man': James Ingram senior, born at Sanquhar in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1828.

He emigrated to Victoria in December 1852 and came to Beechworth with his wife Margaret (née Robertson) in 1855, where he was appointed on the Ovens goldfield as agent for 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘨𝘦, a newspaper then in its infancy. He went on to become a prominent newsagent and bookseller and his name remains above NewsXpress Beechworth's Camp Street facade to this day.

Victoria's press in Ingram's lifetime remarked his generosity, compassion for others and civic leadership. He was instrumental in the development of Ovens District Hospital, Ovens Benevolent Asylum and Mayday Hills Pyschiatric Hospital, involved in numerous schools, and became Beechworth Cemetery Trust secretary for 70 years.

Ingram was among those described by St Andrew's Presbyterian minister Robert Kirkwood Ewing as 'Men of the mountain': public spirited, energetic, determined and far-sighted, as Carole Woods wrote in her 1985 book 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩: 𝘈 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥.

Betty Ingram, his great-great granddaughter, recently presented historic pieces from her family's collection to our Society for the community. These also included family photographs, including some by Beechworth colonial photographer James Bray (1832-1891), kept by Betty's mother Glenis Kirk. Some of these are shown with this post.

James Ingram died in March 1928, a few weeks short of his one hundredth birthday.

--

Images: TOP Presumed Great War-era photograph of bearded James Ingram (front left), servicemen and others, perhaps at the Ovens Benevolent Asylum. BELOW Bray portrait of James Ingram (undated). Margaret Ingram with her granddaughter, also Margaret c. (1890-91). Betty Ingram (second from right) with Society members Lorraine Lucas, Sandra Williams and Elizabeth Mason at a presentation of Ingram family historic costume and mementos in Beechworth (February 2026). If anyone can identify the location of the crowd in the top photograph please comment.