Who was William Albert Holmes? (52 ancestors in 52 weeks)

William Holmes and Edith Thomas

William Albert Holmes (1882?-1972) was my mother in law's grandfather, he's also the biggest question mark in our family tree. William was a successful business shop owner in Sydney until the depression and trained as a an optometrist later in life. According to his marriage and death certificates, he was born in Hull in about 1882. He had one adopted sister, Louisa (Lulu) and, when his father Frederick died in 1911, William recorded himself as the only child of their marriage (Frederick recorded both children on their mother's death certificate). He also gave some useful info, such as his parents' marriage in London when his father was 19.

Meanwhile, his parents actually got married in Townsville, Queensland, on the 27th of April, 1888, with a quiet ceremony at the Congregational Church minister's home (which wasn't reported in the papers, as far as I can find). Sometime soon afterwards they moved to Sydney where Frederick worked as a hotel porter.

From their marriage certificate, Frederick Holmes (abt. 1866-1911) was born in London, and Catherine Tomlinson (abt. 1863-1904) was born in Manchester. I haven't located their arrival in Australia yet, so it's uncertain whether either of them brought William with them on the ship or if they came together. In Catherine's death certificate, filled out by her husband, it says that she lived for 8 years in Queensland and 17 in New South Wales - that doesn't really agree with the date of their marriage in Townsville but would make it unlikely that she was giving birth in Hull in the early 1880s. Her death certificate records her father as William Tomlinson, a singer, but also says that she was born in Lincolnshire.

William would have been about 5 or 6 when his parents married, so it seems odd to me that he didn't remember anything about his parents' or his own change of circumstances. He seems to have been hung up on his sister being adopted (he called her 'my adopted sister' when he talked about her) so if he was adopted he probably wasn't told about it.

Written for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.