Death of Mary Ann Bishop

Above: the death certificate of Mary Ann Bishop, Joseph Bishop's first wife.

During the middle of 1858, Mary Ann Bishop fell ill, and started being treated by Dr. Robertson. She was diagnosed as having ovarian dropsy, the main symptom of which was a large accumulation of fluid in the abdominal area produced by one or more cysts on the ovary. These cysts can transform into tumours of a huge size, producing very large amounts of fluid which most doctors chose to drain at regular intervals.
Poor Mary Ann declined rapidly- six months after she was diagnosed with ovarian disease she died.She was 46 years old, and had been in the Colony of Victoria for almost five years.
As can be seen from the death certificate above, Mary Ann's death was registered by her husband's business partner, Edward Keep.Despite Edward and Joseph not getting on several years later, Edward held Mary Ann in great esteem. I have a book given to Mary Ann by Edward with a complimentary inscription inside...I will try to find it and scan the inscription for this blog.