Biography

The deceased was buried in the Church of England section of the cemetery. Geddes and Nolan were the undertakers. Witnesses present at the burial were Thomas Riley and John P McCormick. The informant of his death was Thomas Riley, contractor, of Menzies. His grave is the only one with a headstone. Devas, the hotelkeeper, died after an illness of three weeks. He left a wife and two daughters. "On 1st March, a long, sad procession (led by Acting Warden RE Wright) of about 200 people on foot, in vehicles and on camels, followed his coffin to the cemetery out on the Mulline Road to the west of the town." The White House Hotel was built by Mr Fred Devas at the end of 1895, and was the first wooden house built in Menzies. When Devas died, the hotel was then leased by Mr Thomas Webb, formerly of Broken Hill, who made considerable additions to the house. In an article about Menzies in August 1897, the following mention was made of the deceased: "There are half-a-dozen inns, one of which was kept by poor Fred Devas, an Eton and Christchurch boy, who died of typhoid just as he was in a fair way to make his fortune." In August 1900, another article reminisced as follows: "The biggest come down of all was for poor Fred. Devas, who belonged to one of the oldest families in England. He was at Harrow with Lord Richard Neville, and when that nobleman paid a visit to this colony in 1898, he journeyed all the way to Menzies to stand beside the grave of his old school chum." Charles Frederick Devas, father of the deceased, was listed as being "Esquire of Pickhurst Manor, Hayes, Kent." That gentleman died on 26 May 1896 (the same year as his son) and left effects to the value of £95,802.10s 9d to his widow and eldest son. Frederick SA Devas was the second son in the family. At the time of the 1861 UK census, there were 10 servants listed in the household. On 3 December 1890, the deceased was initiated into the United Grand Lodge of Freemasons at Jersey Lodge, Bicester, Oxon, when his profession was listed as a brewer. He was also listed in the Oxford University Alumni as matriculating 13 October 1876, aged 18 years.