Cumming Family Victoria

Thomas Cumming was the the second son of John and Eliza Cumming, he did not marry. He commited suicide in his brother Henry's legal office in Melbourne in 1901. This probably explains the relative modest and isolated burial site.  During the inquest into his suicide it was alleged that he was the cousin in the divorce case listed below. It remains to be seen how these events are related.

 

THE SUICIDE OF MR. CUMMING, Bendigo Advertiser, 27 of May 1901

 

An inquest was hold at the morgue today touching the death of Mr Thomas Cumming, who shot himself under circumstances related yesterday. His brother (Mr Henry Leslie Cumming, solicitor, of Collins-street) stated that deceased "was a single man, 42 years of age, and had independent means. He had recently resided at the Australian Club. The deceased was not financially embarrassed, and had no trouble that would cause him to take his life. He had complained of insomnia during the past few weeks, and was somewhat depressed, but not to such an extent that there was any cause for anxiety. He had not been in the habit of drinking to excess. Dr Fred Bird stated that death had resulted from a gunshot wound in the forehead. The jury returned a verdict of death by a gunshot wound, self-inflicted whilst of unsound mind. Referring to this care, the "Age'" of Saturday reported —"In his report to his superior officer, Constable Hawkins, of the plain clothes police, states that in the course of his inquiries he was informed that deceased was identical with the "cousin" referred to during the hearing of the Melvin v. Melvin divorce case, in the Melbourne Supreme Court on Thursday. David Melvin, formerly manager of the Ballarat Woollen Mills, obtained a divorce from his wife, Millicent M. Melvin, daughter of a squatter in the Geelong district, on the ground of desertion. In his evidence Mr Melvin stated he believed the coldness between him and his wife was 'occasioned by her cousin, to whom she was engaged before her marriage, coming between, them.'"