John Thomas Letcher

John Thomas Letcher (1877-1884) was a child who drowned in one of the Redan quarries.

History
John Thomas Letcher was born in Ballarat in 1877, the son of William Letcher and Alice Elizabeth Quick.

Letcher was drowned in the Redan quarries on 8 March 1884: "Two boys, named Dineen and Letcher, have been drowned in the Redan Quarry, Ballaratt, where they were crayfishing." "A melancholy occurrence took place in Ballarat South, on Saturday afternoon. Two boys, named John T. Letcher and Patrick Dineen, aged -respectively 7 and 8 years, were angling for crayfish, in the Redan quarry holes, in which there was about 12 feet of water. The boy Letcher stumbled at the edge of edge of the holes and tumbled into the water, dragging Dineen, who was standing close by, in with him. It was reported that young Dineen's brother, who witnessed the boys fall into the hole, called to a man who was passing in a cart to give help to rescue the drowning boys, but no notice was taken of the calls for assistance. The bodies of the poor lads were recovered shortly after the lamentable occurrence, but life was extinct." "THE LATE ACCIDENT AT THE REDAN. TO THE EDITOR. SIR, Will you kindly allow me space in your valuable paper to contradict a statement made by your informant in Monday's issue, concerning the poor little boys who were drowned in the quarries, that a man who was passing by in a cart drove on and took no notice. I was that man, and I made all haste to the next house to the quarries to give the alarm, not being able to swim, or having no implement to save the children with, and was back to the hole before anyone else came there; and it was my wife who sent the boy Dineen home for his parents. Trusting you will insert this in your next issue.—Yours, &c, JOHN DOOLEY, Chepstowe, 13th March."