 The Dempster family descended from Dumfriesshire-born boat-builder's son Captain James Maclean Dempster (1810 – 1890), who immigrated from England to Fremantle in Western Australia in 1831, and his wife Ann Ellen Pratt.The Dempsters went into business in such varied fields as shipping, coastal trading, farming, whaling, fishing, and gold mining.Eric Dempster's father, James Pratt Dempster (1837 – 1910) had married in 1887 Mary Louisa, daughter of wealthy merchant James Murray Patton.