Category Archives: Bank of Victoria

A scarf for General Birdwood

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in 52 ancestors, Bank of Victoria, Beggs, Champion de Crespigny, World War 1

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Everyone knows about WWI comfort funds and the socks that were knitted for the Diggers in the trenches.

But have you heard about the scarf that was knitted for their commanding General?

Birdwood Gallipoli 1915 awm 6184034

Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. 1915. General William Riddell Birdwood (outside his dugout at Anzac. Photograph by Ernest Brooks and retrieved from the Australian War Memorial G00761

In 1916, Sophia, Mrs Philip Champion de Crespigny, (1870 – 1936), second wife of my great great grandfather, started a campaign to knit a scarf for General Birdwood, the popular commander-in-chief of Australian divisions on the front.

The first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC was observed on Tuesday 25 April 1916, with prayers and mourning for the dead.

Three days later ‘ANZAC Button Day’, with parades and many stalls and kiosks, was held in Melbourne to raise money for the troops. One of the attractions was a kiosk, ‘erected by the St. George Society’, an English patriotic society, where for sixpence patriotic knitters could add a row to scarf for General Birdwood.

Mrs Philip Champion de Crespigny was responsible for this money-raising idea.

Sophia Cde C nee Beggs 1894

Sophia Champion de Crespigny about 1894

Two of her sons and two step-sons enlisted during World War 1:

Within a week, a quarter of a yard had been added to Mrs de Crespigny’s scarf, with many sixpences added to the funds. She was aiming for 1½ yards.

Adelaide commentators seem to have been a bit over-critical. The edge of the scarf was wobbly, ‘goffered’ it was said, which means fluted or serrated. Knitters ply their needles differently, of course, at different tensions, so the collaborative scarf could not be expected to be perfectly uniform.

By mid-May Sophia de Crespigny had received so many applications for row-knitting that she hired a room at 349 Collins Street, not far from her husband’s office at 257 Collins Street [he was the general manager at a bank there], where she met prospective knitters between 10 o’clock and half past four on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In June Sophia de Crespigny travelled to Geelong, where would-be scarf-knitters would find her at the Bank of Victoria in Malop Street.

The Geelong Advertiser reported that the scarf was khaki with a border of General Birdwood’s colours: red, purple, and black, and a touch of yellow. The scarf was now 2½ yards long.

By mid-August Birdwood’s scarf, completed, and yard longer than planned, was put on display in the window of Messrs Singer and Co. in the Block Arcade on Collins Street. There was also a book with the names of over 300 of its volunteer knitters. Sophia’s scarf campaign had raised £13. The Melbourne Lady Mayoress’ fund for Red Cross got £2 18/-, and £10 2/- was presented to the Y.M.C.A. for the benefit of the Australian soldiers at the Front (a national appeal).

Melbourne Punch 24 August 1916 page 32

Melbourne Punch 24 August 1916 page 32

Among letters received by General Birdwood, now digitised by the Australian War Memorial, is one from Sophia, Mrs Philip Champion de Crespigny, forwarding the scarf and the book of names of the ladies who worked on it.

Birdwood letter 3 6098253

Letter from Sophia Champion de Crespigny to General Birdwood enclosing a scarf and a book with the names of the knitters. Retrieved from the Australian War Memorial Letters received by Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood, 1 June 1916 – 25 December 1916 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2084586?image=107

scarf AWM 4230193

I have not found a picture of General Birdwood in a scarf. This picture from the Australian War Memorial is from about 1915: The officer in the foreground, rugged up in a greatcoat and scarf, is possibly Major Harold A Powell of the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). The tents in the middle distance on the left are probably those of a field hospital; the location appears to be the Gallipoli Peninsula.

 

General Birdwood’s reply to Sophia de Crespigny was published in the Geelong Advertiser.

Birdwood letter Geelong Advertiser 1916 12 05 a

Birdwood letter Geelong Advertiser 1916 12 05 b

Birdwood mentions that his aide-de-camp Henry de Crespigny (1882 – 1946) was a cousin of Sophia’s husband [Henry was Philip de Crespigny’s 3rd cousin once removed]. Birdwood also mentions Dr de Crespigny and ‘his hospital’. This was the 1st Australian General Hospital in Rouen, commanded by Philip’s son – Sophia’s step-son – Constantine Trent de Crespigny.

Birdwood 1918 trench awm 4096023

General Sir William Riddell Birdwood visiting a Battalion Headquarters in the support line trenches in Ungodly Avenue in the Messines Sector, in Belgium, on 25 January 1918. General Birdwood is second from the left. Australian War Memorial image E01495

Across Australia many other scarves were knitted by ladies who gave their sixpences and shillings to raise money for the soldiers, and it seems more than likely that Sophia’s was not the first. I’m not a great knitter myself – I started a scarf in the 1980s, which forty years later is still less than a foot long – but I’m delighted to have a family connection with Sophia’s.

Sources

 

Other scarves were also knitted for General Birdwood during 1916

Q is for Queenscliff in 1882

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in A to Z 2017, Bank of Victoria, Champion de Crespigny, Chauncy, Queenscliff

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In October 1877 my great great grandmother Annie Frances Chauncy (1857-1883) married Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850-1927). At the time of their marriage Philip was the manager of the Bank of Victoria branch at Epsom five miles north-east of Bendigo. Their first son Philip was born at there on 18 June 1879.

Annie Frances Crespigny nee Chauncy about 1877
In early 1882 Philip moved from Epsom to Queenscliff, a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula 30 kilometres south-east of Geelong. The Bank of Victoria was at 76 Hesse Street.
THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER (1882, February 3). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88622924
General view of Queenscliff from Adman’s Tower (later known as the Vue Grand Hotel at 46-48 Hesse Street), about 1882 photographed by Fred Kruger from the National Gallery of Victoria
Hesse Street from Baillieu’s Tower, Queenscliff. Baillieu’s Tower was later called the Ozone Hotel and was on Gellibrand Street.. The Bank of Victoria can be seen towards the centre foreground. Image from the National Library of Australia PIC/8760/67 LOC Album 19/nla.obj-140532878.

On 5 March 1882 Philip and Annie’s son Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny was born in Queenscliff in the Bank of Victoria where his father was manager.

We have some transcripts of family letters. One that survives from January 1883 is to his mother Charlotte Crespigny nee Dana about her visit to Queenscliff.

From: Philip Crespigny
To: Charlotte Frances Crespigny [his mother]
Queenscliff 21st Jany 1883
My dearest Mother
Only a few lines to tell you how eagerly we are all of us looking forward to your visit. I do hope you will start immediately after the mail is delivered. You had better come by the mid-day train reaching here at 2.45. I have enclosed Vi a ticket by the Williams which will defray half her expenses when she pays her visit and this will prevent your feeling the extra expense of taking a single ticket instead of a return which is only available now from Friday till Monday.
Your loving son
Lou

(Philip was called Lou or Loup, ‘wolf’ in French, by his family. Vi was his sister Viola (1855-1929).

 

One month after Philip wrote to his mother, at the young age of 25, Annie Frances died after a three week illness of what was diagnosed as pelvic cellulitis, a bacterial infection of tissue adjacent to the uterus. Pelvic cellulitis was often a complication of childbirth. Annie quite possibly died after a third pregnancy. She left two small children, Philip was 3 and Constantine Trent was 11 months.
Death certificate of Annie Frances Crespigny, Victoria 1883/2892 (click to enlarge)

Annie is buried in Point Lonsdale cemetery. Her sons are remembered on her gravestone. Philip (1879-1918) was killed in action near Jerusalem in World War 1. Constantine Trent (1882-1952) died in Adelaide and was cremated.

 

Gravestone in Point Lonsdale for Annie Frances Crespigny and her two sons from FindAGrave

The building which was formerly the Bank of Victoria at 76 Hesse Street is still standing. From Google street view it looks as though it is now a cafe. It is mentioned in the Queenscliff Heritage Study 2009.

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E is for entertainment in Epsom

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in A to Z 2016, Bank of Victoria, Bendigo, Champion de Crespigny

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My great great grandfather Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850-1927) was the manager of the Bank of Victoria branch at Epsom five miles north-east of Bendigo. He was manager there at the time of his marriage to Annie Frances Chauncy in October 1877.

I found the following news item on Trove which shows some of the social life at Epsom in 1880 when the de Crespigny family lived there. Philip had loaned his piano for a concert to raise funds for the Church of England to buy a new harmonium.

The Shamrock Hotel, Epsom, about 1910 from the Facebook page Lost Bendigo and District
THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER (1880, June 21). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88885158

I think the church might be St Luke’s at White Hills, built in the 1860s.

I have looked and can find no photos from the early 1880s of the Epsom branch of the Bank of Victoria, and the building does not appear to have survived.

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A run on the bank in Beaufort

14 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by in Bank of Victoria, Beaufort, Cherry Stones, Hughes, Trove

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This week’s Sepia Saturday picture is a prompt for the topic of banking.

There are several bankers in my family tree. One of them is my great great grandfather Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922).

E. W. Hughes from Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.page 81.

Edward Hughes was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort, Victoria, 50 km from Ballarat. In 1883 when he married at the age of 29, Hughes was working with the Bank of Victoria, though possibly not, so far as I know, at its Beaufort branch. In 1906 he was manager of the Beaufort branch when his daughter Beatrix, my great grandmother, married. His son Vyvyan was born in Beaufort in 1888 but his son Reginald was born in Essendon, Melbourne, in 1886, so I assume Edward Hughes moved to Beaufort about 1887. He retired from his job of bank manager in Beaufort in 1919 due to ill health.

Bank of Victoria, Beaufort, 1890s – from Museum Victoria Reg. No: MM 001094

In mid-April 1893, while Hughes was manager at Beaufort, there was a run on the bank. The branch at Beaufort ran out of bullion and Mr Hughes travelled to Ballarat by the 2 p.m. train for more gold.

A DEMAND FOR GOLD. (1893, April 14). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193438039

THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER. (1893, April 15). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88966637

When I think of a bank run I think of the scene from the film  of Mary Poppins when Michael wants to keep his tuppence to feed the birds.

There was a report that the bank declined to take deposits from some of their customers who had withdrawn their funds at the time of the run.

The Portland Guardian (1893, April 19). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 – 1953), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65442835

The Beaufort depositors in the Bank of Victoria were right to be wary .  On 28 January 1893 the Federal Bank of Australia in Melbourne had run out of cash and closed. On 4 April the Commercial Bank of Australia, then one of Australia’s largest, suspended operations. Twelve other banks  followed in quick succession and depositors struggled to retrieve their savings.

On Sunday 30 April the Victorian Cabinet met and in an attempt to manage the financial crisis, decided to close all banks for the following week.

The Oxford Companion to Australian History summarises the crisis:

The drying up of British capital inflow after the Baring crisis of 1890 spelt the end of the over-extended financial system. As asset prices fell and borrowers defaulted, the lending institutions came under pressure.The fringe financiers fell first. Eventually, the banks too began to experience financial losses, falling share prices, and panicking depositors. Thirteen of Australia’s 22 banks closed their doors in 1893. All but two reopened within the year. However, all of the survivors had been forced to reconstruct.(page 58)

On 1 May 1893 the Bank of Victoria and other Victorian banks closed their doors for a week.
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. (1893, May 2). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419212

The Bank of Victoria re-opened at 2.30 on Wednesday 3 May. (SITUATION IN MELBOURNE. (1893, May 4). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193417046)

On 12 May the shareholders and depositors of the Bank of Victoria approved a scheme of reconstruction. (THE BANK OF VICTORIA. (1893, May 13). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 15. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419451 LARGE MEETING OF DEPOSITORS. (1893, May 13). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 15. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419452)

E. W. Hughes retired in 1919 aged 65. He died in 1922 in Melbourne.

What People are Saying and Doing. (1919, November 13). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 – 1939), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146472785

I had trouble identifying the building of the former Beaufort Bank of Victoria. In the twentieth century the building, in Havelock Street, was converted to a Masonic Hall. A parapet was added incorporating the Masonic device of a square and set of compasses.  The building has since been subdivided into three flats and sold.

16 Havelock Street Beaufort from Google street view as at February 2010

The Bank of Victoria merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1927. The CBC merged with the National Australia Bank in 1982.

Sources

  • Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
  • Foster, S. G. (Stephen Glynn), 1948-, Aplin, G. J. (Graeme John) and McKernan, Michael, 1945- Australians, events and places. Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, Broadway, N.S.W, 1987.  
  • Davison, Graeme, 1940-, Macintyre, Stuart, 1947- and Hirst, J. B. (John Bradley), 1942- The Oxford companion to Australian history. Oxford University Press, Melbourne ; Oxford, 1999. 
  • Wikipedia contributors, “Australian banking crisis of 1893,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_banking_crisis_of_1893 (accessed August 14, 2015). 

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The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Bank of Victoria, Champion de Crespigny, GSV, Melbourne, obituary, street directories

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I had a few minutes spare in Melbourne before the train home so I went to the library of the Genealogical Society of Victoria. The GSV is in the Emirates building on Collins Street midway between Elizabeth and Swanston street.

As a quick genealogical task to make use of the library’s resources, I thought I would look up an old street directory to see where my great great grandfather, Philip de Crespigny (the bank manager), worked. I had always looked out the tram window when travelling along Collins Street and wondered which of the marvellous buildings had been the headquarters of the Bank of Victoria in the early twentieth century.

Collins Street from Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 1916 Taken By: Kerr Brothers; Original image from The State Library of Victoria. This Image restored by Foto Supplies, Albury, NSW, Australia and retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/oakleystudios/6662752687/in/set-72157628707506273/

“Southside of Collins Street between Elizabeth and Queen Streets, only the Former Mercantile Bank (345 Collins Street) remains mostly intact.” retrieved from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=229272&page=6

Philip de Crespigny (1850-1927) was the son of Philip Robert Champion Crespigny (1817-1889) who I refer to as Philip the gold warden, and Charlotte Frances née Dana (1820-1904). Philip worked for the Bank of Victoria for most of his life.

Philip’s obituary in the Argus mentions he became general manager of the Bank in 1916.
MR. P. C. DE CRESPIGNY. (1927, March 12). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 34. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3843151
The quickest source of information was a Sands and McDougall directory for 1919.

In 1919 the headquarters of the Bank of Victoria was at 257 Collins Street.  With the aid of a Google maps I worked out it was less than a minute walk; in fact it was the building I was in. I could have looked at my GSV membership card!

257 Collins Street July 2014 from Google Street view
The building was redeveloped by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in the early 1970s. It was refurbished in 2000. The building my great great grandfather worked in does not survive.

Photo from Annual Report 1973 which included a major feature on 257 Collins Street, Melbourne to celebrate its completion during 1973. Retrieved from http://www.cbcbank.com.au/images/branches/vic/VIC%20Melb%20Office.htm

This is a picture of the building in 1918. The building was designed by Joseph Reed in 1862. An article in The Age of 21 May 1985 by John D Keating states that the building’s facade was inspired by the Palazzo Pesaro in Venice. The interior of the building was renovated in the 1930s.

7th war loan poster on the Bank of Victoria, Collins Street, Melbourne, 1918. Retrieved from National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn6388721

I wonder if my great great grandfather went to the Hopetoun Tea Rooms across the street in the Block Arcade and liked the cakes as much as I do.

Hopetoun Tea Rooms in June 2013. I cannot find a picture from the early twentieth century. They have been in the Block Arcade off Collins Street since the 1890s.