Philip Champion de Crespigny, General Manager of the Bank of Victoria

My great great grandfather Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850 – 1927) was General Manager of the Bank of Victoria.

One of my cousins recently obtained a photograph of the staff of the bank in 1917 from the Historical Services Curator of the National Australia Bank (which was formed by the amalgamation of the Bank of Victoria with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1927 and the National Bank of Australasia in 1982).

Staff of the Bank of Victoria in 1917

The photo appears to have been taken on the roof of the bank’s head office in Collins Street. There are no names with the photo, but clearly recognisable seated at the centre is Philip Champion de Crespigny.

Philip Champion de Crespigny in 1917

His obituary notice in the Argus (Melbourne), on 12 March 1927, outlines Philip de Crespigny’s banking career:

[Crespigny] joined the service of the Bank of Victoria in June, 1866, as a junior clerk. After spending a few years in country districts in service of the bank he was promoted to the position of manager at Epsom, and he filled a similar position at other country towns. Subsequently he was placed in charge of the South Melbourne branch of the bank. At the end of 1892 he was appointed assistant inspector, and he continued to act in that capacity until 1908, when he took the office of chief inspector. In 1916 he became general manager of the bank in succession to Mr George Stewart.

At the time of his first marriage, to Annie Frances Chauncy in 1877, Philip de Crespigny was the manager of the Bank of Victoria branch at Epsom five miles north-east of Bendigo. His oldest son Philip was born there in 1879. 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. Philip’s son, my great grandfather Constantine Trent, was born at Queenscliff in March 1882. Philip’s wife Annie died at Queenscliff in 1883.

In 1886 Philip transferred to be manager of the Elmore branch, forty kilometres northeast of Bendigo. In 1887 he was appointed manager of the South Melbourne branch. In 1888 he became Assistant Inspector of Branches, and was appointed Inspector of Branches in 1908. In 1916 he became the bank’s General Manager.

Another obituary, in the Melbourne Herald of 11 March 1927, notes that Philip was remembered for his “ability as a financial expert [and this] was known throughout Australia. During the war period, he gave his services freely to the Government, his advice having been of the greatest value to the country.”

A 1918 photograph of the Bank of Victoria’s office in Collins Street shows an advertisement for the 7th War loan.

In its half-yearly reports during the war the Bank made mention of employees who had been killed in action or died of wounds.

Philip had six sons of whom the four eldest served in the war and one, Philip, was killed in 1918.

RELATED POSTS

• BRAVE BOY IN SHOOT-OUT WITH BUSHRANGER, LATEST NEWS
• Trove Tuesday: discreditable conduct in church
• Wedding Wednesday: Philip Champion de Crespigny married Annie Frances Chauncy 25 October 1877
• E is for entertainment in Epsom
• Q is for Queenscliff in 1882
• de Crespigny – Beggs 1891 wedding
• The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street
• O is for ‘Ottawa’ Gladstone Parade Elsternwick

Wikitree:

• Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850 – 1927)

A visit to Parliament House in Melbourne

Last Wednesday I went on a group tour of Parliament House in Melbourne. This magnificent building is a wonderful example of high-Victorian public architecture.

The double-storey Parliamentary Library, with its gas lights, curving staircases and central ten-sided table is particularly impressive.

 

Hanging in what is known as Queen’s Hall is a portrait of Sir Harry Lawson (1875 – 1952), politician and Premier of Victoria from 1918-1924. Lawson was a first cousin of my great grandmother Beatrix de Crespigny nee Hughes. The portrait, painted in 1981, is a copy of a 1923 portrait by John Longstaff.

Sir Harry Lawson, portrait by John Perry 1981. This copy of ‘Portrait of Sir Harry Lawson’ 1923 by John Longstaff (original held at Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum) was presented to the Parliament of Victoria by the Lawson Family and the Perpetual Executors and Trustees Association of Australia Ltd in 1981.

 

Also on display is crockery from the Parliament House collection, with it a program for a dinner given to Harry Lawson by the Government of Victoria on 20 December 1922, shortly before Lawson’s departure for an official trip to Europe.

The Age, reporting the dinner, called the date ‘Mr Lawson’s lucky day’. 20 December coincided with the 23rd anniversary of Lawson’s selection to Parliament, and he had been offered his first position in Cabinet on 20 December 1913). Lawson served as Premier from 1918 to 1924.

Our group also visited the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne’s war memorial, in St Kilda Road. Lawson was a trustee of the Shrine of Remembrance. It was commissioned while he was Premier.

Report of the opening of the Shrine on 11 November 1934: VICTORIA’S GREAT SHRINE OF REMEMBRANCE. (1934, November 12). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 13. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205078251

 

Further reading

• Donald S. Garden, ‘Lawson, Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman (1875–1952)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lawson-sir-harry-sutherland-wightman-7117/text12277, published first in hardcopy 1986
• Paul Strangio; Brian J. Costar (2006). The Victorian Premiers, 1856-2006. Federation Press. pp. 161–. ISBN 978-1-86287-601-9. from Google Books
• History of Parliament House from https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/the-parliament-building/history-of-the-building
• Shrine of Remembrance Conservation Management Plan prepared October 2010, retrieved from http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au/attachment/64891

Three little maids from school

Three young women, dressed in school uniform. From left to right they are Marion Boyd Wanliss, Leslie Moira Henderson, and Joan a’Beckett Weigall. Marion, Leslie, and Joan attended the Clyde Girl’s Grammar School founded by Leslie’s aunt. Photograph taken in 1914 by Gainsborough Studio Photographers. The photograph belonged to Leslie Henderson and was donated to the State Library of Victoria: Accession no: H89.267.

Leslie Henderson (1896-1982), niece (and biographer) of the Australian feminist Vida Goldstein (1869-1949) , was my grandfather’s second cousin. Her paternal grandfather was the Presbytrian Reverend William Henderson (1826-1884) of Ballarat, and Leslie also  compiled and published biographical notes about her grandfather and his family.

Isabel Henderson (1862-1940), one of Leslie’s paternal aunts,  was the founder of the St Kilda  Clyde Girls’ Grammar School. The school later moved to Woodend, near Hanging Rock, Victoria.

The photograph above was captioned by Leslie as “Marion Wanliss, Leslie Henderson, Joan Weigall (Lady Lindsay)”.

Marion Boyd Wanliss (1896-1984) studied at the University of Melbourne (M.B., B.S., 1920; M.D., 1929) and conducted research into cancer as a postgraduate in Vienna. She practised as a physician at Camberwell, Melbourne, and later in Collins Street. She became an honorary physician at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital. A member (1928) of the Royal College of Physicians, London, and a fellow (1954) of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, she was also a prominent conservationist. She never married.

The 1913 dux of Clyde Girls’ Grammar School was Joan à Beckett Lindsay née Weigall (1896-1984) , who became a noted author and artist.  From 1916-1920 she studied art at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. In 1922 she married the artist Darryl Lindsay (1889-1976), who was later Director of the National Gallery of Victoria. Joan Lindsay’s most well-known book was a novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock,  published in 1967. The story concerns the disappearance of three girls and a teacher from a school near Hanging Rock. This was adapted as a film in 1975, and a television series is being released in 2018.

 

Seven young women at a waterfall near Lorne. Written on verso: Photo taken at Lorne, 1913. Standing :- Keila Dillon, (girl in white not known), Leslie Henderson. Seated :- [Mira?] Scott, Joan Weigall, Marion Wanliss, Doris Chambers. Photo from the Estate of Leslie Moira Henderson in the collection of the State Library of Victoria: Accession: H2013.229/14

Marion, Leslie, and Joan, with four other girls, pictured in 1913 near Lorne, a seaside town south-west of Melbourne.   Marion’s brother, Harold Boyd Wanliss (1891-1917), took up 295 acres (119 ha) near Lorne, Victoria, to plant an orchard. The Wanliss Falls, which he discovered close by on the Erskine River, were named in his honour.

Leslie Henderson at Mandeville Hall, Toorak in 1913. In 1913 the previously grand mansion was a boarding house. It 1924 the mansion became a school. Picture from the estate of Leslie Henderson and in the collection of the State Library of Victoria Accession no: H2013.229/9

When my great grandparents Beatrix Hughes and Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny married in 1906, Leslie Henderson was the youngest bridesmaid.

1906 wedding of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny to Beatrix Hughes at Beaufort, Victoria.

Family tree showing Leslie Henderson

Sources

• Henderson, Leslie M. (Leslie Moira) The Goldstein story. Stockland Press, Melbourne, 1973.
• Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Don Chambers, ‘Henderson, William (1826–1884)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/henderson-william-3752/text5911, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Marjorie R. Theobald, ‘Henderson, Isabella Thomson (Isabel) (1862–1940)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/henderson-isabella-thomson-isabel-6631/text11423, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Bill Gammage, ‘Wanliss, Marion Boyd (1896–1984)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wanliss-marion-boyd-9278/text15799, published first in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Terence O’Neill, ‘Lindsay, Joan à Beckett (1896–1984)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lindsay-joan-a-beckett-14176/text25188, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 3 May 2018.

L is for Lilian

My third cousin four times removed, who was also the sister-in law of my third great uncle, was Dr Lilian Helen Alexander (1861-1934), one of the first woman doctors in Australia.

Lilian was the second of three children of Thomas Alexander (c. 1820-1888) and Jane Alexander nee Furnell (1818-1908). Their oldest daughter was Constance (1858-1913) and they also had a son, Albert Durer Alexander (1863-1933).

 

Family tree showing the Alexander and Cudmore cousin connection

 

The Alexanders lived in South Yarra. Thomas was employed as a printer for the Government but lost his job in the Victorian Government political crisis of January 1878. In 1878 and 1879 he operated a bookselling business. From 1873 Jane, Mrs Alexander, ran a Ladies’ College, which took boarders, called “Lawn House”. This began at William Street, South Yarra. From 1879 the school advertised that the principals were Mrs Alexander and the Misses Alexander: Lilian and Constance were teaching too. In 1883 the school moved from William Street – Lawn House was required by the railway – to Springfield House, 13 Murphy Street, South Yarra, later renumbered to 17.

Lilian was educated at her mother’s school and then for one year at Presbyterian Ladies’ College. In 1883 she entered the University of Melbourne as one of a small group of women who studied Arts. She was the first woman student of Trinity College. She gained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 and her Master of Arts in 1888. The 1887 advertisement for the school proudly announced her achievements.

 

Advertising (1887, January 29). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11588121

 

In 1887 Lilian applied to study medicine and was one of the first women medical students at Melbourne. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine in 1893 and her BCh (Baccalaureus Chirurgiae or Bachelor of Surgery)  in 1901.

 

First group of female medical students at the University of Melbourne, 1887. Description: Standing (l. to r.) Helen Sexton, Lilian Alexander, Annie (or Elizabeth) O’Hara. Seated (l. to r.) Clara Stone, Margaret Whyte, Grace Vale, Elizabeth (or Annie) O’Hara. Retrieved from https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2011/07/12/237/

 

In 1895 Lilian was inaugural secretary of the Victorian Women’s Medical Association, and later its president. Her first appointment was at the Women’s Hospital in Carlton, and she was one of the inaugural staff members of the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, which was established in 1897.

In 1891 Lilian’s sister Constance (1858-1913) married their third cousin Milo Robert Cudmore (1852-1913). Milo was the brother of my great great grandfather James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912).

Milo and Constance had four sons:

• Francis Alexander Cudmore 1892–1956
• Ernest Osmond Cudmore 1894–1924
• Arthur Sexton Cudmore 1897–1974
• Wilfred Milo Cudmore 1899–1965

In January 1913 Constance Cudmore died at the Alexander family home in Murphy Street, South Yarra. In July, six months later, Milo also died at South Yarra. Lilian, still living at 17 Murphy Street South Yarra, assumed the care of  the four orphans,  then aged between 14 and 21.

Lilian practiced medicine until 1928. She died on 18 October 1934.

OBITUARY (1934, October 20). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 24. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10983054

 

In April 1936 Arthur Sexton Cudmore and his two surviving brothers, Francis Alexander Cudmore and Wilfred Milo Cudmore  presented a bas relief sculpture by the notable Australian sculptor Web Gilbert to the University of Melbourne in honour of their aunt Dr Lilian Helen Alexander.

The sculpture “Wheel of Life” by Web Gilbert in the foyer of the Medical Building Grattan Street, University of Melbourne.

 

Sources

• Farley Kelly, ‘Alexander, Lilian Helen (1861–1934)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/alexander-lilian-helen-12770/text23037, published first in hardcopy 2005
• Chiron : Journal of the Melbourne University Medical Society. The Society, Parkville, Vic, 1988. “The Wheel of Life” – The Alexander Memorial by Robin Orams. Volume 2, Number 1, page 35

Related posts

• A is for aviator: Ernest Osmond Cudmore
• B is for Buick

 

Trove Tuesday: MCG not available for 1956 Olympics

Harry Lawson (1875-1952) was the cousin of my great grandmother Beatrix Champion de Crespigny née Hughes (1884-1943).

Lawson was a politician from Castlemaine, Victoria. He served as premier of Victoria from 1918 to 1924 and later, from 1928 to 1934, a senator in the Federal Parliament.

He was also a trustee of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In 1952 the trustees of the Melbourne Cricket Ground refused to make the MCG available for the Olympics. They were concerned that “there was no guarantee that the ground could be reconsolidated afterwards, and this would upset cricket and football”

The trustees and politicians managed to come to an agreement early in 1953 and the MCG was the main stadium for the 1956 Olympics.

Lawson had died in June 1952 so was not party to the resolution of the issue.

Newspaper items 

• “CLOUD-BURST” (1952, February 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23162857 
• M.C.G. Not For Olympics (1952, March 1). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18254344

Y is for football at Yarra Park: G. Dana footballer

One of my earliest posts was about my first cousins four times removed George and Augustus Dana, the sons of Henry Dana (1820-1852), commandant of the Native Police in the colony of Victoria.

Reviewing digitised Australian newspapers on Trove recently, I came across several mentions of a G. Dana in the 1860s. I believe that this G. Dana is George Kinnaird Dana (1849-1872), the son of Henry Dana. G. Dana was playing the local football code, now known as Australian Rules Football.

A game at the Richmond Paddock, part of Yarra Park,  in the 1860s. A pavilion at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is on the left in the background. (A wood engraving made by Robert Bruce on July 27, 1866.)

G. Dana played mostly for South Yarra. South Yarra Football club was in existence from at least 1864. In 1873 South Yarra Football Club merged with a Saint Kilda Cricketers Club to form the Saint Kilda Football Club, which still plays football today.

In May 1866 Dana was playing for South Yarra. The rule for the season had been adopted at a meeting of delegates held at the Freemasons’ Hotel.

 

FOOTBALL. (1866, May 12). Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 – 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059375

Dana chose one of the sides for the South Yarra Club. In the two hour game in May, neither side scored a goal.

 

FOOTBALL. (1866, May 12). Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 – 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059375

Dana played for South Yarra against Melbourne for the Challenge Cup in June 1866.

FOOTBALL. (1866, June 2). Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 – 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059376

Dana is also mentioned in September as playing for the Challenge Cup. Dana scored the second and final goal for South Yarra with a good running drop kick. Apparently drop kicks are no longer used in Australian Football League although there is a video of a drop kick being played in 2013.

 

The Challenge Cup. (1866, September 15). Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 – 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199057292

On 14 September 1867 G. Dana was mentioned as being a member of the Melbourne Football Club team which was scheduled to play a team drawn from the 14th Regiment [the 2nd Battalion, Buckinghamshire Regiment of Foot].

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1867. (1867, September 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5777936

George Dana later became a trader in the South Pacific. In 1872, at the age of 23, he accidentally shot himself in the foot and died of tetanus on the island of Tanna, in present-day Vanuatu.

 

Family Notices (1873, April 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5851052

Related posts

• George Kinnaird Dana and Augustus Pulteney Dana : my very first blog post apart from my introduction, written five years and 245 posts ago. I am pleased to update with a little more information about George.
• W is for Williamstown: funeral of Augustus Dana

Further reading

• The death of South Yarra Football Club: FOOTBALL. (1873, November 1). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946), p. 11. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137583335
• or viewing…  : a drop kick being played in AFL: https://youtu.be/KEgkmLLro2E and another video of drop kicks from the South Australian football archive https://youtu.be/iSYw5lb6tZk

 

O is for Oakleigh

Marjorie Winifred Sullivan was born on 2 June 1920 in Clapham Road, Oakleigh, Victoria, to Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson, age 25, and Arthur Sullivan, a bootmaker, age 28. Marjorie was the fourth of six children: she had two sisters, Violet and Lillie, born in 1914 and 1915, and an older brother, Arthur, born 24 January 1919 at Chelsea, about 20 kilometres south of Oakleigh. Marjorie was also to have a younger brother, Roy, born in 1926 and sister, Gwendolyn, born in 1933.

(Oakleigh is a residential suburb 15 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD. In 1921 its population was 6,076.)

A street map of Oakleigh from about 1920 currently for sale from Brighton Antique Prints and Maps (click to enlarge)

Excerpt from the above map showing Clapham Road and the business district of Oakleigh.

On the 1917 electoral roll Arthur and Stella were listed as living at Chelsea. Arthur’s occupation was bootmaker. On the 1922 roll, Arthur, a bookmaker, and his wife Stella were listed as living at Stanley Avenue, Cheltenham.

In early 1920, Arthur ran a boot shop in Bay Street, Frankston, 35 kilometres south of Oakleigh, an hour and a half away by train.

 

Advertising (1920, January 16). Mornington Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1911 – 1920), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65853376

In March 1920 Arthur advertised that ‘on account of health reasons’, he was ‘seeking a change in outdoor employment’ and leaving the business. In the event he was absent for only a few weeks. In April he advertised he had resumed charge of his business. In May 1920 it was sold.

I don’t know when the family moved to Oakleigh but perhaps it was the move that prompted the sale of the business. Perhaps it was too far for him to travel every day.

Arthur served on the Western Front in the Australian Army during World War 1. He returned to Australia from France in February 1918, invalided out with ‘debility’. Marjorie told me that her father suffered from shell shock after the war. She had to sit with him when he got the horrors.

Advertising (1920, March 12). Mornington Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1911 – 1920), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65853564

Advertising (1920, April 23). Mornington Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1911 – 1920), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65853735

Advertising (1920, May 14). Mornington Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1911 – 1920), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65853815

It appears that Arthur Sullivan set up as a bootmaker in Cheltenham after he sold the Frankston business. In September 1920 Arthur Sullivan of Cheltenham was advertising in situations vacant for a “Boot trade – Smart improver, constant, or repairer, few days”. I haven’t found any other reference to that business in the 1920 newspapers.

Advertising (1920, September 16). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203066683

 

M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854

Western End of Queens Wharf Melbourne 1854 by S.T. Gill retrieved from MossGreen auctioneers

Ellen Murray (1837 – 1901) and Margaret Smyth (1834 – 1897), two of my husband’s great grandmothers, sailed from England to Melbourne, Victoria, on the Persian, arriving on 9 April 1854. Ellen’s sister Bridget and an infant surnamed Smyth traveled with them.

The Persian left Southampton on 2 January 1854 with 448 government immigrants, of whom 200 were single women. Eight people died on the 97 day voyage and five babies were born. The Croesus, which sailed from Southampton more than a week after the Persian, arrived the same day.

PORT PHILLIP HEADS. (1854, April 11). Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 – 1856), p. 4 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91932661

The Persian collided with another ship, the Cheshire Witch, in Port Phillip.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1854, April 11). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4805696

From the passenger list of the Persian, Margaret Smyth and infant are at the bottom of the screenshot , record retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge)

Margaret Smyth was recorded as having given birth on board. She was from Cavan; her religion was Church of England; she could read and write; and she was 20 years old. She did not find a job immediately on landing, but went to stay with her cousin. His name on the record appears to be ‘John Hunter’, though the surname is not clearly legible.

I know nothing more about this cousin, nor have I have discovered anything more about Margaret’s baby. There seems to be no death certificate, but the baby may have died without its death registered, for in 1854 civil registration of deaths was not yet in force in Victoria.

From the passenger list disposal summary Margaret Smyth and infant went to her cousin.

On 19 November 1855 Margaret Smyth, dressmaker from Cavan, aged 22, married John Plowright, also 22, a gold digger. Their wedding was held at the residence of John Plowright, Magpie, Ballarat. On the certificate Margaret’s parents are given as William Smyth, farmer, and Mary nee Cox.

1855 marriage certificate of John Plowright and Margaret Smyth (click to enlarge)

Passenger list from the Persian showing Bridget and Ellen Murray at the bottom of the image. Retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge).

Bridget and Ellen Murray were both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was 24 and Ellen 18. Both found jobs on 15 April, within a week of their arrival. Bridget was engaged by S. Marcus of Prahran for a term of 1 month with a wage of 28 shillings and rations. Ellen was similarly employed by Mrs Ireland of St Kilda, with a wage of 30 shillings.

I have not been able to find anything more about Bridget Murray.

On 28 March 1856, two years after her arrival in the colony, Ellen Murray married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong . Their wedding was at the residence of John Plowright, Black Lead Buninyong, in the presence of John and Margaret Plowright. Ellen gave her residence as Buninyong and her occupation as dressmaker. She was born in Dublin, aged 21, and her parents were George Murray, glass blower, and Ellen nee Dory.

1856 marriage certificate for James Cross and Ellen Murray (click to enlarge)

It seems that Margaret Smyth and Ellen Murray, who had emigrated to Victoria on the same ship, remained friends. Later the son of Ellen Cross nee Murray, Frederick James Cross, married Ann Jane Plowright, the daughter of Margaret Plowright nee Smyth.

Hunter Smyth connection?

I think I have found a connection between the Hunter and Smyth families but I can’t link Margaret Smyth to it, at least not yet.

On other certificates Margaret Smyth states she was born in Bailieborough, County Cavan. I found a John Hunter associated with Bailieborough.

I have not been able to find a death of this John Hunter.

Family Notices (1866, December 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5782047

I ordered the marriage certificate and discovered Elizabeth Grace Hunter, age 27 had been born in Bailieborough. Her parents were John Hunter and Eliza Hunter nee Carmichael.

I ordered her 1897 death certificate and found Elizabeth had been in the colony 34 years. The informant on her death certificate was Charles Smyth, nephew, of Albury, New South Wales.

I found H. Hunter on the death indexes. He was Henry Hunter who died 1875. Henry was Elizabeth’s brother, also the son of John Hunter and Eliza Carmichael.

I hope further research will uncover the connection and I can learn more about Margaret Smyth’s family.

M is for Manpower, Mills, Malaria, and Marjorie, my Mother-in-Law from Melbourne

My mother-in-law, Marjorie Young née Sullivan (1920-2007), supported me in my family history research. We would often talk about her family history and when I compared her reminiscences I found that her recollections matched well with the documentation I had found, and often helped to point the way to a more accurate tree.

Besides her relatives, Marjorie would talk about her own life.

She was born in Oakleigh, a suburb of Melbourne, in 1920, the fourth of six children.

In 1926 Marjorie started school in Tatura, a small town near Shepparton in northern Victoria. She recalled that her father would not allow any of his children to begin school before they were six years old nor start work before sixteen. Marjorie did well at school and wanted to become a teacher. But she couldn’t. Her family, at that time living in Malmsbury, was too poor to send her off to a teachers’ college.

From the age of about thirteen, Marjorie was a junior teacher in the Malmsbury school helping to look  after the kindergarten classes; as a result she was awarded the Merit Certificate without being required to pass the usual examination at the end of Grade 8. She left school at 14.

After leaving school Marjorie helped to look after her youngest sister Gwenny (1933-1935). Sadly Gwenny died of meningitis after a few day’s illness when she was only two years old.

Marjorie’s first job, at the age of 16, was in Kyneton where she went to be a mother’s helper. She enjoyed the work. There was one baby when she started and by the time she left there were two more. She left when she was 19, moving with her family to Castlemaine. She had been happy in the Kyneton job.

In Castlemaine Marjorie learned to be a weaver in the woollen mills there. This was 1939, the year war broke out. The mills were busy making cloth for uniforms and blankets.

In 1941, when she was 21, Marjorie and a girlfriend, one of her workmates, decided to go to Melbourne to work for the Laconia blankets woollen mill.  In 1942 Marjorie met her future husband, Peter, while working there.

Peter and Marjorie in 1942 in the garden of Marjorie’s parents’ house in Castlemaine

Peter enlisted in the army in 1943. They became engaged and married in 1944 when he was on leave.

In 1990 Marjorie told me about a trip she made to Sydney during the war to see Peter.

When Peter went back to an army camp near Sydney after his leave he became ill with malaria and was admitted to hospital. It was then that Marjorie decided to go to Sydney to be near him.

She applied to Manpower, a Commonwealth wartime employment regulatory authority, for permission to leave her work and travel to Sydney. Manpower deemed the journey to be unnecessary and refused her request.

So Marjorie packed her suitcase and took the train to Albury, on the New South Wales border. Because she had no travel permit, she could not be too open about asking for accommodation, so she got a taxi driver to recommend a hotel. He found one and suggested that she should get up very early the next morning and catch a milk truck going to Culcairn, further up the line. In Culcairn she would be able to catch the Albury to Sydney train without any difficulty. But the hotel didn’t give her an early call so she found another taxi to take her to Culcairn where she waited at a hotel. She paid hush money to both taxi drivers, to the hotel keeper in Culcairn, to the hotel rouse-about, who went to the station and bought her ticket, and also to the conductor of the train.

Marjorie stayed in Sydney for three months with Peter’s cousin Betty [this was possibly Bessie Bridges, wife of Robert Charles Cross], but then she got a please-explain letter from both Manpower and the travel authorities. Her Melbourne flat mate had dobbed her in.

She felt she had to return to Melbourne – was afraid not to go back – but did not want to repeat her journey through Albury with hotels and taxis, so she bought a ticket from Sydney to Tocumwal, on the New South Wales border further down the river, paid hush money to the ticket-seller at the Tocumwal station, bought a first class ticket (to lessen the chances of being spotted as a border-hopper) to Melbourne. She paid hush money to the conductor of that train too.

Peter Young’s military records show he had malaria in 1944. He was first ill with malaria in June and then re-admitted to hospital with malaria in August.

Manpower

In January 1942 the Commonwealth Government established the Manpower Directorate which was responsible for administering ‘reserved occupations and industrial priorities’. The Director-General of Manpower was authorised to prevent employees from leaving their employment. In March 1942 the whole of the civilian population of Australia over the age of 16 was required to register with Manpower. Nearly three million people were placed in employment from January 1942 to January 1946. There were 13,500 direction orders. I suppose it was a direction order to return to work that Marjorie received in Sydney.

Marjorie left weaving later in the war. She said she got germs under the nails from the wool. Manpower would not otherwise have let her resign.

The Laconia Woollen Mills building still stands in South Melbourne, refurbished as offices. The present tenant is a travel company.

Further reading

• Reserved occupations, Second World War’, at: https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/homefront/reserved_occupations/
• National Archives of Australia Agency details for CA 533 Directorate of Manpower, Central Office

The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street

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.