Mary Broc Billows ( Grandmother ), was born in Dorchester, on 25th December 1851 and lived in Poole, Dorsetshire, one of 9 children, she died on the13th August 1945 and is also buried at Toowong Cemetery. Her father, Edward Billows ( 1817 – 1858 ), an Engineer went to Calcutta, India in 1856 to install the gas street lighting. Whilst there he contracted Cholera and died, soon after his wife with daughter Eva returned to England. Their other children had remained at schools in England. They lived at Gustardwood near Wheathampstead. Grandma, Mary Broc Wilsher , nicknamed ‘Polly’, was not well for a time and again for the records went to live with a Lady Yarmouth, then later with a Lady Braedalbane, they became close friends and she worked and travelled with her as her first assistant. The county house of Lady Braedalbane was Taymouth Castle, Alberfeldy Perth in Scotland.
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Mary Broc Billows of Gustardwood, arrived in Melbourne Australia on January 29th 1885 in the Ship St. Peterbourough with her brother Fred, his wife and son Fred. ( the sailing ship took 4 months ). Thomas George travelled to Melbourne from Brisbane and they were married at St.Peters Anglican Church in 1885 by Canon Handfield. The bride was given away
by Colonel Bromwych and the bridesmaid was Kate Charmbury, a cousin of Mary. Kate later married a Mr. Parker, manager of Argus Paper, Melbourne. Tom and Mary travelled north soon after as the weather was too cold for Fred. Fred had an abscess on the lung for which there was no remedy, he died on 24th.October 1886, age 37 years and is buried at Toowong Cemetery. His wife and son Fred returned to England, her son Fred went to live in France, joined the Army and was killed in action in WW1. BUT we do have a copy of a document from the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour showing a Frederick John Wilsher died 21st April 1917, Number 997. 41st Battalion Australian Infantry, age 19 Native of England, place of enlistment Gympie, Queensland, so maybe he did not return to England or there is another Fred Wilsher ??
Thomas George Wilsher and Mary Broc Billows. Continued : They had three children, Adeline, Gladys and George. ( details a little later )
When Gladys was three the Wilsher family moved from Sydney to Mackay, Queensland and lived in a home in McAllister Street ( now demolished ). Thomas opened his first shop in Sydney Street, as a confectioner and pastrymaker and later a second shop. He was well known for his sweets and under Royal Patronage. Orders were sent to them on board the boat or wherever the guests were picnicking and needing tasty morsels. He did well but crashed later when too many imported sweets came on the market and the homemade were dearer.
He quit Mackay and tried farming at Grantham. It was no good, the cattle ( from Gatton College ) caught a disease which was prevalent then. Things were grim.!
Daughter, Gladys did some clerical work at a store then entered nursing in 1912, George joined the Post office, making this his lifelong career and later moving to the Sydney GPO.
Thomas George packed up and went to live at New Farm, Brisbane. Later to Hendra – perhaps with Walter and Gladys’ home in Gerler road, then to their own home in Mein Street,
Eagle Farm.Thomas George had become a commercial traveller for Plumridge’s Sweets and Huttons’ Smallgoods, covering along the coast of Queensland to Thursday Island. He spent a lot of time working away from home. Eventually as Mary Broc became ill, they went to live with their daughter Gladys and her husband Walter in15 Manson Road, Hendra. Thomas built himself a small bed – sitting room in the garden of the home in Hendra. Gladys older sister Adeline also lived with Gladys and Walter, she was a very frail spinster. For the record Mary Broc (Billows) Wilsher died 13 th August 1945, aged 93, Although she lost her hair during her sickness , when she died her hair had grown again, lovely black hair. Thomas George Wilsher died 4th June 1953, aged 89 years and is buried at Toowong Cemetery. Brisbane.
In 1948 Thomas George returned to England for a visit and boarded with a lady in Harpenden. According to his daughter Gladys, he supposedly saw his real Mother, Eliza Jane ( Tindall ) Calverly, who was very old. ( born 1847, so 101 years ). However he did not confirm this in his diary. On his return from England by boat, he was met by the 3 daughters of his cousin Leonard, Phyllis Bradbury, Gladys Gibson and Lena Wilsher. Descendants of these three will still be living, probably in Perth, Australia.
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Thomas and Mary had 3 children:
(# I) Adeline Mary Wilsher born 11th August 1886 and was baptised at St. Marys, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. She died a spinster 29th August 1971 having lived most of her adult life with her sister, Gladys and her husband Walter Lewis.
(# ii) Gladys Charmbury Broc Wilsher born on the 25th May 1890 with midwife Jones in attendance, who lived close by. She died 20th February 1989 at Caloundra Brisbane. Gladys married 26th April 1923 to Walter Wentworth Lewis at St.Colomb’s, Clayfield Brisbane, Walter was born 20th February 1893 Herberton, North Queensland to parents John Walter Lewis and Grace Thompson. Walter died 14th February 1975 in Brisbane. Gladys and Walter had 2 children :
(## I) George Walter Broc Lewis 30th August 1924 and died 13th September 1988, from an Embolism and loss of blood, on the operating table , age 64. George married Winifred Hilda Mary Howes born 30th January 1925 in Brisbane to parents Albert Blackburn Howes and Belinda Agnes Henrietta Postle. George and Win had 2 children:
(###i) Judith Anne Lewis born 15th September 1954 in Brisbane. She married on the27th August 1983 at St Clements Church Stafford , Brisbane to Stephen Ashton Jones born 14th 1953 Fredericksburg, Virginia USA to parents James Ashton Jones and June Patricia Hancock. Judith and Stephen had 2 children. :
(####i) Samuel Ashton Broc Jones 2nd Februry 1986 , Brisbane (####ii) Brett James Lewis Jones 28th November 1989 Canberra.
(###ii) Brenda Jane Lewis 8th Auguast 1957, Brisbane married 12th May 1979 to Gregory Gordon Langdon born 17th May 1951, McLarenvale South Australia. Brenda and Greg had 2 children :(####I) Aaron George Langdon born 25 th November 1984, Gladstone.
(####ii) Craig Gordon Langdon born 27 th march 1987 Brisbane.
(##ii) Gladys Grace Charmbury Lewis ( Grace ), born 11th December 1925 in Brisbane, she married on 31st March 1951 Bevan Richards Thiele born 8th August 1925 from Melbourne. They had 3 children :
(####I) John Bevan Thiele 15 th February 1952. He Married on the 6th September 1975 to Anne Robyn Ferguson born 7th September 1951 in Brisbane. They had 4 children :
(#I) Robert John born 26th April 1977 in Brisbane.
(#ii) Andrew Bevan born 6th July 1980 “ .
(#iii) Gavin James born 7st September 1983 also in Brisbane.
(#iv) Timothy Richards born 1st September 1986 “ .
(####2) Margeret Grace Thiele born 30th July 1955 in Brisbane. She was married on 3 January 1981in Brisbane to Denis Charles Riddle, born 18th August 1955 in Fiji.
They had 2 children :
(## I) Catherine Grace Riddle born 21st September 1985.
(##ii) Justine Elizabeth Riddle , born 18th December 1990.
(####3) David Lewis Thiele born 19th February 1961 in Brisbane and he was married on 8th October 1988 to Sharon Black, born 13th August 1965. David and Sharon had 2 children :
(#I) Elliot James Thiele, born 8th August 1992 in Brisbane .
##ii) Oliver Thiele born 28th September 1995 in Brisbane.
Now back to the direct line of the Wilshers.
GEORGE TINDALL THRALE WILSHER , the only son born to Thomas George and Mary Broc Wilsher. He was born at Toowong, Queensland on 1st September 1891 and died on the 23rd May 1985 at Cronulla, NSW, age 93, quietly in his sleep, no major illnesses during his life and is buried in the lawn Cemetery , Woronora, Sutherland. NSW.
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Tindall is a family name dating back to William Tindall, who is said to have been Martyred
and put to death for translating the bible into English in about 1536. The Tindalls were a distant relation, who’s ancestry could be traced back to King George the 1st and to English folk, this seemed to be of great importance at the time Thrale is a family name ( Sarah Thrale)
George joined the Post Master Generals’ Department as a messenger boy in Mackay, then later as a postman delivering mail in the country, driving a horse and sulky. Later moving to
Sydney and working in the Mail Branch at the GPO, Sydney. He commenced studying for an Engineer, but WWII started and all courses were suspended until after the War. During this time he met Lucy Henrietta Dutton at their local church in Surry Hills, St. Davids.
He lived with Canon Hammond in the rectory at 15 Arthur Street, Surry Hills.
They were married on the 18th September 1915 at St. Davids by Canon R.S.Hammond. Lucy Henrietta Dutton was born on 12th July 1892 at Barrow Vale near Cobar, NSW , supposedly in a tent. Her father was Henry Dutton born 1863 in Adelong NSW, died on 20th February 1928 at Rockdale NSW, he was a carpenter, worked on building the water reservoirs at Mortdale and Bankstown. His father was Abel Dutton born 1831 and died in 1903 at Adelong, he was a miner, one of the first to mine in the Tumut area of NSW. His mother was
Lydia ( Baxter ) Dutton born 1831 and died 1911. They are both buried in the Cemetery at Adelong He came from Lancashire and she from Huddesfield, England. Married in 1854. Lucy’s mother was Jane Fenton, born in Wilcannia, NSW. on the 29th July 1973, died on 14th November 1936 and is buried at Woronora cemetery, Sutherland. When Lucy was a child the family moved to Bega, where she grew up and went to school. When about 18 years old they moved to Sydney and lived at 46 Adelaide Street, Surry Hills. Lucy only had one brother W.A (Allan ) Dutton, who was killed in 1915 in France in World War II, after whom our eldest brother Allan was named.
Jane’s father was Joseph Fenton born 9th February 1852 and died 1911, he was a miner in Cobar. Her mother was Mary F. ( Henning ) Dutton, born 1845 and died in 1924.
Lucy Henrietta died on the 16th November 1979 aged 87. She did suffer from Angina and Diabetes for the last few years of her life. She was a wonderful Wife and Mother , well respected in all she did. She was a Sunday School Teacher at St. Davids, Surry Hills, very active in church work with the Reverend Mr. Gabbot at St.Johns Rockdale and with the Reverend Canon Camroux at Cronulla, as was her husband George, who wrote of her, “ Well done, good and faithful servant, ----- enter into the joy of your Lord .” Mathew 25 : 21 They both worked for over 50 years for the British and Foreign Bible Society,‘ Pop‘ Wilsher as he was known played the violin and clarinet and wrote a column in the St.Andrews Church paper for many years. They lived in 7 different suburbs of Sydney, before owning their first home in 19 Castlewood Avenue Cronulla in 1954. This house was left to their daughter Joy .
Lucy’s brother William Allan Dutton born in 1894 (10221) at Cobar, was killed in action in WWI in 1916. He married Ellen Morgan prior to going overseas. She later married Frank Cullen and returned to northern NSW to live. He was in the 20th Battalion, AIF. His grave is in France at the Brewery Orchard Cemetery , Bois Grenier 83. He received the Simpson Medal, being carried from the battlefield on Simpson’s donkey. This medal is under lock and key at Cronulla RSL Club. GTTW & LHW Marriage Reg. 9108/1915. LHW Birth Reg.1085.
Allan George Henry Wilsher born 23 rd May 1916, named George Henry, but christened Allan after Lucy’s brother. Allan was a tiny baby, 2 pounds at birth, prematurely, probably due to her trauma, her brother being killed while she was pregnant. Allan was born at 46 Adelaide Street, Surry Hills, Sydney. He died on the 3 rd June 1982 age 66, suffering for two
years with “ Motor Neuron “ Disease, at that time , no known cure.
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He is buried in the lawn cemetery at Sutherland, close by to Lucy and George Wilsher and his wife Edith Eileen Wilsher. She was born in Cowra in 1923 (reg. 6734) and died on the 11th November 1968, suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis, ( from a heart attack following an overdose of cortisone, of which little was known of, prescribed by her local doctor ). She had been a seamstress for many years. Her father was Lindley Thompson and her mother Florence Kate Huckle, she had been married before to John Maxwell Dillon, no children. Allan worked at the Sydney Cotton Mills at Sydenham from when he was 14 until he turned 21 years old, he was then put off, as he had reached adult age, a practice which went on at that time . He carried his swag during the depression, going north to work in the Cane fields in northern NSW, owned by family friends, the Morgans. Ellen Morgan married Lucy’s brother Allan. After serving a term in the Army, he joined the PMG, firstly as a Postman, then as a Clerk in the Personnel Department. His interests were mainly music, studying the piano and having his own small band, which used to play at the local dances. He enjoyed tennis, playing with the API at sporting carnivals each year in a different country town.
He was very conscientious, enjoyed helping his family and those less fortunate than himself. They had no children and lived with Lucy and George at Cronulla all their married life.
Frank Charmbury Wilsher was born in Peruse Street Randwick on the 29th July 1917 and died on the 30th July 1996 after suffering from liver cancer for a short time. He worked during the depression years 1935 – 1939 with Allan on the sugar cane plantations. Frank joined the Militia, as did many men looking for a job in those days, then unable to join the AIF, as war had started, due to health reasons, he studied wireless , had a small business in Arncliffe for a few years, then studied again and received his Electrician’s Licence.