Constance
Constance Mary Beatty (nee Forster) had been considered a great beauty in her youth, but, since the birth of her children had been “a decorative invalid”(1). What was actually wrong with her is unclear. Letters from her to Archie as transcribed in Chapter 9 of this story give some insight into her state of mind, for example she longed for peace and quiet. During 1934-35 Peg (2) recorded: “Took Mum to [a holiday home in] Sassafras and put her straight to bed.” then a few days later Peg and Emily the maid went to “Moulton” in Sassafras, packed and straightened things out and brought Mum home. Within days Peg was “All day shopping in town with Mum” while Con stayed in the city at the Occidental Hotel for a couple of nights. Con’s daughter-in-law Betty observed that “Con perked up no end when there was shopping to be done!” (Anonomyous source). Peg and Archie sometimes ate dinner “in Mum’s room” at “Enniscrone”, Mont Albert. 4 April 1935 Peg “motored up to Olinda to look for a house for Mum”. 2 May Peg “motored Mum and Miss Whitehead up to Olinda and put her to bed. Dad came too”. A week later Archie and Peg “motored up to Olinda to see Mum. Found her very ill”. After calling the doctor Peg motored her mother “to a convalescent home”. Once Con was back home Peg needed to sponge her and then arranged for a nurse to sponge her. Nurses and doctors came and went. Peg wrote to friends and family for Con and wrapped Christmas presents for her and drove her on numerous appointments and visits. Going by her diary Peg was always a dutiful daughter though it seems that Con, who was very concerned with appearances, was disappointed in her and not always kind to her. For example in the 1920s Peg and her beautiful cousin Ruth Littleton were heading out to a party when Con observed, in Gwen Littleton’s hearing ” I spend a fortune buying clothes for you and Ruth looks better than you do in something she made herself!” (1). Sometimes Con was “making progress” and sometimes “Mum had a very bad day”. In early December 1937 “Mum took a bad turn”. Dr. Colquhoun their GP brought a new doctor – Dr. Williams – to see Con. They stayed a couple of hours. 16 Dec 1937 Peg recorded: “Pretty ghastly day. Mum not at all well…the doctors arrived at 6.00 and took Mum to the hospital” Peg subsequently mentions “Merton” at Brighton – so this was Merton Licensed House – a private psychiatric hospital for female patients. It was nearly 6 months before Con returned home.
This must be the event that HAP described as follows: “They called in a different doctor who told her that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her and she went mad” (3)
While Con was at Merton Peg and Archie often went to visit her. Sometimes she “was not well enough to see us”. 23 May 1938 Peg brought Con home again “looking heaps better and thrilled to get home”. Three days later “Dr. Williams decided to start the treatment [unspecified] again”. Con had both a day nurse and a night nurse for a while. However she evidently relapsed, as 2 Sept 1938 “Dr. Colquhoun took Mum to Mont Park”, another psychiatric institution, where she remained for more than a year. Peg and Archie continued to visit her. “Mum was having a bad day so we didn’t stay” “Mum seemed more normal” “Mum was very normal and more like herself than she has been for some time” “They have started the Cardiazol treatment.” [I understand that Cardiazol was a chemical precursor to shock therapy, used on Schizophrenics and later on affective disorders]. Anyway, 11 Nov 1939 Peg brought her mother home again, and “she and Dad walked around the block”. Con remained at home for the following two years.
The most informative source on Con for this period is Gwen Littleton (later Taylor), Con and Archie’s niece who was a university student at the time and lived with the Beattys for a couple of years. She told me that Con no longer lived as an invalid, and indeed was very strong and often very kind. “She used to get up early to make me a spray of flowers to wear to university – not that one normally wore a spray of flowers to university!” Con was troubled in her mind though, and once when Gwen found her in a distressed state Con told her: “I’ve ruined my life, and I’ve ruined Archie’s life, and we should have had so much fun!” Gwen said sometimes when they were due to go to a social occasion Con would hide, as though she couldn’t face it. I’m guessing that having everyone aware that she had “gone mad” might have made Con wary of being on display. Gwen described one night at dinner when Con, who was normally quite fastidious about table manners, started shaking so that she couldn’t manage the knife and fork, and left the table in distress saying “It’s all going wrong!” Usually during this period though Con seemed OK. Peg wrote (20 Sept 1940): “Mum’s birthday. She had a very happy day and was splendid”
21 Nov 1941 she evidently relapsed. Peg wrote: “Mum unwell. Dr. Williams took her straight away to Merton. Very hectic day.” A few months later (11 July 1942) Hilda and Peg went to Merton and brought Con home. According to Peg she settled in well, but just a couple of weeks later (25 July 1942), Con had a stroke and died at home the next day aged 62.
Peg
Peggy (Margaret Constance Norris Beatty) seemed to be living a happy and carefree life during most of the 1930s. After doing her “chores” in the morning she spent a lot of time every day “motoring” herself and others around in her Reo Flying Cloud, known to Peg and her friends as “Reo Rita”. Once Harold left home she was the only one in the family with a car and seemed to be a willing chauffeur for her family and friends. Many of her evenings were filled with parties, dinners, shows and balls, and several times each year she went on holidays with a group of friends and family, and she went for lengthy visits to her old school friends. She played a lot of golf at Croydon – “I played a shocking game!” and enjoyed going to the races with Betty, Archie and/or various other friends – “lost a bob or two” (2)
Peg didn’t marry until 1961. She wasn’t a great beauty, but by all accounts she was “a ripping type” and certainly wasn’t short of admirers. She saw a lot of Norm Atkins, the brother of her school friends Win and Nell. He was a pharmacist and Peg often went out with him and to many cocktail parties at his flat. He was an excellent tennis player and he and Peg were regular tennis partners. She continued a frequent correspondence with Sturdie Oldham who took her out whenever he was in town. He eventually gave up on her, and in October 1937 married Joan Lampe of Coonamble. Peg kept a letter where he wrote affectionately from Goolgumbla Station, Jerilderie, where he was Overseer, expressing relief that Peg was pleased about his engagement “I was worried that perhaps you might have cared for me more than you ever let me know”. They continued corresponding as friends. (4) Another “great mate” was her cousin Geoff Littleton. He and Peg often dined together at “The Red Hen” or “The Wentworth” after shows such as “The Pearl Fishers” in March 1935 or “The Desert song” in Dec 1937. Geoff was a solicitor and in about 1937 moved to a practice in Gippsland. HAP assured us that Geoff was in love with Peg, and was intending to ask his bishop whether it was permissable to marry a first cousin. (3) I don’t know what Bishop Cranswick said to this, but 21 Feb 1939 Geoff’s engagement to the bishop’s daughter was announced. Peg met Edith Cranswick a couple of days later and declared her “a charming lass!” (2)
I was told that Harold’s wife Betty suspected that Peg was a lesbian (anonymous source). It’s clear from her diary that Peg had a succession of close female friends starting with her school friend Win Atkins. Almost all of them became friends of Peg’s family and other friends and remained her close friends in the long term and after marriage.
Sturdie Oldham 
Geoff Littleton 
James Beveridge (Jim) Coutts
Towards the end of her life I asked Peg herself what was going on in her heart at the time. She said that Jim Coutts, the brother of her school friend Jean Coutts was the man she loved and hoped to marry. Peg certainly saw a lot of him over a number of years. In April 1936 Peg and Jim went on a boat trip to Sydney and Lord Howe Island with Jim’s good friend Norman Atkins and Norm’s sister Nell, an old school friend of Peg’s. It sounds as though they had a lot of fun. Nell took over writing Peg’s diary for a couple of days. Having a beer was “a bit of Goodo” and a few more beers was “a bit of goo DOUGH!” Jim and Peg exchanged letters weekly for quite a while and he would contact her and take her out whenever he was in town. They would spend time together when she was staying at the Coutts property “Plaistow” at Joyces Creek near Castlemaine. In January 1939 Peg motored home with Jim and got Norman to drive her own car. 18 April 1938 Peg wrote “My scanties broke at the ball! Jim put them in his pocket for me!” He was the only person in her diary to be referred to just as one initial. “Telephone call from J just before I left” 19 Jan 1937. However the closeness didn’t translate quickly to an engagement. Maybe Jim was conscious of being the second son of “Plaistow”, or wary after an earlier failed engagement back in 1932. From all I read about him he sounds very loveable but maybe a bit diffident? And was it a coincidence that the most intimate of all of Peg’s female friendships developed at this time? Dulcie Newing came to nurse Con in early 1937 and by 21 August 1937 Peg “cuddled up to Newing while she read to Mum”. “Newing came and tucked me up”. After the crisis of Con being sent away in December 1937 which was quite traumatic for Peg, “Newing decided to keep me company for a few days”. After Con went into Mont Park in September 1938, Peg and Dulcie went on a month’s long caravan trip to Buxton. They camped on the Acheron River on Burchall’s place. It was quite an adventure. Les Burchall and a friend took them to a ball in Alexandra and to climb Mt. Cathedral. One day Archie and a friend came up to visit them and stayed at Buxton pub. On the anniversary of the day they met, Peg “took Newing some roses – our first anniversary” Yet Dulcie had a gentleman friend called Stewart who often took her out, and who also became a good friend of Peg’s, and Peg continued to correspond with and see a lot of Jim.
3 September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the next day Peg went straight off to join the Red Cross. She cleared out the attic at “Enniscrone” Mont Albert, set up a hoist so that paper and other material that she collected for the Red Cross could be stored there for later collection, and recruited her friends and neighbours to contribute material to her store. In early 1940 Dulcie was drafted as an army nurse and sent overseas. Peg wrote “Stewart and I very upset!” In March 1940 Peg sat a Transport exam at Wilson Hall. At the Red Cross transport drivers meeting 30 April 1940 Peg was elected leader of No.3 group with 40 drivers to organise. After that she and her team often met ships to convey wounded soldiers to hospital and motored wounded soldiers to and from Stonnington Convalescent Home. Just before the War Archie had bought Peg a new car, a Packard 6. For this work Peg sometimes drove an official car and sometimes her own. 3 Oct 1940 Peg was promoted to Asst. Superintendant. 11 June 1941 Peg wrote proudly “The Packard led the convoy.” 21 May 1942 she was notified that she had passed the ARP exam and she and Hilda subsequently went to evening ARP lectures. From April 1943 Peg worked long hours in the Prisoner of War Enquiry Dept. of the Red Cross. She also continued her frequent visits to friends, but because of petrol rationing she often took the train. The Coutts seemed to consider her a member of the family already. Every year she spent shearing time at “Plaistow”, lending a hand both in the house and on the property. Charles Coutts, father of Jean and Jim wrote very affectionately 2 Feb 1943 that Peg was a “trump” at drafting wethers and weaners and “I wonder how I would have got along without you.” (7)
22 Dec 1940 Jim came to visit Peg when he left for Bonegilla for army training. He had enlisted in 2/29 Infantry Battalion AIF. He and Peg exchanged letters regularly until 10 Jan 1942 which was the last letter she received from him. He and most of his depleted battalion had been captured by the Japanese. 17 June 1944 Jean Coutts phoned Peg to say they had had a message from Jim over Tokyo wireless. It wasn’t until September 1945 that they learned he had actually died of Beriberi 16 Aug 1943 while working on the notorious Thai-Burma railway. Peg had continued writing to him for 2 years after his death. In her diary she wrote “feeling very low in spirits”. Jean Coutts wrote such a sad letter to Peg remembering her brother when he left as “serene and the finest example of all we admire most … Your hopes were my hopes. You are sharing with us now our proud sorrow as you have been with us through all these years of anxiety” (8)
Peg told me that the last time Jim had visited her in Mont Albert she hoped he would formally ask her to marry him, but she didn’t even get to see him alone because her mother monopolised his attention the whole time. “I could never forgive my mother for that.” I was surprised at the uncharacteristic bitterness in her voice. Clearly it meant a very great deal to her.
Harold
Harold Archibald Paget Beatty (Harl to Peg and HAP to others) and his wife Betty lived at 7 Rochester Rd. Canterbury in 1935, and he was working as an apprentice Engineer for ELCON. In February 1936 HAP demanded, and got, a pay rise and 16 April 1936 went from apprentice to “Design and Research Engineer”. (5) His specialty was fractional horse-power electric motors. (19) 22 June 1936 Betty gave birth to their first child, Barbara Gay. Elsa Wilde was with them in Gay’s early days – perhaps as a mother-craft nurse. In Feb 1937 they purchased 15 Stanhope Grove, E. Camberwell and quickly moved in. (6) 19 March 1938 a son David was born. During these years Harold was apparently happy with his family life and adventures with his friends at “McBeatsome” as related in Chapter 12 of this story.
In August 1940. Peg reported “David very ill. Motored him to St. Andrew’s Hospital. Bett and Harl came too.” Peg notes increasingly bad news. The diagnosis was Leukemia. David would recover for a while after blood transfusions including one from his Aunt Mary Reid. Peg went for a blood test as a potential donor as well. “Harold has located the best blood doctor in the world!” Peg reported. HAP told us later of his desperation as David weakened. He suggested to the doctors that they should connect his blood system to David’s and he could make enough blood for them both. 7 April 1941 David died, less than a month after his third birthday. Nothing so terrible had happened to Harold in his life and it was a very long time before he recovered. After the cremation Harold, Betty, Gay and Mary Reid went to Peterborough, but there was no escape from the pain. On their return a few days later, Peg and Archie were so shocked at the state Harold was in (he later described it as a nervous breakdown) that they took Betty and Gay to Betty’s parents at “Redhaven” and Harold to a doctor who promptly sent him away on sick leave. He spent some time at a relative’s farm near Deniliquin (Uncle Tom), throwing himself into hard physical work. I have no idea how Betty managed to survive every parent’s worst nightmare. Harold turned inwards in his grief. He poured his agony into a sonnet (9):
My Son
You were a light that shone on far too few For God was in your eyes and lit your smile, And where you laughed and played I always knew That He was near, and lingering awhile. You were a man with but a baby's years And fought defiantly when boisterous seas Crashed over and engulfed you, but no fears Deterred you facing more cold enemies. You had a will that challenged Death's desire And seemed incredibly to win 'gainst odds Insuperable. But when you did retire I knew 'twas not Death's victory but God's. You were my son, my life, my everything. You're with me still where soaring spirits wing.
In early December 1941 Harold, at 34 years old, tried to enlist but was rejected by the Army Recruiting Dept. as medically unfit. He told us that his partly blind eye and his old knee injuries must have been to blame. That didn’t stop him from trying to join the RAAF, but 31 Dec 1941 they rejected him as well, giving the same reason. (9) During the war Harold worked on war-related engineering projects for ELCON, including developing components for the new radar. (19) As petrol was rationed, Harold also turned his electrical engineering skills to powering cars by using a gas producer fuelled by charcoal. He set up in partnership with Matthew Strathmore who had a business in Deepdene and “has had considerable experience in France and England with gas generating plants … and suction gas engines in particular”. “Mr Beatty … is endeavouring to develop an adjustable tuyere which, together with a specially designed automatic electric blower, will, he hopes, enable the motor to be started on producer gas alone within two minutes. They have designed a unit for a car of 20 h.p. or less, and claim some measure of success already, stating that the car on which they have been experimenting has put up some very good performances.” (13) HAP used to tell us of an occasion when he raced another gas producer to see whose was best. He won when the rival gas producer exploded!
It was probably in early 1944 that Harold visited Three Hummock Island, which is off the coast of the north-western tip of Tasmania. He first went there while working as Second Engineer on a ship which plied Bass Strait (19). He loved the wild place, and tried to get a syndicate of people together to set up farming there. In April 1944 his friend Bob Nunn made enquiries to the Dept. of Agriculture in Tasmania as to the possibilities. (11) 1 June 1944 Harold visited Peg and Archie and “we talked about his island venture”. In November 1944 Harold, Bob and probably others left Stanley, Tasmania with Bill Nichols (who leased Three Hummock Island at the time) on his ship “Jean Nichols”. It was about a four hour trip to the Island and the seas were very rough. They walked and rode all over the island for the next few days. Harold noted finding a good house site near Green Point. The trip back to Stanley was even rougher. (12) Peg noted 18 November 1944 “Harold arrived back from Tasmania yesterday”. That was the last mention of the scheme. Harold later said the rough seas gave his prospective partners a sudden new affection for the mainland!
Peg had commented that Harold was often not in good spirits, and he told us that he had always yearned for an outdoor life. He immediately turned his attention to another scheme. It must have been in early January 1945 that Eileen Walker observed “a tall man striding down the road” outside her home on the Taggerty-Thornton road about 70 miles NE of Melbourne. Presumably Harold had come to Taggerty by bus instead of by car because of petrol rationing. 21 Jan 1945 Peg reported “Dad went up to Taggerty with Harl, Betty, Bob Nunn and Gerry Dallimore to look at the property”. 1 Feb she noted “Russians only 45 miles from Berlin. Harold bought the property at Taggerty” (2) This time no syndicate was needed as I understand that Archie bought the property for his son. Less than a fortnight later Harold resigned from his position as Research Engineer at Elcon (14) and moved permanently to the farm. His family didn’t move up there immediately as there was work to be done on the house as well as on the property. His main helper for the first year was Gerald Dallimore, and also Cyril Muskett. Peg and Hilda visited 16 June 1945. Peg recorded that they went up with Mr. Graham in his truck and had lunch outside Coombe Cottage on the way, cooking sausages on the gas producer. Once at the farm, “Gerry turned on a cup of tea for us”. Peg and Hilda stayed in Taggerty at “a guest house of sorts”, walking back to the farm the next day where they did some weeding and cooked bacon and eggs for everyone. At that stage the property was still unnamed. Cyril Muskett told us he had wanted Harold to name his property “Cathedral Close”, saying “Well there’s Cathedral and it’s pretty close”, but, like the family home in Mont Albert, Harold named it for his father’s birthplace in Ireland – “Enniscrone”.
Archie
Archibald Beatty was the Managing Director of Stratton and Co. flour mills and President of the Croydon Golf Club and a member of the Savage Club. He had a wide circle of good friends and was very popular. While Harold loved and respected his father, he said they were very different people and he was not very informative about Archie, describing him simply as “a great club man”. In January 1935 Archie took his daughter Peg on a cruise to New Zealand on the “Wanganella”. The ship berthed at Sydney on the way and the Barker family George, Kathleen and Madge, came on board (Mabel Barker nee Forster was Con’s sister). Archie and Peg also motored out from the ship to see “Aunt Emma and Uncle George and Beatrice” (Emma Jordan nee Beatty was Archie’s elder sister). 12 May 1937 Peg noted “Dad’s Birthday. Went to dinner at the Oriental given in his honour by his cobbers”. In December 1937 Archie’s wife Constance suffered a mental breakdown and was sent to a psychiatric hospital as described above. 23 May 1938 Con was very pleased to come home again. 26 Aug Archie’s elder brother, Jim, died and the next day Peg motored “Dad, Uncle Gordon and Gordo across to Kath and Alan’s [McTaggart] for the funeral”. Con relapsed and was sent to Mont Park psychiatric hospital 2 September 1938. In December the same year Archie spent time in hospital with Diabetes, and thereafter needed regular insulin injections.
The best source on the Beattys at this period is Archie’s niece, Gwen Littleton. At the time she was studying at Melbourne University. In April 1939 Gwen’s brother Geoff developed Scarlet Fever and had to isolate at home, so Gwen and her father Tom Littleton went to stay with the Beattys at “Enniscrone” Mont Albert until he recovered. 23 Sept 1939 Gwen’s father died of Cancer, leaving Gwen effectively homeless as her mother was an invalid. Gwen said it was typical of Archie’s kindness when he said “Why don’t you just come and live with us Gwen?” She lived with them for about 18 months until Feb 1941 when she moved to the Women’s College at the university. One of her favourite memories of Archie was an evening meal when the family were discussing a forthcoming election. Gwen said “There was a stunned silence when I said I’d be voting Labor” Peg, Hilda and Miss Wad were very startled, as this was unheard-of in their circles. Kind-hearted Archie though, somehow managed to find room at their dinner table for the shockingly radical ideas of his clever young niece. No wonder she and many other people loved him. Gwen was there when Con came home from Mont Park and settled back into the household. She said that Con’s illness had come as a terrible shock to Archie as he had adored her and indulged her every whim.
Archie saw a lot of his brother Gordon Beatty, a bank manager for the State Saving’s Bank of Victoria, at this period. 26 Feb 1940 Peg reported that “Aunt Gert [Gordon’s first wife] passed away in the afternoon. Dad went across to Uncle Gordon and stayed the night.” The next day Hilda and Peg “went to the Service for Aunt Gert at Sleight’s Funeral Parlour. Motored Sheila [Gordon’s daughter and Peg’s cousin] home.” 22 September 1940 “Uncle Gordon and Sheila in a motor accident. Dad and I picked them up from hospital suffering from shock and abrasions, took them home to their boarding house and put them to bed.” 15 Feb 1943 “Dad went to Uncle Gordon’s wedding.” 25 March 1943 Peg “received a letter from Jean Beatty” (Gordon’s new wife who subsequently became a friend). Archie and Gordon went on trips and outings together including to the races. Sheila much later told me she thought Archie probably paid for the trips. (20)
Con died of a Stroke in July 1942. Archie had already befriended Mrs. Emma Steventon as she was among those leaving floral tributes at Con’s memorial service. Harold never named her, describing her as “a red-haired woman” and viewed her with suspicion. Peg likewise resented that Archie bought Mrs Steventon a car. He also bought her shares. (15) Their attitude is perhaps understandable. A different view of Mrs Steventon was provided by their cousin Sheila, Gordon’s daughter. She said that Emma Steventon was everything that Con wasn’t. She was robust, down-to-earth, fun-loving, kind and added some happiness to Archie’s last years. As Sheila’s own mother had died, her father considered Mrs. Steventon a good influence on her. (20) Archie was unwell in April 1945. Peg reported that Mrs Steventon often came and spent the day with him, playing poker or “doing the races”.
Archie died 1 August 1946, aged 69, of Coronary Thrombosis associated with Diabetes. HAP told us he liked to say he’d “die a Beatty”. The tributes poured in. “For almost a lifetime, Archie Beatty, as he was popularly known, was very prominent in the Flour Milling Industry. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Victorian Millowners’ Association for a considerable period, during which he was for many years one of its Vice Presidents, and his services on behalf of the Industry were of inestimable value. He was well liked and highly respected by all who knew him, both for his business ability and his fine personal qualities” (16). “Your dear father was greatly respected in the business circle for his integrity and uprightness and friendly disposition to all with whom he did business .. He was a fine man to know and one who would always do a good turn to any he could” (17). “… by his kind and generous nature and high conception of honour and integrity he endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. The qualities of sincerity, faithfulness and zealousness permeated the whole of his business career and private life, and he never performed a single act that was not in keeping with the loftiest motives. He was in every respect an upright and honourable gentleman” (18)
HAP described with relish a scene in the office of the family solicitor, Willie Weigall of Weigall and Crowther after Archie’s death. Mrs. Steventon turned up with some bills to be paid. When Mr. Weigall refused, she said “But Archie always paid my gambling debts!”. Mr. Weigall patted her hand and said “Those days are over My Dear”.
Sources:
(1) Reminiscences of Gwen Taylor (nee Littleton)
(2) Diary of Peggy Beatty 1930-1985
(3) Harold Beatty – reminiscences
(4) Letter from Sturdie Oldham to Peg Beatty dated 22/2/36
(5) Letter from Harold Beatty to ELCON and reply
(6) Letter from Weigall and Crowther re purchase
(7) Letter from Charles Coutts to Peg Beatty dated Feby 2 43
(8) Letter from Jean Coutts to Peg Beatty postmarked 11 Sep 1945
(9) Hand written sonnet signed by Harold Beatty
(10) Letter to Harold from RAAF Recruiting Centre
(11) Letter from D. Hicks, Dept. of Agriculture, Hobart to Mr. Nunn
(12) Gordon memo book with Harold’s undated daily record of the trip.
(13) Article from “The Vesta vamp” Nov 1940
(14) Elcon certificate of service and employee’s termination of services 12 Feb 1945
(15) Letter from broker to Archie buying shares in Southern Seas food for Archie and Mrs. Steventon 12 Sept 1944
(16) Letter from G. Downe, Victorian Flour-Millowners’ Council, to Miss Beatty 7 Aug 1946
(17) Letter to Mr. H and Miss P. Beatty from Geo. H. McAlpine 2 Aug 46
(18) Letter from P. Webb, Joint General Manager of the Victorian Producers’ Co-operative Co. Ltd. to H.A.P Beatty, 3 Aug 1946
(19) Eulogy for Harold prepared with help from Elva Beatty (1996)
(20) Reminiscences of Sheila Roberson (nee Beatty)
taggerty 
Well done. It is a great read & a very interesting family history. Miss Wad was my great aunty. Her name was Ada Wadelton, her sister is my grandfather.I look forward to the next instalment. Regards, Phil Challen.
LikeLike
Thanks Phil. Yes, we heard a lot about “Waddy” and she gets more mentions in earlier chapters than this one, though according to Peg’s diary she was usually part of the household at the time. I’d love to be able to keep going through to the ’60s and write about our dear friend Ben Challen.
LikeLike
Ben Challen was my grandfather, we now live in Taggerty & have a portrait of Ben plus some of his paintings. We also named our son Ben after grandfather.
LikeLike
Well researched Sue. Shines an analytical light on a tragic chapter of family history.
Hap (Harold) wore the pain of David’s loss all his life. As his nextborn son I was instinctively conscious of this, but was never made to feel like a replacement for David, and never did.
Hap once told me he would never again allow himself to suffer that depth of despair again, whatever the circumstances.
I also recall one of our last Christmas dinners at “Enniscrone” where, surrounded by his family, Hap confided that he felt he had finally transcended all that agony at long last.
LikeLike
Thanks Dear Brother. Let me know if you can add more details especially to the Three Hummock Island adventure.
LikeLike