Descendants of Beatrice Williams

Beatrice Williams "Beatie", a daughter of John Thomas Williams and Jane Sheils neè O'Hara, was born 19 Mar 1873 ¹ at Lower Bellinger River; died 28 Sep 1953 Collaroy, Sydney, NSW ^{4, 16}; buried C of E Section, Northern Suburbs Cemetery, North Ryde.  She married 14 Jul 1892 at Tenterfield, NSW ², James Albert Gaffney born 1868 ^{2, 3}; died 16 Aug 1926 Glebe, Sydney, NSW ^{3, 15, 29}, son of  John Gaffney and Susan Winstanley ².

        Beatrice (Beatie) was only 13 years of age when her mother Jane died in 1886. The loss left her father to run his hotel the London Tavern in Surry Hills and to care for six children aged from approximately six to almost seventeen years. Under the circumstances the younger children may have been placed in the care of some of their seven already married siblings. However it may have been that Beatrice’s uncle Thomas O’Hara, a pioneer farmer and grazier of "Plainfield" Glen Innes who had arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1853, and whose two youngest girls were then aged 12 and 14, would have offered to take Beatrice. Thomas had lost his first wife Sarah in 1881 and had remarried in 1884. He also had several married children, such as Sarah who had married Joseph Weir in 1874, who could have taken Beatrice. At the time Sarah Weir had seven children of her own, all girls with the eldest two aged almost 10 and 11, and the Weirs' were then likely living at Tenterfield situated 95 kilometres north of Glen Innes. The railway line from Sydney to Glen Innes had opened in 1884 which would have made it easy for Beatrice to have travelled to either Tenterfield or Glen Innes.
       Such a scenario may explain how Beatrice came to meet her husband to be James Gaffney who she married when she was 19 years of age in Tenterfield. However if she had lived at Tenterfield then prior to her marriage she must have returned to Sydney to live for a period as her marriage record gave Sydney as her usual place of residence. Consent to the marriage was not given by her father as would normally have been the case for an under 21 year old with a father still living, but by her uncle Thomas O’Hara acting in his capacity as the government appointed Glen Innes district Guardian of Minors.
       Her husband James Gaffney was a master butcher who had his shop in Glebe Road, Glebe. When Beatrice's father John Thomas Williams died in September 1903 they were living in Winnie Street at Neutral Bay, which was where John T. was residing until a few months before he died in a hospice at Darlinghurst ^{27, 28}. In 1925 the couple resided in a house named "Barossa" at No. 16 Tressider Avenue, Haberfield ^{17, 26}. After she was widowed the following year Beatrice continued living at the Haberfield address until about 1952, when together with her married daughter Susie, and son-in-law public accountant John Frederick Dale, she moved to c/n of No. 38 Coolawin Road & Bourmac Avenue at Northbridge ^{16, 18}.
      About 1928 she accompanied her also widowed elder sister Sarah Ann Box of Perth on a trip to the United Kingdom and they visted Ireland. It is said that as a precaution in case they were separated from their monetary resources they carried with them some emergency funds in the form of gold sovereigns sewn into their corsets. It is not known if they had reason to make an emergency withdrawal! Beatrice told the story that whilst in Ireland they visited relatives and accepted an invitation to stay for a meal, at which their host brought forth a steaming bowl of potatoes, and carefully selecting one, held it up for her inspection - asking "Now here’s a beauty for you Beatie, what do you think ?" Apparently there was no accompaniment or second course - the potatoes comprised the entire meal ! ¹⁴ 

Children of Beatrice Williams and James Albert Gaffney were:
1.   i       John  Stanley  Harcourt  Gaffney
2.   ii      Susie  Ivy Glen Gaffney
3.   iii     Harold  J.  Gaffney

By occupation he was a  master butcher. At one time he owned a chain of about eight butcher shops on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, and as an adjunct to the shops had a farm at French’s Forest producing pigs.  He belonged to a number of sporting clubs, which included the Sydney Motor Cycle Club, NSW Aero Club, Long Reef Golf Club and Wentworth Falls Golf Club. John Stanley and wife Dorothy separated about the beginning of WW II and only recommenced living together again shortly before he died. She was the daughter a London buyer for David Jones Ltd. and received part of her education at a convent school in Belgium. Her father was said to have been a passenger on the ill fated liner Titanic, who although rescued when it sank subsequently died of a chest infection brought on by the ordeal. Following their marital separtion Dorothy worked for the duration of WW II for AWA at Ashfield, later living at Ryde and in Spit Road at Mosman, and spending the last years of her life in two Sydney nursing homes. ¹³

Susie was educated at Mount Street Margaret School in Pymble. She played the piano and was a regular golfer at the Pymble Golf Club and held one of the earliest issued NSW women’s driver’s liciences. She later took up contract and auction bridge and was a keen worker for the Crippled Children’s Association. Her first husband George Manning Dale was a butcher. In 1920 his shop was in Summer Hill and later in Glebe Road, Glebe. They were listed in the 1925 Commonwealth Electoral Roll residing at 80, Sloane Street, Haberfield. Her second husband was George Manning’s 13 years younger brother John Frederick Dale, who was a public accountant practising as John F. Dale & Co. at Joynton Avenue, Waterloo. ¹³

Child of  Susie Ivy Glen Gaffney and George Manning Dale was:
 4.          James Manning Dale

4.   James Manning Dale  He married 1949 ¹², Nell Jean Knight d. 2000 in Sydney, NSW.

He attended Newington College at Stanmore from 1927-1936 and in WW II served in the Pacific in the AIF in the RASC with the rank of Capt. By occupation he was a chartered accountant and was a member of the Australian professional body for over 50 years. In 1949 he became a partner in the firm of John F. Dale & Co. and subsequently a partner in the international accountancy firm of Touche Ross. About 1952 they moved from Haberfield to reside in Northbridge and in the year 2000 when wife Nell died were resided in Mosman ^{18, 19}.

Children of  James Manning Dale and Nell Jean Knight were:
5.    i      James Frederick Dale
6.    ii     Susan Margaret Dale
7.    iii    Margaret Louise Dale

5.   James Frederick Dale He married 1973 ¹²  Mary Lorraine Dunn.

Children of  James Frederick Dale and Mary Lorraine Dunn were:
8.    i      Michelle Lorraine Dale
9.    ii     Charles Hamilton Dale

Child of  Susan Margaret Dale and Manfred Otto Schramm was:
10.           Sarah Jane Schramm

Children of  Margaret Louise Dale and Wayne Patrick Horwood were:
11.   i      Alexandra Horwood
12.   ii     Joanne Horwood

8.    Michelle Lorraine Dale
9.    Charles Hamilton Dale
10.  Sarah Jane Schramm
11   Alexandra Horwood
12   Joanne Horwood