SUBMITTED BY: Laurie Waldon   EMAIL: Contact Laurie
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                          12 Gulgong Place, Fisher, ACT, 2611, Australia

   DATE: 02 September 2002           AREA: England > Australia

Robert Henry  WALDRON
    Occupation(s): Warehouseman 
   Birth Details
      Birth Town: Shoreditch
      Birth County, Region, Province: London
      Birth Country: England
      Birth Date: 1878 

   Death Details
      Death Town: Perth
      Death State/Territory: Western Australia
      Death Country: Australia
      Death Date: 1947 

  Immigration Details
      Air/Port Landed: Perth
      Ship/Plane: Zealandic
      Year Arrived: 1913 

Ethel Grace   WINGROVE
    Occupation(s): Homemaker 
    Birth Details 
       Birth Town: Shoreditch
       Birth County, Region, Province: London
       Birth Country: England
       Birth Date: 1883 

    Death Details
       Death Town: Perth
       Death State/Territory: Western Australia
       Death Country: Australia
       Death Date: 1966 

    Immigration Details
       Air/Port Landed: Perth
       Ship/Plane: Zealandic
       Year Arrived: 1913 



Family Stories

Life in Australia: 

Robert was born on the 31 October 1878 in Shoreditch, [England] the youngest of eight children of John James WALDRON and Jane GRAINGER. He married Ethel on 16 September 1906 and he died in September 1947. Ethel was born on 13 September 1883, the daughter of Elizabeth Jane SMITH and Frederick WINGROVE, and died in October 1966 at the age of 83. Robert always said the place of his birth was within the sound of Bow Bells which made him a bona fide Cockney. By the age of twelve, the teasing of his brothers and sisters and the dullness of life in Victorian London had made him long for adventure. The London docks at that time were some of the busiest ports in the world with ships going to and from the farthest reaches of Britain's then mighty empire. 

Robert ran away to sea. He enlisted on an American ship as cabin boy and sailed for New York. The American sailors were very kind to this lad from inner London and he learnt many valuable lessons from them, not least of which was to test the wind before throwing the slops overboard! During the short time that the ship was docked at New York before its return voyage, young Robert took time out to climb the Statue of Liberty, going all the way to her tiara. Imagine the relief of his mother when he returned home, safe and well, the vunderlust temporarily satisfied. Despite the other boys in the family being apprenticed into trades, it was decided that Robert should be a white collar worker and so he was sent to work for Rovenden's wholesale chemist. At the turn of the century, Britain was waging a bitter war against the Boers in South Africa. Every newspaper carried the harrowing story of the siege of Mafeking where British tenacity was holding at bay the surrounding Boer forces. When news reached London that Mafeking had been relieved, celebrations broke out all over the city. 

There was dancing in the streets and much horse play amongst the young blades. Amidst all the laughter and Robert, aged around 6 yrs fun, a group of young women met up with a group of young men, some of whom were already acquaintances. Dancing until way past their normal curfews, Robert, now twenty one, met Ethel Grace WINGROVE and fell in love. Ethel was born 13 September 1883 .

Ethel came from a family who had fallen on hard times. As a child, she and her sisters and brother had been driven to school in a carriage, her mother Elizabeth Jane (Lillian?) SMITH, a lady of breeding, played the pianoforte in their elegant front room, and her father Frederick WINGROVE, a handsome and dashing fellow, charmed everyone with his wit. Unfortunately, his enjoyment of the high life led to a problem with drinking and gambling and steadily the family fortune whittled away. He became a milkman. According to their daughter Doris' recollections, there was another sister Lillian. Ethel was still a child when the bailiffs came and took away all they possessed, leaving only, at the pleading of her mother, their piano. Raised to the life of a lady, the only thing Ethel's mother knew was how to play the piano, so to keep the family together, she took in pupils. By the time Ethel met Robert, she was sixteen and, with her twin sister Edie, was working in a garment factory, making the fashionable leg-o-mutton sleeved blouses, fine dresses and skirts, all at piece rates.

Despite now living a hand to mouth existence with her daughters having to go out to work, Ethel's mother ?Lillian?, had her standards. Ethel, she said, at sixteen, was too young to be courted by a young man. If Robert were still interested in her in twelve months time, then she would consider allowing them to walk out together, but not a moment before! Twelve months to the day, Robert appeared at their front door, in his best clothes, nervous but determined and Ethel knew that this was the man of her dreams. 

One morning, at the beginning of 1906, Robert's mother, Jane, told her youngest son not to go to work that day. During the night, she had received a vision of Ethel's mother, a lady she knew only slightly. Ethel needed Robert's support and he must go to her immediately . Knowing better than to doubt his mother's clairvoyance, Robert hurried to the Wingrove household to find it in mourning. Ethel's mother had passed away at 2 am, precisely the time when Jane had seen her vision. Lillian WINGROVE had died of pneumonia aggravated by malnutrition. At the very end she refused to see her husband and grant him the forgiveness he craved for bringing the family to such ends.

The family were still in mourning six months later when Ethel married Robert in a quiet ceremony on 16 September 1906 . They went to live in a three roomed flat in one of the old London houses. Robert was adamant that he was the bread winner but Ethel soon became bored and restless in their tiny abode. She went to find work and soon found a position as senior machinist in a clothing factory. She was an excellent seamstress with a good reputation and as she was paid now by how much she produced, brought in good money. She had been working for three days before she subtly broke the news to Robert. He was not pleased but agreed to keep his new bride happy by allowing her to continue. As time went on, he came to admit that the extra money certainly helped. 

On 1 March 1912, six years after they were married, their first daughter Grace Jane was born. Robert was reaching an impasse in his career. The son of the owner of Rovenden's had joined the business and Robert could see that there was little opportunity for advancement for him. Once again the sea and adventure beckoned. Together with his brother, Frank Albert, wife Annie and their children, set off to cross the world. 

On 8 November 1913 , the group arrived in Fremantle on the SS Zealandic after an arduous voyage. On board, the men and women were segregated into shared cabins and many of the other passengers had little concept of basic hygiene. It was with relief that they disembarked at Fremantle. The overwhelming memory they carried with them of that day was bright sunlight and how masses of geraniums, hot house flowers in England, grew wild and untended around the outside toilets and drains of the Fremantle houses. Robert and Ethel had thirty pounds between them and an 18 month old daughter; they knew getting started would be difficult. 

Housed in the migrant hostel in Fremantle, the men soon set out to explore their surrounds. Ethel and Annie, resting from the heat on the verandah of the hostel, collapsed in poorly disguised mirth when they caught sight of Frank and Robert jauntily returning along the street sporting the widest brimmed hats anyone had ever seen. They fancied themselves the new colonials but the women could only see a couple of pale Cockneys looking for all the world like a couple of mushrooms.

Work was hard to find and the new immigrants had to go where they were sent. Fortunately Frank and Robert were sent together. Leaving their families behind they went to the farm of the aptly named Mr. MUTTON in the wheat belt. It was the height of summer and Mutton was a hard taskmaster. He made no concession for the newly arrived Englishmen and worked them from dawn to dusk clearing virgin bush by hand. Robert in particular suffered. as he had always had indoor, less physical work. Finally. the Waldrons demanded to be treated fairly, in reply MUTTON fired them, giving them no money for their several weeks' work and sending them on their way with no water or provisions. It was several miles to the nearest railway siding and by the time the men arrived there Robert was suffering heat-stroke.

Back in the city, they put their bad experience behind them and went about finding more suitable work. Robert became a salesman, selling prams in Baird's department store. Ethel was so proud of him in his starched white collar, behind the counter in such a venerable establishment. It wasn't long however, before Robert was employed by S. Grimwade and Bickford, wholesale chemists. His experience with Rovenden's was valued and he rose to be in charge of dispatch. 

For a time, the two families shared a house in Stirling Street, Perth, in the area now known as Northbridge. As time went on, Ethel found the company of Annie more and more difficult to take. Annie was quite beautiful and had the most startling violet eyes. She wasn't above pointing this out to Ethel none too subtly, how plain her sister-in-law was. Apart from that they were two strong willed women wanting to run the home their own way, so as soon as finances allowed, the families found their own homes. The women were much happier apart yet the families always remained close. Ethel has been described as small in stature and bossy.

War had broken out in Europe and the WALDRON brothers applied for enlistment. When they had left their weeping mother, Jane, on the London dock they had not imagined they might return within a few years. For Robert it was not to be. Rejected on the grounds of poor eyesight, he could only stand by as Frank returned to defend their 'home' country. 

In 1918, Robert's eldest daughter Grace started at Eric Street School. At this time, the family were living in a house in North Cottesloe. Grace brought a note home one day from the teacher addressed to all parents. The teacher, Mrs. May JACQUES, a widow, and her young son Bernard, were looking for accommodation for the summer holidays. Ethel decided that a few extra pence would go a long way to help with the house-keeping, so offered their house for Mrs. JACQUES and Bernard to stay. The pair came for six weeks and stayed for eleven years.

The following year when Robert and Ethel bought their own house at 17 Wood Street, Swanbourne, May and Bernard moved with them. Each morning, Robert would set off to Swanbourne railway station, accompanied by Mr. PRIOR, a neighbour, and each evening the two would return. Ethel and Robert never owned a car, but that didn't prevent frequent trips to the beach for swims or train rides to Fremantle to see the ships. Robert's love of the sea and ships always remained. 

When Robert was due to retire in 1943, the Second World War was in full swing and man-power was in short supply. Felton, Grimwade and Bickford asked him to stay on, which he did, for another year. When he did finally retire, the company granted him a nineteen shillings a week pension, a truly golden handshake for the times. He had brown eyes, a prominent nose and darkish complexion. 

By then he and Ethel had moved to a flat in John Street, Cottesloe, and were renting out the large house in Wood Street. 

Their youngest daughter, Doris, moved in with Grace, while her husband Glenn was in the Royal Australian Air Force, to await the arrival of her first child. Doris? husband, Frederick KIRKBY, was serving in the RAAF in New Guinea. Robert filled the void as surrogate father to baby Claire Gay, when she arrived in November 1943. For eighteen months Robert, or "Garpar", as she called him, was the only male figure in Claire's world and he in turn, adored his little granddaughter.

At the end of the war, Ethel and Robert and the KIRKBYs (Fred, Doris and Claire) moved back into 17 Wood Street, Swanbourne while Fred built a new house not far away in Swansea Street. On Royal Show day, October 1948 after a day at the beach at North Cottesloe with Ethel, baby Bruce and his beloved Claire, Robert died of a stroke in his sleep, a few days short of his 70th birthday.

Ethel continued living at Wood Street by having the house divided into flats. Every day she walked the few blocks to Doris's house where she did the ironing, sewed wonderful creations on her Singer sewing machine and regaled her youngest granddaughter, Glenda, with tales of London in the reign of Victoria. She died in October 1966 at the age of 83.. Their children were:

1. Grace Jane WALDRON, born 1 March 1912 in London and died 13 March 1983

2. Doris Ethel WALDRON, born 30 April 1916 in Perth Western Australia.

Descendants 


Children 
WALDRON, Doris Ethel 
WALDRON, Grace Jane 
WALDRON, Grace Jane 1 
WALDRON, Doris Ethel 2 

Grandchildren 
BROWN, Peter Robert
KIRKBY, Claire Gay 
KIRKBY, Bruce Frederick 
KIRKY, Genda 


This family information at First Families 2001 was last updated by LAURENCE ALBERT WALDRON on the 8 October, 2001. 

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      ¤  First Families 2001