Norman HALL, my great grandfather, features regularly in my blog, but doesn't have a dedicated biographical entry. One reason is that Norman wrote letters about his family history that featured on the blog - for example: https://thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.com/2013/07/norman-hall-1965-letter.html (this also has links to other papers), and I also have a set of letters he wrote about coal shale - his career was as a coal chemist but its history was his clearly one of his passions. Norman was also an avid amateur photographer.
Norman was born in Dubbo in 1896, son of Alfred Ernest HALL, a teacher & headmaster (1870 Yass NSW - 1954 Ashfield NSW) and Bridget Ann MOLONEY (1875 Redfern NSW - 1942 Ashfield NSW). Norman married Mary Ellen BANFIELD (1889 Hay NSW - 1940 Lewisham NSW) at St Francis, Paddington, NSW in January 1918. He trained as a chemist (a coal chemist), and he and Mary had seven children including my grandfather John (1920 - 1996). After Mary Ellen died of stomach cancer in 1940, Norman looked after the children alone, and after later moving to Wollongong he met and married Averil Agnes SAXON-JONES nee SAYER in 1951. They moved to Melbourne, where Norman lived the rest of his life - but I should say that I am not clear on the order of when Norman met Averil - did he move to Melbourne first? Or move to Melbourne for her? Not clear to me.
Norman's marriage to Averil caused some consternation among his adult children, though it is not clear why. Averil was younger, drew Norman to Melbourne, and they ultimately had a child (born around the same time Norman's grandchildren were born) - and any of these, or their combination, may have contributed.
Averil was born Averil Agnes SAYER, to parents Aubrey and Clara SAYER - registered in Petersham in Sydney. In 1932, Averil married William SAXON-JONES, registered in Ashfield Sydney NSW.
As an aside: Willam was a divorcee who was born in Timaru, New Zealand abt 1894. William SAXON-JONES was an optician, and a 1932 Melbourne advertisement listed him as "formerly of England and American", and trained in London. While the marriage was in Sydney, they appear to have lived in Melbourne and had at least two children (Greta Mary SAXON-Jones, and Norman SAXON-JONES). William SAXON-JONES died in 1954 (buried at Melbourne General Cemetery).
The following year, Averil married Norman HALL, and their marriage certificate is below. They had one daughter, Yvonne Fabian HALL, around 1956 (Norman would have been about 60 when she was born), and they lived in Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne. Norman died in 1972 , and Averil in 1993, both buried at Cheltenham New Cemetery, Melbourne.
I wish I had contact with Norman's family in Melbourne, to share stories and learn, but sadly I don't.
Certificate of Marriage
No. in Register: 685
No comments:
Post a Comment