PANDEMIC HITS HOME
Updated: May 13, 2022
In this post:
As a result of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 - 1919, local doctors were required to report cases of influenza and other infectious diseases to the authorities. Based on such records, the Box Hill Historical Society collated an index of local residents who were diagnosed with infectious diseases from 1914 - 1927, which is how I found Miss Florence Hewson living at Corio Bay Villa with Mrs Beatrice Maskell.
FLORENCE MAY HEWSON (1897 - 1971)
Image: report of influenza case, 26 January 1919.
Source: Box Hill Historical Society
In January 1919, Miss Florence Hewson of Corio Bay Villa was recorded as having the Spanish flu. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide, estimated to be up to 5% of the world’s population at the time.
Disturbingly the flu was known for taking the lives of healthy young adults, as opposed to the sick and elderly, who are usually impacted the most. According to well-know historical export Mary Sheehan, who spoke at the Box Hill Historical Society in 2019, the high death rate among soldiers during WWI was attributed to the overcrowding military camps as well as poor diet and a lack of sanitation, which usually accompanies wars.
There were only about 3,500 deaths in Victoria in 1919, of which 14 were local to the area of Nunawading and Whitehorse. The low fatality rate in Australia is attributed to the sparse and spread out population at the time.
Florence, who contracted the flu at aged 21, was quite sick at the time. The doctors scribbled note (shown above) reads in part:
Miss Florence Hewson, age 21
Corio Bay Villa, Box Hill
c/o Mrs Maskell
Walked to Canterbury, sent to me by local chemist, was so ill that I got (after much delay) Board of Health to send St John Ambulance car in which she was taken to Fairfield Hospital.
The doctor's signature and address are signed at the bottom, along with the date 26 Jan 19. Fortunately Florence is believed to have survived the flu and gone on to have a long life. Florence May Hewson (1897-1971) was the only 'Florence Hewson' to be born in Victoria 21 years earlier, according to offical records. She was born in Ballarat to George Hewson (1870-1925) and Annie Louisa Letcher (1876-1906) and was the oldest of five siblings, of which only three survived infancy. Before she turned ten, her mother had died. Florence next appears on the recorded in 1925 aged 28, when she marries Ernest Percival Preston (1903-1973).
Nothing is known about Florence's life between her mother's death and her own marriage, except for this one note that places her at Corio Bay Villa under the care of Mrs Maskell. Surrey Hills is a long way from her hometown of Ballarat and one can only assume that she moved to Melbourne for love or money.
My initial assumption was that Florence was in a relationship with Mr Walter Turnbull, who is listed as a tenant at Corio Bay Villa, prior to Mrs Maskell in 1919. However, the more likely scenario is that she was working as a domestic servant for Mrs Maskell. As Helen from the Box Hill Historical Society advised me, it wasn't just the upper class that employed live-in servants during this time. Many middle class people also had domestic help. So it seems that Florence moved to Melbourne work, rather than love.
Florence did eventually find love, however. She and Ernest were married to for 46 years and had many children together, before she eventually passed away in 1971 aged 73.
MRS BEATRICE ELIZABETH MASKELL (1886-1981)
Mrs Beatrice Elizabeth Maskell lived at Corio Bay for about two years, from 1919 - 1921, with her daughter. Although she was married, her husband was not listed on the tenancy or voting register at this time. Perhaps not wanting to live alone, she hired a live-in helper in the form of Florence Hewson. How she came to be at Corio Bay Villa is unknown.
Beatrice Elizabeth was born in Bulla Victoria to David Robb Bain and Louisa Ann Elizabeth Graizier. She had a brother Francis Thomas Bain (1873-1941) and three sisters Flora, Jessie and Eva. At 23 years of age, she married labourer, George Colliver Maskell (1883-1951) and the next year they had a daughter called Beatrice May Maskell (1910-1988), which we will refer to as May. By the end of 1913, both of Beatrice's parents had died. Her sister Flora died many years later in Mont Albert, as per the death notification below.
Image: Death notice for Beatrice's sister Flora Holten. from the Age 11 Jan 1951, page 13.
There is very little known about Beatrice's personal life. By the time she was living at Corio Bay Villa in 1919, her daughter would have been about ten and must have been living with her. Her daughter had two pet ferrets, which Beatrice advertised for sale in sell in 1920. Her advertisement in the Age on 28 February 1920, page 16 read:
"FERRETS, one pair, clean and heath, also sleeping box. Corio Bay Villa."
Presumably her husband was still supporting her in his absence, as she was able to afford to hire Florence Hewson to help her and live with her. Beatrice then dropped off the radar until 1926 when she and her husband appear on the voting register in the Gippsland region of Victoria, reportedly living together again.
Beatrice outlived her husband by about 30 years. She eventually died in 1981 and was buried with her husband in Fawkner Memorial Park, Victoria. If you have any further information about the lives of Mrs Beatrice Maskell and Miss Florence Hewson, please contract me via my contacts page.
Image: George & Beatrice Maskell's headstone at Fawkner Memorial Park, Victoria
Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212212671/beatrice-elizabeth-maskell
BOX HILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY (1963 - current)
The Box Hill Historical Society was established in 1963 in order to collect and document local history. It is run by volunteers and without them, histories of local residents such as Florence Hewson and Beatrice Maskell would never be known or seen. I would like to particularly thank Helen Harris, the current secretary of the society, who sent me the image detailing Florence's medical case and directed me to the following resources:
Mary Sheehan, ’The 1919 influenza outbreak in Whitehorse, then known as the Shire of Nunawading,’ as reported in the Box Hill Historical Society's October 2019 Newsletter, viewed 17 April 2022, https://www.boxhillhistoricalsociety.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Newsletter-October-2019.pdf.
'Infectious Diseases Reports 1914-127', Box Hill Historical Society, viewed 17 April 2022, https://www.boxhillhistoricalsociety.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Infectious-Diseases-Reports-1914-1927.pdf