MANY TURNBULLS
Updated: May 20, 2022
In this post:
EMILY TURNBULL (1851-1928)
WALTER TURNBULL (1881-1959)
WYNNIFRIED TURNBULL (1878-1945)
ARTHUR JOHN BARCLAY TURNBULL (1889-1974)
The Turnbulls lived in or near to Corio Bay Villa for at least three decades. Walter Phipps Turnbull was an engineer and plumber who lived at Corio Bay Villa with his wife and children for three years from 1917 to 1919. He had many siblings who lived nearby and no doubt visited Corio Bay Villa often and were probably good friends with the owner, Charles Emberson.
EMILY TURNBULL (1951-1928)
To understand the Turnbull family we must start with the matriarch Emily Williams. She was born in Port Melbourne to Mr Frederick Williams, an early settler of Melbourne who arrived in 1940. She never lived at Corio Bay Villa, but she lived nearby and two of her children lived at Corio Bay Villa at different times.
She married John Turnbull (1852-1902) in 1872 when they were both around twenty. Together they made a lot of Turnbulls. Poor Emily must have been constantly pregnant and/or breastfeeding for nearly two decades. She gave birth, on average, every second year until she had produced eight or nine children. Her second child died in childhood, aged just five. Twenty years later, in 1902, her husband died, leaving her a widow, with her youngest child aged ten. Fortunately, her oldest, Louise Emily, was now thirty and newly married, so that was one less person to take care of.
When Emily's husband died she was 51 years old and living in Chestnut Street, Surrey Hills, with her remaining children. The elder kids were able to work by now and could assist Emily in the home. Only the older children were listed in the voting register with Emily but I have assumed the following children were with her:
Florence Mabel or 'Florrie' (1879-1911), aged 23;
Walter Phipps (1881-1959), aged 21;
Andrew Frederick (1884-1957), aged 18;
Henry Alexander (1887-1963), aged 15
Arthur John Barclay (1889-1974), aged 14
May Keith, aged 10
By 1912, Emily was living with her four or five children at 19 Newton Street, on the corner of Newton and Erasmus streets. This corner house was newly built, having sprung up between 1910 and 1912. Unfortunately the house has since been destroyed so we have no idea what it looked like. However, with only a few houses in the area, Emily would have been able to wave to the residents of Corio Bay Villa and probably knew the owner, Charles Emberson well.
Emily stayed on the corner of Newton Street for the remainder of her life, living her with her son Arthur John Barclay, until she died aged 77. Based solely on her death notices, her father was well known. Notice of her death appeared in four publications: The Age, The Argus, The Australasian and The Herald, two of which appear below. Interestingly these notices, which appeared under the "Personal" section rather than family notices, mention her long deceased father and not her many bereft children.
Image left: Herald, Wednesday 18 July 1928, page 7
Image right: Australasian, Saturday 21 July 1928, page 14
WALTER & WYNNIFRIED
Emily's oldest son Walter married Wynnifried Anne Eyre (1878-1945) when he was 24 and Winnifried was 27. They had four children and lived in nearby Park Street for some years before moving into Corio Bay Villa. They lost one child in infancy so when they took the lease on Corio Bay Villa in 1917, they had with them:
Walter John Ewan (1905-1976), aged 12
Winifred Irene Mary, aged 10, and
Arthur Victor (1915-1987), aged 2
The strange thing is that Walter, Wynnifried and their landlord Charles Emberson, are listed at living at Corio bay Villa for three years from 1917 to 1919. The rate books show seven people living at the property which must have been Walter, Wynnifried, their three children, Charles and one other person, perhaps a maid or farmhand. It was an unusual situation but I believe Charles was friends with the Turnbull family.
Emily had been living with her children at the corner of Newton and Erasmus streets for four years prior to Walter and Winnifried moving into Corio Bay Villa. Charles Emberson had been living down the road from them since 1913, so they must have known each other. Perhaps Charles offered the young family a room while they got on their feet.
Families were the most common tenants at Corio Bay Villa, and this particular young family was lucky enough to have grandma, plus numerous uncles and aunties, living a stones throw away. No doubt Wynnifried and Walter's children loved growing up so near to their extended family.
After leaving Corio Bay Villa in 1919, Wynnifried temporarily moved in with Emily, before settling in East Malvern with Walter and their children in 1924. There is no mention of Walter at this time. Perhaps he was away at war. Sometime later they may have moved back to Surrey Hills, as this is where Wynnifried eventually passed away.
Wynnifried Anne (aka Wynnifred Annie) died in 1945, at the age of 67. She and Walter had been married for 40 years. Walter went on to live until the age of 77. He died in the eastern suburb of Doncaster and his death notification in the Age on 24 February 1959, read:
"TURNBULL - On February 23 (suddenly) at his residence, Leeds Street, Doncaster East, Walter Phipps, loved husband of the late Wynnifried Ann and loved father of Walter, Wynne and Arthur, father-in-law of Keith, Gert and Clare, aged 77 years.
We will always remember him smiling."
ATHUR JOHN BARCLAY TURNBULL (1889-1974)
Arthur John Barclay was born in Malvern and lived with his mother until he was nearly 30 years old. After his mother's death, Arthur remained in the home he had shared with his mother since his early twenties. Interesting, Arthur John Barkley appears on the rate books at Corio Bay Villa in 1926 and after his mother's death, at the end of 1928 until, before returning to his mother's house. Perhaps he was awaiting the settlement of Emily's estate. Interestingly, according to the rate books he was said to be living at Corio Bay Villa with five other pople. We do not know who these other people are but may have been other members of the Turnbull family.
Emily's house eventually went to Arthur and he continued to live there until 1931. As the area remained sparely populated until the 1950s, he most likely met the other tenants of Corio Bay Villa during the 1920s, such as Mrs Maskell and the Ellis family.
Arthur never married or had children. He worked as the garage manager at Surrey Engine Works in 1916 and then owned his own garage in 1929 and 1930.[1] We're not sure if this is the same garage or different garage, but they both seem to have been located on Canterbury Road. In 1916 Arthur refused to enlist in the armed forces, as outlined in the local newspaper called Camberwell Citizen. Part of the article shown below states:
"Arthur John Turnbull, manager and foreman of the Surrey Engine Works, said he had reported at the drill hall, but refused to undergo the medical examination because his occupation (boiler making) would exempt him from service, He thought he had acted in a proper manner."
Image: extract from newspaper article 'Hawthorn City Court Tuesday, November 21',
Camberwell Citizen, 24 November 1916, page 2.
In a later article, we discover that "Arthur Turnbull, of the Surrey Engineering Works, Canterbury road, Canterbury, was sentenced to three weeks imprisonment."[2]
Arthur lived most of his life in Surrey Hills, close to Corio Bay Villa. He died in 1974 in Box Hill, aged 85. He outlived his whole family, except for maybe his younger sibling, for whom no records can be found. Arthur was buried next to his sister Florence Mabel and her husband at Burwood Cemetery (shown below).
Image: Tombstones of Florence Mabel Peck (nee Turnbull) next to Arthur John Turnbull. Source: Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130781814/arthur-john-turnbull
REFERENCES:
[1] 'Box Hill Court, Thursday May 8, 1930', Box Hill Reporter, 16 May 1930, page 2.
[2] 'Failure to Enrol, Prosecutions at Hawthorn', Argus, Wednesday 22 November 1916, page 10