Mildred Edmonds

Mother of William George Fletcher

Born:

5 Jul 1907 Bowen, Queensland, Australia

Married:

(1) 23 Feb 1927 Holy Trinity Church, Bowen, Queensland, Australia to Charles Joseph Fletcher

(2) 23 Sep 1953 Mackay, Queensland, Australia to William Tandy

Died:

20 Apr 1957 Mackay, Queensland, Australia. Age 49

Cause of death:

Anaphylactic shock caused by anti-tetanus serum

Buried:

23 Apr 1957 Mt Bassett Cemetery, Mackay, Queensland, Australia

Timeline

Jul 1907

1909

1911-1912

1913-1914

1914-1916

1917

1919

1919-Feb 1927

Feb 1927

Sep 1927

1928-1930

1932-1934

1936

1939-1954

1957

Apr 1957

Sep 1957

Born on Poole St, Bowen Queensland. Family living at Cannon Valley, Queensland [1]

Living with parents at grandfather Morris's property at Pennsfield Station, Euri Creek, Queensland [2]

Lived with parents at Poole St, Bowen, Queensland [3] [4]

Lived with parents at Macalister St, Mackay, Queensland [5] [6]

Lived with parents at Milton St, Mackay, Queensland [7] [8]

Lived with parents at The Leap, Queensland [9]

Lived with parents at Milton St, Mackay, Queensland. Attended school at Merinda Provisional and State School, Merinda, Queensland [10] [11]

Lived with parents at Herbert Street, Bowen, Queensland [12]

Married Charles Joseph Fletcher. Lived at Herbert St, Bowen, Queensland and undertaking domestic duties [13]

Lived at Mia Mia via Mirani [14]

Lived at Nebo Road, Mackay [15] [16]

Lived at Holland Street, Mackay [17] [18]

Lived at Town Beach, Mackay [19]

Lived in Collinsville, Queensland. Worked as a cook and cleaner [20] [21] [22] [23]

Lived at 32 Evan St, Mackay, Queensland [24]

Died at Mackay Hospital from an anaphylactic shock from anti-tetanus serum [24]

Coronial inquest into death held [24]

Biography

Early years

Mildred ("Milly") was born on Poole St, in the northern Queensland town of Bowen. She was the second child and eldest daughter of William Spencer Edmonds ("Wingy" or "Bill") and his wife Chrisop Morris ("Chrissy Gundy") [1].

She spent her earliest years in and around Bowen, including living on Pennsfield Station at Euri Creek, which was the station owned by her Morris grandparents [2] [3] [4].

Between the ages of 5-10, she lived in the Mackay area, where her father worked as a cab driver - this would have been a horse-drawn Hansom cab [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]. However, from the age of 10 until she was married, she lived at Herbert St, Bowen [10] [12] [13].

Herbert St, Bowen in the early 1900s

Life with Charlie Fletcher

Although living in Bowen, Milly met her husband Charles Joseph Fletcher ("Charlie") in Mackay [25]. They were married 23rd Feb 1927 at the church of the Holy Trinity in Bowen, QLD, with Milly's father Bill being one of the witnesses [13].

Holy Trinity Church of England - Bowen c1874 - State Library of QLD.jpg

Holy Trinity Church, Bowen c1874

Charlie was a labourer, who would generally do seasonal cane cutting work and, outside of season, would turn his hand to whatever labouring work he could find such as working on the railway line or cutting wood.

At the time of their marriage, Milly was two months pregnant with her first child. The couple moved to Mia Mia, likely for the cane cutting season and were living there when they welcomed their first-born, George [14].

In total, the couple had four children - two boys and two girls and, after Mia Mia, they lived in Mackay. Charlie would generally spend the week away from home doing work and come home on the weekends. When home on the weekend, Charlie would do household chores such as cutting wood for the week, and changing the paper out of the bottom of their hanging meat safe and add water to the bottom, to keep the meat cool. The family also had a small veggie patch in their backyard, growing things like lettuces and they also kept some chickens [23].

The family led simply - their house at Town Beach was remembered as an it was an older home but comfortable. It had only one bedroom, with a bed at each of the room, and a bathtub that Charlie made from salvaged galvanised iron sheets [25].

The relationship between Charlie and Milly started to falter initially due to different personalities. Charlie was a fastidious man, whereas Milly was untidy. Things like changing the paper in the hanging meat safe was something Charlie would do every weekend and he would be frustrated that the same paper was still there the following weekend, unchanged. A deeper crack, however, was Charlie's doubt in Milly's faithfulness. After the birth of their youngest daughter in 1936, Charlie came to the belief that she was not his natural daughter. The couple had a blazing row at Town Beach over this, which ended in Charlie raising his hand to Milly and slapping her hard enough to hit the ground, before taking off in fury. Milly packed herself and the children up immediately, got on a train and headed to Collinsville, where her parents were then living [23] [25].

The children were all together with Milly at her parents for about six months. While there, Charlie came up to visit once but he returned to Mackay. The children would not see him again as he soon enlisted to serve in the Australian army during World War 2 and died fighting overseas [25] [26] [27].

Collinsville 1924 - Queensland Government Intelligence and Tourist Bureau.jpg

Main St, Collinsville 1924

After separation and latter years

Not long after Charlie's visit (about 1937), Milly sent her eldest son George - then aged about 10 - to live with her cousin Dorothy ("Dotty") Grace Morris and her husband Christian Andersen. As George remembered it, his mother's cousin Harry Andersen had come out to Collinsville with his children. George had been playing a good part of the day with them until he was called into the house to see that his clothes had been packed in a suitcase. He was told to take a shower and then Milly told him he would be going to Euri Creek, near Bowen, to stay with his aunt Dotty and uncle Chris, and that Harry would take him there [25].

While George was in Euri Creek, Milly sent her two children Dorothy and Albert to an orphanage in Townsville. The woman they were sent to worked with the government to take in children. She could take four children at a time and Milly had initially intended her to also take her youngest daughter Hazel. However, she was only 18 months at the time and the law required children placed with her to be at least 2 years old. In the end, Milly gave Hazel to her mother Chrissy to raise [23] [25].

By around 1941, Milly brought back her two children at the orphanage and collected her eldest son George from her cousins in Collinsville. As before, the change in George's living circumstances happened without any warning. Milly came to Euri Creek with Jimmy Ellis and told Dotty she was taking George, now aged 14 [23] [25].

Milly arranged for George to work as a cowboy at Birralee Station, located on the Bowen River, about 23km south-west of Collinsville. Two years later, in 1943, he returned to Collinsville and worked at the Collinsville State Mines [25].

The other children lived on Sonoma Street with Milly's parents, behind the shoe repair shop owned by Milly's brother Morris Alfred ("Bunja"). While the war was going on, Collinsville had blackouts during the Darwin bombings so the children's grandparents decided that it would be safer for Dorothy ("Dot") and her brother Albert to evacuate for 3 months to Gibby's Creek. They slept in a v-style tent on hessian beds and their grandmother Chrissy would bake bread in a camp oven. Dot remembered that she and Albert would collect wild rosella flowers for yeast and catch fish and eels in the Bowen River [28].

Dot attended the convent school on Main Street and finished her schooling at age 14 at Collinsville State School. After school, she worked as a waitress at the Central Hotel in Collinsville and later at Edward's Boarding House on Sonoma Street. Dot told her family of her teenage years, spending time with her brother George and their uncle Bunja at the Pioneer Theatre and attending dances at the RSL. Bunja owned a Model-T Ford that they would get about in and Dorothy had fond memories of singing all the way there and back, her feet dangling over the side [23] [25] [28].

Milly worked as a cook in Collinsville, possibly at the Commercial Hotel, as well as taking on a second job cleaning a bank. She would clean the bank early in the morning before starting at the hotel pub to get breakfast ready [20] [21] [23].

Following her split from Charlie, Milly had relationships with Billy Black and then a long-term relationship with Tom Buckley [23]. However, in 1953, she married William ("Bill") Tandy in Mackay [23]. Bill had been a boxer in his younger years and was a labourer, working as a cane cutter [29] [30].

Sydney St, Mackay c1936

Milly and Bill owned a house on Kippen St, Mackay, from which Bill ran a laundry business. An arrangement was made with Milly's son George, now married and with his own family, for Milly and Bill to rent out their house on Kippen St, and rent a flat underneath George's house. The arrangement was meant to be mutually beneficial - George would benefit from the rent and Milly and Bill would have more space for them to keep their dryers in out of the rain. However, the close living quarters didn't work and there was particular friction between Bill and George's wife, Veronica. This culminated in an altercation and, after Veronica vowed that she couldn't live near Bill Tandy anymore, George and his family moved to Slade Point. The move upset Milly but she and Bill agreed to buy out George from his house, where their downstairs flat was located [23].

It was 1957, and it was agreed that Milly would come down to Slade Point after Good Friday to make the arrangements with her son regarding the house purchase. Beforehand, Milly decided to visit with family as her mother, Chrisop, had been ill in the hospital. It was Saturday, the 20th April, the day after Good Friday, and Milly tripped and split her knee, which resulted in her needed stitches at hospital. The doctors gave Milly a tetanus injection, to which she suffered and swift and severe anaphylactic reaction, which resulted in her death [24] [23].

That same day, George had been in Mackay working on his boat, and helping out his wife's uncle Fred with some things. Veronica's youngest son Martin had taken his first steps and she packed him and their other children in the car, to drive up to George and show him. When she got there, she found George crying and her uncle Fred comforting him. They couldn't believe Milly had died [23].

A post-mortem was held on the 21st April and she was subsequently buried at Mt Bassett Cemetery, Mackay. Later that year, a coronial inquest into her death was held on the 23rd and 25th September 1957 [24].

Milly had died intestate but with a personal estate valued at £910.0.0, the money coming from £34 of money in her bank account and the residual £876 from four life insurance policies that she held. In September 1958, her widower, Bill Tandy, submitted an affidavit to request administration of her estate. The affidavit was filed with the Supreme Court of Queensland in Townsville in 1960 with sureties provided by Violet Grace Giles and Ethel Lake for the sum of £1820, to ensure that Bill would faithfully administer the estate once issued the Grant of Administration. Administration was subsequently granted to Bill on the 9th January 1961 [31].

The requirement of the law was to have accounts filed within 6 months of the grant of administration, which Bill failed to do. However, a court hearing was held to exempt the need for the passing of such an account unless required to by the Registrar or by order of the Court or Judge. The Solicitor entrusted with management of the estate stated that the reason for the delay was because signatures could only be obtained for three of Milly's four children (as beneficiaries). Accounts filed in September 1963 confirmed that £914.13.6 had been paid to the Administrator of the estate from Milly's bank and from her life insurance policies. Approximately £225 had been spent in legal and other costs, leaving a balance of £697.9.9 ready for disbursement to Milly's next-of-kin. This was proposed to be split as £200 for Bill and £100 each for Milly's four children. This was duly paid in November 1964 to all parties [31]

Source information

Mildred Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 5 Jul 1907, Record no: 1907/C/420, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]
Robert James Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 13 Jul 1909, Record no: 1909/C/447, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]. Brother of Mildred - gives address for father, as the informant for the certificate.
Crishop Grace Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 25 Dec 1911, Record no: 1912/C/428, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]. Sister of Mildred - gives address for father, as the informant for the certificate.
William Spencer Edmonds, Australia Electoral Roll, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1912, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. Address of father used as proxy for Mildred, as she was a minor at the time.
William Spencer Edmonds, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1913, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk].Address of father used as proxy for Mildred, as she was a minor at the time.
William Spencer Edmonds, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1914, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. This record shows Milly's father William registered to Macalister Street, whereas her mother Chrisop is registered to Albert St (modern-day Gordon St). Macalister and Gordon St intersect each other, so it's possible that the family lived on the corner of Macalister and Gordon Sts and the parents' addresses were registered slightly differently. Another possibility is they actually moved from Macalister to Gordon St, with Chrisop updated her electoral roll address, and William not.
Leslie Archibald Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 26 Apr 1914, Record no: 1914/C/8562, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]. Brother of Mildred - gives address for father, as the informant for the certificate.
William Spencer Edmonds, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1916, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Address of father used as proxy for Mildred, as she was a minor at the time.
Lillian May Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 13 Mar 1917, Record no: 1917/C/6034, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]. Sister of Mildred - gives address for mother, as the informant for the certificate.
William Spencer Edmonds, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1919, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Address of father used as proxy for Mildred, as she was a minor at the time.
Mildred Edmonds, Queensland School Pupils Index, 24 Feb 1919, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]
Morris Alfred Edmonds, Queensland Birth Certificate, 24 Oct 1919, Record no: 1919/C/11693, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]. Brother of Mildred - gives address for mother, as the informant for the certificate.
Charles Joseph Fletcher and Mildred Edmonds, Queensland Marriage Certificate, 23 Feb 1927, Record no: 1927/36, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]
William George Fletcher, Queensland Birth Certificate, 13 Sep 1927, Record no: 11811/20909, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1928, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1930, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1932, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1934, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1936, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Roll, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1939, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1943, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mildred Fletcher, Australia Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, Division of Herbert, Subdivision of Mackay, 1949, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Conversation with Veronica Beasley, daughter-in-law of Mildred Edmonds
Mildred Tandy, Queensland Death Certificate, 20 Apr 1957, Record no: 1957/C/2040, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]
Conversation with William George Fletcher, son of Mildred Edmonds
Pte. Charles Joseph Fletcher, AIF Military Service Record, 1940, Service no: QX8249, Series no: B883, National Archives of Australia [naa.gov.au]
Charles Joseph Fletcher, Queensland Death Certificate, 7 Aug 1941, Record no: 1941/249, QLD Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages [www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au]
Speech by Mark Hammond, grandson of Dorothy Fletcher, at her funeral service, 2020
District News: Sarina, Daily Mercury, Fri 25 Sep 1931, page 11, National Library of Australia [trove.nla.gov.au]
Barren Pocket, Daily Mercury, Mon 29 Jul 1935, page 10, National Library of Australia [trove.nla.gov.au]
Intestacy record for Mildred Tandy, Supreme Court of Queensland, Townsville, ITM939256, 1960, QLD State Archives [archivessearch.qld.gov.au]