Henri Rintel - hotel keeper, farmer and the Secretary of the Warragul Hospital

This is the story of Henri Rintel - hotel keeper, farmer and the Secretary of the Warragul Hospital from 1907 until 1922.

Henri Rintel, born in 1856, was the fifth of nine children of Moses Rintel, Melbourne's first ordained Rabbi (1)  and his wife Elvina Hart (2).  Moses Rintel, born in Edinburgh, Scotland had arrived in Sydney in 1844 where he served the Sydney Congregation as  the Principal of the Hebrew School (3).  In January 1849, he was appointed as the Reader of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (4).  In 1857 he established the Mikveh Israel Melbourne Synagogue (5). The Congregation built a Synagogue on the corner of Exhibition Street and Little Lonsdale Street in 1859. I have written about this building, here.  In 1877 they built a new Synagogue in Albert Street, East Melbourne (6) which is still in use.

All I know about Henri's early days was that he was keen singer with a promising baritone voice (7).  Henri established an independent life for himself from the age of twenty when he applied for a grant of land, 23 acres,  in Lardner, off Lardner's Track, near Warragul (8). The next year he leased a store at Lardner situated on three acres (9) and he purchased it in 1878 (10).  Sadly in June 1879, his store was destroyed by fire (11). It was rebuilt and destroyed again by fire in February 1881 (12).  It was Henri's burnt store that gave its name to Burnt Store Road in Lardner (13).

Henri Rintel

Image: Buln Buln: a history of Buln Buln Shire  by Graeme Butler (Shire of Buln Buln, 1979) 

Some time after this Henry left Gippsland for the Western District were he took over the Excelsior Store with a Mr Fryberg in January 1886 (14).  Fryberg and Rintel sold Drapery, Millinery, Haberdashery, Clothing, Boots, Grocery, Ironmongery, Crockery, Tinware and Stationery (15).  Graeme Butler in his history of the Shire of Buln Buln, says that Rintel and Fryberg had opened a general store business  in 1881 at the corner of Shaw and Grant Tracks (16) - the business included an agency for the Singer Sewing Machine (17).  As business partners they also moved onto Camperdown, which was a short-lived venture. Their partnership was to dissolve in October 1886 (18).

Before we look at what Henri did next, we will have  a look at Mr Fryberg. In 1885, Henri and S.L Fryberg are listed as Officers of the King Solomon Lodge, No. 422 - Henri as the Worshipful Master and Fryberg as the Senior Warden (19).  It was not surprising that Henri was a Freemason as his father, Moses, was also a member, having joined a Lodge in Sydney in 1847 and later, was also a Member of the King Solomon Lodge, No. 422 (20). A Solomon Fryberg is also listed in the membership list of the Lodge (21) and a Solomon Leo Fryberg died in St Kilda in 1940, aged 83 (22).  I believe this is the man who was Henri's business partner.

Advertisement for Fryberg and Rintel, Camperdown

Camperdown Chronicle, February 10 1886 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22097153

After Camperdown, Henri took over as licensee of the Royal Mail Hotel on the Poowong Road for  a year from 1889 (23).  In 1890 he filed for bankruptcy, his occupation at this time was listed in reports as a store keeper of Jeetho (24).  Also in 1890 Henri married a widow, Jane Manning, and became an instant father to Jane's five children and their own son Horace, born in 1891, but more about his family life later.

In 1896 Henri was back into the hotel business and had the license of the Toolangi House Hotel (25). It was Henri that gave the hotel it's rather prosaic name, it had previously been called the 'Ye Olde Englishe Inne' (26). The Hotel was located on 220 acres and had 30 rooms (27).  Henri became involved with community life in Toolangi and was the Secretary of the Yarra Glen to Toolangi Railway League (28). We can place Henri and Jane at Toolangi until January 1901, when a clearing sale was held at the Hotel. Interestingly the clearing sale was advertised in Mrs Rintel's name, not that of Henri (29).  The Rintel family were given a social evening before leaving the district (30).

Toolangi House Hotel, owned by Henri and Jane Rintel

Toolangi House - Yea River Photographer: John Henry Harvey

State Library of Victoria Image H90.161/106

Henri and family returned to the Warragul area and Henri became involved in community life as the President of the Warragul Progress Association (31). Henri and Jane operated a dairy farm at Warragul South where they had success with the Alderney breed.  In fact, he considered the Alderney the best cow for West Gippsland (32). The Rintels retired from dairy farming in 1905 and a clearing sale was held and again it was advertised in Mrs Rintel's name, who is giving up dairying (33).  Mrs Rintel was a widow, so was the Toolangi Hotel and the Warragul farm purchased with 'her' money or was the fact that Henri had been made a bankrupt meant that he couldn't have or didn't want property in his name?

In 1907, Henri became the Secretary of the Warragul Hospital (34).  At the time it was a private hospital but on August 5, 1908 it opened as public hospital. There were naturally a number of speeches on the opening day and the President of the Narracan Shire, Cr Mahony, congratulated the committee on the work of their energetic secretary (Mr Rintel.) He deserved great credit for the manner in which he had maintained his enthusiasm and energy in working to make the project such a great success (35). The President of the Hospital Committee, Mr D. McNeil said that The committee also felt exceedingly grateful to the ladies who had inaugurated the kitchen fund (Mrs Rintel and Miss Manning) for the splendid service which they had rendered to the finances of the institution (36). 

This is now the time to take a look at Henri's family. He married, as we said, Jane Manning (nee Herity) in 1890. The wedding took place at Sale on February 25 by the Registrar of Marriages, so it was not a religious service (37).  Jane's first husband, Charles had died in 1888, when she was only 28 leaving her with five children, Charles Henty, Jane Eliza, Agnes Ellen, John Henry and Robert Francis (38). Henri and Jane were to have one child, Horace Lisle, who was born in Clunes on August 26, 1891 (39).

As a matter of interest, there was a report in Punch (40) of Henri's step-daughter's marriage. Jane wed Ernest Henry Jones, at the Catholic Presbytery in Warragul in 1910 (40).  The bride was given away by Horace, her half-brother.  The reception was held at the  Railway Hotel and a toast was made by  Mr Snowball, Grand Master of the Loyal Orange Lodge of Victoria. The report noted that both the Groom's father, Charles Jones,  and the Bride's step-father, Henri Rintel were Past Masters of the Grand Order of Freemasons. It was no wonder that the paper said that the wedding possessed some unique features (41) with that mixture of  Catholicism, the Protestant Loyal Orange Lodge and the Freemasons.

Henri's only biological son, Horace, married Gwendolyn Morey at Christ Church in St Kilda on November 17, 1916 (42).  Horace was a teacher, having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University and a Diploma of Teaching (43).  He enlisted in the A.I.F on July 20, 1915 and spent over a year assisting with training recruits. Horace was promoted to Lieutenant and embarked for overseas service on November 23, 1916, a few days after his wedding. He served in the 23rd Reinforcements, 8th Battalion and was sadly Killed In Action in Belgium on September 20, 1917 (44).

Horace Rintel is honoured on the Warragul War Memorial 

Unfortunately Horace's death did not bring the family together - there is a letter on his file at the National Archives from his wife Gwendolyn and one from Henri. The issue seemed to be where Horace's medals should go - Gwendolyn said that she had not been treated fairly by her husband's family. Henri wrote that Horace was secretly married unknown to any member of his family and that since his death Gwendolyn had treated them with callous indifference and if she received any medals then she would appreciate them for their monetary value only. The letters were written in 1921 and the eventual decision was the British War Medal and the Memorial scroll would go to the widow and the Victory Medal and Memorial Plaque would go to Henri (45).

I cannot tell you why Horace and Gwendolyn got married without telling the family. I don't know how they met, Gwendolyn was a 22 year old teacher and living in St Kilda at the time of the marriage (46).  Gwendolyn was Principal of Faireleight School, in Alma Road, St Kilda from 1919 until 1923 and after Faireleight closed she took up a position at Toorak College (47). She never remarried and died in 1966 at the age of 72 (48).  Horace had been teaching at Ballarat Grammar School when he enlisted and in December 1921, the school named a racing boat after him. The Head Master was reported as saying that  it was fitting that the boat should be named 'H. L. Rintel’ in memory of one who as master here in our earliest days, did so much good both in and out of school amongst the boys with whom he worked, and who afterwards gave his life for his country. The report goes on to say that on the day of the boat race the new boat was christened by Mrs Rintel in the presence of a large number of spectators (49).  Horace is remembered on two Great War Memorials -  The Memorial Gates at Ballarat Grammar, which were dedicated in May 1924 (50) and the Warragul War Memorial.

Horace's half brother, Charles Manning, was also Killed in Action, on July 7, 1915 at Gallipoli. Another half brother, John, died on August 31, 1919 at the age of 36. John has also enlisted in the A.I.F, but was discharged on medical grounds (Cardiac irregularities) (51).  Perhaps that is why Jane and Henri fought so hard for Horace's medals as they already felt they had lost so much. Jane died in Kerang on December 18, 1921 (52).  Henri had also been at Kerang, where they were living with their daughter, Jane Eliza Jones. He had to reluctantly relinquish his position as Secretary of the Hospital due to ill health, but he decided to return to Warragul to spend his last days (53).

This is the Warragul Hospital as Henri would have known it.

Image: The Path of Progress: from forests of yesterday to homes of to-day by Hugh Copeland (Shire of Warragul, 1934) Photographer: H. S. Reeves.  The image has been cropped.

Henri had many visits from his old friends and his Masonic brethren raised money for a tricycle for Henri to help him get around. This was reported in the West Gippsland Gazette where Mr. Rintel said he could not thank them as he would wish. The loss of his only son at the war, followed by the death of his sister, and then his wife, had left him feeling very desolate at times, and this spontaneous act of kindness and remembrance was like a ray of sunshine in the gloom (54).

His Masonic friends were not his only visitors, Hugh Copeland, in his history of the Shire of Warragul, says that Henri was a friend of Sir John Monash, and 'the little doctor' (Dr Maloney, M.H.R.), who visited him in hospital before he died there (55).

We will return to the West Gippsland Gazette for their final tribute to Henri Rintel who died on Saturday, March 3, 1923 - Death of Mr Rintel - Impressive Masonic Service - Many friends throughout this district will regret to learn of the death on Saturday night, at the Warragul District Hospital, of Mr. Henri Rintel, the late secretary of that institution. For many years he held that post, until failing health compelled him to relinquish it, and he went north to Kerang to join his family. As he did not improve, he felt a keen desire to return to his favorite institution, and after several months of weary illness, he passed away on Saturday night. It is not too much to say that the late secretary was one of the original founders of the Warragul District Hospital in 1908, and it was he who did all the original organising work in converting the private institution into a public district hospital. For many subsequent years he filled the position of secretary and collector, and it is largely due to his untiring energy and his unbounded enthusiasm that the institution was placed on such a substantial foundation, and has been the means of untold blessing and relief to thousands of sufferers in the intervening years. Surely one could hardly conceive or wish for a more beautiful and enduring memory than this to know that one's constant efforts had been usefully directed to the benefit and blessing of his fellow men and women. Now the work is over, and the realisation of what he has been able to do should contribute to that serenity and peace of soul which is to be so earnestly desired.

The funeral took place yesterday morning, the cortege leaving the Masonic Hall - where full Masonic honors were accorded the deceased shortly after 11 o'clock the service at the grave was conducted by the Rev. P. W Robinson, and the beautiful and impressive ritual of the Masonic Order was read by Bro. Cromie, W.M. and participated in by a number of the brethren of the Gippsland Forest Lodge (56).

Henri's unmarked grave at the old Warragl Cemetery.

Henri's funeral, which took place on Monday, March 5,  was conducted by the Anglican Minister and so I wondered if Henri still had a connection to his Jewish faith. Jane was not Jewish, thus Horace was not Jewish: his enlistment papers have his religion as Church of England. We know that Henri did not have  a religious wedding. There are two references to Henri's Jewishness in The Path of Progress, a history of Warragul, published in 1934. One reference refers to him as a well-known Jewish character (57) and another reference describes Henri as a Jew, with a fund of Yiddish anecdotes (58).  The Hebrew Standard of Australasia, a Sydney paper did report on August 25, 1922 that Mr. Henri Rintel, one of the surviving sons of the late Rev. M. Rintel is an inmate of the hospital at Terang (59). Apart from getting the town wrong, it was Kerang not Terang, they did consider that one of the sons of Melbourne's first Rabbi was still of interest to the Jewish community.  I believe that in spite of the funeral being conducted by the Anglican Minister that Henri never converted to Christianity and reading the funeral report it seems that the most prominent feature of the service was the Masonic component. Rabbi Moses Rintel, was a dedicated member of the Freemasons and held the position of the Very Worshipful Provincial Grand Chaplin for fifteen years and Henri's dedication to the Freemasons was as enduring as that of his father (60).

Henri is buried at the Warragul Cemetery in an unmarked grave, but he is remembered in the town by Rintel Court. Rintel Court is off Landsborough Road and is close to where Henri's fine homestead  was located (61).   It is also a few 100 metres from the Warragul Hospital, the  institution that he worked tirelessly for as the Secretary for over fifteen years and where he passed away.

Rintel Court, Warragul

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Trove list
I have created  a list of newspaper articles on Henri Rintel and his family, you can access it here.

Sources
(1) Moses Rintel (1823-1880) - You can read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. Rabbi  Moses' appointment is also discussed in length in The Jews in Victoria in the  Nineteenth Century by Lazarus Morris Goldman, published by the Author in 1954.
(2) Moses Rintel and Elvina Hart (1823-1904) married on August 22, 1849. She was the daughter of John and Isabella (nee Levy) Hart. They had nine children Henri John (1850-1850), Isabella (1851-1921), Myer (1853-1914), Edward (1854-1913), Henri (1856-1923), Simeon (1858-1919), Walter (1859-1925), Adelaide (1862-1916) and Sarah (1867-1893).
(3) Goldman, Lazarus Morris The Jews in Victoria in the  Nineteenth Century (The Author, 1954) p. 62.
(4) Goldman, op. cit., p. 62.
(5) Goldman, op. cit., Chapter 12 - A New Congregation.
(6)  Goldman, op. cit., pp 250, 251.
(7) The Leader, December 24, 1875, see here.
(8) Butler, Graeme Buln Buln: a history of Buln Buln Shire (Shire of Buln Buln, 1979) p. 211.
(9) Buter, op. cit., p. 210.
(10)  Butler, op. cit., p. 210.
(11)  Butler, op. cit., p. 210.
(12)  Butler, op. cit., p. 210.
(13)  Butler, op. cit., p. 210. Also mentioned in Copeland, Hugh The Path of Progress: from forests of yesterday to homes of to-day  (Shire of Warragul, 1934) on page 434,
(14) Camperdown Chronicle, January 23 1886, see here.
(15) Camperdown Chronicle, February 10, 1886, see here.
(16)  Butler, op. cit., p. 211. Not really sure where the intersection of Shaw and Grant Track is.
(17)  Butler, op. cit., p. 211.
(18)  The Argus, October 27, 1886, see here.
(19) Jewish Herald, December 11, 1885  see here.
(20) Members of the early Australian Lodges can be found on Ancestry, where the Ireland, Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland Membership Registers, 1733-1923 and the United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921 have been digitised.
(21) Henri and Solomon Fryberg are both registered in the King Solomon Lodge, No. 422 on May 1, 1881. See Note 20, above.
(22) Index to Victorian Birth, Deaths and Marriages, https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/
(23) Warragul Guardian, May 9 1890, see here.
(24) The Age, September 27, 1890, see here.
(25) Lilydale Express January 8, 1897, see here.
(26) Lilydale Express January 8, 1897, see here.
(27) Lilydale Express, April 3, 1896, see here.
(28) Healesville Guardian, May 12, 1899   see here.
(29) Evelyn Observer, January 11, 1901, see here.
(30) Healesville and Yarra Glen Guardian, January 18 1901, see here.
(31) West Gippsland Gazette, February 14, 1905, see here.
(32) West Gippsland Gazette, August 25, 1903, see here.
(33) West Gippsland Gazette, November 7, 1905, see here.
(34) West Gippsland Gazette, July 2, 1907, see here. This is the first reference I can find if Henri being listed as Secretary.
(35)  West Gippsland Gazette, August 11, 1908, see here. Comprehensive report of the opening and the work required to bring the old building up to scratch.
(36)  West Gippsland Gazette, August 11, 1908, see here.
(37) This information comes from the Marriage certificate.
(38)  Jane's children with her first husband, Charles Manning, come from the Victorian and New South Wales Indexes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(39) This information comes from Horace's Birth certificate.
(40) Punch, January 13, 1910, see here.
(41) Punch, January 13, 1910, see here.
(42)  This information comes from the Marriage Certificate.
(43)  West Gippsland Gazette, January 5, 1915, see here.
(44)  National Archives of Australia - First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920  see Horace's file here
(45) National Archives of Australia - First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920  see Horace's file and the letters from his wife and father here
(46)  This information comes from the Marriage Certificate.
(47)  The Argus, November 19, 1923, see here.
(48)  Index to Victorian Birth, Deaths and Marriages, https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/
(49)  Ballarat Star, December 17, 1921, see here.
(50)  Ballarat Star, May 5, 1924, see here.
(51) National Archives of Australia - First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920
(52)  Her death notice was in The Argus, December 20, 1921, see here.
(53)  West Gippsland Gazette, March 6, 1923, see here.
(54)  West Gippsland Gazette, February 7, 1922, see here. The sister he refers to is Isabella Rintel (Mrs Abraham Stern) who died February 3, 1921.
(55) Copeland, Hugh The Path of Progress: from forests of yesterday to homes of to-day  (Shire of Warragul, 1934),  p. 435. Sir John Monash - Engineer and General, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. Dr Maloney is William Robert Maloney - Doctor, Politician and Humanitarian, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography here.
(56)  West Gippsland Gazette, March 6, 1923, see here.
(57) Copeland, op. cit p. 38.
(58) Copeland, op. cit., p. 435.
(59) Hebrew Standard of Australasia, August 25, 1922, see here.
(60) Jewish Herald, September 10, 1880, see here.
(61) Copeland, op. cit., p. 18.