In December 1929 Sheila Mildred Jowett received her Merit Certificate having completed satisfactorily the Course of Study prescribed for the first two years in High School at the Elwood Central School. Attainment of the merit certificate often marked the end of formal schooling for children in the past.
Sheila Jowett's Merit Certificate
I bought this on Ebay.
Sheila was born on August 2, 1916 in Liverpool in England to John Edwin Jowett and his wife, Mildred Grace Davies. Sheila had an older brother, John Mellor Jowett, who was born on September 26, 1914. Sadly, their father John Edwin, a painter, who had enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment was Killed in Action on September 2, 1918. This left Mildred, who before her marriage had worked in a milliner's shop, a widow with her two young children. (1)
John's death was reported in the Port Melbourne Standard as some of the Jowett family had already migrated to Melbourne and were living at 275 Bay Street, Port Melbourne. They were his parents Mellor and Mary Ann (nee Midgley) Jowett, his sisters Annie and Millicent; his brother Jonas and his wife Esther and their two children. Mellor was a builder and Jonas was a carpenter. (2)
Mellor Jowett's advertisement, the first of his advertisements I could find.
Port Melbourne Standard, January 16 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91166133
In November 1917, the Port Melbourne Standard published the following advertorial, promoting Mellor's skills -
House Renovator and Builder. Mr. Jowett, house renovator and builder, invites residents contemplating embellishing their homes, or building new ones, to consult him. He is making a speciality of this enterprise, and has just completed the rebuilding of a dwelling at 99 Nelson-road, converting it from a four to a seven roomed house, and ornamenting it with a modern rough cast front and bay windows. Another work recently finished is the renovation of five houses in Nott-street. (3)
Mellor Jowett's advertisement
Port Melbourne Standard, Janaury 10, 1920 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165261457
The Port Melbourne Standard published this obituary of John Edwin Jowett -
Killed in Action - Mr. Jowett, of Bay-street, this week received from England a cable advising him of the death in action of one of his two soldier sons, Pte. John Edwin Jowett, who was at soldier in a
North Staffordshire Regiment. As well as rending asunder a fond family tie, the loss of his son shatters a prospect that Mr. Jowett had of prevailing upon the young man, who was a highly skilled worker in house decorations, joining him in business in Melbourne after the war. Nevertheless, sorrowful as the loss is of one of their own family circle, and disappointing the vanishing of the possibilities of a reunion around this soldier son in this life, reflection upon the nobility of the sacrifice he has made is a consolation to the deeply grieving father, mother, sisters, and a soldier brother. The late Pte. John Edwin Jowett leaves a widow and two children in Liverpool (England). Pte. Jonas Jowett, Mr. Jowett’s other son, is a returned wounded soldier now in Sydney. (4)
Jonas Jowett had enlisted in the A.I.F in February 1916 and served in France, however he suffered from bursitis in the right knee and this led to his medical discharge in October 1917. Jonas, Esther and their children then moved to Sydney, where he remained until his death in 1964. (5)
At some time, I can't find an exact date, Mildred and young John and little Sheila moved to Melbourne. It was interesting that Mildred moved to be with her in-laws in a new country as she was one of ten children, so left a big family behind in England. Perhaps it had been their dream to move to Australia and she wanted to continue to achieve that goal. She was supported by the Jowett family as in 1921 Mildred was living with her parents-in-law and her sisters-in-law, Annie and Millicent at 519 Chapel Street, South Yarra; then from 1922 until 1927 they were at 29 Martin Street, South Yarra. Annie, who married James Barnes in 1923 and Millicent who married George Diggins in 1925, were both dressmakers. (6)
It was perhaps through Annie and Millicent that Mildred met dressmaker Marie Eugenie Ford and in 1928 was living with her at 97 Carlisle Street St Kilda. Marie was the daughter of Frances and William Schultz, who had lived at the same address. Marie had married Richard Ford in 1898, had a son Richard in 1901 and a daughter Nancy in 1910, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1922, due to Richard deserting the family. Marie worked throughout the marriage as a dressmaker. In August 1927, Frances Schultz died (William having died in 1892) and Marie relocated her business from her Collins Street premises to 97 Carlisle Street. I presume that Mildred, who had worked in a millinery business in England, helped Marie with the dressmaking. (7)
Marie Ford's advertisement advising of her relocation to 97 Carlisle Street
The Argus, January 31, 1928, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3907283
It was whilst Mildred was living at Carlisle Street that Sheila attended Elwood Central School and attained her Merit certificate. By 1931, Mildred, who was then 42 years old, had moved to 53 Pender Street in Thornbury. She later moved in with her son John and his wife Clara at 186a Murray Road in Preston and died on June 24, 1952, aged 63. (8)
Sheila married Russell Robert Wilson at St Mark's Church of England in Fitzroy on September 15, 1937; she was 21 and he was 22. His occupation was a Secretary and her occupation was a Hosiery folder. The couple made their home at 208 Murray Road in Preston (11 doors down from her brother John and her mother) and they had four children - Robert, Margaret, Patricia and David. (9)
Sheila and Russell had a long term connection to St Mark's in Fitzroy and Russell was interviewed in 1950 in The Age on the occasion of the 97th anniversary of the Church -
Mr. Russell Wilson, of Preston, who is secretary of the church and a member of the choir, had his wife, his sister and two children in the choir last night. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were married and their children christened in this church. (10)
Russell Wilson, St Mark's parishioner.
The Age, July 3, 1950 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206394913
Around 1950 Sheila and Russell moved to 75 Marshall Street in Ivanhoe, which is where they were living where Russell died on July 10, 1968. When Sheila died on October 16, 1989, at the age of 73, she was living in Mont Albert. Sheila and Russell were both cremated and their ashes are interred at Fawkner Cemetery. (11)
I wonder what memories Sheila had of her time at Elwood Central School? I also have to admire her mother Mildred, who had only four and a half years of married life before her husband John was Killed in Action and who then moved across to the other side of the world to start a new life for herself, her son John and daughter Sheila.
Footnotes
(1) Mildred birth - Liverpool, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1919 on Ancestry.com; John birth - WW2 Nominal Rolls - https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/ ; John Edwin Jowett - enlistment - UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920 and UK and Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947 on Ancestry.com; 1911 English Census from Ancestry.com
(2) Port Melbourne Standard, October 12, 1918, see here; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com - the first listing of the Jowetts, which I can find is in 1915, so I assume they arrived in Melbourne around this time.
(3) Port Melbourne Standard, November 10, 1917, see here.
(4) Port Melbourne Standard, October 12, 1918, see here.
(5) Attestation papers, National Archives of Australia - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7360978; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Index to NSW Deaths.
(6) 1911 English Census from Ancestry.com lists Mildred's parents and her seven surviving siblings; Electoral Rolls - 1921 was the first time Mildred appeared in the Electoral rolls; Index to Victorian marriages.
(7) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Frances Schultz death notice The Argus, August 10, 1927, see here; Divorce of Marie Eugenie Ford and Richard Stafford Ford - Public Records Office of Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/24848DBB-F384-11E9-AE98-3BC75BD137D7?image=1 ; The Argus, January 31, 1928, see here.
(8) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Mildred's death notice - The Herald, June 25, 1952, see here.
(9) Marriage certificate; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; children listed in Russell's death notice in The Age, July 11, 1968
(10) The Age, July 3, 1950, see here.
(11) Electoral Rolls; Russell's death notice in The Age, July 11, 1968; Sheila's death certificate; Fawkner Cemetery records https://www.gmct.com.au/deceased
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