Eustace Alfred Allan 1892 - 1917 Killed in Action in the Somme

Eustace Alfred Allan Service number 18828 was the son of Alfred Edward Allan and Lucy Elizabeth Allan born in 1892 in Melbourne Victoria. He was the last of six children and a grandson of Maxwell Rennie Allan. Prior to the war he had been working as a clerk. He enlisted as a Gunner at the age of 22 years and 9 months on 26 January 1916. His Battalion arrived in Devonport on 16/7/1916 for further training.

Vaccination time Sydney 1916

His Battalion was the 25^th Battery 7 Australian Field Artillery. Prior to leaving Southampton, England for France he was promoted to Corporal and they landed in France in January 1917.  On May 17 he was admitted to hospital with mumps and later with another bout of illness at the end of the month. on 8 October 1917, he was wounded and died of those wounds 11 days later on 19 October 1917-a gunshot wound to the head.

Between 1916 and 1918, on the Western Front, Australians wore the British issue steel helmet as head protection. The design of helmets was varied between each Army – The Australian army adopted the style known as the Brodie steel helmet in May 1916. Soldiers were still killed but many more survived the initial blow to the head as Eustace probably did.

The Australian Army chose the British model- Brodie steel helmet

He is buried at Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension. For much of the First World War, Abbeville was headquarters of the Commonwealth lines of communication and No. 3 BRCS, No. 5 and No. 2 Stationary Hospitals were stationed there variously from October 1914 to January 1920. The Communal Cemetery was used for burials from November 1914 to September 1916, the earliest being made among the French military graves. The Extension was begun in September 1916.  Eustace’s grave is in plot 3 row D grave 12.

The Inscription on his grave is “loved by all he did his duty”  

Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension where EEusticeis buried 

On our recent trip to the Somme, France we visited a number of Commonwealth War Graves sites and memorials to Australian soldiers. You must commend the Australian government and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the efforts to care and protect these sites for posterity. Earlier on in the First World War it was decided that there would be no repatriation of the dead - and enormous task given the casualties and the extent of fighting. Instead the war dead and missing are commemorated with a name on a permanent headstone or memorial.

The reality was that many Australian families in the 1920s were never going to be able to afford to visit their loved one’s graves. In fact, it’s the Centenary of WWI and the resurgence of interest that makes it more likely the newer more mobile generations of relatives are visiting to honour the dead. The internet makes it easy to negotiate the system, plan a trip and actually locate the whereabouts of relatives. That’s a wonderful thing.

Australian Graves have a Rising Sun 

The Australian National Memorial

Thiepval Memorial

To make the pilgrimage it should be noted that the sites are vast and very dispersed. A full tour of the Western Front could take days to cover the hundreds of kilometres.  The full day tour we undertook required about 10 hours travelling and we only saw The Australian National Memorial, the John Monash Centre, Villers- Bretonneux, Lochnager Crater, Thiepval Memorial and surrounding places of interest such as The Leaning Virgin- Basilica of Albert, German cemeteries etc.  Consequently, on a bus trip there was no time to stop at or look for specific graves. For specific visits to graves a car or private tour is recommended.

The Australian Government has put out an excellent free publication called “Australian Remembrance Trail Along the Western Front”. It’s a Traveller’s Guide to planning your trip and suggested itineraries.  It is published by the Department of Veterans Affairs Canberra April 2018.

Due to time factors we were unable to visit used Eustace’s grave on the day of our travels or even his first cousin Myrton Allan’s (see previous blog).

The countryside where trenches were built, war was fought, and many fell is farmland today. It has mostly covered the reminders of trench warfare, bombings, death and destruction. There are preserved trenches at Beaumont Hamel. Australians fought for 2 ½ years with 80% of the casualties happening on the Western Front.

One of the things which was highlighted during our travels was that many of the local towns which had been rebuilt following the fighting in World War I again fell to the Germans or were subjected to fighting and bombing during the Second World War.

Lest We Forget these amazing heroes and the amazing resilience of the French farmers who have rebuilt their lives not once but twice.

Myrton Trangmar Allan Killed in action 1892-1916 and brother Keith Trangmar Allan 1896-1964

Myrton Trangmar Allan 1892-1916, son of Percy and Alice Allan was born on 24 July 1892 in Woolwich Sydney. After an education at at Riverview College and serving two years as a Corporal in the senior cadets Myrton studied law at Sydney University. He put aside his five years work at a solicitors in Newcastle to join the Australian Army on 23 June 1915. By this time, he was aged 22 years 11 months and was assigned to the 7th reinforcement of the 20th battalion.  He disembarked his ship at Marseilles on 3rd April 16 and was promoted to Lieutenant shortly afterwards.

Myrton

Here is an excerpt of the letter he wrote back to his father nearly four months later on 27 July 16.

It was reprinted in the SMH on 15/11/1916

SOLDIERS' LETTERS: HEAVY BOMBARDMENTS."HADES " WITH THE LID OFF."

 A vivid description of this (May 5) bombardment was given in a letter from

the late Lieut Myrton T. Allan to his father, Mr. Percy Allan, Assistant Director-General

of Public Works, from which the extracts that follow are made. The other officer mentioned in the letter, Captain Ferguson (son of Mr. Justice Ferguson), was also subsequently killed in France.

"I was," the letter runs, "ordered to join the battalion the day after I wrote my last

letter, and after some hours in the train and some more hours on foot was sent straight on into the trenches (I nearly wrote drenches'). I had to go dickens of a way through saps in the dark, down Queer-street, past the White City, and on to Safety-alley to Nonesuch Hall, off Snipers'-alley; but don't use that as my address, as the Post Office people really know   very little geography. I had a very cosy little dug-out with a nice soft mattress made of wire-netting. The first few days things were very quiet, only an occasional bullet whizzing over or a shell going back to the billets. 1 Fritz, who is about 300 yards away, stuck up a notice one day 'Advance Australia, If you can.' Things had been quiet like this ever since the Australians arrived until the third night after I got hero. Then they started.

It was just dark, and I had gone down to the end of the company to see that they were standing to arms, and was talking to the sergeant, watching them drop a couple of

shells on one of our saps? Then I saw a bomb coming and we ducked, and then a shell,

and we slipped into the shelter of one of the bays in the front trench. After that they

lifted the lid off Hades. Bombs, rifle grenades, shells, coalboxes, Weary Willies, and whizz- bangs were all bursting at once. They made some noise, but the thing that impressed me most was the tearing, rending sound they made, like gigantic hail tearing along before a thousand-mile-an-hour gale through an orchard. Then in the middle of the rumpus word came that a machine-gun near us in the next company had lost their magazine. We had some empty bays between us and our reserve gun, so I had to hop along. You would have laughed at me doing the snake act close up against the front wall, and every now and again, flopping into a pool of green, slimy water, and then, when I hit a traverse, where there was no bank in rear, waiting till I heard one burst, and then flying round. When I finally got to the machine-gun place I found that the crew of the gun which had been blown out had come along before me with their gun.

I finished up the rest of the show in the M.G. dug-out. After the bombardment was over I

had to go along to B Company, near to ours, and see how they were. It was tough

going; there were hardly any duck-boards (these are the wooden footways raised above

the mud) left, and two or three times I fell down holes two or three feet deep. I got

rather a shock when I switched on my torch and on looking up found no parapet between

me and the Germans-blown clean away-and fully expected some shots at the light. Things

were in a deuce of a mess there-parapet and dug-outs and everything mere heaps of earth.

This was Ferguson's company. (He is now a captain.) Naturally I had no time to yarn

with him. The three officers with him were 'outed'-one missing and two badly wounded,

and he also had about 60 men badly wounded. We were lucky, as we had only two killed and eight wounded in the trench, and three killed and about half a dozen wounded elsewhere.

They did not quite have our range; a lot of stuff just cleared the parapets, and a lot

went low down in front, and rocked the whole show like a ship in a rough sea. There is

very little talk of Gallipoli now. Our division reckon we got more shells that night than they got the whole time at Gallipoli. I was rather anxious for a time, as, when they lifted their range on to our supports, and shut off their machine-guns, we made sure they were coming.

Instead of this, they started sending up flares by the dozen. I had not heard our artillery,

but learned afterwards that they put in over 4000 shells, and Fritz was evidently very much afraid we were going to counter-attack. Anyway, we got relieved last night, and I have my platoon in a nice, quiet, peaceful place in the supports all round the edge of a cemetery, while the others are back in billets."

He was wounded and died from the gunshot wounds he received in action. His records show he was in charge of the Gordon dump near Pozieres, Somme when a Mills grenade exploded in a bag which he was placing in the truck. He was badly wounded in the stomach and thigh and died shortly after at the 6th Australian Field Ambulance Station.

He is buried at the Becourt Military Cemetery, Picardie, France 1 ½ miles east of Albert at the time known as the Gordon Cemetery.

A portion of a letter from his commander was printed in Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate Wednesday 18 October 1916 p 7 paying tribute to Myrton’s sacrifice.

"Your eldest son died of gunshot wounds in the jaw, in the 6th Australian Field

Ambulance on the 27th July. I find he was regarded as a very gallant officer, full

of courage and initiative, and that he had a fine future before him. Unfortunately

these are the sort of chaps that we are losing, and Australia will be for ever poorer for such losses."

From his service records

I have previously written about his brother Herbert Trangmar Allan and his esteemed career in both World War I and II.

It must’ve been tough for father Percy Allen who was a civil engineer and Assistant Director General of Public Works to see his youngest son Keith enlisting age 20 only two months after Myrton’s death and with Herbert still fighting.

Keith goes to war

There’s probably no stopping those who have been in Junior Cadets at school from wanting to sign up when old enough. Keith Trangmar Allan b 1896 enlisted on 13 September 1916 after obtaining his parents’ consent as a private in the 20th Infantry 19th reinforcement and left our shores on 7/2/1917 on HMAT Wiltshire. After marching He served in France and Belgium was invalided to England with Traumatic Neuromimesis (Shell Shock wound)

Keith returned as a Lance Corporal to Australia on 13/12/1918.  Keith later went to went to New Guinea to work with his older brother through the 1920s. He married Joslyn Kendray Castleton on 26 February 1927 in Rabaul, New Guinea and later returned to Australia to be a farmer and grazier at Inverell.  

Due to his previous experience in New Guinea and previous war service he re-enlisted during WWII when war spread to the Pacific theatre of war in New Guinea.  Although unfit for active service he served with ANGAU- Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, which was an Australian Army unit that was formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II and was responsible for the civil administration of the Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea. This was a highly regarded unit, it’s major responsibility of the unit was to organize the resources of land and labour for the war effort by recruiting, organising and supervising local labour for the Australian and American Forces which entailed the infamous “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”. He was stationed around Port Moresby, New Ireland and New Hanover.

After the Pacific action Keith returned to Australia as a Lieutenant and Acting Sergeant to his property “Stirling” in Inverell. He died in 1964 and is buried at Inverell Cemetery.

Thomas Cassidy Career Soldier 1881-1887 and the Cassidy family of Salford

A few weeks back a relative of my husband’s wrote looking for a ‘Ford’ cousin in her Cassidy family. Yes, we were them but by default.  Mary might have been disappointed to find my husband wasn’t the Ford she was looking for but she certainly was surprised to find that she had lucked upon some other fairly close relatives.



My husband was from the Cassidys who went off to the Antipodes in the 1920s. In fact, my mother-in-law Winifred was her mother’s cousin and my husband and Mary are second cousins. We quickly exchanged photos and some links to my blog stories. Her grandfather was Joseph, the oldest son of James Cassidy(2) and Elizabeth Corcoran and my husband’s grandfather was his little brother James Edward Cassidy(3).



James Cassidy (2) was born in 1855 near Blayney Castle Ireland where his father and Bridget was staying in army barracks.

Blarney Castle Barracks Cork, Ireland

There are a lot of James in this story- each is numbered- here’s a tree

James Cassidy (1) m Judith Ryan

Thomas Cassidy m Bridget Sheridan            +            Bridget Cassidy ?? m Thomas Sheridan  

                1818-1887                  1823-1880                                     1822-1895                1826-1861



                       Catherine 1839-1884

                       Margaret  1847-1890

                       James (2)   1855-1906



His father, Thomas had left the army in 1859 and the family settled in Salford, Lancashire where we see James (2) for the first time in the 1861 census with his parents and sister Margaret who had been born in 1847 at another army base in Newcastle upon Tyne.  In 1871 census young James is living with his parents and cousin Margaret Sheridan in Salford and has taken a job as a messenger boy.



Later James (2) met and married Elizabeth Corcoran (1858 – 1938) of Irish born parents, Patrick Corcoran and Margaret Ramsbottom. They and her siblings who had been born in Ireland had moved to Salford around between 1854 and 1858 and she had been born in Salford. James (2) and Elizabeth married in 1880.

James Cassidy (2) m Elizabeth Corcoran

1855-1906                  1858-1938

Joseph Cassidy 1881

Mary Cassidy  1884-

Annie Cassidy 1886- 1971

Elizabeth Cassidy 1889-1981

James Edward Cassidy (3)1892-1981

Thomas Cassidy 1896-1896

In 1881 he’s with Elizabeth and working as a fireman on the locomotive service. By 1891 he had progressed to railway engine driver He and Elizabeth have had three daughters Mary 6, Annie 4, and Elizabeth 1. They also have one son Joseph who is nine. James Edward Cassidy (3) the youngest appears in the 1901 census as a five-year-old with his parents and older sisters. James (2) is still driving engines and two of the girls have begun work in the cotton mills.



Meanwhile, Joseph who is working as an engine fireman has married Mary Higginbotham and begun his family. His son Frederick is born in 1903 and Mary Josephine Cassidy is born in 1912. Joseph eventually becomes an engine driver like his father. The 1939 Register shows he lived in 16 Wells Street with his wife children and brother-in-law and like his father is working as a locomotive driver.

James Edward , Elizabeth, Elizabeth Cassidy nee Corcoran , Mary, Annie  Cassidy  c 1905

James Cassidy (2) died in 1906 aged 51. In 1911 Elizabeth, his widow is living with her daughters and youngest son. An investigation of her comment about having a sixth child who had died reveals a baby Thomas born and died in 1896. Elizabeth lives for another 30 years until 1938 aged 78.

My husband Steve has mostly been interested in his Irish heritage and DNA matches are proving elusive. His DNA ethnicity has his Irish connection suggesting Leinster with Laois and Kilkenny but this could be Corcoran connections too.



Going back one generation there’s James’(2) father Thomas Cassidy from Ireland.  The family story is that Thomas was drunk one night and ended up in the army after taking the King’s Shilling. This is the payment of one Shilling given to recruits for the British Army in the 18th and 19th century. When you take the King’s Shilling you agreed to serve in the Army or Navy. Often when they had to make up the numbers for a ship or a regiment, men were press-ganged into service.  Someone who was intoxicated was a likely candidate for taking the coin. Obviously, the recipient was not always in physical or mental condition to know what happened or was eager to buy his next drink. The practice ended in 1879.

From Thomas’ army records we deduce he was born on 22 February 1818 at St James in Dublin city and Irish / Catholic parish registers show his parents as James Cassidy (1) and Judith Ryan. Thomas’ attestation to the 30th Foot Regiment shows him in Liverpool on 8 May 1837 at age 20 with a service number 1327.



It’s unclear whether he took the Shilling in Ireland or he was living at the time in Salford, Lancashire, England. Based on a likely looking 1841 census and a marriage document it appears his sister, Bridget married in 1838 in Salford and in 1841 his father, sister and brother-in-law were living in Salford.  It’s highly likely that Thomas had his drunken night in Salford in England and not Ireland.  

Part of Thomas' records

He served seven years nine months abroad in Bermuda North 1838-1840, America (1842 in Canada) and the Ionian islands off Greece for 3 years (probably Kefallonia south of Corfu which had a British presence at the time. In between times, the 30^th Foot served in Ireland and England. It was pretty much a quiet time due to no action after the peace that Waterloo had brought to Europe.



The 30th Foot took part in the Crimean war in 1853 to 1856. The Regiment landed at Scutari in May 1854 a district and municipality of Istanbul. As part of the Crimean War the Battle of Alma occurred in Sept 1854. The allied expeditionary force made up of French, British, and Turkish forces against the Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula culminated on 20/9/1854.



Months later at the Battle of Inkerman the battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field on 5/11/1854. This was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol until 1855. The city of Sevastopol was the home of the Tsar’ Black Sea Fleet which threatened the Mediterranean. The Russian Field Army withdrew before the allies could encircle it.



Thomas was quite tall at 5’11” with a Sallow complexion, grey eyes and black hair.  As a career soldier he clocked up a total service of 22 years and 25 days. During his time with the Triple Xs as they were known, he had very reputable service four times awarded a good conduct badge and a silver medal. To top it all off he was given 5 pounds for good conduct and meritorious service in 1859 when he was discharged.

Discharge section of Thomas' papers

After a long career in the Army at age 42 1/2, he took up residence in Salford probably with the trade of shoe maker to supplement his army pension. One of the things Mary mentioned was that her uncle Fred had held a diary written by a previous grandfather going back to the Crimean war. Unfortunately, it was disposed of and may well have been Thomas’. Such responsibility- to be custodian of something so old you certainly need to have the story behind the item to realise it’s worth.



Probably due to it being an army wedding, we can’t find Thomas and Bridget’s marriage. She was Bridget Sheridan born circa 1823 in Kildare Ireland. It is likely she knew the Cassidys before Thomas’ “shilling” enlistment and as I’ve mentioned before it seems her brother Thomas Sheridan married Bridget Cassidy who was Thomas’ sister. (Two siblings marrying two siblings will certainly mess up the DNA calculations) I’m guessing that wife Bridget moved around with Thomas or lived in Army accommodation when travel to overseas posts was inappropriate.



So far three children have been found (one during the writing of this blog). Thomas’ first daughter Catherine was born in 1839 in Sunderland. Margaret was born in 1847 and her birth is found only in army births records of Newcastle upon Tyne and not GRO records. James (2) as mentioned before was born at barracks near Blarney Castle in Ireland in 1855.Thomas was likely stationed there until the 30th Foot assembled in Phoenix Park Dublin on 27 May 1859 for the presentation of the new colours by the Countess of Eglinton.



In his discharge on 1 June 1859 Thomas stated that he was going to live in Salford, Lancashire. So, Thomas acquitted himself quite well and was a far cry from his being “volunteered” for the King’s Shilling state. Thomas and Bridget indeed live in Salford as shown in the 1861 census. She has taken up laundry work. In 1871, she is a binder while Thomas is listed as an army pensioner. Interestingly their lodger is a shoemaker. Thomas was likely in business with him.



Bridget died in 1880 and after that Thomas moved in with his daughter, Margaret, her new husband, Patrick Glynn

and grandchildren until he died in 1887.

1881 census 

So….. the research for this story turned up some good hints to further research the Irish roots.  So, if indeed it is Thomas’ father, sister and brother-in-law in the 1841 census. Then why indeed were they in England prior to Thomas’ enlistment. The fact that Bridget and Thomas Cassidy (Cassiday, Cassedy, Cafsiday) married people from other Irish parishes pretty much confuses the issue when the belief was that they had immigrated as married couples. Irish people meeting up in Salford somehow simplifies things but doesn’t tell us where they were born.

                        1841 census  with James Cassidy (1)  Bridget and Thomas Sheridan  - Maybe



There is more to learn about the Cassidy girls (the daughters of James and Elizabeth) the mysterious Roberts Army person who visited the Cassidys in Sydney from USA during WWII and where the Rev Claude Roberts fits in. Mary and I are conferring on her family history. She knows other members of the family who I don’t know and vice versa. There’s even been some developments in the Sheridan family. Finally, the discovery of Catherine Cassidy while researching this piece has broken down a brick wall of the mysterious Bob Roberts -Army person who visited the Cassidys in Sydney from USA during WWII and where the Rev Claude Roberts fits in.  



Hint of the Day Sometimes writing a story pays off immensely- Records get checked, tree hints pop up, further searches are undertaken, fresh eyes see the facts again.

Building a timeframe creates a clearer picture, answers some questions and poses some. 

Maybe the DNA matches will start to unravel and the brick walls in Ireland will starts to crumble.   

As always – if you out there know anything please get in touch email

Auntie Jessie and Uncle Ernie (Great Great Aunt and Uncle )

Jessie Smart Kerr 1878 - 1967  and Ernest Edward Rayner1884 -1960  were my great great aunt  and uncle. We always knew them as uncle and aunt and not until they were grafted onto the tree 60 years later did I realise she was my great grandfather’s only living sibling from his parent’s first marriage.

Since my recent return from Scotland I’ve been drawn to research her more. Jessie was born in Bridgeton, Glasgow on 20 April 1878 of James Francis Kerr and Jessie Cross. She had three siblings. (two deceased and my great grandfather James Cross Kerr.  Her mother died in 1881 when her father was just starting up a horse drawn cab business. Her grandmother in Anne Francis Kerr had stepped in to fill the void. James later remarried in 1883 and Jessie became a sister to a further seven siblings. Her father’s business struggled from time to time and with a lot of babies Jessie was probably busy helping her stepmother.

By 1899 Jessie had met Charles Gallacher and she married him in Glasgow. He soon began working in the family trade as a cab driver. In 1901 they are shown living with his mother.  Unfortunately Jessie’s marriage was childless and short lived due to her husband dying in 1905 of bronchitis at a Seaside Convalescent Home in Dunoon which served the needs of the working class of Glasgow.

In 1911 Jessie is a 32-year-old widow living with her aunt Margaret Tennent and cousins while working as a waitress. My father had a written a note that she was a manager of a restaurant called  the “Wheatsheaf” tea rooms at 263 Paisley Road.  It was common place for Presbyterian marriages which were not held in a house or the home to hold wedding functions there. It had been rebuilt after a fire in 1903 and met with up and down fortunes. For some time it was run as a Workmans’ dining and Tea room.  It is probably around this time that Jessie was there. Presumably she returned to work after Charles death until around 1911.

About this time Jessie had decided to immigrate to Australia. This Bible was presented to Jessie in 1911. Possibly it was a parting gift from her cousin Tommy Tennant before she left for Australia.

 It’s not known when Jessie exactly arrived in Australia but there was a younger Jessie Kerr on the same ship which brought Ernest Edward Rayner from Norfolk to Sydney in 1911. Ernie was the son of Walter Elmer Rayner and Annie Laura Reeve.

Jessie was the first of the Kerrs to come to Australia and there was a procession of them in the next 10 to 15 years.   

Jessie  in  Sydney- early days

Such a courageous thing for young widow. By 1913 she was 35 and Ernie about 29. They married in 1913 in Annandale, Sydney. When Ernie  arrived in Australia he was working in a labourers job although described as a merchant on his travel documents. After they married they ran a greengrocer business in 100 Missenden Road. Later electoral records show them living at Five Dock and Drummoyne with Ernie described as a cafe proprietor or caterer. Their marriage remained childless.

At some stage Jessie and Ernie opened Rayner's Cafe on the corner 396 Pitt and Goulburn Street, Sydney. There had been a fire on the site in 1926 and the building which was constructed in 1928 was to later be the Mandarin Club. Michael Lech of Sydney Living Museums tells me it “was designed by architects H E Budden & Mackellar. Initially the building was known as the McIrath building and then by 1931 as the JA Booth furniture store and building. So Rayner's must have occupied the ground floor, maybe just on the Pitt Street side of the building, from about 1928 or so after the reconstruction took place.”

The following places them in the café in at least 1931. Mary Bryan Kerr and niece of Jessie’s wrote this in her memoirs.

“My father's half sister had a cafe in Sydney known as “Rayners’ Café” in Pitt Street. I joined the staff, working the cash desk. On board the ship "Monawai" on the way to Australia I met a boy, Clarence Rangi Jorgensen who came from Napier. He had found work scarce after the big earthquake  which devastated Napier February 1931.Engineering and we went out together. He wanted to be married, but I wasn't very sure as I'd liked someone in Timaru.

However after two years and we married. The staff gave me a nice little wedding breakfast. There were only five people present. My Aunt Jessie, her friend Aunt Maude, Alick Smith, Hazel Falconer, bridesmaid and of course Rangi  and I.”

Today the cafe would only be a stone’s throw from Central Station, Haymarket, Chinatown, Museum Station and within the bustling CBD of Sydney.

Mandarin Club Building

Location of Rayner's Cafe

A tin plate photo supplied by Anne Kerr of the Cafe interior shows that it was probably situated below road level underneath the store. One would assume it was a tearooms style place also suitable for after-hours functions- a rendezvous for shoppers, city workers and probably evening men’s groups and Returned Services meetings. Based on ads for the cafe in Trove it probably opened for dinner from 6 to 8 pm.

Interior of the cafe

A staff shortage in the war years

During the war years there was a demand for waitresses, kitchen hands and dishwashers in their lunchtime and dinner sittings. Wages were two and six pence per hour plus tips.

Even my great uncle Alf was filling in rostering gaps and possibly even my grandfather. My nanny was housekeeper for Jessie who had by then moved to a substantial house in North Bondi overlooking the iconic Bondi Beach.

My uncle Bill, now in 80s, remembers the posh eating there. Naturally as a child he remembers the big bowls of ice cream served up in the Café’s silver bowls. Asking around the amongst the younger members of the family it seems that Ernie and Jessie had ceased trading at Rayners Cafe after the war or around the early 50s as no one in the next generation besides Bill remembers dining there. In any case Ernie died at age 76 in 1960 which probably suggests retirement around 1950.

I’ve no doubt Jessie was every bit the equal partner in the business especially with her previous experience. However here are the injustices of the time for equal women’s rights. When he died in 1960 Jessie’s will remain unchanged in accordance with her husband’s wishes. By the time of her death in 1967 everything went to his siblings in England who he probably hadn’t seen for a number of years.

About 1961 Jessie sold her house to her nephew Alf and his family and at 83 applied for a passport. Time to revisit Scotland and possibly Ernie’s relatives in England. On the return sea passage she broke her hip and with nowhere to live she moved in with uncle Alf Kerr, his family and his mother-in-law. Quite a crowd living in what was once a house with only an elderly couple. I think it’s what the Scots are used to though. It could have reminded her of her earlier days of tenement living but in  a much more comfortable space.

Jessie's passport

This passport represents what I remember of Jessie -Grey eyes, white hair and quite a shorty at 5’5”. She was a sweet old lady. Although I was of the age of “being seen and not heard” I was 12 and she died and I remember her always being there. She lived in the Bondi house until 1967. Ironically it was with a household full of four adults and three teenagers something she had ever had to live with since the days at home with the  Kerr step family in Scotland before her marriage and then later the Tennents in 1911.   

I remember Dad‘s cousin, Anne  clanging the door chimes once to announce dinner was ready. Poor Jessie, slightly deaf by then limped to the front door to see who is there while we were all beginning to wolf down the sumptuous Boxing Day spread which Auntie Molly was renowned for. It just occurred to me that she was 88 when she passed away. A good innings.

Another interesting piece of trivia is that Jessie‘s nephew Francis Kerr who had a vaudeville act in Scotland adopted Ernie’s name as his stage name. Frank E Rayner. He was a Hebrew impersonator and in this day and age it’s hard to know if it is an honour or not. Frank would have met Ernie during his short immigration to Sydney 1926/1927.

Just as I had finished this piece I pulled out the photos to scan from the album. Messages on the rear of the photos add to the intrigue. One is of Jessie in her early Sydney days see above  writing to her aunt Maggie Tennent.  

Jessie and Ernie c 1920s

The other is more tricky- but a lovely shot of the two of them.  It seems Ernie and Jessie returned to England and Scotland at some stage. I’m trying to date the photos from the words in the message. It appears she was writing to Margaret her cousin who may have recently married into the Allison family.  (Post 1920s) I’ve found a Mr and Mrs E Rayner returning to Australia on the Esperance on 28/1/1924 but its not conclusive.  Perhaps this journey sparked the flow of Kerrs to the Antipodes!

Timeline of Kerr arrivals :

Jessie circa 1911

Ernie 1911 “Commonwealth”

David Kerr (half brother and family) to New Zealand 1922

Mary Bryan Kerr NZ to  Australia 1931

Agnes Park nee Kerr (widowed Half sister) niece Agnes and nephew James Francis Kerr Thomas (half brother) 1924

Agnes Kerr Step Mother arrived  1924 returned 1929 with Thomas and Agnes Park junior

James Cross Kerr (brother) arrived 1924

James Kerr (nephew arrived )1925

Alfred Kerr (nephew) Lavinia Kerr nee Strelley (niece in law), Mary Ann Kerr sister in law and Frank(nephew) arrived 1926 (Mary Ann Kerr and Frank Kerr returned to Scotland 1927)

Agnes Park jnr  returned to Australia 1930

A few shots from the family album.....

Jessie

Ernie, Alfred, Jessie, James and great niece Jean c 1930

 

Jessie and Ernie  right

Jessie with Jean c 1929