Horace Wellesley Wade Daniell was my Grandfather on my mother’s side, Mum’s dad. He was born 25.09.1885 in the UK, the youngest of 12 and born into English Gentry. At some point in his early adulthood he travelled to the land down under. Horace was a handsome man and a Catholic. Most importantly he was a ‘gentleman’ living a gentleman’s life until aged 32 when his parents passed away. The inheritance was left to the eldest brother who didn’t share with his siblings and took the lot! Horace decided to go to the Australian east coast, settling in Daylesford an hour and twenty minutes north west of Melbourne, a place famous for the bubbling mineral waters which flow from its many springs. Horace must have thought Australia held more prospects. My guess is the beauty of this place was reminiscent of his English home.
It was in this beautiful countryside where he met his wife, Alice Annie Newton, an English Roman Catholic girl of striking beauty. Alice’s father had come from England and was a wheat and sheep farmer. The family had their own horse and jinky.
Alice was born 15 May 1884 and was just over a year older than Horace when they met. An intelligent woman she was a teacher and ran the school in Muscreek and rode to school on their horse. She also painted beautifully and I believe Lisa, (my youngest sister), has one or more of these beautiful handpainted treasures. Her only siblings were two brothers Jim and Tom. Tom was the head of the Victorian Forest Commission.
My mother told us that my youngest sister Lisa reminded her of Alice. (Sorry, don’t have photographs).
At some point they moved from Coburg to 33 Rosamond St, Balaclava which is now a very popular inner city suburb of Melbourne.
Horace made beautiful furniture. In the 1929/30 depression he lost everything which is when he became a baker. He also loved fishing.
His sister, Loti Snider was a successful actress who married a Jewish man. They had no children.
Alice and Horace had three lovely looking daughters. Gloria born 1919, Ava born 1926 and mum, Veema Raomi Daniell born 2.04.1929. All home births. Mum’s name was given when she was 3 months old and was obtained from the ‘To Be Married’ column in the Melbourne Age.
All the girls were very academic and skipped two grades during Primary School. Both Ava and Gloria were top of their classes and dux of the school. Gloria became a nurse and was the only one to achieve higher education. Mum had to help her father in the bakery and did not continue her schooling, (leaving at 14), in order to help her father make ends meet. Mum’s memories of these times were not pleasant. She developed a phobia about cockroaches, something she had to deal with daily in their small bakery room.
Alice died of heart attack at age 56 when mum was only 12. I don’t think mum ever really got over that scar. Horace successfully raised his three daughters though Gloria left shortly after to work as a nurse. According to mum her father was, at times, a tyrant.
Ava and Gloria held a birthday party for mum 12 months after their mother’s death. It was her first and last.
Horace raised his three daughters in an admirable way, though, according to mum, he was not only a charmer to their teachers, chemist in the underground laboratory, (many explosions happened!) and he could be a tyrant. On occasions mum remembered when he came to the school and met with her teacher. His charms won her over and she was not picked on after his visit. When there was a lice problem, Horace shaved their heads saying, “no daughter of mine will ever get lice!” He put his hand made potions on their scalps and none of them ever got lice.
Our Great Grandmother was Maltese which explains the dark hair and brown eyes both my mother and my eldest sister inherited.
Charles Web Gilbert was a British Sculpture and has a statue in Swanson St, Melbourne. He was Horace’s mother’s cousin.Charles Web Gilbert - Wikipedia
From 1998 to 2017 I flew to Melbourne to visit my Aunt Ava and two cousins. Emily often came with me.
Ava told me she was invited to join the Mensa group of academic elites. She declined, not because she didn't qualify, but because she refused to pay the membership fees!
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