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Life and times of the Chadwicks

There are many headstones in our graveyards where finding information about their lives can be somewhat difficult. The resident of these graves may have lived quiet lives and not done anything spectacular for the wider world to know about.

Headstone of Clarence and Sarah Chadwick and their infant son. Courtesy ancestry.com
Headstone of Clarence and Sarah Chadwick and their infant son. Courtesy ancestry.com

The challenge with the life of Clarence Chadwick was to find out what he had achieved while alive. His grave is located in Burwood cemetery, Victoria and according to his headstone, he died on 19th February, 1945. His wife, Sarah Ann lies with him after dying 22nd May, 1978 as does their infant son, George who died 17th September, 1921.


The first step I took was to confirm Clarence's death by checking the Births, Deaths and Marriages in Victoria. There was only one Clarence Chadwick, with the middle name George, who died in 1945 and he was 51 years old. It stated that he was born in Richmond and died in Parkville. From the death certificate I was also able to obtain his parents names: George Washington Chadwick and Bridget Murphy.


The next step was to look up Clarence and Sarah Ann's marriage certificate and I found out they were married in the same year they lost their son George: 1921. Sarah's maiden name was Rowe.


Another search of the birth records confirmed that of George, as well as two sisters born Margaret Bridget in 1922 and Nancy Mary in 1925.


With this skeleton in place, I decided to look for muscle to put on the bones and dig into any details I could find on Clarence and Sarah's life. I turned to Trove to see if there were any news articles on them.


In 1941, Clarence was a tobacconist with his business named the Richmond Tobacco Co. and located at 325 Swan Street, Richmond. Sadly, business must not have been going well as he appeared in the bankruptcy court on the 21st March the same year.


Three months after Clarence died, his daughter Margaret, also known as Peg, married LAC Harold Ernest Youlden at St Ignatius Church, Richmond. Her sister Nancy, was a bridesmaid. At the time of her wedding, Margaret was an Aircraftswoman in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Airforce which employed nearly 27,000 women in crucial non-combat roles so men could go overseas to fight. These roles paved the way for permanent female integration into the RAAF in later years. Margaret would have performed a role such as telecommunications, driving, administration or aircraft maintenance.


Harold was also in the Royal Australian Airforce, serving in the Northern Territory.


A search of Nancy found no marriage certificate and it was confirmed she never married by the Australian census records, as she lived with her mother for a time before finding her own place. Her occupation was listed as a textile worker.


Sarah died in 1978 at the age of 80 and is buried with Clarence. Margaret passed away in 2004 at Box Hill Hospital. Nancy died in 2020 and is buried in Springvale Botanical Cemetery.


References

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