Jack Armitstead-Photographer

After a long break I'm back. Family life has been very busy the last few months so the blog had to take a back seat.
Here is another aspect of  Jack Armitstead, my Grandfather. He really is a man of many parts. This time it is his love of photography.
After taking over the Chemist shop from Nat Green in 1913 the photographic section was increased. Jack eventually became the agent for Kodak in Warwick and this is one of the folders he used to put customer's developed prints in.

Cover for customer's prints and negatives

Inside cover

Not only was he developing films he was also busy taking photos. He joined the Warwick Camera Club and held meetings at his shop premises.
The camera club appeared to be quite active as is evidenced by these photos. The Camera Club organised  for photos to be taken to send to the soldiers in World War 1 and this service was advertised on the float below.

They seemed to be intrepid folks heading off into the bush. How would our people these days get on without the four wheel drives?
I'm truly indebted to him for all the photos he has left behind. However I'm also disappointed as he has no labels on them. He must have known I would be a detective type and have to try to identify them.

Send them all Snap shots from home, 1915 parade in Warwick

Tripods and all - no sneakers on this bush walk!

Lovely bush walk in shirts and ties?? Near Stanthorpe

Difficult country and no 4WD's. Who needs them here? Still wearing shirts and ties!

Chemist and Optometrist Jack Armitstead

Armitstead's Pharmacy, Warwick

Having been questioned many times about my relationship to Jack Armitstead I began to realise that the grandfather that died when I was 2 weeks old must have been very well known. It didn't matter that I was far away from his hometown of Warwick or not. As I travelled all over Queensland with work I was amazed at the places I found someone who still remembered him.
Our ever trusty Trove digitised newspapers certainly showed me why he was well known. As well as being the Chemist and Optician in Warwick he played lawn bowls and more lawn  bowls and yet more lawn  bowls but more of that in another post.
Today he is Chemist and Optician. He trained as a chemist in Ripon  Yorkshire and the next information we have is that he worked as an optician at St Helens hospital back in his native Lancashire.
After arriving in Sydney in February 1911 he and his wife Edith travelled to Mackay where daughter Dorothy was born in March 1911. Evidently they didn't stay there for very long as they were mentioned living in Lilley Estate in Toowoomba in 1912. Here he must have made contact with the local Chemist Nat Green as he then manages Nat's shop in Warwick.
This chemist shop was situated in Palmerin St Warwick between the Town Hall and  the Criterion Hotel between Grafton and Fitzroy Streets.

Criterion Hotel about 1925. Chemist shop would have been to the left out of the photo

After managing the chemist shop for Nat Green of Toowoomba he bought the shop and started using his optician skills as well. So in 1913 the shop became   J. Armitstead, Chemist and Optometrist, Warwick. (1)

As Trove added more papers then the advertisements appeared.  Of course don't forget this one from The Warwick Daily News. 23 October 1920
Correct fitting eye-glasses or spectacles are the greatest comfort science has provided for suffering humanity. If you need them go to J. Armitstead,Chemist and Optometrist, Warwick.

Optician charts

or this one from The Warwick Daily News.31 December 1920
 
"Beauty is Only Skin Deep.
  This may or may not be correct. Nevertheless beauty is sought after to-day by ladies of culture, as much as ever. Physically hygiene and science have done much, in this direction. For instance no lady need be troubled with freckles.

Winter requisites including Kuta Cream

A little "Kuta" Cream smeared lightly over the affected parts for three or four nights is all that is necessary to render the skin smooth and clear. This delightful preparation is sold by J. Armitstead, Chemist, Warwick, in pots at 3/; postage 6d. extra.*"

In 1925 preparations were made to extend the shop and Mrs Allman, owner of the Criterion Hotel, paid for a new  2 storied building to be constructed next to the hotel. However to make way for the new building the back of the old shop had to move into the backyard of the hotel and the front section had to be shifted across Palmerin Street and up to  a bank site. These plans were noted in the Warwick Daily News in June 1925 (2)  However moving the front section proved to be harder than expected and for a while it was stuck in the middle of the main street of Warwick.

Front of the shop stuck in the middle of Palmerin  St Warwick June 1925

Once the new shop was ready  the Warwick Daily News had a very long article describing the shop fittings in detail and thanking all the contractors and it went on and on. You will get a interesting read if you go to http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175655907  (3) I wouldn't do it justice if I tried to precis it.
As a keen photographer the shop became a centre for photographic supplies-again another post-stay tuned.
He was also involved in the Boy Scout movement as a district commissoner and was a church parish councillor and a commissioner of peace and a family man.
 He certainly was a man of many part, lots more for other days.

(1) BUSINESS CHANGE. (1913, August 30). Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), p. 5. Retrieved July 4, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82176947

(2) A Projected Removal. (1925, June 27). Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 4, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175717144

(3) A MODERN PHARMACY. (1925, December 22). Warwick Daily News (Qld. : 1919 -1954), p. 3. Retrieved July 4, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175655907
Criterion Hotel Photo courtesy John Oxley Library Queensland

A Kid's Outing in 1881 by Lionel Edgar Laws

Lionel Edgar Laws, my great grandfather,  took to writing poems in his 70's in the 1940's.
In this one he is  remembering a sailing trip he took with some teenage friends down the Brisbane River.
My cousin Helen Butler found this 1906 map of the Brisbane River showing the location of Parker Island. In 2015 Parker Island is no longer on maps of the Brisbane River

A Kid's Outing

It happened way back in 1881

We were on a sailing cruise

A crew of five, all in their teens

We hadn't had any booze

The skipper was the oldest

Was related to an Earl

At handling open sailing skiffs

No doubt he was a pearl

We landed at a quarry

And when we got ashore

There was water at a deserted shack

And lemons there galore

We filled a bag with lemons

And with water filled two buckets up

Went across to Parker Island

Where we'd made up our minds to sleep.

We were greeted by the pelicans

They strutted in their walk

One of the crew said "I wonder what

These birds would say if they could talk"

They appeared to be quite friendly

Their pitch we didn't queer

Altho' we were only lads

We didn't interfere

Then we boiled the water

And without a woman's aid

Cut all the lemons up

And made some lemonade

We opened up the tucker box

And drank and ate our fill

?? might well give a ??

Before they passed their bill.

The wind was freshly blowing
When we hoisted up the sail
It came and went in heavy gusts
But nothing like a gale

When we got into mid stream
There was a sudden puff
He tried best to get her around
But ?? was slow stuff.

??? Unfortunately no matter how hard we try we can't read his writing in very,very faint pencil.

I'm not sure that this would win a literary prize but I felt it was  interesting to know he and his young friends sailed down the river and camped. Making lemonade without  a woman's aid must have been a feat for them then. Too bad we can't make out the missing words. Do you try to guess what he might have written? I didn't have his logic so can't think what he might have put in the ?? spaces. Anyone else hazard a guess?

More of Lionel Edgar Laws's "poems"

When my uncle Robin Laws was 12 years of age he asked his grandfather to write some poems for him. I'm now proud to be the publisher of some more of my great grandfather's poems. ( I don't really think that any other publisher will be miffed that they missed out on the job.)

A Reply

When the old bootmaker got up off his stool

He certainly showed he was a not a fool

With his cap and his head continually bobbin

He sold Magic Shoes to a boy named Robin

Who must have got terrible  pains in his knees

When each of his shoes went just where it pleased

And when he went out in the nearby lane

Was a source of discomfort to his carer Jane

Who had no experience of previous magic

What Robin accomplished was truly tragic

She found the nails had pulled out and left holes

Leaving Robin completely bereft of his soles

That didn't much matter as he was done with straddling

The weather being wet he could go on with his paddling

He learned when he bought, he was beautifully sold

And when he paddled in bare feet he'd never catch cold.

Not Perplexed 

When you hung old Granny's stocking up

You must have discovered a peg

Altho you sold Granny a pup

Don't try to teach her to suck an egg

Old Gran could teach you a great many things

Which I feel that you all should know

How to go through this world on springs

With an entertaining pal as Yom-so

Old Granny would find a use for the sticks

Without casting them into the mire

In the morning before reading the "Pix"

She would use them for lighting the fire

Then to make you a nice piece of toast

Fry you an egg she's forgotten to suck

Look after your comfort while she was your host

But to get a living don't trust too much to your luck

December 25 1946

I'm sorry great grandfather I don't think you will win any literary prizes with these but the family has enjoyed your poems to Robin especially as Robin very carefully kept the handwritten originals.

William Camper Laws 1859-1911

This is a story of one of my not so full of life blossoms.

William Camper Laws was only 8 when his parents William and Sarah Laws left their home in England on  December 25 1867 to venture forth to this foreign land on the other side of the world-Australia.
However William Camper Laws was left in the care of his maternal grandparents Richard and Caroline Goodall in Fareham.  Then I found that Richard had died in 1874 and Caroline had died in 1878. So what happened to William Camper Laws?
In 1881 a William Lawes was found in the Fareham Workshouse, Hampshire. Was this William Camper Laws?  By 1891, 1901 and 1911 there was no record of a William Laws/Lawes in the Fareham workhouse. I took a punt on a death on the index for 1911 in Fareham. I purchased the certificate and found that a William Laws had died in the Fareham Lunatic asylum. Was this the correct William Laws?

At this stage it got too hard and I put the research aside until a cousin said  "We have never followed up on what happened to William Camper Laws, have we?"  I took that to mean "you should find out what happened to him"
Off to friend Google and searched for "Fareham lunatic asylum". Susan Burt (1)in the UK had studied the asylum for her thesis. She also kindly offered family historians her contact details as she had a database of all the inmates. The thesis was written in 2006 so I was a bit doubtful that the contact details would be the same but I took a punt and the next night there was her reply.

Fareham Lunatic Asylum- Knowle Hospital-now apartments (4)

A William Laws was admitted on February 2 1876 to the Fareham Lunatic asylum and discharged in 1879 to the workhouse but readmitted in 1887 and stayed there until he died in 1911. This was looking good but still nothing definite to go on.
Susan had given me all the required archive reference numbers for the archive records and suggested that I really needed the admission records.

Being in Australia  I thought I would write to the Hampshire record office but being slack didn't get around to it straight away. At Christmas my cousin contacted a relative in the UK and told her that I'd found this information but really needed the archive records. She very kindly offered to visit the record office for us. What a Christmas present that was.
William Laws aged 18 was admitted to the Fareham Lunatic Asylum February 5 1876 from the Fareham Workhouse where he had been for three weeks. Mr Saplin, the master of the workhouse said he was mischievous, dirty in his habits and unmanageable. He also said that William had lived with his grandmother Mrs Goodall near the Old Turnpike and that his father and mother were in Australia . William's cousin Thomas Goodall of North Rd Fareham was listed as his closest relative. Sarah Ings, Mrs Goodall's sister, said he was troublesome and inclined to be violent to old people in the workhouse and that he had no brothers or sisters in the country.
At last we knew we had the correct William Laws in the Lunatic Asylum.

Now to continue his sad story.

February 12 1876  (2)

From his case notes-This boy is has a very small amount of intelligence. When 

spoken to his only reply is a sound resembling “I”. He has since admission been tractable but dirty in 

his habits. Appears at present incapable of employing himself.

March 8 1876:

The same. He has been tried at picking hair and other employment but does not seem capable of any 

occupation. He is very helpless and cannot even dress himself.

Through 1876 to1879 he continues with little change and on December 16 1879 he is discharged to the workhouse.

He is readmitted to the Asylum on April 13 1887. (3) 
The notes from Charles Edward Radcliffe, JP are as follows

William Lawes (No 1), a pauper and a person of unsound mind.

Male, aged 29. First attack? No.

Previous care:  Workhouse and from 5/2/76 to 16/12/79 in Hants County Asylum.

Nearest known relative: Mrs Anne Johnson, aunt to patient. Lives at 50 Ray [I think] Crescent, Tollington Park, London N.

Surgeon’s report: An idiot.

Facts indicating insanity: Head small, vacant stare or expression, slavering mouth, defect in speech, taste and smell. Staggering gait.

Other facts communicated by others:  I am informed by Geo. Shepeard (an inmate of the House) that on Good Friday he rushed at him kicked him, hit him with his fist and was going to throw the iron spittoon at his head but was prevented.

The porter tells me that he often has fits at meals and is not safe to let him have a knife and fork as he has more than once injured himself when in a fit.   W.F. Brook 12 April 1887

What a sad story as he then stayed there until his death on April 25 1911 from tuberculosis.

Why wasn't he registered in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census. Asylums were allowed to  put initials instead of names on their long lists for the census. 

(1)
eprints.soton.ac.uk/194555/1/00250119.pdf    "Fit Objects for an Asylum"
The Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its Patients, 1852-1899.
Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Social Sciences
Susan Margaret Burt, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, August 2003

(2)

48M94 B6/25 Reception Order Hants County Asylum 3766, Hampshire Records Office

(3)

48M94 B6/36 1887 Reception Order Hants County Asylum 5895, Hampshire Records Office

(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowle_Hospital