Sepia Saturday 198: 12 October 2013

Alan from Sepia Saturday says:

It is 100 years since HMS Queen Elizabeth was launched at Portsmouth. Whilst this is not the Queen Elizabeth, it matters not, because in Sepia Saturday 198 we celebrate the start of something new. It might be a life, it might be a love, it might be a a new chicken coop or it might be a mighty ocean liner. In the case of our current photograph it was HMAS Albatross the Royal Australian Navy's first seaplane carrier which was launched in February 1928 at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney. The photograph, which was taken by Sam Hood (1872-1953) and forms part of the Australian National Maritime Museum's stream on Flickr Commons. If you have a picture of a launch of a battleship in your collection, feel free to share it, but a photograph of anything new, anything beginning or anything that floats on water will do. 

Joy and Ray's album

It's always a challenge deciding what to do for Sepia Saturday.

I saw the ship and immediately thought of my father's album with photos from the Navy but I think I will leave that for another day - as interesting as it was.

I decided instead to revisit my 1st cousin once removed's photo album because it was a symbol of a new beginning - namely her relationship with Ray Jeffery, her husband.

The frontispiece of the album looks like this...

In the top left hand corned it says "Commenced 1939"

In the middle it says "A Pictorial Record of Mr & Mrs Raymond Callaughan Jeffery"

The album has leaves between the pages to protect the photos but they are starting to deteriorate and tear or, worse, stick to the photos...

Here are the photos in context with writing underneath saying where they were taken...

Here are close ups of each photo....

This is a pretty hopeless photo - blurred and out of focus.  

The description says "The Ramp Central Station 1940"

But the back is signed by both of them with a more specific time - Aug/Sep 1940.

This is a much clearer photo.  I think Joy looks younger in this photo.  I can see bits of my mother in her face.  Maybe its just her expression.  Ray's still got that coat but no brolly.  

The caption reads "Botanical Gardens 1940"

You can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.  And the Governor Phillip fountain.

Look at this map here for their exact position at Number 48.

The back of the photo looks like this.

So not much more information really.

The newspaper cutting on the frontispiece says:

"Miss Joyce Wingfield, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I.W. Wingfield of Hamilton, whose engagement is announced to Lance Corporal Raymond Jeffery, AIF, of Coogee, Sydney.

I haven't been able to find this newspaper clipping in Trove yet. When I put Evalyn Mellor's name into the Search engine I got two results for the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner's Advocate in 1938 and 1940 which is coming soon!! I've submitted my email address to Trove to be notified when it's available and I'll search again for Joy and Ray's names.

So, Ray was living in Sydney and Joy was living in Newcastle.  How did they meet I wonder?  They didn't get married until 1942 according to the index on the NSW BDM.

I can only imagine that Ray was studying to be an accountant.  I'm not sure what Joy was doing.  I would have thought that she would have been helping in her parent's bakery in Newcastle.

The Wingfields lived at 13 Porcher Street Newcastle in 1936.  I think this changed its name to National Park Avenue later.  


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Then 2 Rocko Court Flats Hamilton in 1937.  I cannot even begin to find where those might have been.

By 1943 they were at 167 Brighton Avenue Toronto.


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I can't find Ray and Joy in the electoral rolls online until 1949 when they are listed as living at 16 Stanley Street Merewether.



Ray and Joy had been married seven years by this time.

In another electoral roll from the same year, they are listed as living at 15 Brisbane Street Lorn.  Now Ray is an accountant.


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So a bit further inland near Maitland, but not too far from Newcastle.

This bit of research has unearthed more questions than answers.  

My To Do list has grown somewhat.  

1. I'd like to order Ray's military record from the National Archives.
2.  I'd like to order their marriage certificate
3.  I think I may have discovered, by the by, that there was a baby boy born before Joy and Shirley (her sister) that died in 1922.  So I'd like to order that death certificate.

Onwards and upwards.

This has probably been a bit of a boring post for everyone to read.  My apologies for writing/thinking on the run.