Hector N. Widgery
Hector Norman Widgery worked on the Ballarat Tramways.
History
Hector Widgery was born in 1890 in Tatura, one of seven children of Hector Norman Widgery and Louisa Victoria Poole[1], married 1887.[2] In 1903 the family were living in Compton Street, Ballarat, where his father worked as a music teacher.[3]
Widgery was employed by the Electric Supply Company of Victoria as a motorman on the Ballarat Tramways. He began as a casual motorman on 8 January 1913, although he had earlier worked for the company as a casual conductor. His elder brother, Ernest Albert Widgery had been employed a year earlier as a motorman.
He married Pauline Allis in Victoria, in 1915.[4]
He resigned on 1 September 1915 to take a a new position with the Hawthorn Tramway Trust. He died on 6 September 1918[5] after falling into an inspection pit at the tram depot:
Tragic Death of Tramway Motorman. Slipped from Car in Shed and Fractured Skull. Employees of the Hawthorn Tramway Trust paid their last respects to their former workmate, Mr. Hector Widgery, by attending the funeral which took place at Burwood on Sunday. Mr. Widgery was a motorman and had been marked by his officers for early promotion. He had on several occasions fulfilled the duties of acting inspector. Death came to him in a tragic way. On the previous Wednesday he was getting a car ready to depart from the depot. He slipped and fell into the pit, and fractured his skull For three days he was unconscious in the Melbourne Hospital, the end coming on the Friday evening. Mr. Widgery was 28 years of age and leaves a young wife and a month old baby girl. Fifty of the tramway employees, in uniform, headed by Mr. C. T. Galway (the traffic superintendent), Mr. J. Abfalter and Mr. T. Jewell (secretaries of No. 1 and No. 2 Branches of the Australian Tramway Employee Union), with 40 other employees in mufti, marched in front of the hearse, which left deceased late residence at 2 Inverleith street, Auburn. The pallbearers were Messrs. C Bourke, C. Whitelaw, W. Simpson, W Higginbotham, C. Barr and T. Lennon and the coffin was borne to the grace by Messrs. G. Moore, J. Richardson H. O. Davies, J. Whiteside, C. Gihlit and R. Scott. Many floral emblems of sympathy were placed on the grave including wreaths from Hawthorn Tramway Employes, from the Tramway Social Club, from the Traffic Clerical and Rolling Stock staffs, from the tradesmen and from employees of Ballarat Municipal Tramway, where deceased was formerly employed.[6]
From the Argus, Saturday 7th September 1918:
WIDGERY - On the 6th September at the Melbourne Hospital, result of an accident. Hector, the dearly beloved husband of Pauline Widgery of 2 Inverleith Street, Hawthorn and loving father of Thelma. Aged 28 years
Widgery is buried in the Burwood Cemetery.[7]
Legacy
See also
Notes
- Tramway Staff, Ballarat Tramways, Electric Supply Co. Staff Register, Ballarat Tramway Museum Archives, No. 6100
References
- ↑ Federation Index Victoria 1888-1901, Index to Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Victoria, 1890 Births, Ref. No. 28159, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1997
- ↑ Pioneer Index Victoria 1836-1888, Index to Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Victoria, 1887 Marriages, Ref. No. 3441, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998
- ↑ 1903 Victorian Electoral Roll, Ballaarat, Little Bendigo
- ↑ Great War Index Victoria 1914-1920, Index to Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Victoria, 1915 Marriages, Ref. No. 11311, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998
- ↑ Great War Index Victoria 1914-1920, Index to Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Victoria, 1918 Deaths, Ref. No. 9869, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998
- ↑ 1918 'Tragic Death of Tramway Motorman—Slipped from Car in Shed and Fractured Skull.', Richmond Guardian (Vic. : 1917 - 1918), 14 September, p. 2, viewed 8 October, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93811466
- ↑ Norman Hector Widgery, Australia and New Zealand, Find A Grave Index, [1],
Further Reading
External links