Birth and Marriage

Reginald Worthington was born at Paddington, Sydney in 1912 to my great-grandmother Clara Worthington, probably named after her oldest brother, Reginald Mark Worthington.

No father was declared at registration, and there seems no likely identifiable candidate. The father of her first two children, Harry Budd, was a resident of Cobar and Clara was residing in Sydney by 1909. Harry married Elsie White in 1910 and they had three children, two of whom were born by the time of Reg’s birth. Clara’s two youngest children (whom she kept with her and raised), Kathleen Leah and John Arthur were declared as the children of WWI soldier Thomas Goodwin.

But Reginald, in the middle of the five has no links confirmed with any father.

On 26 Sep 1932 at the age of 20, he married Mary Grace (‘May’) Giltrow at Kogarah near Sydney. May, the daughter of a coach builder, had been born in Sheffield and had migrated to Australia. She was 19 years of age and had just completed a course in millinery at Kogarah Trades School.

On his marriage certificate, he gave his occupation as pastry cook, he stated that he was born at Paddington, that his mother was Clara Worthington, no father listed.

Reg and May lived at Bexley and had two children. He passed away on 10 Dec 1993 aged 81 and May died 23 Aug 2012. Both are buried together at the Woronora Memorial Park, New South Wales.

I’m interested in Reg’s early life and how he came to have the name Lawson, the surname he used all the time, though on his marriage certificate he declared his name to be ‘Worthington known as Lawson’.

Arthur Charles Leitch Bayliss, Guardian of Minors, gave consent in writing for Reg to marry, indicating that he had previously been a ward of the state.

One of the witnesses to the marriage was a man named Frederick Dobson.

Frederick Dobson

The electoral rolls for 1936 and 1937 reveal at least three residents of 27 Princes Hwy, Kogarah:

Lawson, Jessie, dressmaker 
Lawson, Reginald, labourer 
Dobson, Frederick, clerk

In 1938 Frederick married Beryl Reid and seems to be missing from the rolls until 1954 and 1958 he and his wife Beryl are shown as living at 27 Princes Hwy, Kogarah

Frederick and Beryl’s marriage was reported in The Hurstville Propeller on 9 June 1938 and show that Fred and Reg were more than mere lodgers at 27 Princes Hwy:

LOCAL WEDDINGS: DOBSON-REID
Floral arches decorated with autumn-toned flowers were features of the decorations in the Rockdale Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon, 14th May, for the marriage between Beryl, youngest daughter of Mrs D. and the late Mr F. Reid, of Baxter Avenue, Kogarah, and Frederick Dobson, of Princes Highway, Kogarah. Given away by her brother (Mr Herbert Reid), the bride wore a tailored gown of trained off-white satin with a tulle, veil embroidered in true lovers' knots mounted on cut tulle and held in place by a coronet of orange blossoms. She carried a shower bouquet of orchids and tube-roses, with trails of Cecil Bruner roses. Mrs Rose Sonta attended her sister as matron of honour, wearing gold brocaded satin with a circular tulle veil, dotted with gold sequins, mounted on a floral halo. Her shower bouquet comprised autumn-toned decorative chillies and gladioli. Little Pauline Forrest was flower-girl, in an early Victorian frock of ice-blue brocaded taffeta, with a blue tulle veil held in place by a gold medallion in her hair. She carried a basket of pink frangipani and autumn-toned flowers. The bridegroom's cousin, Mr Reginald Lawson, was best man, and during the signing of the register, Mr Jack Brown sang "Until," with organ accompaniment. Navy-blue crepe splendour was worn by the bride's mother for the reception at her home, with a shoulder posy of lily of the valley. She was accompanied by the bridegroom's aunt (Miss J. Lawson), who chose a navy-blue costume, her posy being also lily of the valley.

So according to the article, Fred and Reg were cousins, and Jessie was Fred’s aunt.

Fred was two years younger than Reg but, like Reg, he was born at Paddington with no father listed. His mother’s name was Belle Georgina Dobson.

From the New South Wales Police Gazette 14 October 1914:

Paddington.—A warrant has been issued by the Children's, Court Bench, Sydney, for the arrest of Fred. Holstein, charged with failing to make adequate provision for the payment of preliminary expenses of and incidental to and immediately succeeding the birth of an infant. He is 35 years of age, 5 feet 4 or 5 inches high, medium build, florid complexion, fair hair, ginger moustache, blue eyes, round face; dressed in a blue serge sac suit and black hard hat; a German; sneaks good English: recently employed at Millard s Motor Garage, Phillip-street, Sydney. Complainant, Belle Georgina Dobson, 125 Wallis-street, Woollahra.

Belle never married, lived at 125 Wallis Street, Woolhara throughout her life and died there in 1943.

The Lawsons (updated April 2022)

Miss Jessie Lawson is shown as living at the same addresses in Kogarah in the electoral rolls:

1930-33: 27 Rocky Point Road, Kogarah, dressmaker 
1935-43: 27 Princes Highway, Kogarah, dressmaker

The entry for Reginald Worthington in the NSW Dependent Children Register shows that he was born on 18 February 1912 and fostered to Mrs Mary Lawson of Surry Hills (later of Kogarah) on 16 August 1913, when he was only 18 months old. After Mary Lawson died in 1919, when Reginald was only 7, her daughter Ethel Jane Lawson became his guardian, and she is noted as living at 27 Rocky Point Road in that year. Ethel died in 1929 aged 42 and her sister Jessie appears at the address from the following year.

The entry lists Reginald’s parents as Alexander Smith (address unknown) and Clara Worthington (formerly of 86 Campbell Street, Newtown). As yet I haven’t been able to find out anything further about Alexander Smith.

Fred Dobson also has an entry in the NSW Dependent Children Register, which confirms that he was also fostered by Mary Lawson of Kogarah