CHARLES WIGZELL (1848—1901)  and FAMILY

Hairdresser and Turkish Bathing Proprietor

While some people were attracted to the Shire in order to make a living from the land, others were in a position to build weekend or holiday homes for their families and use the area for pleasure. Many of the families whose association with the Shire began as holiday-makers eventually became long-term residents of the community who contributed in no small way to the fabric of the area. One such family was that of Charles Edward Wigzell. He and his wife Fanny built a weekend cottage on the south-east corner of land they leased from the Holt-Sutherland Estate in 1884. This land was bounded by Linden Street, The Grand Parade and Oakwood Street Sutherland.

Charles was 38 years old and his wife Fanny 37 years old at the time and they had three sons –  Alfred Charles born 10 November 1870, Henry William born 29 July 1872 and Ernest Walter born 5 March 1876. Fanny Louise, their only daughter who they called ‘Tot’, died on 21 May 1876 just eleven days after her second birthday.

 When the family became associated with the Shire the name Wigzell was already well-known in Sydney as Charles had exhibited his enterprising ability from an early age. As a lad of about 16 years of age, he came to Sydney from Christchurch, New Zealand where his family had settled when they emigrated from England. Not long after his arrival, he commenced a hairdressing business at 143 South Head Road (later renamed Oxford Street) and around the same time he met and married Fanny Evans. The marriage took place on 11 February 1869 at 289 Riley Street, Surry Hills, the home of Fanny and her parents William and Harriet (nee Hyde). Charles and Fanny lived in the hairdressing premises and it was there the four children were born.    

Three members of Charles’ immediate family followed him from New Zealand and all three worked in the business. His sister Caroline, who never married, also lived with the family in Oxford Street and later at Sutherland. His brothers Walter and William worked with Charles and eventually opened their own businesses. Both of his brothers married and remained with their families in Sydney.

In 1879 Charles extensively modernised his business and began importing human hair and hairdressing commodities from contacts he made when he visited London and Paris. He further successfully extended his interests and opened a Turkish bath. This innovation had been introduced to Sydney by Dr John Le Gay Brereton who opened the city’s first Turkish baths in Spring Street. He had worked with the poor in the North of England and advocated the use of the baths as a means of maintaining a clean and thus healthy body.

From the time of his arrival in Sydney Charles had maintained a strong association with the Bourke Street Congregational Church. This ranged from his love of working with the children as a Sunday School teacher and representing the Church on various committees in several different capacities to holding executive positions within the Church. He had an abiding interest in helping those less fortunate and was involved with groups such as the Society for Providing Homes for Neglected Children, the Sydney Rescue Work Society and the Sydney City Mission. He also had a belief in the temperance movement and the Aborigines Protection Association.

Charles began to speculate in land and purchased property at Bexley, but it was Sutherland he chose to build the cottage that was to became the focus of the family’s activities. Shortly after the cottage was built, the railway line to Sutherland was completed and the family were able to make more frequent visits to their ‘Oxford Retreat’ as they called the property.

Others were attracted to the area with the commencement of the railway and one was Rev. William Anderson. He was an itinerant preacher who began preaching at Sutherland railway station supposedly in the waiting room. Although no written evidence survives, it has also been stated that the Wigzells conducted a Sunday School at their ‘Oxford Retreat’. At the time no church building existed between Hurstville and Bulli and William Anderson solicited local support to build a church. Land was purchased on the south-west corner of Robertson and Oxford Streets for the erection of a building. The foundation stone for this building was laid on 20 August 1887, the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria’s reign and so began the Evangelical Jubilee Church. Financial difficulties were encountered during its construction and Charles Wigzell brought this to the attention of the Congregational Union of NSW. The records show that ‘sufficient money was forthcoming to complete the building’ and although it appears likely that Charles contributed, he retained his connection to the Bourke Street Church.

The eldest son Alfred was married on 26 March 1896 to Alice Best Parish whose family also attended the Bourke Street Congregational Church. Alfred and Alice’s only child Tasmien Ellen was born on 2 January 1897. The youngest son Ernest married Margaret Hibberd from Helensburgh on 11 August 1898 and the couple had seven children – Charles, Fannie, Cyril, Ernest, Enid, Alfred and Jack.

 As the family was expanding, the business began to decline. The economic depression the country suffered in the 1890s adversely affected the Wigzells. The Oxford Street properties were sold but the family remained as tenants and the Sutherland leases were transferred to Fanny. Towards the end of 1900 Charles was declared bankrupt. As the business declined so did his health and at 10pm on 7 February 1901, aged 52 years, he died at their Sutherland home. His funeral service was conducted at the Bourke Street Congregational Church and he was buried in the Independent section of Rookwood cemetery.

In June 1901, just months after Charles’ death, Fanny built a second house in Oakwood Street (Lots 5 -11) and Ernest and his family began to live there. Ernest had stated on his marriage certificate to Margaret that he was a hairdresser but on the 1903 Electoral Roll he is shown as a poultry farmer living at ‘Oxford Retreat’. Although this was the name of the original cottage, it was often applied to the whole property. Ernest worked, until his retirement, for the Sydney Water Board.

Alfred had taken charge of the business working under the name change of C E Wigzell and Son and he and Alice lived on the premises. Over the years the street had been renumbered and this was now 139-141 Oxford Street. After the death of Charles the wig making part of the business was maintained by Fanny in the Imperial Arcade, 170 Pitt Street in the city from about 1903 until 1907.

 On 26 June 1906 Charles’ sister Caroline died at Sutherland. She was 54 years old and was buried with her brother and his daughter in the Independent section of Rookwood cemetery. Ihat same year a third house was built at Sutherland, this one facing Linden Street (Lots 16-22). It was called ‘Oxford Cottage’ and Fanny, with her second son Henry, moved into this new house. Henry had fallen from a table when he was a baby which left him disabled and this house was planned to accommodate his needs. The construction of the third house paved the way for Alfred and Alice to move into the original cottage which they renamed ‘The Pines’.

 In the year 1917 Ernest’s wife Margaret died and around that same year the Oxford Street business closed down. Alfred gained employment closer to home with the Sutherland Shire Council as a clerk. In later years when the Georges River Bridge first opened he worked there in the toll booths. Ernest remarried at Sutherland in 1919. His new wife was Elizabeth Tongue and his family further expanded with the birth of the couple’s two daughters. He and Elizabeth later demolished their house after building a new one on the west side of Oakwood Street called ‘Roslyn’.

Over the following years the family was active in many local affairs and continued their association with the Congregational Church but time took its toll. Alfred’s wife Alice died on 18 May 1933 aged 62 years and his brother Henry in June 1938 but it was the passing of Fanny that severed the link with the founders of the family. She was 86 years old when she died on Monday 19 August 1935 at her home in Linden Street. She was cremated at Woronora cemetery the following Wednesday. Alfred died on 25 June 1945 aged 74. His daughter Tasmein, who married Ernest Naughton, inherited the property from her grandmother and remained in Sutherland. Ernest Wigzell died in his home in Oakwood Street on 18 September 1947 aged 71 years. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth, three of his sons and his four married daughters. Fanny married Mark Lewin in 1930, Mavis married Albert Bonwick in 1943, Dorothy married Stanley Gilham in 1942 and Enid married Morris Lang in 1946. Two of Ernest’s sons, Jack and Charles, died in 1941 and 1942 respectively.

 Nothing remains today of the Wigzell homes on the original property which was eventually taken over for public housing but members of the family still reside in the Shire that attracted Charles and Fanny over 100 years ago.

MAREE McKINLEY

First published in  Sutherland Shire, Some Early Residents, 2006, by Botany Bay Family History Society. Compiled by Maree McKinley and Sue Hewitt.  

Click on the name CHARLES EDWARD WIGZELL (1848 -1901) and FAMILY at the heading of this story. You will be taken to the database entry for Charles Wigzell and his family.

 References:

Maryanne Larkin, Sutherland Shire: a history to 1939, 1998 Sutherland History Press

David & Dorothy Johnston, A History of Sutherland Uniting Church, 1996

Society of Australian Genealogists Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions

Sands Directory of Sydney

1903 Electoral Roll

SSHS Bulletin Vol 2 No 20 Nov 1997

The Propeller, 7 Feb 1901; 19 May 1933; 5 Jul 1945; 22 Aug 1935; 16 Jun 1938

NSW Birth Death and Marriages records

Hindsight re Turkish Baths www.abc.net.au/Hindsight