George Henry Dalton Whitehall

George Henry Dalton Whitehall was born in 1881 in Newtown, New South Wales, Australia to George Henry Whitehall Sr. and Mary Anne Dalton. This is a family that went through so many tragedies through many years of hard times.

George Whitehall Sr was born 3 Jun 1853 in Sydney. In doing some research on this gentleman I found he like to par take in a drink on occasion and that usually got him into trouble. It up set his wife so much she placed an add in the newspaper.

Mary Anne Dalton was born 7 Mar 1850 in Enmore, New South Wales, Australia, they had the following children:

Annie Letitia May Whitehall 1879-1975
George Henry Dalton Whitehall Jr.1881-1960
Amy Ethel Minnie J Whitehall 1883-1965
Theodore Leopold Norton Whitehall 1885-1948 died as Whiteall
Fanny Bertha Louisa Whitehall 1887-1956

Bertie Arthur Leslie Whitehall 1890-1898

George Whitehall Sr lost his father in a drowning accident.

THE LATE FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT. - Early yesterday morning, the City Coroner proceeded to the locality of the boat accident at George's River, on Saturday last, and held an inquest on the bodies of three of the five poor fellows who were drowned on the occasion. Two of the bodies - those of James Reder, aged nineteen and James Garvin, also aged nineteen, were found on Saturday evening, but the thrid that if Thomas Gardiner Whitehall, aged forty-one, was found yesterday morning. Up to yesteday evening the bodies of the two other men, one of whone was named Dennis Whealelan, brother to one of the men saved, had not been recovered. It appeared from the evidence that Mr. Thomas Holt, M.L.A., has a number of men emplyed on his land at South Botany. On Saturday afternnon last, these men received their wages, and fourteen of them went down to the river side and got into a boat belonging to Richard Perrot, a shell gatherer, to be ferried across the river, which at that spot is a mile wide. This boat is similar in its construction to a whale boat; and is seventeen feet long, five feet wide, and about two feet deep. After the men had entered the boat, Perrot, the owner came down and, it would seem he was under the impression that there were too many in her considering that the wind was blowing fresh from the west at the time, with a strong ebb tide running; but he made no objection- he jumped in, shoved off, and hoisted the sail. All went well till the boat reached a more exposed position, off Shay Point, when she began to take in water, and before the men in her could realize their position she sank from under them, leaving them struggling in the water. A man named Denis McGuire, owner of a shell boat of five tons saw Perrot's boat put off, and was at the time oppressed with the belief that she was not safe with so many mean in her; accordingly he, with most commendable forethought, followed after her, although going in a different direction to where he wanted to go to be in readiness to save life, if any accident occurred. When he saw the boat sink he sailed up close to the spot, and rescued eight of the men, who were getting exhausted; and one of them named William Chaplow, got into a dingy towing astern, and he rescued two more - a father and son named Watson, who were clinging to the bottom of the other boat. After remaining about the spot some time, the half drowned men were landed. We are informed that Whitehall has left a wife and nine children unprovided for. The jury, after making a careful inquiry into all the circumstances of the sad affair, returned the following verdict, "We find that James Reder, James Garvie, and Thomas G. Whitehall came by their deaths by suffocation from drowning, caused by the sinking of a boat, the property of Richard Perrot; and we find that the occurrence was caused by allowing too many men to enter the boat for the purpose of being crossed over the river, the wind at the time being very boisterous. We also consider that the men in the boat, composed of nearly all seamen, ought to have known better, and we are now of opinion that the sad affair was the result of accident. Rider: - We wish to bring under the notice of the authorities the praiseworthy conduct of Denis McGuire and William Chaplow, and trust that their successful exertions to save life will meet with some remuneration."

19 Aug 1862

George's father Samuel Whitehall and sister were adopted, here's that story.

Adoption by Gardner

Church records show that Samuel Whitehall and Johanna Vickery have a child John who is born and dies in 1820.

Thomas in born in 1821, in the same year his father Samuel dies. Can find no mention of Johanna after 1820.

Thomas is taken in by Robert and Jane Gardner. Certainly by 1824 when Robert is applying for a land grant he mentions his custody of an orphan child. Convict musters and census returns have Thomas Gardner living with his parents Robert and Jane Gardner at their Cooks River farm. In 1853 the year Robert re-marries after Jane's death and Thomas marries Mary Benfield, Robert sells his share of "Sunny Grove Farm" the property next to his Sunning Hill Farm to Thomas and Mary Whitehall. Thomas and Mary honour Robert and Jane by including the name "Gardiner" in their children's names.

(posted on Ancestry by: fuzzyar)

Thomas Samuel WHITEHALL a.k.a. GARDINER

BIRTH 1821 • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

DEATH 16 AUG 1862 • Georges River, New South Wales, Australia

He was so grateful he added Gardiner to all his children's names.

George Whitehall Sr died in 1928.

FROM: Sydney Morning Herald 6 Jan 1928, p. 9

WHITEHALL-The Reatives and Friends of Mrs. MARY ANN WHITEHALL, and Daughter, FANNY, are kindly invited to attend the Funeral of their dearly beloved HUSBAND and her loving FATHER, George Whitehall; to leave his late residence, Carilla, 750 Rocky Point-road, Sans Souci, THIS FRIDAY, at 1.45 p.m., for Church of England Cemetery, Woronora, via Kogarah, per Motor Service.

CHARLES KINSELA,

Motor Funeral Director,

Phone, LW3006. 7 Frederick-street, Rockdale.

Mary Ann Bolton-Whitehall died 17 Jun 1937 in

Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia.

Now let's get to George Henry Whitehall's story.

On 24 Feb 1922 at No 9 Pleasant Ave in Erskineville, New South Wales at the home of Mrs Ida M Parker where George had been a boarder for about 15 years or so. He committed the most horrific crime of murder.

Although George did nor speak much of why he did it, this is what has been pieced together from the trial and newspaper clippings.

Mrs. Ida Parker was first married to Mr. Mulney who had passed away, they had a son Frederick Harold Mulney age 27 at the time. She married 2nd Joseph Henry Parker who abandoned her only after a short time of marriage, they had a daughter Ida Thelma Parker age 15 at the time. On the day of her death she was 40 years old and had one other boarder in her home other than George Whitehall, who had left earlier for work. George Whitehall smashed in Ida's skull with an ax, then he went to the Newtown Police Station and told the officer at the front desk what he did. The police took him to the residence and with Gorge's key went into a bloody scene. George was arrested on the spot and taken to jail. During an inquest the murdered victims children and estranged husband all testified at the hearing.

(Below are 2 newspaper articles)

Mug shot of George Whitehall, 24 February 1922, possibly rear of Newtown Police Station.

Special Photograph no. 1092. George Whitehall, carpenter, handed himself into Newtown police after hacking to death his common-law wife, Ida Parker on Thursday afternoon 21 February 1922, at their home in Pleasant Avenue, Erskineville. This photo was apparently taken the following morning at Newtown Police Station.|

This picture is one of a series of around 2500 "special photographs" taken by New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. These "special photographs" were mostly ta

ken in the cells at the Central Police Station, Sydney and are, as curator Peter Doyle explains, of "men and women recently plucked from the street, often still animated by the dramas surrounding their apprehension". Doyle suggests that, compared with the subjects of prison mug shots, "the subjects of the Special Photographs seem to have been allowed - perhaps invited - to position and compose themselves for the camera as they liked. Their photographic identity thus seems constructed out of a potent alchemy of inborn disposition, personal history, learned habits and idiosyncrasies, chosen personal style (haircut, clothing, accessories) and physical characteristics."

31164

1922

New South Wales. Police Dept.

City of Shadows at the Justice & Police Museum, Sydney, November 2005-January 2007.

Glass plate negative:

The photograph below is of a house on the same block as where Ida M Parker lived it's only a few doors down but the houses on this street all are uniform.

Above is a map from about the same time as the crime the red circle is where the city placed a fountain. (Nothing to do with this case).

George Whitehall died in 1960 in Windsor, South West Wales, Australia. I do not know if he ever got out of prison or not. In my research I did find a mugshot of his Uncle Thomas Whitehall.