By Cathy Jones (updated 2024)
Glen Mavis’ is located at 59-61 Abbotsford Road Homebush. The house is single storey and was built in 1911.
In October 1904, Charles Cadell Capper acquired Lots 24 and 25, Section 9 from deposited plan 400 (Village of Homebush Estate).[1] Capper (1870-1952) was a Director of Weaver and Perry Ltd, Stock and Station Agents and Fat Stock Salesman of Hunter Street Sydney[2]. He was born in Morpeth NSW, the son of William and Elizabeth Capper[3]. He married Isabel Woodd in 1901 and the couple had two children. When Capper purchased the Abbotsford Road land, Capper was living at ‘Lillawah’ in Burlington Rd Homebush[4].
Capper was elected as an Alderman of Strathfield Council in February 1907 representing the Homebush Ward. He served until January 1914. He was elected Mayor in 1911 and 1912.
In August 1911, Strathfield Council approved an application by Charles (C.C.) Capper to build a brick house in Abbotsford Road for estimated cost of £1,450.00[5]. The house appears in Sands Directory for the first time in 1913 occupied by Charles Capper. From 1914-1918 it was occupied by Arthur Stockman and in the 1918 Sands Directory the house name was noted as ‘Lillawah’.[6]
This house was originally numbered 47 Abbotsford Road but was renumbered in 1954 as 59-61 Abbotsford Road.
Ownership of the property transferred in 1922 to Violet Morgan Moore, of Homebush[7]. In 1924, Moore married Robert Dunn, a grazier, and moved to Wagga in NSW. She sold the property in March 1925 to John Johns, a bootmaker[8]. Johns was the former owner of ‘Glen Mavis’ 53 Abbotsford Rd Homebush. This house was sold by Johns to Frederick Moore, father of Violet Morgan Dunn.
The new owner John Johns (1876-1936) was a bootmaker with city premises. The business was established by his father Thomas Johns (1853-1922). The business traded as Thomas Johns at 75 Pitt Street Sydney for three generations which specialised in making orthopaedic footwear. The Johns family were prominent in the Homebush area with other members of this family also living in the Homebush area. The Johns family were devout parishioners of the Homebush Methodist Church. There are a number of references to the Johns family in the interior of this Church such as inscriptions, stained glass windows and tablets. Johns married Mildred Grisdale Garton (1880-1978) in 1905 and the couple had two sons, Douglas and Gordon. John’s sister Alice married Halse Rogers Arnott, youngest son of Arnotts Biscuit founder William Arnott, was Chairman of Arnotts Biscuits from 1947 to 1961.
In July 1946, following the death of John Johns, an application for transmission was made by Mildred Grisdale Johns of Homebush, widow, Douglas Trelawney Garton Johns of Sydney, boot manufacturer, and Gordon Gordon Johns of Homebush, rubber works foreman as joint tenants[9].
The property transferred in December 1949 to Stephen Harris Davies (1881-1961) former Anglican Bishop of Carpentaria[10]. Following his death in 1961, the property transferred to his widow Ethel Nichol Davies[11]. The property was sold in November 1963 to Wilfred Walter Playford, hotel proprietor and his wife Audrey as joint tenants[12]. In October 1975, the property transferred to Peter John Hatton, hotel keeper and his wife Jennifer as joint tenants[13].
References
Fox & Associates, Strathfield Heritage Study, 1986
NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.1565 f.226 and Certificate of Title v.6094 f.148
Sands Sydney Directory
Strathfield Council Meeting Minutes August 1911
Who’s Who in Australia 1927
Footnotes
[1] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.1565 f.226
[2] Who’s Who in Australia 1927
[3] Who’s Who in Australia 1927
[4] Sands Sydney Directory
[5] Strathfield Council Meeting Minutes August 1911
[6] Sands Sydney Directory
[7] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.1565 f.226
[8] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.1565 f.226
[9] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.1565 f.226
[10] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.6094 f.148
[11] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.6094 f.148
[12] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.6094 f.148
[13] NSW Land Registry, Certificate of Title v.6094 f.148
Strathfield Heritage 