Helen Pamela Fullarton (Armstrong) Vestey (1918-2011)

Lady Helen Pamela Fullarton (Pamela) Vestey formerly Armstrong

Born 12 Sep 1918 in Armadale, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Daughter of George Nesbitt Armstrong and Evelyn Mary (Doyle) Armstrong

Sister of Frederick Armstrong

Wife of William Howarth Vestey — married 27 Sep 1939 in Victoria, Canada

Mother of Samuel George Armstrong Vestey and Mark William Vestey

Died 2 Sep 2011 at age 92 in Victoria, Australia

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Profile last modified 4 Nov 2022 | Created 14 Feb 2017

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1 Biography
2 Sources

Biography

Birth and baptism

Helen Pamela Fullarton was born in 1918.^[1], and was the child of father George Armstrong and mother Evelyn Doyle. The short 3 paragraph extract that follows from the 'Obituaries Australia' article gives the specific date of her birth as well as family relationships, and her strong Australian connection, as well as English.

Australian Obituary Pamela, Lady Vestey, who died on September 2 aged 92, was the mother of the 3rd Lord Vestey-4 and granddaughter of the Australian operatic soprano Dame Nellie Melba, in whose house near Melbourne she lived for much of her life.

Pamela Helen Fullerton Armstrong was born at Armadale, Melbourne, on September 12 1918. Her father, George Armstrong, was Nellie Melba’s only child, and particularly precious to the singer because he had been taken to Texas by his father, Charlie Armstrong, with the result that she had lost track of him for more than a decade. Pamela’s mother, Evie Doyle, was George’s second wife; she was a Brisbane-born singer, and Nellie Melba was devoted to her.

The infant was christened in the Music Room at Nellie Melba’s home, Coombe Cottage, at Coldstream, north-east of Melbourne. Her godmothers were Lady Stanley, wife of the Governor of Victoria, and Lady Susan Fitz-Clarence; the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, and Lord Richard Nevill were her godfathers. At the ceremony, John Lemmone played the flute and Nellie Melba, with her pupils combining to form a choir, sang Mendelssohn’s O for the Wings of a Dove. ^[2]

Accompanying Dame Nellie Melba on tour was a frequent occurrence for the family members, starting for Pamela, when she was aged 2, to London, where she was presented to King George V and Queen Mary (op.cit.). Then her first concert aged 4, listening to her grandmother, who would pass away when Pamela was only 12 years old.

Education

In 1932, Pamela went to England to attend Westonbirt School, a co-educational independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 11 to 18 located near Tetbury in Gloucestershire in South West England^[3]. She departed from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 17 March 1932 on the Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd ship "Narkunda', with her father George N Armstrong (48), a Farmer, mother Evelyn (45) Home Duties, herself (13) a Schoolgirl, and the country of their last permanent residence as Australia. They gave their intended address in the United Kingdom as the Bank of N.S.W., Threadneedle St., London, E.C.2^[4].

On 4 July 1936, Pamela H Armstrong (17) was a passenger departing from England on the Canadian Pacific ship "Empress of Britain" bound for Quebec, with her father George N Armstrong (53) and mother Evelyn M Armstrong (49)^[5].

On 23 August 1937, Pamela Helen F M Armstrong, aged 19, accompanied by her mother Evelyn Mary Armstrong, arrived in Seattle, Washington, USA, giving her birth and residence place as Melbourne, Australia, for a 5 day visit. They had landed in Quebec on the S.S. "Duchess of York" on 6 August 1937.^[6].

Marriage

There seems to have been a strong attraction for the Armstrong family to Canada, so that even after World War II commenced on 1 September 1939, Pamela would get married to William Howarth Vestey in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on 23 September^[7]. 'Australia, Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current' have the date as 28 September^[8] and 'Canada, Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current' have it as 27 September^[9]. This may explain why they seem to be absent from the 1939 England and Wales Register that was carried out on 29 September.

Activities

They would have 2 sons, Samuel George Armstrong born in 1941 in Surrey and Mark William Vestey born in 1943 at Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Sadly their father Vestey-2 was killed in WWII in Italy the following year. The sons both went to Eton College.

"In recognition of her husband’s death in action, Pamela was granted the rank of a baron’s widow, becoming Pamela, Lady Vestey" (see Sources: Armstrong, Pamela Helen (1918-2011), though the date is not given, but may have been in the early 1950s.

Following the end of WWII on 2 September 1945, Pamela Vestey of "The Chestnuts" South Airlie, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, took her 2 sons Samuel G.A. (4) and Mark W. (2), in the same month to Australia, indicated to be the country of Intended Future Permanent Residence for all three. They sailed on The Blue Star LIne ship "Australia Star" from Liverpool^[10].

In the 1950 'Berkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1965', Pamela Vestey is at Old Huntsmans House, Kennel Avenue, Windsor, Berkshire^[11]. She was still at that address in 1955 in the 'British Phone Books, 1880-1984' but as the Hon. Mrs Pamela Vestey of Old Huntsmans ho Kennel ride Ascot^[12].

Following the death of her father in 1971 and her mother in 1973, Lady Pamela Vestey, a very private person, returned to Australia to reside at her Grandmother's house the Coombe and become a philanthropist in relation to the latter's legacy, including an endowment of $150,000 Australian to the Melba Opera Trust (see Sources: Armstrong, Pamela Helen (1918-2011). In 1977 and 1980, she was on the 'Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980' at Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream, as a frmr^[13].

Lady Pamela Helen Fullerton Vestey's 'Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave Index, 1800s-Current' record has her birth date as 12 September 1918 at Armadale, Stonnington City, Victoria, Australia, and her death date as 2 September 2011, with burial or cremation at Lilydale Lawn Cemetery, Lilydale, Yarra Ranges Shire, Victoria, Australia but without a biography^[14]. There is a small plaque with "In Memory of Pamela Vestey so much loved by her sons Sam & Mark and by all her family Sept. 12th 1918 - Sept. 3rd 2011", and a magnificent 4 pillar capped stone edifice.

Sources

'Armstrong, Pamela Helen (1918–2011)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/armstrong-pamela-helen-18712/text30315, accessed 3 November 2022.

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Helen Pamela Fullarton (Armstrong) Vestey (1918 - 2011)

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