Gladys Evelyn (Draper) Allison-Broomhead (1891 - 1979)

Born 5 Feb 1891 in Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia

Wife of Frederick John Allison-Broomhead — married 14 Nov 1913 in Durban, Durban, Natal, South Africa

Descendants

Died 23 May 1979 at age 88 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa

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Biography

Gladys Draper was born in 1891.

She passed away about 1979.

• Fact: Also Known As Gladys Broomhead
• Fact: Burial Harding, Alfred, Natal, South Africa
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch BORN: 5th February 1891 in Ashfield, Sydney, Australia.

DIED: 23rd May 1979 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal CAUSE OF DEATH: Cancer of the Bowel MARRIAGE : 14TH November 1913 SPOUSE: FREDERICK (FRED) JOHN ALLISON-BROOMHEAD

She was fondly known as GLADYS BROOMHEAD.

Gladys was the 11th of 16 children born to LUCY MARY GAMMAGE and JAMES (JIM) DRAPER. 15 children were born in Australia and 1 in South Africa, with 5 children dying in infancy. At birth Gladys weighed just 1.1 Kg (2.5Lbs) and fitted into a shoebox. She was fed with a dropper on goat’s milk, (which in those days cost 1 shilling a cup) diluted with water. Until the age of 7 or 8, she was fragile and contracted several illnesses including scarlet fever.

Gladys had to leave School at this stage to help out at home...she was about 13/14 years old, in Standard 8. It was while they were living in Durban that she learnt her trade as a superb dressmaker and milliner at John Orr’s in Durban. Glad by name and glad by nature, Gladys was a contented, loving, and happy person, despite losing her husband Fred, in 1932 and having to bring up and educate a family of 8 children, the youngest being just 4 years old. This was during the Great Depression and times were tough.

She did not receive a pension from the Railways and had to move from the Railway house. She did however receive a letter from the Railways stating that she had been awarded one free train ticket per annum!

Gladys rented a house in Harding and the older daughters started work. She had a very productive vegetable garden including fruit trees, and chickens and cows were also part of the picture. She also took in boarders and this, with her dressmaking orders, helped meet the rent. Many of these boarders became lifelong friends and one of the boarders married one of her daughters, Lyn.

Eventually she was able to purchase her own house in Harding (enabled by a close friend of her late husband Fred, who was a Lawyer) where she lived for many years. Gladys still made time to worship regularly at St James Church and support the many local Bazaars and Charities, until she moved to Pietermaritzburg in 1959 to live with her youngest daughter Gwen and family.

During 1977, when Gladys was 86, they discovered that she had cancer of the bowel. The Doctors did not want to operate due to her advanced age and the size of the tumour. However, in August 1978 her condition worsened, and she had a bypass of the affected area. She recovered fairly well, but early in the New Year she became bedridden and passed away on 23rd May 1979 at the age of 88 years.

She lived with her youngest daughter Gwen and family for nearly 20 years.

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 22 May 2023, 16:46), entry for Gladys Evelyn Draper (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KCNW-YY7 ); contributed by various users.

1. "South Africa, Pietermaritzburg Estate Files 1846-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLRL-HPYV : 17 March 2018) Gladys Evelyn Draper Broomhead in entry for MM9.1.1/QLRL-HPYZ:, 1917; citing Probate, Pietermaritzburg Archives (Formerly Natal State Archives), South Africa.