Walter Russell Hall (1831 - 1911)

Born 22 Feb 1831 in Kington, Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Eliza Rowdon (Kirk) Hall — married 15 Apr 1874 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Died 13 Oct 1911 at age 80 in Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: David Urquhart [send private message]

Biography

Walter Hall was born in Kington, Herefordshire, England.

Walter Hall came free to the Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)

Walter Hall is Notable.

Walter Russell Hall was born on the 22nd of February 1831 at Kington, Herefordshire, England, eldest son of Walter Hall, glover and later miller, and his wife Elizabeth Skarratt.^[1] He was educated at Kington and Taunton, Somerset. He was one of nine siblings.^[2]

Walter Hall migrated from England to New South Wales.

As a young man of 21 years, Walter migrated to the Colony of New South Wales, Australia, arriving on the 14th of February 1852 with only a few pounds in his pocket. He was accompanied by two of his younger bothers, Thomas Skarratt Hall and James Wesley Hall. He found employment as a clerk with David Jones Ltd and by 1854 made his way to the Ballarat, Victoria, gold diggings, like many thousands of others. It is said that he was not in the stockade at Eureka with other miners on the 4th of December that year. Soon realising that prospecting was not for him he set about setting up in business. After a shaky start he became a very successful and wealthy businessman. Together with James Rutherford in 1861, he purchased Cobb and Co, the horse-drawn coach line of Australian history and tradition. He later acted as its Sydney agent; travelling extensively in New South Wales and Queensland to open new lines and on inspections. He left the firm in the mid-1880s.

He married Eliza Kirk, eldest daughter of George Kirk, a Yorkshire-born butcher, and his wife Elizabeth, née Wippell, from Devon, on the 15th of April 1874 in St Paul's Church of England (now Anglican Cathedral), Melbourne, Colony of Victoria^[3] and they settled in Sydney.

Hall was already wealthy when his brother Thomas, who was manager of the Rockhampton branch of the Queensland National Bank, invited him to join the syndicate formed to develop the Mount Morgan mine. On the 1st of October 1886 the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. Ltd, with capital of £1 million, was registered in Queensland. Walter also acquired substantial holdings in the booming pastoral industry. He was also a director of the Mercantile Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd, and the Sydney Meat Preserving Co. Ltd.

Both Walter and Eliza were active philanthropists during their life together. Whilst Walter never attempted to make a splash in Sydney society, and they did not entertain lavishly, he liked 'to give the boys a good time' on his annual visits to Mount Morgan (which he continued until 1910). He welcomed employees at dinners and convivial gatherings and also entertained the Mount Morgan children, in whom he took a great interest. He gave generously to the town's educational and other institutions. Many of his benefactions were anonymous, but not the £5000 he contributed to the Patriotic Fund during the Second Boer War and the £10,000 which he gave to the Dreadnought Fund.

In the year following her husband's death Eliza set up a charitable trust with a donation of £1,000,000. It was named the Walter and Eliza Hall Trust.^[4] She brought retired British and Australian Major General Harry Finn CB DCM out from England to become secretary of the trust.

He passed away, aged 80 years, on the 13th of October 1911 at his home, Wildfell, at Potts Point, New South Wales. He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery, Victoria.^[5] His estate was valued for probate at £2,915,513, his principal beneficiary being Eliza.

The locality of Walterhall, near Mount Morgan, Queensland.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NPCZ-S8C : 22 March 2020), Elizabeth Carleton Skarratt in entry for Walter Russell Hall, 1831.
2. ↑ The Walter and Eliza Hall Trust; accessed 20 Jun 2018
3. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index: Name: HALL, Walter Russell; Marriage; KIRK, Eliza Rowdon; Year: 1874; Ref: 1297/1874
4. ↑ Walter and Eliza Hall Trust; accessed 10 Feb 2019
5. ↑ New South Wales Death Index: Name: HALL, WALTER; Ref: R13027/1911; Parents: WALTER & ELIZABETH; Place: SYDNEY

See also:

• Find a Grave, database and images  : accessed 03 December 2021), memorial page for Walter Russel Hall (1831–13 Oct 1911), Find A Grave: Memorial #193953062, citing Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton North, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia ; Maintained by Tony M. (contributor 48299134) .
• King, Hazel. 'Hall, Walter Russell (1831–1911)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 10 Feb 2019.
• Fraser, Kay, 'A Remarkable Gift: 100 Years of the Walter and Eliza Hall Trust', University of Queensland Press (UQP), St Lucia, Queensland, 2012.
• Wikidata: Item Q7966022, en:Wikipedia
• William Knox D'Arcy