Drink and dissolution - Hercules Hull and Elizabeth Woodhouse - Cootamundra district

My great-grandfather, Hercules Hull, was born in Stockinbingal, NSW in 1885. He married Elizabeth Woodhouse, also of Stockinbingal, in 1913 when he was 28 years old and she was 18 years old. Hercules later lived in the nearby town of Illabo, and worked as a labourer. His life was punctuated by a series of arrests, many of which centred around alcohol-fuelled violent incidents at various pubs, and finished with his death in the Junee lock-up. The little I have learned about my great-grandmother reveals the sad dissolution of her life, which was also blighted by alcohol abuse.

Photo: Hercules Hull and Elizabeth Ann (Woodhouse) Hull 1913

(Source: GC *)

Contents:

Hercules Hull

• Drunk in the street

• Alleged to be on the premises of a hotel out of hours

• Assault on William Connors

• Assault on Constable Donnelly

• Assault on Samuel Gordon (Goondawindi, QLD)

• Marries Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse of Stockinbingal

• Kicks down the door at the Castlereagh Hotel (Dubbo)

• Found dead in the Junee lock-up
  

Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse (Hull/McQuillan)

• "Drunken orgies" and destitution

• A son, another marriage, and death

Drunk in the street

Hercules was just 17 years old when he was charged for being drunk in the street. He had no evidence in his defence and was fined 5 shillings or 24 hours light labour (The Temora Star, 16 July 1902).

Alleged to be on the premises of a hotel out of hours

His next run-in with the law in 1906 was rather farcical. The 21 year old was caught by Constable Noble on the premises of Mr West’s Carrington Hotel in Stockinbingal, outside of trading hours. On a rainy day Hercules had come seven miles from his place at Mr George Davidson’s, Clifton, to get a meal as was his usual habit on Sundays because he, “had not got any wife yet.” His plan was to travel on to his girlfriend’s home near Springdale.

To laughter in the courtroom Hercules admitted that, “...as her father does not approve of my visits, I would not be likely to get any dinner there.” As travellers were allowed to go to a public house for accommodation the matter was dismissed without charge (Cootamundra Herald, 10 October 1906).

Carrington Hotel 1905, Source: Visit Cootamundra

Assault on William Connors

Hercules’ first serious altercation, later in 1906, had terrible consequences for a butcher called William Connors (Cootamundra Herald, 9 February 1907). Hercules was at the Carrington Hotel speaking with Samuel Sheather about agricultural equipment when Connors, who was drunk, kept pestering them to join in with their conversation. Hercules lost his patience and either pushed or struck the man who fell and hit his head. Connors was knocked unconscious and was eventually helped inside by Hercules and put on a sofa in the hallway of the hotel. In the morning Connors was taken to Cootamundra Hospital by Constable Noble – the same constable involved in Hercules’ earlier arrest.

Hercules was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm on William Connors at Stockinbingal on 27 November 1906, and was committed for trial and granted bail, “self in £50 and one surety in same” (Cootamundra Herald, 26 January 1907). The matter was adjourned until January because Connors couldn’t leave the hospital, and it appears that the case must have been adjourned again because it did not get heard until February 1907. By this time Connors was still recovering from his injuries and had to be helped into the witness box.

Dr Florance appeared as a witness in the case. He had examined Connors who was found to be under the influence of drink, with a wound around one inch long on his temple and an abrasion on his cheekbone; he was unconscious for three days. Dr Florance diagnosed Connors with a “lacerated brain.” Another doctor, Brennan, reported the following:

…the patient was conscious, but not too intelligent, and spoke with very reserved speech; his left eye did not re-act with the right eye, and the pupil was contracted; there was considerable loss of power in the right arm and knee and was unable to make any considerable use of those limbs; he has not altogether recovered, but he has improved very much; his eye and limbs have become active; in my opinion it will take considerable time for him to recover from the injuries; he is still a patient in the hospital, and he may be bad for months (Cootamundra Herald, 9 February 1907).

Hercules was found guilty of common assault. He was sentenced to six months in Goulburn gaol, but the sentence was suspended under the First Offenders Act (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 1907), “...on entering into a bond of £25, with two sureties of £12 10/ to be of good behavior for twelve months” (Wagga Wagga Advertiser, 9 April 1907). Hercules’ lawyer was a Mr MacMahon who appears to have regularly represented him and other members of the family over the years.

Assault on Constable Donnelly (Goondiwindi, QLD)

Hercules’ next arrest for assault took place in the Queensland border town, Goondiwindi in 1910. The matter was heard in South East Queensland, in the District Court of Warwick:

Hercules Hull, on committal from Goondiwindi, charged with assault on a policeman in the execution of his duty, was found guilty, with a recommendation to mercy. The Judge agreed with the recommendation, and sentenced the prisoner to pay £15 to the Registrar of the Court, to be paid to Constable Donnelly, of Goondiwindi, or in the alternative 12 months’ imprisonment (The Brisbane Courier, 12 November 1910).

There is no explanation of why there was a recommendation to mercy given that this was not his first assault.

Assault on Samuel Gordon (Stockinbingal)

Just two year later Hercules was back in court at Stockinbingal for the “unprovoked assault” on a farmer, Samuel Gordon:

Hercules Hull pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Samuel Gordon at Stockinbingal on 12th instant. Sergeant Thompson read a list of previous convictions for assault, both in this district and in Queensland. Gordon said that accused had blackened his eye, and did a considerable amount of bodily harm. Accused was fined £3, with 9/- costs of court and witness’ expenses £2 (Cootamundra Herald, 26 March 1912).

Marries Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse of Stockingbingal

Hercules and Elizabeth Ann Woodhouse married in 1913 at Cootamundra (NSW BDM 14947/1913). It's hard to fathom why Elizabeth's financially secure and well-regarded parents would have approved of a marriage to a notoriously violent drunkard. I have requested the birth record for their first son to check if this was a shot-gun wedding. (Receipt of the record from NSW BDM has been delayed because of the pandemic.)

The wedding photo (above) presents Elizabeth Woodhouse, standing tall and straight, in a stunning, full-length. white lace wedding gown with a high neck and long sleeves. Her head was adorned by a long veil that is crowned by small white flowers. A white satin shoe can be seen below the line of the dress and she may be standing on a small platform. She holds an elegant bouquet with sprays of white flowers or blossoms that sit atop an arrangement of ferns.

Seated on a Roman-style chair to Elizabeth's right is Hercules Hull. In his right hand Hercules holds his white gloves, there is a white flower at his left lapel, a watch chain can be seen emerging from the waistcoat under his dark jacket, and the neckline reveals a high-collared starched white shirt. His dark pants reach just to the edge of his well-polished leather boots. His hair is slicked to the sides with hair oil, following the fashion of the day. Elizabeth and Hercules, in their wedding photo, are a picture of middle-class respectability.

Just over ten years later there is another photo of Elizabeth (below). She is shown resting her hands protectively on the shoulders of her little two girls, with all three wearing rumpled, cotton shirt-dresses and standing in the dirt and weeds in front of a hexagonal mesh wire fence. At around 30 years of age she looks painfully thin and younger than when she was married. The contrast between the two photos is stark and poignant.

Photo: Maisie Hull, Eileen Hull and Elizabeth Hull - mid 1920s

(Source: GC*)

After the marriage, the frequency of Hercules' arrests appear to have diminished for a time. It is not until 1919, the year that his youngest child, Eileen was born, that Hercules was next fined 5/ for being drunk (Cootamundra Herald, 29 July 1919).

Kicks down the door at the Castlereagh Hotel (Dubbo)

The next newspaper report in 1927 titled “New Modes of Exit” seems to express a certain amount of resigned annoyance regarding yet another, apparently drunken, incident:

Hercules Hull was dealt with at the Dubbo Police Court on Wednesday morning by Mr. C. Pickup, Chamber Magistrate, and Mr. A. W. Kelly, J.P. The defendant was fined 5/, and had to pay 30/ for damage done. He had shut himself in a room at the Castlereagh Hotel, and then in order to get out had kicked down the closed door (The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate, 15 July 1927).

Found dead in the Junee lock-up

Hercules’ final arrest was for assaulting his wife, Elizabeth Hull. Hercules would unexpectedly die in Junee lock-up in 1929 from apparent heart failure, at just 44 years old (The Argus, 1 July 1929). Given Hercules’ violent and drunken record it is likely that there was a long history of domestic violence but I have not been able to find further recorded instances.

Source: Junee Police Station, Belmore Street, Junee, New South Wales, 15 January 1917 / Theo Nies, in Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.

The inquest was reported as follows:

On Tuesday last Hercules Hull, a well-known resident of Illabo, was apprehended by Constable Ford on a charge of assaulting his wife. The constable then telephoned to Junee for a car, and handed his prisoner over to Constable Hume, of Junee, who deposited him in the Junee lock-up. On Wednesday he appeared before the court, and was remanded. Put back in his cell, the man appeared to be all right, and had access to the exercise yard. On Wednesday night he went to bed as usual, and was given plenty of blankets and other bedding. He took his meals, and ate well. On Thursday morning, when Constable Sheldrick went into his cell, he found the man dead. The doctor’s evidence was that the post mortem revealed that deceased had died from failure of the heart, which showed fatty degeneration. There were no marks, on the body. At the lock-up there was ample bedding and blankets in the cell occupied by deceased.

Mrs. Hull stated that her husband suffered from a serious illness some years ago and never properly recovered. He was subject to fits of coughing, and at times was very ill. Deceased was a native of Stockinbingal, and had resided at Illabo for twelve years. He leaves a wife and three children. The eldest fifteen, and the youngest nine. The coroner found that deceased, had died from natural causes, and that everything necessary was done for him while he was an inmate of the lock-up (Cootamundra Herald, 1 July 1929).

The three children referred to were Arthur Hull (15), my grandmother Maisie Hull (11) and Eileen Hull (9).

Hercules died intestate (The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 1929, NRS-13660-13-358-Series 4_161159) and his property was not sold at public auction until 1937 by the Public Trustee. The property consisted of 8 acres of land and a cottage in Illabo (Cootamundra Daily Herald, 3 September 1937) and was sold a few months after Elizabeth Hull remarried.

"Drunken orgies" and destitution

My mother had once told me that both my paternal great-grandparents were alcoholics and that Elizabeth had spent time in an insane asylum. State records for asylums in NSW (other than Liverpool Asylum) are closed off for 110 years after an inmate has died so this will be difficult to confirm.

Elizabeth’s father, Edmund Hamilton Woodhouse, died in June 1936 and perhaps this contributed to a breakdown. In November of that year, the newspaper reported her to be drunk and destitute:

Elizabeth Ann Hull was before the court on a charge of using profane language within the hearing of persons passing in a public street. Police stated that defendant and others indulged in drunken orgies in her home. Several complaints had been received. The police had cautioned her on several occasions, and had cut off her food relief, but she continued to drink severely, and, when intoxicated, used bad language. Defendant was convicted, and was bound over to be of good behaviour for 12 months, in sureties of self of £30, and one other of £30, in default 1 month’s imprisonment (Cootamundra Herald, 27 November 1936).

By the time of this incident, all three of Elizabeth's children were married and had presumably left home. My grandmother, Maisie Hull, was the first to get married two years earlier at just 16 years of age (NSW BDM 18097/1934). Eileen Hull was 17 years old (NSW BDM 16614/1936) and Arthur Hull was 22 years of age (NSW BDM 8769/1936) when both were married in 1936.

A son, another marriage, and death

In 1937, aged 42 years, Elizabeth gave birth to another child, her son Geoff. She was not allowed to take her child home from the hospital until she married his father, Patrick Joseph McQuillan (Source: GC*). The contrast between the upbeat announcement in the local newspaper and the true circumstances of the marriage could hardly be more pronounced:

At Junee last Saturday the wedding was celebrated of Mrs Elizabeth Ann Hull, of Stockinbingal, to Patrick McQuillan, of lllabo. The happy couple are spending a few days in Stockinbingal prior to taking up residence at Illabo (Cootamundra Herald, 9 July 1937).

Elizabeth died intestate (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 January 1945, NRS-13660-25-6343-Series 4_297487) on 20 October 1942, from acute bronchopneumonia when she was 47 years old, just five years after her second marriage (NSW BDM 27006/1942). Patrick McQuillan made a claim for Elizabeth's interest in Hercules Hull's estate, which amounted to just over £69. On the petition Patrick lists his profession as a station hand and his living address as "Allawah", Illabo. This property has retained the name as a present-day Simmental cattle stud, mixed livestock and cropping property (see note below **). After his mother’s death, Geoff McQuillan lived, off and on, with his cousin GC*, and half sister Maisie (Source: GC*).

Notes

* GC (Elizabeth Hull's niece)

** Sustainable Farms: "Allawah", Illabo, NSW John and Nicole Hopkins

https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/john-and-nicole-hopkins

©2015, 2021 Serena O'Meley