Elizabeth
(Cir 1835-)
Henry Barkley Maclure
(1856-1939)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Janet Thomasina (Ina) Massie

Henry Barkley Maclure

  • Born: 9 Aug 1856, Mordialloc, Victoria Australia
  • Marriage (1): Janet Thomasina (Ina) Massie on 4 Jul 1882 in Hay, NSW Australia
  • Died: 9 May 1939, Hay, NSW Australia at age 82
  • Buried: 11 May 1939, Box Hill Cemetery, Victoria Australia

  General Notes:

Henry Maclure named his store in Hay, N.S.W, "The Ringer", after the title for the fastest shearer in a woolshed, and his business life was dedicated to providing the best possible goods and services for his customers.

The Riverine Grazier, Tuesday May 9th 1939.
Mr. Henry B. Maclure.
We regret to have to report the death of Mr. Henry Barkley Maclure, which took place at midday today at Tattersall's Hotel, after a short illness. The immediate cause of death was pneumonia. The deceased gentleman was 82 years of age.
The internment will take place at Melbourne, where the wife of the deceased gentleman is buried. The body will be taken from the Hay Presbyterian Church where a short service will be conducted at 11 a.m. tomorrow. It is expected that those attending the funeral will follow the hearse until it passes over the Hay bridge, as far as the rifle butts, on its way to Victoria.
The funeral proper will move from Le Pine Chambers, Canterbury, Melbourne, at 10.30 on Thursday morning, and the internment will be in Box Hill Cemetery.
A more extended report of the life of the deceased gentleman will appear in a later issue of the "Grazier".

The Riverine Grazier,Friday May 12th 1939.
HENRY B. MACLURE.
Hay's Veteran Business Man Passes.
Over Sixty Years of Useful Life in Town and District.
On Tuesday at midday a man who, for nearly sixty years had played a leading and, oft times the leading part in public affairs in Hay - Henry Barkley Maclure - passed away. He had been Hay's leading business man for over half-a-century. The deceased gentleman had not been in robust health for some years, and a sudden failure of strength at the beginning of the month had created fears that his days might not be prolonged, and therefore his death was not unexpected. None the less it was received with the keenest and most wide spread regret.
Henry Barkley Maclure was a native of Mordialloc, Victoria, where he was born on the 9th August 1856. In June 1877, when almost twenty-one years of age, he came to this district and went to Gunbar station, as a bookkeeper and storekeeper. Gunbar, then the property of the Armstrong Bros., with Mr. John Armstrong as managing proprietor, was one of the biggest stations in Riverina. The young man was ambitious to learn and he made good use of his time. His keenness and knowledge impressed Mr. A. M. Meakes, of Meakes and Fay, who had become the proprietors of the old store, as Moss's store was known throughout the district, during a visit to the station, and he made the young storekeeper a very tempting offer to come to Hay and take charge of the grocery department of the business. The offer was accepted, and with good results all around. From the first day of March, 1880, when Henry B. Maclure commenced in the store, until the day of his death, he never looked back. The business of Meakes and Fay prospered, largely owing to Mr. Maclure's application and his adaptability to district requirements, to such an extent, that Mr. Meakes was able to retire five years later, when he sold his interest in it to H. B. Maclure, who joined Mr. Fay as partner. The partnership of Fay and Maclure was a particularly happy and prosperous one, and it continued for seven years, at the end of which time Mr. Maclure bought out his partner. Mr. Maclure then continued the business on his own account and extended it as occasion offered. One of these extensions was in respect of the Hay Cash Store which he opened in August 1894, utilising the buildings of the old store of Pollard and Saunders. This business was continued for ten years, and then closed. The new Ringer Store premises were erected in 1899, and were constructed over the old store, in such a way that business-as-usual was carried on in the old store, while the building operations were in progress. After conducting the business for twenty-seven years on his own account, Mr. Maclure converted it into a proprietary company, under the style of the Maclure Proprietary Limited, giving his old and trusted employees who wished to do so an opportunity to take up shares on specially easy terms. This many of them did to their financial advantage. At the Maclure Proprietary Company the business has continued to the present day. When the Bank of New South Wales acquired the business of the Australian Bank of Commerce and removed the Hay branch to its present premises, they vacated premises adjoining the Maclure stores. In 1934, the Maclure Proprietary bought these, pulled the buildings down and extended the Ringer Stores to Moss Street. The opening of the new extension was marked by a ball, which was largely attended, and many old friends of the veteran storekeeper and valued clients of the business took advantage of the occasion to felicitate Mr, Maclure on the new extension, and in the continued success of the Ringer enterprise which, it indicated. In 1935, when Mr. Maclure completed is fiftieth year in the proprietorship of the store, the staff marked his jubilee in the ownership of the old store by making him photograph presentations of the old and new premises, and the owner thereof as they appeared with a fifty years interval between. On attaining his eightieth birthday Mr. Maclure ceased to actively direct the operations of the firm, but continued, as governing director, to have an interest in it. The actual management of the store then passed to Mr. George D. Butterworth, as managing director, but those doing business there know that the old gentleman continued to visit the office frequently, and that his interest in it was exceedingly keen.
But, it was not only in the Ringer Stores that Henry B. Maclure took an interest and displayed business acumen. One of his earliest ventures outside storekeeping was towards the end of 1892, when he was one of the businessmen who started and conducted the Hay Boiling Down Works. In this enterprise he was partnered by Messrs. Robert Gibson and John L. Corrigan. There were at the time an immense surplus of old sheep, mainly ewes, in the district, and in the district between Hay and Wilcannia. The establishment of the boiling-down works was warmly welcomed, and the promoters were hailed as benefactors to the grazing industry, as indeed they were. Of the three partners, Mr. Corrigan managed the works, Mr. Gibson bought the sheep for slaughter, and Mr. Maclure sold the resultant tallow. They had not long been in operation before they had a formidable rival for the purchase of sheep in Mr. George Gregson Claughton, who had a boiling down establishment at Moama, which he had successfully conducted for years. He knew more about the business than the partnership, and despite the fact that the sheep for Moama had to walk 120 mils further than the sheep for Hay, he was frequently able to give three-pence or so more for the sheep than the Hay firm could. This when the prices paid ranged from 1/- to 2/6, was a material item. In 1895, their object in starting the Hay works, "viz.", to get rid of the big surplusage of old useless sheep in the district having been achieved, the firm sold out to Mr. Claughton, who continued to conduct the works as long as sheep were obtainable at boiling down prices. This venture of Mr. Maclure, and those associated with him was one which rendered a very real service to the pastorlists of the district. With Mr. Maclure's death the last of the firm has passed. Although the present generation only knows of the boiling down period by here-say, it marked a memorable phase in the history of the district.
Another of Mr. Maclure's enterprises, and one which survives him, is Hay "Motors". Motor cars had not been long in use when in 1808, with Mr. Geoffrey Browne as manager, Mr. Maclure established the business of Hay Motor Company, which he conducted on his own account until March 1919, when he converted it into the Hay Motor and Engineering Proprietary Limited. In order that business might be suitably housed he bought the extensive premises of the coach factory of Cobb and Co. for the purpose and still further extended them. Hay is particularly well supplied with Motor engineering works and "Hay Motors" is one of the most extensive of such establishments inland in the state.
One of his business ventures outside of the district was the establishment in August, 1904, of the Junee Providoring Co., at Junee, which he put in charge of a trusted member of the Ringer Stores. This business he continued for thirteen years when he sold it to Mr. J. S. Taylor.
The grazing industry had always possessed a strong appeal for him and he made many ventures into pastoral pursuits in most of which he was still associated at the time of his death. The first of these was in 1908 when he joined his old friend David Gray, who had been with him on the staff of Gunbar station, as a partner in David Gray and Company, in Yarto station. In 1912 he bought Tchelery station. In 1915 he became partner of the late George R. Horton in Horton Maclure Pty. Ltd. and was associated with that gentleman in Lake Wallace and Condah Hills in the Western district of Victoria; Killara on the Darling; Bundyulumbah, and Gol Gol in the western division. With Mr. Horton and others he was also interested in Winbar.
He joined in the building of the Hay Co-op Butter Factory in March, 1918, and remained a member of it until his death. Although the butter making activities of the factory have been put out of action by legislation which affected it adversely the position of the Company is a very sound one thanks largely to Mr. Maclure's careful husbanding of its resources.
Mr. Maclure did not allow business to monopolise his attention and we know of no citizen who has displayed more public spirit, or given more time to public affairs and local institutions of a worthy character. He served on the board of the Hay Hospital for very many years and was president of it on several occasions. His association to it financially is well known, one of his most appreciated gifts being the wireless installations. He was also the donor of the X-ray equipment. The Hay Show and the Hay Athenaeum have always been well supported by him, and he was president of the latter institution for some years. He was a trustee of them both at the time of his death. When the Municipal Council and the local churches were at variance over the control of the Hay cemetery he was one of the men who joined in the present system of "federal" control over forty years ago which proved a solution of the difficulty. For over thirty years without a break he filled the office of treasurer.
He was an excellent alderman for some years and filled the mayoral chair with distinction and with advantage to the town. He had not been in favour of the town incurring the liability of the sewerage scheme because he thought it would prove too great a burden financially, and he had no faith in the promise of the then Minister that the rate would never exceed the then maximum under the County Towns Water and Sewerage Act, viz., 1/- in the pound on the annual value. In this latter belief subsequent events have proved that he was correct. But when the town was committed to the sewerage scheme he exerted his authority as Mayor to see that the regulations were complied with, and, that the system should not fail to be a success. Though any failure on the part of the council, or of the ratepayers, to implement the work of the department whose competent engineer proved most helpful to the community of householders.
The older residents will remember with what enthusiasm he threw himself into the federation movements. He took a very prominent part in the Hay Federal League, which was largely responsible for the almost unanimous vote recorded at Hay at each of the federal referenda on the acceptance or rejection of the Enabling Acts.
His intense patriotism was shown both during the South African and the Great War. He was a younger man when the Boers were keeping the British at bay for years in South Africa and more exuberantly demonstrative. There are still extant photos of the roadways of Hay showing flags strung across Lachlan Street from the Ringer Stores to celebrate victories of the British troops in the Transvaal and not a few local residents who can remember H. B., as one of the groups who paraded the main thoroughfare, on the occasion of the relief of Mafeking, singing "The Absent Minded Beggar" and "Soldiers of the Queen". Probably if he had not been much too old for military service when the Great War occurred, he would have volunteered. But there was no Hay citizen who gave more of his time and his substance to the furtherance of the war funds during the continuance of that great and long struggle. As this is race week it is appropriate to call to mind the many occasions in which he acted as gate keeper and found his own assistants at the outer gate of the old racecourse and collected entrance money and as much more as he could from those attending the meeting held for war fund purposes. At the close of the war he was one of the principal contributors to the fund raised to erect the Hay War Memorial High School, and when it was established he endowed it with The Gordon Maclure Scholarship, tenable at the Sydney University, in honour of his son, Lieutenant Gordon Maclure, who had lost hid life in action on a French battlefield. That Hay was able to figure so prominently, during the war, amongst the donors to patriotic funds, and to funds for the Allies, such as Belgian and French days, was owing to a considerable extent, to his advocacy and practical example. Naturally the assistance of a man of such sound judgement and business ability was very often sought in a fiduciary capacity by private individuals and for public purposes, and all such trusts were faithfully carried out.
No report of the deceased gentleman activities would be complete without mention being made of the big part he took in the Hay Hospital Fete's of the old days when street processions were the main attractions of the outings. The Maclures and the Ringer Stores were always among the best and frequently the most striking incidents of the show. The older residents will not forget the turn-out he took the lead in when he staged a jubilee procession in honour of Queen Victoria, when he impersonated the Czar of Russia with a Cossack escort; or when he formed part of an armoured convey in the Boer war days. The difficulty of getting new items each year, and the disinclination of other firms to go to anything like the same expense in putting items into the procession, eventually led to the gradual lapse of street processions, into displays of lesser importance and the scarcity of horses, when the cars came on the scene, finally led to their abandonment on the old time scale.
Mr. Maclure married , on the 4th July, 1882, the day upon which the railway to Hay was opened by Lord Loftus, Miss Thomasina Massie. His married life was a particularly happy one, and the Maclure's hospitable home, at Yaamba, Pine street, was ever open to their friends.
Although H. B. was most diligent in business he threw off business cares, when he went home, and no one enjoyed to a greater extent, the company of his children and his friends. About twenty five years ago Mrs. Maclure and the family went to live in Melbourne. At the time it was said that this was in the interests of Mrs. Maclure's health but there was a general impression that an equally strong reason was that it was hoped Mr. Maclure would retire from the very arduous work he was engaged in, and go to Melbourne to live also. If this was part of the scheme, it was frustrated by H. B's. determination to stick to the business for a few years more. Mrs. Maclure predeceased her husband by ten years. Of their family of seven children, four survive. They are Dr. Alfred Fay Maclure, of Collins Street, Melbourne; Dr. Noel A. Maclure, of Tchelery; Mrs. George D. Butterworth of Hay; and Mrs V. T. Hodgson, of Melbourne. As previously stated a son Gordon died on active service; another son, Lennox and a daughter Gladys, died after the family went to live in Melbourne. Both Dr. Alfred F. Maclure and Dr. Noel A. Maclure went to the war. The former served with much distinction and was decorated for his service in charge of a base hospital in France. Dr. Noel Maclure was not allowed to go until he had finished his University Course, and he eventually travelled to France up America, and in a transport which took over from New York, some U. S. A. soldiers.
When a younger man, Mr. Maclure took his full part in social activities, but latterly he had been content to remain indoors during the evenings. He was one of the oldest members of the Waradgery Club and one of the Murrumbidgee Lodge of Freemasons, of which he was a past master. He was very staunch to his friends, and many in whom he had confidence have good reason to thank him for good counsel and practical assistance. A good judge of character, he made few mistakes in the selection of his employees and those whose efforts to further the business interests of the firm, attracted his attention were advanced on the staff and trusted with his confidence. He was very thoughtful to the comfort and interests of his staff, ad it was very largely owing to his influence that Hay was one of the first towns in the state to have a weekly half-holiday. He was also largely instrumental in the closing hour in the evenings being fixed as early as practicable. He was a very liberal and frequent supporter of the causes of he approved and he had the moral courage to refuse his countenance to movements which did not appeal to him. Our district is noteworthy as a district of extremes - extremes of plenty and of drought depletion. It is also noteworthy as a district in which men from small beginnings by industry and application and sound judgement have acquired estates of considerable value and have been able to start their dependants in life and assist their friends; and in which other men by the adversity of bad seasons, and through no apparent fault of their own, have lost the capital they had brought into the district. Mr. Maclure belonged to the former class. He has passed on after having put together a reasonable competency, by his own perseverance, pluck, and sound judgement. And that, too, without neglecting those calls to assist worth while local causes and enterprises with his labour and his influence, and his financial support. From the day he came to Hay, he did his bit, and for the last 50 years we know of no one who had a greater claim to regarded as Hay's leading citizen. That a man of such definite views had fellow townsmen who did not always agree with him goes without saying, but we do not know of anyone who did not respect him and appreciate his candid mental courage. The town district of Hay can ill afford to lose such an excellent citizen. Peace to his dust! Honour to his memory!
The funeral of the deceased gentleman took place yesterday, his remains being interred in the Box Hill (Vic) Cemetery with those of his wife. Before the body was taken to Melbourne a service took place in the Hay Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The Church was filled with a very representative attendance of town and district residents, and there were as many outside the building as within it. The Rev. H. D. Mackie, B. A. minister of the church, conducted the service, which was commenced with the singing of the 23rd Psalm "The Lord is my shepherd", and finished with the hymn, "For ever with the Lord". Mr. Alex C. Welsh, choirmaster, presided at the organ. The coffin which was placed at the choir end of the building, was covered and surrounded with a profusion of beautiful wreaths. The minister, in the course of the service, delivered a brief address, in which he eulogised the memory of the deceased gentleman, as a man whose word was his bond; who assisted individuals and worthy causes, including the Presbyterian Church and hostel; and as a man whose life was an example to the community of what a public spirited, God-fearing man might be. The Memorial High School had lost one of its very best friends and supporters. He expressed the sympathy of all those who had come to pay the last sad offices of respect to a fine man, with his sorrowing relatives.
At the conclusion of the service, the organist played "The Dead March" while first the wreaths, and then the coffin were carried out of the church to the waiting hearse. The pall-bearers were two of the senior staff of the Ringer Stores, Messrs Fayle and Squires; Mr. Baird, manager of Hay Motors; and Mr. Ron Horton, son of the late Mr. George Horton, the deceased gentleman's partner in many pastoral enterprises. The coffin was followed by the sons and son-in-law of Mr. Maclure and after them the congregation. When the hearse moved off, it was followed by the male members of the staff of the Ringer Store and The Hay Motors, and by some of the female members , on foot. Almost sixty marched for a considerable distance. Following the staff, were the cars of the family and then those of the other mourners. A very large number of cars followed the hearse via Bank and Lachlan Streets, over the bridge and for some distance along the Deniliquin Road.
The floral tributes included the following from local public bodies and organisations: - The staff of the Ringer Stores; the staff of Hay Motors; The Hay War Memorial High School; the War Memorial Hall; Butter Factory directors and staff; Women's Auxiliary Returned Soldiers; Hay Branch R.S.S.I.L.A.; the Chamber of Commerce' the Hay Hospital Board; the Waradgery Club; The Freemasons' Lodge; and the Presbyterian Church. The wreaths from firms and private individuals were very numerous. Many of them arrived by plane from Melbourne on Wednesday morning. In addition, a number of wreaths were ordered from Hay to be sent to the funeral at Box Hill on Thursday morning.
From the "Melbourne Argus" we learn that pastoral interests and the medical profession were largely represented at the funeral yesterday. The service at the Box Hill Cemetery was conducted by the Rev. H. D. Mackie of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hay. Pall-bearers were Messrs T. Scott, R. D. Baird, C. H. Horton, V. T. Hodgson, G. D. Butterworth, and A. A. White. Chief mourners were Mr. Maclure's sons, Dr. Fay Maclure and Dr. N. A. Maclure. The internment took place in the Maclure family enclosure where the remains of the late Mrs. Maclure, Gladys and Lennox had been laid to rest.

VICTORIA GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, Wednesday, December 6, 1939
NOTICE TO CLAIMANTS AND OTHERS, - HENRY BARKLY MACLURE, Deceased.
PURSUANT to the Trustee Act 1928, notice is hereby given that all person having claims against the estate of Henry Barkly Maclure, late of Hay, in the State of New South Wales, governing director of Maclure Proprietary Limited, deceased (who died on the 9th of May, 1939, and probate of whose will was granted by the Supreme Court of the State of Victoria, in its probate jurisdiction, on the 30th day of November, 1939, to George Duncan Butterworth, of Hay, aforesaid, governing director of Maclure Proprietary Limited, and the Union Trustee Company of Australia Limited, of 333 Collins-street, Melbourne, the executors named therein), are hereby required to send particulars, in writing, of such claims to the said executors, at the office of the above-mentioned company, at 333 Collins-street, Melbourne, on or before the 8th day of February, 1940, after which date the said executors will proceed to distribute the assets of the said Henry Barkly Maclure which shall have come to their hands amongst the persons entitled thereto, having regard only to the claims of which they shall then have had notice; and the said executors will not be liable for the assets so distributed, or any part thereof, to any person of whose claim they shall not have had notice as aforesaid.
Dated this 2nd day of December, 1939.
J. M. SMITH & EMMERTON, 480 Bourke-street, Melbourne, solicitors for the above-named executors.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Merchant.

• connection. My connection to Lisa Maclure is as follows:

Lisa Maclure
Her father was David Maclure (1930)
His father was Noel Maclure (1892)
His father was Henry Maclure (1856) who married Janet Massie (1856)
Her father was Robert Massie (1809) who married Eliza Armstrong (1818)
Her father was Thomas Armstrong (1791) & he also had Jane Armstrong (1816) who married Christopher Dixon (1812)
They had Janet Dixon (1853) who married Harry Hiscock 9c1846)
They had Frank Hiscock (1873) who married Emily Wallis (1875)
Her father was William Wallis (1849) who married Victorine Groube (1851)
Her father was Rev Horatio Groube (1814) & he also had George Groube (1847)
He had Edith Groube (1880) who married Percy Howe (1866)
His father was Robert Howe (1833)
His father was Frederick Howe (1805)
His father was James Howe (1777)
His father was George Howe (1741) & he also had Sarah Howe (1775)
She had Alexander Moss (1811)
She had James Moss (1846)
He had Laura Kershaw Waldock or Moss (1864)
She had Winthrop Larkinson (1889)
He had Dulcie Larkinson (1926) who married Colin Davies (1925)
She had me- Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)


Henry married Janet Thomasina (Ina) Massie, daughter of Robert Massie and Eliza Armstrong, on 4 Jul 1882 in Hay, NSW Australia. (Janet Thomasina (Ina) Massie was born in 1856, died on 24 Apr 1929 in Balwyn, Victoria Australia and was buried in Box Hill Cemetery, Victoria Australia.)


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