Herbert Stone, box-maker

Herbert Stone was born 1860 in London and came out to Australia as a 20 yr-old on SS Cuzco, disembarking in Melbourne 22nd September 1880 and being cited on the passenger list as a draper. He remained in Victoria until 1896, when he transferred to Perth and became window-dresser for Bon Marche Ltd in the days when elaborate window displays were a feature of all big stores. His window treatments created so much interest in Perth that steel rods were placed around the windows to prevent them from breaking the glass. His display won the prize for the best-dressed window at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Herbert first began box-making initially at home when living in Aberdeen St in 1896, then Harold St, then starting the factory at 86 Duke St before World War 1, and after the war, to the factory in 239-241 Fitzgerald St. During WW1 he devoted much of his time to packing parcels for the Trench Comforts, and in World War II did the same work for the Red Cross for several years. In around 1923 the factory had industrial disputes with a series of strikes and raids by the police for damage by employees.

Herbert married Alexandra Mary Clarendon (born 1863 in Chiltern, Victoria) in 1884, and they had two children, Lilly Henrietta and Lawrence Ralph. Alexandra died 29th May 1907 in Perth. Herbert then married Mary Eveline Plunkett (1886-1974) in Hindmarsh, South Australia in 1908. They had four children, and she died in Cannington on 27th March 1974.

After and during the Great War, Herbert and Eveline lived at various addresses in Mount Lawley: in 1914, Clifton Cres; 1916, Clive Rd; 1925, Longroyd St and ending up at 25 Ferrar St in 1929 until 1949, not long before Herbert died on 21st January 1951 at Cannington aged 91 yrs.

Lawrence Stone, the son

Herbert and Alexandra’s son, Lawrence Ralph Stone, was born in South Yarra, Victoria, in 1884. He was a timber hewer by trade, i.e. converted logs from the rounded natural form into timber with more or less flat surfaces using primarily an axe. Lawrence enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force for WW1 at Fremantle on 28th August 1916, aged 23yrs 4 months and measuring only 5ft 4in. He was assigned to the 28th Battalion.

HMAT A34 Persic left Melbourne 22nd December 1916 and stopped at Fremantle where Lawrence embarked on 29th December 1916 heading for the UK. He disembarked at Devonport on 3rd March 1917 and went to Rollestone Camp, near Salisbury, but was soon admitted to hospital with mumps.

He finally embarked at Southampton on 24th September 1917 bound for France, disembarking at Le Havre on 26th September 1917, but he then contracted bronchitis followed by scabies.

He eventually rejoined his battalion 2nd December 1917 where they were fighting in the trenches close to Ypres in Belgium. Sadly, he was killed in action 30th December 1917 and buried in the Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery Extension. The cemetery was in the grounds of a chateau owned by a French family living in Belgium who insisted that the cemetery be removed, and so Lawrence and others were exhumed c1930 and reburied at the Royal Berks Cemetery Extension in Ploegsteert.

Lawrence received posthumously the Victory Medal and is remembered in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.