Arthur James Scoble

  General Notes:

Death Certificate states cause of death was pentbarbitone poisoning. Also states that he was single. At the time of his marriage to Winifred, he was a storekeeper. In 1940 - was a salesman. At time of death, retired storeman.
Notes as supplied by Jack Scoble 3 Nov 1994:
After my parents were married, they moved to Parkes where Ron was born. I am not sure what work my father was doing but they shifted to Yeoval where he worked at Black Bros Store. Harold and I were born while they were there. There was no hospital at Yeoval in those days so Harold was born in Molong and I was born in Cumnock where there was a midwife. They then shifted to Orange where father worked for Dalton Bros store in the furniture Dept. We lived in Byng Street where the present Police Station is situated. I had my 4th birthday in Orange hospital suffering from diptheria.
I was six years old when we moved from Orange to Grandfather Balcomb's farm on Longs Corner Road (Canowindra). Father had no work - it was the beginning of the Great Depression (*this timing is incorrect - the Great Depression didn't occur until 1929-1930). Grandfather bought a house in Canowindra and we all shifted there. I went to school for the first time. I can remember going by foot with my father while he was selling some type of furniture polish that he made - it was a hopeless situation. Under the strain, the marriage broke down and father left and was not seen again by any of us. I did some research and have found his grave in Redcliff cemetery in Brisbane. Mother was left with three boys and no resources to face the depression. How she coped is a story of great courage and hard work - we knew what poverty was but were never hungry.

Information from Thelma Scoble as told by her husband Ron and from her recollection of the day in question:
Ron remembered the day his father left - he was 9 years of age (1924). He can remember that his mother cried the whole time whilst preparing the evening meal and the three boys didn't know what was wrong. He said years later that his father had come to the back gate that day and begged Winifred to leave the boys behind and go away with him which she refused to do.
Thelma recalls the day she was in town with her father (she was 10yrs old) and can remember seeing Arthur sitting in the gutter outside the Junction Hotel. It seems that he had drinking problem and according to Thelma's family, he also had a gambling problem. Apparently Allan Nash tried to persuade Winifred not to marry him for this reason.

At time of son John Edgar's birth - his occupation was listed as grocer.

Notes as supplied by Joy Wood, written after visiting Jack Scoble in early 1990s:
Jack advised me that his father was retrenched from Dalton Bros. store in Orange where he worked in the furniture Dept. He was apparently good at laying linoleum and carpets and Jack can remember him doing so. After this happened, Arthur went to live at his wife's parents at Canowindra. Jack's grandparents (Thomas and Annie Balcomb) had moved out of their farm at Cudal (Burdette) so that their son who had recently married could take it over. In 1924 Arthur left his family and never contacted them again. We have no idea as to the reason for this as he himself came from a very steady church family. It was the home in Canowindra that Jack has fond memories of. In this home, Jack's mother took nin boarders - mainly teachers- and this helped to provide the income for them to live off. She was a very capable lady who also played the organ at the local church and as a consequence of these events, I feel Jack's strongest memories and attachment is to his other and her parents. Although it is interesting to note that after Jack found the whereabouts of his father's grave in Brisbane, and it was a pauper's grave, that he organised and paid for a headstone to be erected on it. His daughter, Bronwyn, said she felt it was done as an act of reconciliation on her father's part.

Arthur married Winifred Marion Balcomb, daughter of Thomas Balcomb and Annie Poole, on 23 Apr 1914 in Cranbury NSW.¹⁵³ (Winifred Marion Balcomb was born on 21 Jul 1891 in Toogong, NSW, Australia,¹⁵⁴ died on 15 Jun 1978 in Parkes, NSW, Australia ¹⁵⁵ and was buried on 17 Jun 1978 in Parkes, NSW, Australia ¹⁵⁵.)