Eighty years after the death of Matilda Lutge (nee Winton) - 1868 to 1937

31 December 2017 marks 80 years since the death of Matilda Lutge, my great grandmother, and the great grandmother and 2nd great grandmother of many Lutge cousins in the group. My desire to have a few old photos circulated was one of the main drivers for getting involved in family history just over 2 years ago. This photo of Matilda was one of them.  

This was the grandmother that my Mum, Beryl, often told me that she never knew.  Likewise, Mum would talk about not knowing her Lutge cousins or their parents, her aunts and uncles.  We talked about the death of Matilda's husband, John Henry Lutge, by drowning particularly when we looked at the site off Balmoral Beach.  Mum didn't remember her grandfather because she was less than a year old when he died. Yet, I knew Matilda and John Henry's house because it was next door to the house that Mum and her brother, Jack, had grown up in at 82 Gerard Street Cremorne.  Finally, I'd always understood that Matilda's family name was Armstrong.

The 1916 funeral notice for Ellen G Armstrong records that she's the late beloved mother of Mr and Mrs John Lutge.  Without too much trouble I found the 1865 marriage of Thomas Armstrong and Ellen Georgina Wicks but I couldn't find any children born to them.  Thomas and Ellen's death certificates showed "no issue".  I had the correct people as John Lutge was the informant for Ellen's death.

By this time, I knew that John Henry and Matilda had five children-

• Ellen Armstrong - 24 January 1892 to 07 February 1892
• Harold Henry Armstrong - 27 August 1893 to 30 November 1893
• Clifford John Stanley (Cliff) - 14 January 1895 to 03 March 1970
• Kelvin Walter (Kel) - 29 November 1898 to 23 July 1964
• Helene Phyllis (Lee) - 1906 to 25 April 1966

So two children has died as infants (both bearing the name Armstrong).  Kelvin was my grandfather and had an older brother, Clifford, and younger sister, Helene.  Mum and Uncle Jack had six cousins -  Enid Lutge, Stanley Lutge (who had died as an infant), Beryl Lutge, Alan Lutge, June Phillips and Rhonda Phillips.

The breakthrough came in March 2016 when I made contact with Karen - the daughter of Alan Lutge and my 2nd cousins.  Over the next few weeks, we pieced the story together.  The 1891 marriage certificate of John Henry and Matilda recorded her family name as Winton and her father as Henry Winton, a labourer.  

So, here's the story that we've priced together about the birth family of Matilda Winton-

• Matilda's parents were Henry Winton and Ann Richards.  
• Henry was born in about 1829 possibly in Hanover, Germany.  He immigrated to Australia in about 1857.  On 16 April 1859, Henry married Ann at Scots Church, York Street, Sydney.  Ann was born about 1834 possibly in Devon or Cornwall, England.  She immigrated to Australia in about 1856.
• Henry and Ann lived in the inner city around Chippendale and had 5 children - Fanny (16 November 1859 to 4 April1860), John Henry (1 February 1861 to 7 August 1933), William Henry (17 November 1862 to 28 July 1948), Annie (14 April 1865 to 8 October 1935) and Mary Alice (16 January 1868 to 31 December 1937).  Yes, our Matilda Armstrong was born Mary Alice Winton!  
• Tragedy struck the Winton family when Ann died on 29 February 1868 when Matilda was about 6 weeks old from complications after the pregnancy.
• There's no evidence that either Henry or Ann had any extended family in Sydney.  Henry was left with 4 young children from 7 years to 6 weeks!
• Less than a year after Ann died, Henry married Maria Wheeler on 20 February 1869.  At the time of the marriage, Maria had a 6 year old daughter called Mary.  It seems likely that, to save confusion, our Mary Alice Winton became Matilda Winton around the time of the marriage.  
• Henry and Maria had one son, Charles, in 1873 and he died in 1893, aged 19.
• On 1895, Henry Winton had a heart attack and died in his cart on the corner of Market and Kent Streets, Sydney.  Maria died in 1911.  
• There are indictions that the relationship between Henry and Maria was not harmonious.  
• Matilda was living and possibly working for Thomas and Ellen Armstrong in their Balmain home at the time of her marriage.

There's no indication that Matilda had anything to do with her siblings after her marriage to John Henry Lutge.

Shortly after John Henry's death in 1929, his three children went their own way.  Within a couple of years John Henry and Matilda's home in Gerard Street, Cremorne was sold and Matilda went to live with her daughter, Helene, whose husband, Elton Leslie Phillips, had died 18 months after John Henry.  Helene's two daughters, June and Rhonda, were just over 3 and less than one at the time.

Matilda died on 31 December 1937 at Digby Private Hospital, Dulwich Hill.  She was 69.  She was buried the following day with John Henry at Macquarie Park Cemetery.

I've always been close to Sue, Lorraine and John, my Lutge first cousins.  Connecting with my newly discovered Lutge cousins, Karen, Richard, Melynda, Meredith and Lindy, during this journey has been very special.  Thank you all and looking forward to catching up in 2018!

RIP Matilda and John Henry