My grandfather Tom Cripps has his birthday on the 5th December 1882 and the stories here are mostly those from his children, my aunties and uncles who were still with us in 2004, that I collated together when gathering information for our Cripps family reunion in 2004.
Tom was born 5th December 1882, at Wannernooka (Northampton, Western Australia) and was registered as Thomas Charles Cripps. Norma told the story that this oversight was not discovered until they applied to be married and he should have in fact been Charles Thomas Cripps. Tom was baptised into the Catholic Church on the 15th October 1916, three days before they married, under the name of CTC. His name wasn’t legally changed by deed poll until 23rd November 1929.
Note: The Certificate of Baptism was transcribed in 2002 and the name of Tom’s mother has been written in error. It should read Margaret Cripps/Haigh nee Williams.
“Tom” was the eldest son of a family of 10, three boys and seven girls, two being step sisters. At the age of 12 he took over the running of ‘Mumby’ Farm with the help of the workmen, while his father continued as a teamster, carting sandalwood in the Murchison area. His mother Margaret was often found out in the paddocks, helping to sow the crops and tend to the animals.
Note 2: The change of name by Deed Poll didn’t come about until 11 November 1929 after Charles Thomas Snr had died in 1924 and Tom was left to run Mumby Farm.
Tom had little schooling but when the farm prospered, a teacher by the name of Mr Butler was employed and there was also a Mr Nash. One of these teachers wrote a diary in 1907 while on the farm. This diary is now in the possession of Jenny MacKay, granddaughter of Tom and has been reproduced in the book “Beyond The Horizon – Centenary of Mumby Farm 1894-1994″ by Jenny MacKay.
“Tom” married Norma Lymburner 18th October 1916 at Our Lady of Ara Coeli Catholic Church in Northampton. Norma (my grandmother) told me the story that Tom’s family were not happy that he changed his religion to Catholic, as they were Methodist. So much so, that David Williams Cripps, his brother wouldn’t ever speak to Norma. They went on to have a very fruitful marriage bearing 10 children.
When the first World War was on, Tom’s father Charles Cripps enlisted as none of the Cripps’ brothers were well enough to join. Apparently Tom had flat feet and although there is an article in the Geraldton newspaper of 1917 that Tom had enlisted in the AIF, no records of this have been found. Perhaps he only got as far as the medical. David was allergic to the woollen clothes and from his records he was discharged due to severe eczema and I’m not sure about Jack. Charles was 61 at the time and was away overseas for nearly 3 years.
A fair, generous, but strict man, Tom was a good hard worker and was very thorough and methodical in his work practice. He would always wear a hat and had a pipe in his mouth. He liked show days and loved tending his garden where he grew water melons and vegetables including potatoes, cauliflower etc planting the seedlings in nice straight rows using a taut string between two sharp sticks; depending on the length of the row the surplus string was wound round one of the sticks. This garden necessity was kept in the shed off-season. There was also a lovely orchard where lemons, oranges, mandarins, figs, mulberries and grapes grew well. The hose would be kept running slowly on the fruit trees all the time, throughout the day and night and Tom was always going over to the garden to shift the hose. He also tended to the chooks and ducks with the help of his wife Norma. A typical part of his working day would find him talking to the agents from Wesfarmers or Elders that would come out to visit the farm.
Tom loved his merino sheep, bringing them in from the paddocks for shearing or dipping and tending his stud rams that were his pride and joy. The children loved shearing time as they would play in the bales of bits and pieces of wool, stomping it down while Tom worked on the fleeces. In 1927 the first ewes and rams were purchased from South Australia to form the well-known Mumby Stud Merino Station. Tom was a foundation member and very loyal member of the Northern Stud Sheep Breeder’s Association.
He also loved the Show Days and would enter produce in many events including sheep, wool, grain and vegetables. He won many prizes for his efforts.
Tom rode a white horse called Lavender, and its knee always made a noise. If he rode over to the nearby neighbours farm at Trevenson, he could be heard coming home of an evening. The family knew when he was coming, as they would hear its knees making a noise from out on the verandah. Norma would say, “Listen! That’s Dad coming.”
Tom had a team of horses that would pull the plough around the paddocks and then be hitched to a trailer to cart the shorn wool into town. On the 14th December 1934, while at Mumby, Tom was called into court to plead his case “caused to be ill-treated certain horses, to wit, Sam, Pearl, Dandy, Bloss, Don, Drummer, Dick and Polly, contrary to the provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1920, section 4 (a).” His case was heard on the 19th December 1934 and Margaret remembers the occasion well. “Pop was working his team of horses and the collar had rubbed the shoulders until they were raw. He had been treating them by applying Vaseline, but still working them. He had to stop working the horses until the wounds were repaired.” This was a very common thing that used to happen to the teams of horses, depending on the workload.
Whenever Tom went into town (Northampton) on the day the lady in the shop was making ice cream, he would buy 2 shillings worth packed in ice. That would not have been much to go around all the children!! If there was no ice-cream, he would always come home with a bag of lollies instead and tip them out on the floor for all the children. They were allowed 5 each and Dolo the eldest would help hand them out. What a treat!!
The times when the family would all go to town, the children were each given a shilling to spend, when most other kids only got 3d or 6d. (pence).
The steam train would come to the Ogilvie siding twice a week, so on Tuesdays, Tom would go over and collect the mail and any other items that were due to arrive for both his family and their neighbours, the Hazlett’s at Chilmony. On Friday’s, Mr Sam Hazlett would take his turn. Norma (jnr) would often accompany her father on these trips and Margaret would say it was just to get out of doing the work!
All the farmers from the surrounding district would be there to collect their mail too and they would all stop to have a “pow wow”. No doubt the weather was one of the topics of conversation.
In the summer the train guards would sell cases of grapes for the grower’s in the south and it was just ‘heaven’ when Tom bought a case home to his family.
Tom was also very musical and played the piano, the piano accordion and the mouth organ, all by ear. Many happy times were spent around the piano singing to the tunes. It has also been said that he could recite the alphabet backwards.
There used to be a racetrack at the back of the Railway Hotel in Northampton. One time Tom went in a race this particular day but as he went around the race course he was running last so he thought he would cut across the paddock and see who won, but then decided that everyone would probably sling off at him if he pulled out so he kept going and ended up winning the race. He had been feeding his horse on wild oats, which must have kept him going, he came from last to come up to the front and win.
Tom became sick in 1942 and only stayed on the farm for another 3 or 4 years before moving to Geraldton to be closer to hospital. They lived for a time in Gregory Street before buying their house at 120 Shenton Street for £3000.
Norma nursed Tom for 15 years before he died on the 7th July 1958. He is buried in the Catholic portion of the Northampton cemetery.
Stories and memories as told by members of the Cripps family and interviews with Charlie Cripps by Jenny MacKay.
(c) Jenny MacKay 2018
Jenealogy Scrapbook 
Great story Jenny – not only of your grandfathers life but also a snapshot of life in Northampton back then .
You tell your family stories so well. Jenny, thanks for the interesting read.
Jenny, such an interesting read. It’s so good you collected all the details for the family reunion and reshape them here so they were not lost to History again. Fran
Thank you Fran. Yes, I am so thankful that I collected stories from my aunties and uncles to get a picture of who my grandfather was. I was only 3 when he died.
Congratulations Jenny – No 1…. How fascinating that he had to change his name by deed poll, although not an unusual occurrence. I have added the racing story to my “A Racy Affair” book that may or may not be printed. I suppose that race happened while his father was the licensee. (No… can’t have been – that was the 1880’s.)
GGrandfather died in 1923, so no, it wasn’t when he was licensee of the Miner’s Arms. Uncle Ernie told me that racing story, how accurate it is, is anyone’s guess. All good stuff though and I’m glad I got those stories. Only two left of the family now. Norma was 97 on Thursday, 4th.
Jenny you brought Tom to life again. What a fabulous person he was. Aunt Sarah and my Dad, Bert Turner, used to speak of him fondly. A wonderfully interesting read. Looking forward to the next one.
A very interesting read Jenny. Thanks for the info.