THURLOW, John William and Lily Elsie  néeThompson

John William and Lily Elsie (née Thompson) Thurlow

John William (II), 1889-1919, the first of ten children, named after his Australian-born father, was born at Vinegar Flat, a former goldfield site near St Bathans in Central Otago, New Zealand. John William was a carpenter, railway worker and millhand. He sustained a head injury when a rafter fell on him after which he worked on the railway. His next job was as a cook at the Seacliff Mental Hospital and afterwards at the Woollen Mills in Milton, Otago.

John married Lily Elsie Thompson, the daughter of James, a sawyer from Glasgow and an English-born mother, Mary Dewe. Lily was born at Port Molyneux which stands at the entrance of the Clutha River on the south-east coast of New Zealand's South Island. At the time of their marriage in 1916, John was an attendant at the Seacliffe Asylum and Lily was a woollen mills employee from Milton.

Some difference of opinion exists as to the year of Lily's birth. According to official records she was born, or at least her birth was registered[1] as 14 October 1896.  Another record[2] reveals Lily’s birth as 7 October 1895. As one would expect Lily’s maiden surname appears with and without the letter ‘p’, depending on the documentation.

John William was diagnosed as having Tuberculosis before his marriage and, although both parties were aware of his condition, it did not deter the couple from proceeding with wedding plans. These circumstances did give rise to some mental anguish for both families which was quite understandable. Their married life together was a brief one – lasting from 11th October 1916 to 22nd May 1919─a mere 2 years and 7 months.

It was therefore not surprising to learn that, on the death of John William (II) the families lost touch and for this reason, there exists in the history of the Thurlow family, a void which has been difficult to reconstruct. John and Lily's marriage resulted in the birth of two sons: John Robinson and Walter Raymond. John Robinson married but his brother, Walter Raymond remained single. Both lived in Invercargill for a number of years.

Left with two young sons, Lily sought solace in a new life and spurred on by the wish to have John and Walter cared for and raised in the comfort of a happy, family environment, the young mother married her cousin, Arthur Dewe in 1922 at Balclutha. This union resulted in the birth of two more children: Gladys, born in 1923 and Arnold born in 1931.

Lily Elsie Dewe was nursed and cared for in her twilight years by her eldest son, John and family at their Invercargill home. Lily died in 1979 and was buried in the local cemetery on 20 January. Causes of death were recorded in the registry as Bronchopneumonia, Neutropoma─acute myeloblastic leukaemia, Acute change from chronic myeloblastic leukaemia, Parkinson's disease and Cancer of the breast.

Arthur Dewe, Lily's second husband, died a short time afterwards in 1980.