Early Residents - James Hunter Lawson (1836-1926)

Braemar

James Lawson was born in the Scottish seaport town of Greenock on 22 April 1836. Little is known of his childhood and youth, though by the time he immigrated to Australia at the age of nineteen he had acquired the trade of cabinet-maker. He arrived in Sydney in 1855.

Two years later, on 27 November 1857, Lawson married Emma Glen in St Andrews Cathedral. The following year they had a baby daughter, also named Emma. That same year he successfully applied for a hotel licence and became the licensee of the Royal Oak Hotel at Pyrmont. By 1865 the family had grown by three more children and Lawson had re-entered the furniture trade, establishing a furniture warehouse in the centre of Sydney in partnership with another businessman.

This business expanded rapidly over the next two decades and a large factory at Newtown was added to the enterprise. Lawson was able to bring his sons into the firm when they reached maturity and in the 1884 Sands Directory the business was listed as ‘Lawson, James & Sons, Cabinet-Makers, Art Furniture Manufacturers and Carpet Warehousemen’. The eldest son James Robert, however, left in the mid-1880s and established his own business, the auctioneering firm that still bears his name.

With his increasing prosperity James Hunter, like many other Sydney businessmen at the time, decided eventually to buy land in the Blue Mountains and build a country residence. At the end of the 1880s he purchased 60 acres at Springwood, with a frontage along the Western Road (now Macquarie Road), extending east from and including the Springwood Hotel built by Frank Raymond in 1877. He completely rebuilt the old hotel and opened it in January 1891 as The Oriental.

In the orchard adjoining the hotel Lawson next began construction of a cottage that was completed in 1892 and became known as Braemar. The Lawson’s appear to have occupied Braemar for no more than a couple of years, moving sometime in the mid-1890s into another home they had built next door.

This home, Glen Lawson, became James and Emma’s permanent residence for the rest of their lives. James Hunter built extensively in Springwood and settled a large extended family around him and his wife. On the eve of a trip to Europe in May 1900, he was praised in the press for contributing to the progress of the town ‘by erecting substantial buildings that would be a credit to any district’.

The Lawson’s were active in the Presbyterian Church (some services were held on the veranda of Braemar before the Frazer Memorial Church was opened) and in the movement to establish a School of Arts in Springwood.  In 1926, following a period of gradually declining health, James Hunter died on Friday 23 April. He was 90 years old. Within 24 hours his widow, Emma, who had appeared to be in fair health, had also passed away. The couple were buried together in Rookwood Cemetery.

John Low
Taken from: The Making of a Mountain Community, A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District 

Braemar c1990s

Marriage - Ethel Urquhart

Photographs are a wonderful resource of information and these portray the wedding day of Ethel Mary Isabel Urquhart, grand daughter of James Hunter Lawson -  and daughter of (the late) John Ferguson Urquhart of Aberdeenshire Scotland -  who married William Earl Blanchard Chadwick in 1914, in the Frazer Memorial Presbyterian Church Springwood. Chadwick was the son of Robert Chadwick of Glenbrook, while James Hunter Lawson, who gave his grand daughter away,  lived in the cottage Glen Lawson at Springwood. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. J. McKee assisted by Rev. Ernest Ferguson. 

The bride wore her grandmother's Limerick lace wedding veil over a gown of 'dull soft ivory satin' and Limerick lace with sprays of orange blossom. Chief bridesmaid was Miss Eileen Lawson who wore a shell-pink brocaded ninon and a mob cap.  The other bridesmaids were the Misses Lennox; Olga, Jean and Sheila Lawson, and Glennie Chadwick, who wore gold brooches and carried floral crooks the gift of the bridegroom.  William Chadwick, cousin of the groom was the best man.  The guests adjorned to Braemar after the ceremony where the wedding breakfast was served.  The newly married couple motored to the South Coast for their honeymoon.

Pamela Smith

Ref:

Blue Mountains City Council local studies collection image file.

Sydney Morning Herald 17th October, 1914, p. 8. 

Springwood School of Arts - a short history

In the early years of the 20^th century Mechanic’s Institutes or a School of Arts building was a common feature in most villages in the Blue Mountains.   However, as a “movement” their history is much older.  The first was established in Scotland in 1821, with the aim of improving the intellect of its members through the “diffusion of useful knowledge,” and to nurture “literature, science and art.”[i]  It was not too long before these “civilising institutes” appeared in the new Colony and with a land grant - courtesy of Governor Richard Bourke - the Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts opened its doors in 1833.  It still exists to this day, and their a web site indicates the institute has moved along with new technology being available on Facebook and Twitter. 

Springwood was not so fortunate because even though a committee formed in 1901, fund raising activities and the promise of a block of land by James Hunter Lawson (owner of Braemar & the Oriental Hotel) came to nought.[ii]  In fact one of the members of that early committee is thought to have absconded with the funds.

The Springwood School of Arts finally opened its doors in 1913, with Mr. Brinsley Hall MP officiating. A commemorative booklet published for the event stated the committee overcame “great difficulties” and “discouragement” to bring about the end result.[iii]  The graceful Federation style building was well-ventilated and lit with Benzoli Air Gas lights.  As well as a well stocked library, the building contained reading and committee rooms, and a “fine billiard room” - lined in Australian timber -  containing two excellent billiard tables.[iv] 

School of Arts & Coo-ee March

When barely twelve months old the building provided overnight accommodation and comfort for men who took part in the Co-ee March.  Later, the institute became the scene of World War One commemorations when captured enemy machine guns and the Honor Roll were placed in their keeping.  A newspaper article in 1919 suggested the Springwood Schools of Arts was “indispensable” and a fine institution “for our young men” because no signs of gambling or objectionable behaviour were tolerated within the “cosy comfort” of its walls.  Indeed, mothers and wives were being asked to encourage their sons and husbands to join. 

Research indicates however that despite these overtures to the general community the institution did not realise its primary objectives until the 1940s.  Until then it functioned more like an elite men’s club catering to the upper-class demographics of the area at that time. But, by the 1940s all that had changed.  In 1943 the Australian Labour Party held meetings there and Red Cross ladies conducted fund raising activities from the veranda of the building.  During the 1940’s Horace Lindrum, Australia’s first professional snooker and billiards player was a regular visitor.   Lindrum (who would go on to win the World Snooker Title in 1952) was featured in a competition to aid the Australian Comforts Fund in 1944.  They raised £56.

 In 1946 an essay competition held by the institution was judged by one-time resident, Supreme Court Judge and patron of the Arts, Rae Else Mitchell.  Else Mitchell Park Springwood is named in his honour.

Over the ensuing years the building was used by a range of organisations like the local historical society, Boy Scouts & Guides, dance and musical groups, The Old Age Pensioners Association, Citizens Recruitment League, Red Cross and Children’s Library Group conducted by caricaturist, cartoonist and artist George Finey.  During its lifetime it provided a venue for community celebrations and entertainments, as well as charitable and wartime efforts. 

In the years following World War Two the institution, which had never been strongly supported, faced competition from new technology like the advent of television.  Nevertheless, the building was used right up until its demolition in 1969.  The Foundation Stone now graces the School of Arts Town Square.

* The photograph below suggests the use of a commercial premises in Springwood for the School of Arts prior to 1913. The location is thought to have been in one of the shops on the Western side of the Frazer Memorial Church.

Pamela Smith

     

[i] The Dictionary of Sydney, www.dictionaryofsydney.org

[ii] Nepean Times, 31.8.1901.

[iii] Booklet in the ownership of the late Ern Lesslie.

[iv] Nepean Times, 10.5.1913.

Springwood images courtesy of Springwood Library and local studies collection

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