The extraordinary will of William Mitchner - 1918

The William Mitchner shelter, at the Warwick Cemetery. The granite hewn cross of Winifred Mary Daveney in the foreground. Photograph Simon Hamlet July 2017.

The landscape of the Warwick Cemetery is dominated by a brick shelter, built from the bequest of a Mr William Mitchner.  The cemetery signage offers little information on the man. A lack of information is just the taunt a 'Trover' like myself needs to go looking. This post seeks to provide some information about William Mitchner and his bequest, with details mostly derived from the National Library of Australia's newspaper archive, Trove.  A later post will provide some information on the drama that arose as a consequence of the will.

Prior to his death Mitchner leaves little evidence of himself in the public record, however the extraordinary nature of his bequest appears in the newspapers for several decades after that event.  Of the 125 results in Trove for “William Mitchner” only six refer to him as a living person. These early articles provide us with the following scraps of information: - He was the mortgagee of the Plough Inn, Palmerin Street, Warwick when it was destroyed by fire in 1881[1]. He was the mortgager of the Royal Hotel at Clifton for some time [2]. He challenged the evaluation of his land for rates purposes [3, 4].

Later articles reflecting on the impact of his bequest provide the following details of his life. Mitchner was born in Lewin, Prussia (now Poland), in 1841 [5]. He came to Queensland in 1864 [5] though he did not make it to Allora until 1872, where he worked as fireman / engineer at the Allora flour mill, before taking over a shop [6]. He became a naturalised British subject in 1866 [5], and Queensland was still a colony of Britain at this time. “He never married, but devoted his life to patient toil and religious observance” [5].

A bust of William Mitchner at the Warwick General Cemetery.  Photograph Simon Hamlet July 2017.

In 1918 there is a flurry of amazement in the papers at the nature and generosity of his bequest, with some newspaper articles listing the will in full.  Totalling over £35,000 the estate’s worth was roughly equivalent to $3,000,000 in today’s money [7]. The will specified a number of beneficiaries, summarised below based on the report in the Darling Downs Gazette of 15 June 1918 [8].

1. General Hospital, Toowoomba - 50 shares and £100.
2. Warwick General Hospital - 40 shares of Warwick Farmers Milling Co.
3. £1,500 General Cemetery Warwick. For erection and maintenance of a shelter, vault, bust and belfry. With a request that a bell be tolled on the approach of all funerals.
4. £800 for the same purpose.
5. Request that he be buried where he dies if in either Allora or Warwick, but if he dies elsewhere that he be buried in Warwick.
6. £200 to be invested for 50 years and the proceeds to benefit both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches in Warwick, with the principal being divided after 50 years.
7. £100 to be invested for 50 years and the proceeds to benefit both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches in Allora, with the principal being divided after 50 years.
8. £750 for the land, building and furnishing of a stone church at Hendon, complete with bell and organ.
9. The balance of the estate to be placed in the trust of the German Consul of Brisbane, when appointed, and the following disbursements made:
1. £600 to the Tautz family,
2. £1,000 to be invested in trust for an Elizabeth Conrad, then at her death £500 to be invested as she sees fit and £500 for the erection of a steeple and bell in the church at Lewin (Germany), together with busts of both himself and Elizabeth.
3. £7,000 for the construction of a school in Lewin with provision for the purchase of 15 acres of land for the purpose.  For more detailed instruction see the Trove article.
4. £2,500 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic priest at Lewin for the provision of children during the winter months.
5. £2,000 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic priest at Lewin for the provision of comforts and clothing for the students of the school.
6. £1,000 to be invested and the income be entrusted to Mayor and councillors of Lewin for the provision of soup kitchen in the months of December, January and February for the poor and needy.
7. £300 to be invested and the income be entrusted to the Roman Catholic parish priest at Lewin for the running of the church, with the principal being available for permanent improvements after 50 years.
8. As in (g) for the Roman Catholic parish priest at Reinerz.
9. As in (h) for the Roman Catholic parish priest at Dresden, Saxony.
10. £50 provision for a new tombstone of a relative in Lewin.
11. A series of town improvements which would come up for public sale after 50 years with equal one third distribution between the educational institution he founded, his living relatives in Lewin and “all Christian Lodges and Societies in  Lewin”.  Improvements are:
1. £1,450 on a farm near the school, including farmhouse and machinery.
2. £6,850 on a flour mill near the school and railway, fully equiped.
3. £2,750 for the building and fitting of a hotel in Lewin.

We can perhaps read between the lines that for William Mitchner his early life in Lewin was hard, especially in the winter months.  His provision of education, support and employment for the townspeople shows a very practical understanding of the struggles of the people.

We may also be curious about his provision for a married woman, Elizabeth Conrad, for whom no blood linkage is demonstrated.  One commentator says “Perhaps she was the reason why William Mitchner did not call to himself a mate to help him in his solitary life in Queensland” [5].

Mitchner’s estate is blog worthy on its own merit, but events that transpire because of it are also intriguing.  This will be the content of my next post.

References

[1] The Recent Fire in Palmerin-street. (1881, September 3). Warwick Argus (Qld. : 1879 - 1901), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75661440

[2] Supreme Court. (1904, May 13). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174308936

[3] Warwick municipal Assessment. (1883, May 12). Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82088074

[4] ALLORA. (1886, May 22). Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84382310

[5] Thirteen Australian Judges Sat On A German Farmer's Nest Egg! (1927, July 24). Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), p. 13. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203939012

[6] Queensland Government (2016) Warwick General Cemetery https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602152  

[7] Relative worth calculator  http://www.thomblake.com.au/secondary/hisdata/query.php accessed July 19, 2017

[8] LATE WILLIAM MITCHNER. (1918, June 15). Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922), p. 5. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183238474