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George was born on 16 February 1863, the son of Henry Dixon and Catherine Eliza Cheke, at Bangalore, India.
He became an insurance clerk with the Liverpool and London. In 1886 he married Mary Augusta Dixon (known as Minnie), daughter of an Army officer, and they moved to Woodford, Essex, just north of London, where they lived at "Belle Vue", Grove Hill Road. They had two children there. In 1900 they moved to 2 Connaught Villas, Stanley Road, Woodford. In 1910 George Smith was a witness at his sister's wedding (she married William Drakeford, the spy). By World War I the Dixons were at "Ashmount", Fullers Road, Woodford [this address was later 2 Ash Villas, 62 Fullers Road], and just after the war they left Woodford. George had worked his way up through the insurance ranks and was now well-off. In 1929 he retired, and by 1930 they were in Bude, Cornwall. In 1933 Messrs Joll, builders, built the first house on Fairfield Road, Bude (it became No. 28). The next house was across the street, Number 30, and George bought No. 30 in 1934 and moved in with Minnie. Phyll would move in later after she returned from her Australian disaster. |
No. 30 Fairfield Road was not a big house, but it was compact. The front garden was the size of a postage stamp, with a circular walk around a tree in the center. On going in the front door, the stairs were dead ahead. At first George and Minnie had the bedroom at the top of the stairs and Phyll slept in the one next to it. The front bedroom was a spare. Next to the front bedroom was the bathroom. Downstairs, beneath the bathroom and to the left of the stairs as you went in the front door, was the study, with its bow windows, and then the living room crowded with antiques and old books. Beyond the big, well-appointed kitchen at the back was a large, splendid garden with all sorts of vegetables growing - peas, runner beans, broad beans. George had a gardener manage it.
It was a Victorian atmosphere at No. 30, both George and Minnie being very old-fashioned. But it wasn't long before they started to become ill. Minnie, who some time before had had to have a breast removed because of cancer, now started to lose her faculties, and became bedridden. George, a tiny, frail, white haired man, ruptured his stomach and was forced to wear a tight-fitting corset to hold his gut in place. |
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He moved downstairs into the study, where he set up his bed in one corner, and his writing desk - complete with pen and inkwell - in another, and his easel and paints in another. He would spend all day there, painting watercolors, or writing, or reading his mail. He stopped going out, but several people came to visit. It got to the point where George and Minnie led totally separate lives, never saw each other.
Daisy Jennings was the housekeeper, who brought all of Minnie's meals up to her on a tray. Minnie, a very soft, kindly, pink, old lady, very nice, with a deep, husky voice, wore mittens with only the fingers showing. George "Ructions" Jennings was, in 1946, a 50-year-old farmer living at Hobbacott Plain, about 12 miles from Bude. Ructions had been badly gassed during World War I (it would eventually kill him). Daisy Tugela Hines was Ructions' second wife. She was a housekeeper by trade, and the daughter of a coal-boat skipper. After she and Ructions got married she refused to look after Ructions' children by his first wife and so, bedeviled by ill health, Ructions was forced to place them in the Dr Barnardos's Homes. Ructions and Daisy Tugela then had five children of their own - Grace, Ray, Michael, Margaret and Horace. The winter of 1946-47 in Cornwall was the coldest in living memory. Hobbacott Plain had no running water and no electricity, and Daisy Tugela, being clairvoyant, saw the bad weather coming, and told her family that unless they got out of Hobbacott Plain they wouldn't survive. Phyll Dixon had |
just died, so she moved in with the Dixons at 30 Fairfield Road, Bude, and other Jenningses moved in shortly thereafter.
Ructions, Daisy and Ray took Phyll's bedroom, and Grace the spare room. By this stage both George Smith and Minnie Augusta were deteriorating rapidly. Daisy would do the housekeeping and Grace would do the shopping, which included going to the fish shop for Minnie's favorite food - sand dabs. Daisy had to dress old George because he was failing fast. However, he kept all his mental faculties until the end, developing an interest in Antarctica when he learned that his son was going to lead an expedition there. Minnie would always be writing letters to "My Manley", as she called her son George Manley Dixon. George Smith died in 1947 and the following year George Manley came over from Sydney to sell the house, crate up the belongings, and make arrangements for Minnie to be flown out to Australia. Neighbor Dorothy Brimmicombe took Minnie to Heathrow on the train, and put her on the plane bound for Sydney. George Manley Dixon's friend Walter Haddon Burke had converted his parents' old house, 62 Aubin Street, Neutral Bay, Sydney, into a nursing home, and that's where Minnie Augusta went. She died of carcinoma of the colon. The funeral was at a private chapel, 263 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, on April 7, 1953, and she was cremated at Northern Suburns Crematorium. |
| Charmian Phyllis | Born May 1890 | Woodford, Essex | Died a spinster, abt 1946 | ||
| George Manley | Born 30 Dec 1898 | Woodford, Essex | Married Anita Kelly, Judith Esme Butler |
| George Smith Dixon |
b: 16 Feb 1863 Bangalore, India son of Henry Dixon and Catherine Eliza Cheke |
| Minnie Augusta Drake |
b: 1866 Pimlico, Chelsea, London daughter of William Drake and Mary Topping |
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abt 1886 George Smith Dixon Minnie Augusta Drake | London 1886 3Q Chelsea 1a 629 |
| Charmian Phyllis Dixon |
b: May 1890 c: 6 Jul 1890 Holy Trinity, Woodford, Essex 1890 2Q West Ham 4a 179 daughter of George Smith Dixon and Minnie Augusta Drake |
| 1891 Census | RG12-1359 | 6 April 1891 | Woodford, Essex | ||
| Grove Hill Road | |||||
|
George Smith Dixon Minnie A. (Wife) Chariman P. Catherine M. (Sister) Plus 1 Servant |
Age 27 Age 25 Age 11 Mo Age 29 |
Insurance Clerk |
Bangalore Pimlico Woodford Sydenham |
India London Essex Kent |
abt 1863 abt 1864 abt 1890 abt 1861 |
| George Manley Dixon |
b: 30 Dec 1898 c: 12 Mar 1890 St. Mary's, Woodford, Essex 1899 1Q West Ham 4a 407 son of George Smith Dixon and Minnie Augusta Drake |
| 1901 Census | RG13-1634 | 1 April 1901 | Woodford, Essex | ||
| 2 Connaught Villas) | |||||
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George Smith Dixon Minnie A. (Wife) Phyllis A. George M. |
Age 38 Age 34 Age 10 Age 2 |
Insurance Clerk |
Bangalore Chelsea Woodford Woodford |
India London Essex Essex |
abt 1863 abt 1864 abt 1890 abt 1899 |
| 1911 Census | RG14-124 | 3 April 1911 | Woodford, Essex | ||
| "Ashmount" Fuller's Road (8 Rooms) | |||||
|
George Smith Dixon Minnie Augusta (Wife) Phyllis Avril (Dau) Plus 1 Servant |
Age 48 Age 45 Age 20 |
Fire Insurance Clerk |
Bangalore Chelsea Woodford |
India London Essex |
abt 1863 abt 1864 abt 1890 |
| George Smith Dixon |
Died 8 Mar 1947 at 30 Fairfield Road, Bude, Cornwall 1947 1Q Stratton 7a 305 |
| DIXON, George Smith, of 30 Fairfield-road, Bude, Cornwall, died 8 March 1947, Administration (With Will) Bodin, 11 August, to Minnie Augusta Dixon, widow, Attorney of George Manley Dixon. Effects £1,168 7s. 8d. |
| Minnie Augusta (Drake) Dixon |
Died 4 Apr 1953 at 62 Aubin Street, Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia Cremated 7 Apr 1953, in Sydney |