In a small orange box pushed to the back of the shelf at a Sydney auction house Michael Delhaas found a link to the Pender family dynasty, almost a century since John Wiltshire Pender’s death.
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He was the only person to bid on a collection of old legal documents, housed in a plastic sleeve, during an online auction and won them for $5.
Inside he saw a copy of J.W Pender’s will, his wife Jane’s original death certificate, and cancelled share certificates with Pender Brothers Limited, dated 1907, and issued to their children William Samuel, George Thomas, Martha Jane, Jessie May and Jeannie Baker, and grandchildren Emily Maud and Flora Annie.
Probate documents for Martha Jane and Jessie May, the original marriage certificate of J.W. Pender, the second, to Isabella Phillips, and a handwritten letter from Ada Mary Ann Jor Foon, of Say Chow, near Canton, China, were also in the plastic sleeve.
The letter said J.W. Pender had been granted power of attorney over the sale of land in the west Maitland area.
“I put a bid on it on a whim,” Mr Delhaas said. “To think that the Pender family’s life fits into a little orange box on a shelf ... It’s an archive of the whole family.”
Filled with a burning curiosity, Mr Delhaas and his mother Christine delved into life in Maitland a century ago.
They were astounded when they learned the family was prominent in Maitland and had a trail of buildings they had designed across the region.
“I’ve been collecting old documents at auctions for more than 20 years and you don’t come across this kind of family history very often,” Mr Delhaas said.
“I like the idea of knowing more about people in history rather than historical events.”
It is not known where the documents have spent the past century, or how they ended up at the auction.
Mr Delhaas assumes they came from the deceased estate of a relative or a clean-out at a solicitor’s office.
The documents are handwritten or typed onto thin pieces of paper and are in prime condition.
“It suggests they have been executed, then put away in the family home and not looked at for decades,” Mr Delhaas said.
“The wording in the will is very old fashioned,” Mrs Delhaas added.
An Australian Joint Stock Bank document, dated 1880, that relates to the will of widow Ann Sherwood was also with the Pender documents.
It says she appointed J.W. Pender and Robert James as the executors and trustees of her estate.
Pender family’s architecture lives on more than a century later
Some of Maitland’s most iconic buildings are a testament to the Pender family’s architectural dynasty, which spanned three generations in the Hunter.
Aberglasslyn House was among the first projects John Whiltshire Pender oversaw as foreman of his uncle’s business, John Pender and Sons, when he came to Maitland in the 1850s to cash-in on the housing boom.
He started his own architectural practice in 1863 and kicked off with Morpeth School of Arts hall, which opened that year.
It was the start of a business that spanned 125 years and became one of the longest running firms of its kind in the world.
Pender designed and built several mansions including Cintra House, Benhome, Pinehurst House, Anambah House, the 54-room Belltrees homestead in Scone and Saumarez Homestead near Armidale.
He also worked on cottages, school houses, a bank, St Luke’s Anglican Church in Scone, and his own home in Church Street.
The career path utilised his skills as a Scottish architect, joiner and carpenter and ensured his legacy lived on.
Pender passed the business onto his son Walter Harold, who expanded the legacy to war memorials, picture theatres and hotels and then passed it onto his son Ian Walter, who died in 1988.
His death saw the firm close its doors.
Ian’s son Andrew also became an architect but decided to pursue the career independently in Sydney.
The shopping Pender Place was named after the family.
Michael Delhaas, who paid $5 for old Pender family documents at an online auction, hopes to pass them onto a descendant or give them back to Maitland.
Phone 49310100 or email maitland@fairfaxmedia.com.au if you can help reunite the old records with the Pender family.