In the late 19th century, William Conn was the owner of one of the finest commercial establishments in Lambton. Conn was born in Durham (UK) in 1841 and emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1864, initially working at a mine in Hamilton before opening a store in Lambton.

This month’s photo by Ralph Snowball shows William standing by the front door of his large grocery and produce store on the north west corner of Elder and Morehead streets. At his side is one of his daughters, while upstairs on the balcony is his wife Sophia with their four other children.

While the ground floor was devoted to commerce, upstairs was the family residence and a large room capable of seating 200 people. This “Temperance Hall” was used in the campaign against the social ills of alcohol. Many other community gatherings, political meetings, church anniversary teas and public lectures were held in the hall.

The grand appearance of this building with its veranda’s and colonnades was no accident, for it was designed in 1885 by a young up and coming architect Frederick B Menkens, who would go on to design some of the city’s iconic buildings such as the Mechanics Institute in Hamilton and the Earp, Gillam & Co Bond Store in Newcastle East.

Unfortunately, the prosperity of William Conn captured in Snowball’s photo evaporated in the late 1890s with a series of bad financial investments. “In one undertaking, which was regarded as safe as a bank he lost upwards of £300.” In 1900 he was forced to sell off his business and depart the district. He had been an enduring contributor to civic life, serving 7 years as an alderman on Lambton Council, including two years as Mayor.

The hall William built continued to be used for many decades, and was variously known as Bell’s Hall, Empire Hall, and Tiplady’s Hall. After residing in Wallsend for about 20 years, William Conn died on 2 June 1921 and was buried in Sandgate cemetery.

The article above was first published in the May 2020 edition of The Local.

Additional Information

The date of Snowball’s Photo

Ralph Snowball’s photos of Conn’s store in the University of Newcastle Cultural Collections (photo 1, photo 2) are undated. However an approximate date can be gleaned from the following information.

• Conn’s “Temperance Hall” is mentioned in Trove in a very defined and narrow window of 1886 to 1892.
• The start date of 1886 is consistent with the call for tenders for alterations and additions to the building in October 1885 and Conn asking Council for permission to store building materials on the footpath in Elder St in March 1886.
• The signs on the front of the store do not look brand new – there is a bit of weathering, so I’d suggest that the photo is a few years after 1886.
• Elder St originally had quite a deep stormwater gutter running along the north kerb of the street. This can clearly be seen in the photo’s of Conn’s store.
  
  

  Elder St gutter before 1888.

  
  In January 1888 Lambton Council called for tenders for an underground culvert in Elder St, that was “to be constructed under the present gutter on the north side of the street“. This work was in progress by April 1888. After the underground culvert was constructed, aboveground the street had an ordinary sized gutter as seen in this 1901 photo. (Note that the 1890 date in the caption of this photo on the UoN site is incorrect – the correct date is 16 Nov 1901. This date is corroborated by searches in Trove that show references to “Bell’s Hall” in Lambton only from 1900, the year that Conn sold his premises and departed Lambton.)
  
  

  Elder St gutter in 1901.

The evidence of the gutter and culvert construction indicate that the photos of Conn’s store must be before April 1888. Combined with the evidence of the weathering of the signs, I think the most likely date for the photo is either 1887 or early 1888.

We know that Conn’s eldest child Ella was born in 1876, and his youngest child Cyril was born in 1883. If the photo was taken in 1888, Ella would have been about 12 years, and Cyril about 5 years of age, and this is consistent with the children we see in the photo.

Later history of the site

By August 1900 the site was owned by E Bell and Snowball photographed the building on 16 November 1901.

The following year “Bell’s Hall” was the venue for a banquet to celebrate the return of Albert Henry McEwan from the Boer War.

By 1905, the site hosted E D’Este Boots and Shoes, and Snowball photographed the building on 8 September 1905.

Note that the hall upstairs has now been name the “Empire Hall”.

By December 1909 the assembly room was known as “Mr. Tiplady’s hall”, and references to Tiplady’s Hall continue in Trove up until November 1937.

Additional Biographical Details

On 3 November 1894, the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate published and article “Our Civic Fathers. The Mayor of Lambton” in which they profiled Alderman William Conn.

Alderman William Conn, the present Mayor of the municipality of Lambton, is a native of the County of Durham, in England. He is now 53 years of age, and came to the colony with his parents in 1864. Shortly after his arrival he settled in this district, and has resided here ever since. In 1873 Alderman Conn was married, and he now has a family of five children.

(Note that the article is in error in stating that he was first elected to Hamilton Council – it was Lambton Council he was elected to in 1878.)

Newspaper articles