Madeline Geary Henderson's trust

This is the story of the property trust established by Robert Henderson for his granddaughter, Madeline. Read my earlier post for the background to this trust.

Madeline Mary Geary Henderson was the second child of Robert Geary Henderson and Hannah Wallbridge.  Her grandfather, Robert Henderson Sr set up a trust in his will to provide for Madeline's care and schooling and to give her a good start in life. He may have had concerns that Madeline's father would squander the family fortune and not care properly for Madeline and her brother. (If you read about the other trusts, you will see that any such fears were well justified.)

Madeline's trust consisted of two parcels of land in Darling Harbour:

Diagram of the property included in Madeline Henderson's trust. This diagram was contained
with the papers from Robert's lawyers.

• The hotel known as the Dove Inn in the corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets in Sydney.
• A row of houses running from the Dove Inn, along Sussex Street.

It is likely that there was a wharf at the end of the row of houses, and this would have been linked to the Inn through the yard shown behind the houses. This wharf would have been included in the property.

Madeline was 14 and at boarding school when her grandfather died. While she remained a minor, any income from the trust was be applied to her care and education, as well her advancement in life. Once she was 21, she would be able to use the income for her own benefit or choose how it would be applied.

Madeline remained at her boarding school until she was married Joseph Keele in 1875. Tragically, Joseph died six months later and Madeline was left a widow (and pregnant) at just 20 years of age. After her daughter Josephine was born, Madeline went to stay with her brother, Robert, at the Kincumber property he had inherited in his trust. While there, she met Manasseh Ward, whose family owned the neighbouring property. They married in 1877.  In the ensuing 20 years, Madeline gave birth to another 13 children, 10 surviving to adulthood.

In 1878, the Trustees leased part of the property to John See and James Kidman for 90 years, for an annual rent of £248. They separately leased the hotel and boarding house for seven years. In 1887, the hotel and boarding house were leased to John See for 50 years for £400 per year. The £648 combined rental was the equivalent of almost 10 times the income of an average worker in 1888.

The trustees appointed under Robert Henderson's will retired in 1897 and the Permanent Trustee Company was appointed to administer the trust. 

In 1900, The Colonial Government announced the resumption of a large swathe of the Sydney waterfront for a redevelopment project. Madeline's property was included. Compensation was paid in 1903, with over £19,000 paid for the Dove in and houses belonging to Madeline. Unfortunately for Madeline, 92% of the compensation was paid to the people who held the long-term lease, and Madeline's trust was left with just over £1,800. While this was a lot less that the property was worth, it was still about 18 times the average wage at the time.

The trustees reinvested the money on terrace houses in Glebe. I am not exactly sure how many houses they bought and an earlier family researcher found that some of the houses were also resumed. But at the end of the trust, there were 20 brick houses in two terraces. There were 16 houses in Glebe Road (now Glebe Point Road) and four houses in Bridge Road.

Madeline and Manasseh were not dependent on the trust for their daily needs, but the trust enabled them to educate their family and also to live comfortably. Both Manasseh and Madeline had other property holdings that would have earned money from rents. The reliability of the trust income probably allowed Manasseh to devote his time to civic duties and he served many terms on local Councils.

While Madeline seemed content to let her trust run its course, not all her children were as patient. The youngest child Bruce first mortgaged his rights to the trust in 1918 and then sold them in 1920. Roy likewise sold his rights in 1920.

Madeline died in 1934. The trustees sought to get the approval of the beneficiaries to sell the real estate properties. However Madeline's eldest child, Josephine was in care in the USA and was not able to approve the sale. The trust would not be wound up until after Josephine's death in 1964. I have not discovered the precise details of the final winding up of the trust, but based on documents from Josephine's Australian probate file, and family recollections, it was finalised in about 1965. An estimate of the value of the trust done for Josephine's probate was over $140,000, roughly 60 times the average annual income. Each of the 11 shares would have been worth around $12,800. 

I think that Madeline's grandfather would have been happy with the trust he established for Madeline. It probably the only one of the four trusts that he created that did what he intended, and allowed Madeline to live a comfortable life.