Maximillan George Brinsmead

Early Years

Maximillan George Brinsmead came into the world on February 21st, 1890 in the Glebe district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was the second child of Horace George Brinsmead and his wife Alice Maud Mary Lanham. Three years later, on February 26th, he was baptized at St. Marys church, Western Line (Sydney) by the Rev. Charles Thomas Sackville-West.

His father Horace was the youngest child of John and Susan Brinsmead, the head of England's largest piano manufacturer. Unlike his elder siblings, who immediately went into the family firm, Horace chose to go to sea. Young Horace was, at times, a champion boxer, a plantation owner, a businessman and on behalf of the John Brinsmead and Sons and later on his own account. Most, but not all of this, was in Australia. Horace married Alice Maude Lanham in Sydney in He travelled the country and particularly spent time in the Cairns area of Queensland where Max's elder sister Anne was born in 1887.

An early experience for young Max was to accompany his parents to the Hobart International Exhibition, held in 1894 and 1895. The Brinsmead Piano firm had a large display in the Exhibition.

 

 

Family Return to England

By the turn of the century Horace had been called back to help the family firm in London. The 1901 census shows eleven year old Max living with his family at 32 Stavely Gardens in Hampstead. After his father's death, at the time of the 1911 census, Max was living at home with his mother Alice, his younger sister Una, and his younger brother Denis at 4 Wilton Road, Muswell Hill in North London.

Marriage to Doris

Max married two years after the end of WWI to Doris Ella Hargraves. Doris was born in Sudbury (Wembley) England, in May of 1887, the daughter of James Arthur and Marian Hargreaves. Her father was a stock broker and later a wine agent.

They wed in Singapore, on October 28th, 1920. They sent word home to England by telegram.

A career in the Rubber Plantations

On July 27, 1912, Max left his family in London heading to Penang on the Malay Peninsular. He worked for a large British firm called Harrisons and Crossfield. That company originated in the 1850's as tea and coffee traders. They acquired a number of plantations in the far east, increasingly diversifying into rubber and timber. In fact, most of their tea interests were later transferred to Twining and Crossfield. Max's field appears to have involved rubber. He worked on the Tanah Datar Rubber Estate on the east coast of Sumatra.

We anticipate obtaining further information on Max's years in Malaya once we review the Harrisons and Crossfield records housed in the London Metropolitan Achieves.

Trips back to England

Max and Doris made a least a couple of trips back to England between the wars. Max left Liverpool on the Leicestershire, bound for Colombo and Rangoon on March 12, 1920, traveling alone. The couple returned again and, while in England, they stayed with family at 53 Elgin Mansions, Maida Vale. They returned to Port Belawan, Sumatra, leaving Southampton on July 31st, 1931, on the Baloeran, travelling first class, with stops at Marseilles, and Port Said. In 1936 Max and Doris left the Far East from Penang, sailing on the Patroclus to London where they disembarked on August 7th, 1936.

World War Two

We have no detail of Max's service in WWII beyond the fact that he enlisted in the Army Citizen Military Forces at Paddington, New South Wales. His service Number was N409422.

Retirement back to Sydney

The Australian Electoral Rolls for 1949 and 1954 show Max living at 24 Cumbec Lane, Dolans Bay, just south of Sydney. In 1958 Max and Doris are living nearby at 19 Marlo Road, Cronulla, Hughes, New South Wales, a lovely beach side suburb about 25 kilometres south of central Sydney. By 1963 they had moved to 11 Gerrale Street, Cronulla.

Doris died in Cronulla, Australia on January 29, 1964 at age 73,. She appears to have been cremated and her remains are interred in the Woronora Memorial Park, Sutherland, New South Wales.

Max returned to England. The 1965 electoral register shows him living at 28 Linthorpe Avenue, Wembley with his sister Una. He died on August 8th, 1969. His probate record shows him living at 28 Norton Road, Wembley. He left £5,800.