| Description | Including records of the joiner, builders and undertaking firm; personal diaries; Melbourne Baptist Church; Melbourne Choral Society; together with photographs of the family and Melbourne area. Personal diaries, correspondence, photographs and papers relating to campaign and occupational activities, of Marjorie Calow (1932-2016). Also family papers for Calow, Mear and Cook relatives, including executorship accounts, personal documents and several business records for George Mear of 30 Market Place, Melbourne |
| Administrative History | George Calow (1855-1934), joiner, builder and undertaker of George Street and North Street, Melbourne
Established his business in 1881 and married Elizabeth Cowley Smith in 1882. They had at least four sons: Arthur Robert (b 1883), Ernest John (1885-1917), Alfred Edwin (b 1887) and George Cowley (1895-1978).
George Cowley Calow (1895-1978)
Took over from his father in 1932. He had married Gladys Tivey in 1921; they had two daughters: Joyce Margaret (1929-1931) and Marjorie E (1932-2016). Gladys appears to be the younger sister of George's sister-in-law Flora who had married Ernest Calow in 1915.
Flora Mear, formerly Tivey, later Calow (1888-1968)
Flora Tivey married Ernest Calow (1885-1917) in 1915 and together they had one daughter, Doris (b 1916). Ernest was an ironmonger on the Market Place, Melbourne. When he died in 1917 a brief obituary and note of his funeral in the Derby Daily Telegraph of 5 Nov, described him as a 'highly respected inhabitant' of Melbourne. Flora remarried in 1925 to George Mear (b 1888 in Ticknall) and together they continued Ernest's business on the Market Place; Mrs Flora Calow rather than George or Flora Mear recorded in the Kelly's Trade Directories of 1928-1941. The 1939 register records George as a Boot and Shoe Finisher and Flora as undertaking unpaid domestic duties. Some records for the shop at 30 Market Place form part of the family archive. Flora and Ernest's daughter Doris married Charles Fitchett Cook (b 1912) in 1940, and some records for both are also to be found in this collection.
Marjorie Calow of Melbourne (1932-2016)
The youngest daughter of George and Gladys Calow, Marjorie briefly taught chemistry and became an analytical chemist at Boots. She had married Albert Harrison in 1953 and they were together for 22 years, divorcing in 1980. Marjorie had long been actively involved in feminist issues and in trade unions at a time when they were mostly a male preserve, and adopted a life of celibacy after her divorce. Her other main interests were literature and music. She documented and recorded her life meticulously and minutely, and has left a large volume of papers which she had packaged and marked up. |
| Custodial History | The first deposit of this family archive was made by Marjorie Calow (died 2016) in 1980. Further records, particularly relating to Marjorie herself, were donated to Derbyshire Record Office by her executors in September 2016 and March 2020. The donation of September 2016 was originally accessioned under reference D8019 and re-accessioned to the main family archive in March 2020. |