Alice Ann Withycombe – an exemplary seamstress

A finely carved headstone in Woola Cemetery, near Taree, marks the final resting place of Alice Ann Withycombe (née Thompson).

Alice was born in the Manning region in 1874¹ and, in 1895 she married Herbert Edward Withycombe, an English born migrant.² Their early married life was spent in Port Macquarie, where Herbert purchased the business of Mr Webster, a hairdresser, who had left for South Africa.³ Alice worked as a dressmaker, apparently from the same premises in Horton Street.⁴

Herbert’s business soon ran into financial difficulties and the death of their infant daughter, Nina, in 1896 compounded their woes.⁵

They eventually returned to the Manning region, only to have their marriage fail in 1908 when Herbert deserted Alice, leading to a divorce in 1912.⁶

With a ten year old son to support Alice joined the Department of Education and became a highly regarded instructor of ‘scientific dressmaking’, a skill it appears she had inherited from her mother. She taught in schools around the Manning and Maitland regions.⁷

Illness early in 1930 led to her undergoing an operation in the Jenner Hospital in Macleay Street, Sydney. Without hope of recovery, she requested to be brought back to the Manning where she died in the Mayo Hospital on 1 April 1930.⁸

Author: Penny Teerman