Rita Lorraine Daly MacWhirter

[jk22]

Hello.
I am looking to confirm one way or the other if this is the lady i know to have been the daughter of my 1st cousin x 2 removed who was born in  Sydney, Australia.

Rita Lorraine nee Daly was born in 1922 and died in 2005 - if she is the same lady that i hope she was.

Rita Lorraine, more commonly known, at least in her early life, as just Lorraine.  Her mother was a Rita Lillian Wailes who had led a very turbulent life.  Indeed it was her English grandmother, a long time resident in Sydney, who 'raised' Lorraine.

I would dearly love to know if there is any way of confirming Mrs Rita Lorraine MacWhirter's origin?

What i have so far:

1. Rita Lorraine Daly was born in 1922 in Sydney, New South Wales.

2. Her parents:  'Kerry' Richard Agar Daly (Uncle of the actor, 'Richard Todd') & a 17yo Sydney-born girl, Rita Lillian Daly, nee Miles.

3. Her grandparents:  Lily Miles (nee Ashwin) later Clark and Archibald Beaumont Miles.

Lily Ashwin Miles Clark was born in 1877 in Birmingham, Warwickshire.  She emigrated to Australia in 1900 with her elder sister, Mary Alice Ashwin.  They first landed in Brisbane and about 2 years later settled in Sydney.

Lily married my 2nd great uncle, Archibald Beaumont Miles in 1903.  It was a doomed marriage.  He abandoned her and his daughter, Rita Lillian Miles - i don't know if they ever met again. 

Lily died in 1964 in Sydney.  I have her will.  No mention of Rita Lorraine.  But i understand that she virtually raised her grandaughter.

Lily's daughter was her only child.  Lily remarried in Sydney, in 1916 to Englishman, Charles Clark.  He predeceased Lily.

Rita Lilian Miles married at 17 as she was pregnant.  Her husband had fought in the Australian military in WW1.  He was an abusive husband and they divorced in 1927 - their daughter, Rita Lorraine Daly was 5years old.

I have a few Australian and English records about these people but i have no certainty as to the origins of the ONLY Rita Lorraine Daly found in the UK or Australia in regard to the 1949 marriage of one Rita Lorraine Daly to William Robert James MacWhirter in Marylebone, London.

I have a copy of the 1949 GRO record of marriage registration but no mention is made of Australia and the Father of the Bride is given only as "Richard Daly" - no mention of his oft cited middle name of "Agar".

I do know that the Rita and William MacWhirter couple married in 1949 had a son in 1952.

I do not have Rita Lorraine's death registration information.

Hoping for some news!?
jk22

[crisane]

A Miss Rita L Daly age 23, a secretary. sailed from Sydney to London arriving UK 4 Aug 1946
Country of permanent residence - Australia
Address in UK
'Aradene" Western Road Lymington Hants
Ship - Rangitata

[jk22]

Hello.

Sorry 'Crisane', but i did have that, which goes to basis of our concluding that Rita Lorraine Daly is the lady who married William Robert James MacWhirter in 1949.

I have not been able to find anything on her since that date apart from her death mentioned in obit for her husband who died about 6 months after her, in latter half of 2005, in Chichester, Sussex.

Rita's mother, Rita Lillian (nee Miles) then Daly, Diamond and finally Wailes, died in Leura, NSW, Australia in 1979. 

Rita's grandmother, Lily Clark (nee Ashwin, then Miles) died in Sydney, in 1964.

We have not found any passenger list or other to show that Rita Lorraine returned as Mrs MacWhirter to attend either funeral.

If the Rita Lorraine Daly, born in 1922, who emigrated to England in 1946, and then married Wm R J MacWhirter in 1949, is my 2nd cousin, once removed, did she in deed actually become estranged from all her kin back in Australia?

I have just purchased the GRO copy of Rita Lorraine MacWhirter's death reg in order to see if it can show that she was Australian by birth, and therefore allow me to pursue active enquiries into locating her descendents.

Hoping that further news is to come!
Kind regards,
Julie

[Cathbak]

Hello.

Lorraine Daly was my mothers cousin. Richard Agar Daly (Dick) was my mothers Uncle and Richard Todd was her first cousin.
I didn't know Lorraines first name was Rita my mother always referred to her as Lorraine. I have her husband as Robert MacWhirter who was in the RAN.
I believe Lorraine was injured in a car accident that left her quite disabled form a brain injury.
I'm not sure exactly when that happened but I believe it was quite a while before she died.
I don't really know a lot about the family. My mother didn't even know that Lorraine was her cousin until someone in the school playground told her when they were children. My mother was in contact with Lorraine and her husband in England before her accident.
I think I have a photo of Lorraines mother Rita somewhere.
Is there someway I can contact you other than on rootschat?
I'm pretty busy at the moment and don't have time to put a lot down.

Regards
Catherine

[sillgen]

Welcome, Cathbak,
If you reply to this post it will open our personal message system and then you can exchange emails with Julie.  Click on the letter icon under the user name.

[dawnsh]

Hi Cathbak (and *waves* to sillgen)

How exciting for you to find a family topic on here.

According to her profile, Julie was online here a few weeks ago. She should receive an email notification that you have posted and hopefully come back soon.

More info on the personal message (pm) stystem here

http://www.rootschat.com/help/pms.php

Dawn

[ecrm]

I wish that I had found this topic sooner, as it was it's lucky that I decided to Google my great grandfather's name and found this.

Hello Julie, and Catherine. I can confirm that Rita Lorraine MacWhirter was indeed born in Sydney, the daughter of Kerry Richard Agar Daly and Rita Lillian Daly. She preferred to go by Lorraine and died in January 2005 in her home in Chichester after a four year long battle with dementia. There was no car accident, but the strains of her illness caused contact to be lost with a number of relatives.

Lorraine had two children, my aunt (b.1950), and my father (b.1952), both of whom are living, in Hadleigh and Petersfield, UK respectively. I am her grandson Edward, and I'm delighted you decided to go searching. My grandmother never spoke about her relatives to me (I was quite young), and I had no idea where to look or that there were any relatives to look for.

I hope we can can get in contact Julie, and resume contact Catherine.

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[Cathbak]

Hello Edward.
It was great to hear from you. Unfortunately I can't send a private message to give you my email address. Julie is going to try and contact you. I don't know if she has already.

Strange about your grandmother having dementia as my mother said to me that your grandfather had told her Lorraine had been hit by a car and had a severe brain injury??? I don't think Mum had any more contact after that. Not sure what that was about.

My mother passed away in 2014 after battling Alzheimer's.

I had also found a note in an old diary of Mums saying that Rita Lillian Wailes was living in Brighton, England. Do you know if she did in fact go to England for a time?
I look forward to hearing from you again.

Regards
Catherine

[ecrm]

Sincere apologies for the lateness in replying, I was just about to move out of my house in September and have spent the last few months abroad and haven't been able to keep up with communications.

Hello Cathbak,

I'm sending through an email to Julie in a bit so hopefully we'll be able to get in touch through her. I can't think how the confusion regarding the car could have happened, from what I remember my grandmother had a number of accidents due to her condition but nothing involving a car. I'm sorry to hear about your mother, Lorraine never did talk much about her family and had I known she had other family I would have reached out sooner.

I have absolutely no idea I'm afraid if Rita Wailes came to England or not, my grandmother never spoke of her and from what I remember Lorraine left Australia and never went back. Are you over in Australia too?

Best Wishes,
Edward.