Given Names: Winifred Vondy Date of Birth: 18 Sep 1894 Died: 10 May 1977 Known As: Winnie Birth Residence: Eurelia

Parents: William & Elizabeth McBride Married: Henry DANVERS 18 Jan 1921

Their Family: Click on the name to find more

Magdalene born 12 July 1894 Joan born 21 July 1922 Sheila born 17 September 1923 Kevin born 29 April 1929

Geoffrey 19 June 1930 Irene born 18 September 1933 Veronica 24 December 1944

Written by John Green, son of Joan Danvers and Jim Green.

Henry Danvers ... my grandfather, he was born on June 2nd 1897 in the Port Adelaide district and came to Barmera after WW1 as part of a Government team surveying fruit properties in the district ... many of the young returning soldiers who came to the Barmera area at this time would board with William and Lizzy McBride at a boarding house they had initially established in tents on the shore of Lake Bonney ...

Henry eventually meets Winnie McBride and on January 18th 1921 they are married in the small state school building that had just been completed in the Barmera township ... in 1924 Henry, as a returned soldier was allocated a Soldier Allotment on the outskirts of the Barmera township and here Henry and Winnie established the fruit block that we all remember ...

As our grandparents we all have very loving and personal memories of Henry and Winnie and time spent with them ... for me, Grandma was always old, somewhat matronly in appearance, always loving and caring but in a very detached manner as was the norm at this time in life ... it was like as kids we were seen but rarely heard ... she was very loyal to Henry and family, she was very educated, I remember Grandma having a great knowledge of life, of people, of the world and a very valid memory is that she was extremely deep in her faith and love of God ... in her later years I was blessed to know Grandma in a greater personal sense, I was lucky enough to spend many hours chatting with her about life and events and I truly admired her ...

With Grandpop, he was, for me, harder to get to know ... Henry always worked very hard, provided very well for family, was always involved with the Catholic Church, community and family ... as a returned soldier he had life long injuries after being wounded in battle in France ... Grandpop lost an eye, lost his sense of smell, he had a bad knee as a result of a bullet wound but we can also understand that the impact from the horrors of war would have made many men somewhat psychologically damaged as they attempted to reintegrate in society on returning home ... I think Henry probably fitted in there somewhere, sure he led a decent life but sadly the damage from the war impacted on him in some areas ...

But my favourite Grandpop story is that he always, and I mean always called me 'Fiddler'... now, at the time I had no idea what he meant, ok now I get it but it took me many years over time to work it out ... so to this day when I visit his graveside in Barmera I always say, "Hey Grandpop, it's Fiddler here" ... and then I laugh to myself with a fond memory of my dear Grandfather, Henry Danvers ...

The Danvers family can be traced in a direct line back to England, around the beginning of the 18th C. Charles William Danvers and Sarah Cradduck married, and arrived in Australia on the passenger ship Duntrune, 29 November 1876. They settled in Port Adelaide and the first of their six children was born on 7 April 1877. Henry was the youngest born 2 June 1897.