Ruth Isabella BOWMAN / THOMSON
Born 23 December 1919 in Perth, Western Australia [P394]
Daughter of John BOWMAN and "Maggie" Margaret Swan DOW [P394]
Resided with her parents at the The Homestead on Lot M950 of The Home Farm on the Carnamah-Perenjori Road in Carnamah [P9]
Student at the Carnamah State School in Carnamah from 1927 to 1933 [P9]
Along with her younger sister Les travelled from the farm to the school in Carnamah each day by horse and sulky [P9]
Attended the Carnamah Children's Fancy Dress Ball as a "Red Cross Nurse" on Saturday 15 October 1927 [9: 21-Oct-1927]
Won 1st prizes for a Crayon Drawing and for Sewing in the school-work section at the 1928 Carnamah Agricultural Show [4: 13-Oct-1928]
Attended the Children's Fancy Dress Ball Carnamah in 1929 with her sister Les, dressed as "Chinese" [4: 13-Jul-1929]
Won a 2nd prize for Girls Handwork in the Educational section of the Carnamah Agricultural Show in 1930 [4: 27-Sep-1930]
Attended the Children's Fancy Dress Ball held in Carnamah on 18 August 1932 dressed as "Orange Girl" [5: 26-Aug-1932]
Won 1st prize for a Jersey Heifer in the Cattle section at the Carnamah Agricultural Show on 14 September 1933 [5: 22-Sep-1933]
Ran the Jumble & Dips Stall at the Carnamah Presbyterian Church's Fete and Concert on Thursday 2 November 1933 [5: 10-Nov-1933]
Attended the Carnamah Church of England's New Year Ball held at the Carnamah Hall on Saturday 30 December 1933 [5: 5-Jan-1934]
Attended the Carnamah Tennis Club's Flannel Dance held at the Carnamah Hall on Saturday 3 February 1934 [5: 9-Feb-1934]
Boarding Student at Presbyterian Ladies College in Perth from 1934 until 1936 when she obtained her Junior [P9]
In a dress of blue matelasse attended the Show Ball held after the Carnamah Agricultural Show on 12 September 1935 [5: 20-Sep-1935]
After spending three weeks holiday with her parents in Carnamah returned to school in Perth on 16 September 1935 [5: 20-Sep-1935]
Herself and her sister Les returned to Carnamah during the first half of December 1935 for their summer school holidays [5: 13-Dec-1935]
Member of the Carnamah Tennis Club during the 1935-36 summer [5: 3-Jan-1936]
Attended the Carnamah Repertory Club's Social Evening & Play Presentation at the Carnamah Hall on 17 June 1936 [5: 19-Jun-1936]
In late August 1936 herself, her sister Lesley and their friend Tui THOMSON arrived in Carnamah for their holidays [5: 28-Aug-1936]
Attended the Ball after the Coorow-Waddy Agricultural Show in Coorow on 3 September 1936 dressed in white net [5: 11-Sep-1936]
Won 1st for Sponge in the under 18 years portion of the Confectionary section at the 1936 Carnamah Agricultural Show [5: 18-Sep-1936]
Attended the Show Ball after the Carnamah Agricultural Show on 10 September 1936 dressed in ivory silk net over crepe de chine [5]
After obtaining her Junior she left school, returned to Carnamah and lived with her parents at The Homestead on their farm [P9]
Competed in the Carnamah Tennis Club's Easter Tennis Tournament at Centenary Park in Carnamah in March 1937 [5: 2-Apr-1937]
Attended the Tennis Dance at the Carnamah Hall on 18 April 1937 in ivory windswept crepe with pastel pink trimmings [5: 23-Apr-1937]
Attended the Coronation Ball at the Carnamah Hall on 12 May 1937 in "white matelasse with amber trimmings" [5: 14-May-1937]
The ball and its festivities celebrated the coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth [5]
She was among the 80 who attended the Carnamah Repertory Club's Social Evening at the Carnamah Hall on 25 June 1937 [5: 2-Jul-1937]
Part of the Best Set as "Arabians" at the Carnamah Girls Club's Masquerade Ball at the Carnamah Hall on 24 July 1937 [5: 30-Jul-1937]
Others in the set of Arabians included her sister Daisy, Roger F. W. CLARK, Michael R. ROWLAND, [5]
her future husband Peter W. THOMSON and her future sister-in-laws Grace W. THOMSON and "Nan" Hannah S. DAVISON [5]
Member of the Carnamah Social Club [0: image 03780]
Member of the Carnamah Girls Club in 1938 [5: 28-Oct-1938]
Member of the Carnamah Repertory Club [7: page 227]
She was bid farewell by the members of the Carnamah Girls Club at the home of Nan DAVISON on 24 October 1938 [5: 28-Oct-1938]
Left Carnamah in October or November of 1938 to undertake nursing training in Perth [5: 28-Oct-1938]
She undertook her nursing training at the Royal Perth Hospital in Perth [P1]
Her engagement to Marchagee farmer Peter Welsh THOMSON was announced in October 1939 [5: 20-Oct-1939]
Married Peter Welsh THOMSON in Carnamah on 29 June 1940 [P394]
She had become good friends with Peter's sister Grace W. THOMSON when at boarding school, and later met Peter through her [P1]
Herself and Peter were both 6th great grandchildren of Archibald DRYBRUGH and Catherine KILGOUR who married in 1664 [P1]
The fact that they were distantly related as 7th cousins was discovered by her grand-nephew Andrew S. BOWMAN in 2003 [P1]
Resided with her husband and later sons on Anster Farm in Marchagee 1940-1969 [108]
Entrant in the Coorow Popular Queen Competition as the 'Marchagee Queen' in 1940 [0: image 03918]
Committee Member of the Coorow-Waddy Forest Districts Agricultural Society in 1946 [150]
Member of the East Marchagee Tennis Club in 1947 [0: image 04496]
Member of the Coorow Golf Club 1952-1959 [0: image 04668] [4: 24-Jul-1959]
Member of the Marchagee Tennis Club 1950-51 to 1957-58 [4: 7-Apr-1951, 21-Mar-1958]
Member of the Coorow-Waddy Forest branch of the Country Women's Association - was Secretary in 1965 and 1966 [173]
After selling the farm they moved to a house in the Coorow townsite [108]
Later resided in the Perth suburbs of Nedlands, Gosnells, South Perth and Doubleview [108]
Around 1982 retired with her husband to the Perth hills suburb of Gooseberry Hill [108]
Later resided at the Lakeside Nursing Home in the Perth suburb of Redcliffe [P1]
She was very proud to be a BOWMAN and part of a family that were pioneer settlers of the Carnamah district [P1]
Mother of Gordon, Graham and Ian [P394]
Died 7 March 2010 [P1]
From The West Australian newspaper, Saturday 27 December 1919:
"Births - BOWMAN - On December 23, at Nurse Bevan's Hospital, Kialla, 700 Beaufort-street, Mt. Lawley, to Mr. and Mrs J. Bowman, of Home Farm, Carnamah - a daughter. Both well."
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Ruth Isabella Bowman / Thomson' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 15 November 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/ruth-isabella-bowman [reference list] |
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