Joseph Skinner Popham Archive
Joseph Skinner Popham (b.20 February 1884, d.1961) arrived in Townsville from Ipswich in 1894. Having passed with honours his studies in accountancy at the Townsville Technical College, he sat the Queensland Institute of Accountants examination in December 1918 and was admitted as an associate member. In 1919, he became an accountant for the family sawmilling and timber merchant business. Situated in Ogden Street adjacent to the railway station, the business was a partnership between the brothers Joseph Skinner Popham, Jesse William Popham and Alfred Ernest Popham which traded under the name, Jesse Popham. In 1936, however, the partnership was dissolved.
After leaving the family business, Joseph Skinner Popham worked as a public accountant and was admitted as a member of the Real Estate Institute (Qld) in 1938. He was very involved with the Masonic Lodge and also with the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society of Australia, of which he was Queensland Deputy Grand Master and a member of the Executive Council. He was also a keen collector of many things including rocks and Aboriginal artefacts. Joseph Skinner Popham had a daughter, Hazel Winifred (Winnie) and a son, Alfred John (Jack), who studied pharmacy at the University of Queensland and later practised in the Grafton/Byron districts.
Additions to the Joseph Skinner Popham Archive offer glimpses in to the lives of other family members such as Jesse Popham, father of Joseph Skinner Popham, and Rose Elizabeth Popham, sister of Joseph Skinner Popham. The archive also explores the family history of the Marshall family, connected to the Popham family via marriage. For information on the professional life of John Marshall, one of the first administrators of the University College of Townsville, please see the Marshall Archive.
Archive Location: 234(a)L 234(b)R
Detailed Listing
JSP/Diary/1 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 30 January 1900; second entry, 1 January 1901; final entry, 1 January 1902.
JSP/Diary/2 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1910; final entry, 31 December 1911.
JSP/Diary/3 Contains entries re work and personal life. Enclosed at: “9 May” - small piece of ribbon and very small magazine clipping of man; rear of book, “November, Cash Account” - small newspaper clipping of man. First entry, 1 January 1912; final entry, 31 December 1912.
JSP/Diary/4 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1913; final entry, 31 December 1913.
JSP/Diary/5 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1914; final entry, 31 December 1914.
JSP/Diary/6 Contains re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1915; final entry, 21 December 1915. Enclosed: newspaper clipping re Townsville City Council election results; newspaper clippings re “Shooting
Tragedy” of A Austin and George Liptrott, “Friendly Societies,” and Lodge meetings; notepaper with jottings dated 1916 and 1917.JSP/Diary/7 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1917; final entry, 17 December 1917.
JSP/Diary/8 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 1 January 1917; final entry, 22 June 1917.
JSP/Diary/9 Contains only a few entries re work and personal life. First entry, 10 February 1918; final entry, 21 February 1918.
JSP/Diary/10 Contains a few intermittent entries re work and personal life. First entry, 29 June 1933 – 16 July; entries resume 27 January 1941 to 16 March 1941; final entry, 6 September 1948.
JSP/Diary/11 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 8 January 1939; final entry, 25 May 1939.
JSP/Diary/12 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 26 May 1939; final entry, 10 November 1939.
JSP/Diary/13 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 17 November 1939; final entry, 8 May 1940. Enclosed: newspaper page 49-50 from the Leader, 20 February 1932; blank aerogramme.
JSP/Diary/14 Contains entries re work and personal life, and covers the war years in Townsville. First entry, 11 February 1940; final entry, 18 October 1955.
Note on cover:
1940 Feb – Mar
1941 Jan – Oct
1942 May – Dec
1943 Jan –
1944 Sept – Oct
1945 Jan, Feb, July, Sept
1947 Apr – Oct
1946 Apr
1948 Apr, July, Aug
1955 Oct
Mainly Townsville and NQ.
Memo on first page:
“I intend writing in this notes regarding Townsville and NQ. Of course, I shall have to depend on memory, hearsay etc., that means that every time recorded may not be in accord with facts. However, what is written is given for what it is worth. J. P. Sunday 11 2 40.”Enclosed: Red Cross Blood Donor bookmark; loose page of handwritten notes, “The Best Half a Dozen Tunes.”
JSP/Diary/15 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 9 May 1940; final entry, 30 August 1940. Enclosed: illustrated page torn from book (possibly bible) Rev.3:20
JSP/Diary/16 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 21 May 1940; final entry, 17 February 1941.
JSP/Diary/17 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 18 February 1941; final entry, 9 March 1941.
JSP/Diary/18 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 26 August 1941; final entry, 8 December 1941. Enclosed: clipping - photograph of bride, Mrs P Briody, Townsville, and bridesmaid. Annotation “married 2 11 40.”
JSP/Diary/19 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 10 December 1941; final entry, 28 September 1945.
JSP/Diary/20 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 21 December 1943; final entry, 28 December 1954.
Note on cover:
“This book spreads itself over many years.
December 1943
March 1944 to December 1944
February 1945 to May 1945
September October 1945
January to April 1946
August to December 1946
July August September November 1948
March 1949
August 1951
September November December 1954JSP/Diary/21 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 7 December 1943; final entry, 5 June 1955.
Note on front cover:
“This book has many entries from many years and they are in no order.
December 1943
March 1944 to October 1944
December 1944
February 1945 to June 1945
September October 1945
January 1946 to May 1946
July 1946 to October 1946
March 1947 to June 1947
August and October 1947
June 1948 to September 1948
June 1950
May 1951
February 1952
November 1954
June 1955.”JSP/Diary/22 Contains entries re work and personal life; includes family history notes. First entry, 25 December 1954; final entry, 13 December 1955.
Enclosed:
Brief newspaper clipping referring to classified advertisement in Sydney Morning Herald of 11 June 1910 seeking Japanese boarders; comment on “the horror of it.”
Empty envelope with family history notes scribbled on.
Two blank notebook pages inserted as page markersJSP/Diary/23 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 21 April 1951; final entry, 14 December 1960. [Note: transition to use of ballpoint pen]
Note on front cover:
“Entries from many dates are scattered through this book.
April 1951 May 1951 July 1951
March 1952
March 1954 April 1954 October 1954
November 1954
September 1960 and December 1960Enclosed:
Small round label from “The China Camphor Co. Hong Kong.”
Yellow notepaper, 13 December 1960, re Collinson’s Doors.
Bus ticket, West End Service, 25 July 1953, fare - six pence.JSP/Diary/24 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 8 August 1952; final entry, 24 December 1960. Enclosed: two strips of paper used as page markers, one notes “Train Accident.”
JSP/Diary/25 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 3 February 1959; final entry, 1 July 1961. Enclosed: two newspaper clippings – “Mrs Banfield,” by Cestus; “Banfield of Dunk Island,” by Mary Guthrie.
JSP/Diary/26 [alphabetical index] Contains entries re North Queensland places, people, fauna and historical events; includes an entry on Aboriginal names. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Diary/27 Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 25 April 1960; final entry, 4 June 1961. Preceded by historical notes about North Queensland. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/1 Includes typed transcriptions of items Popham had found among deceased persons’ effects annotated with his notes regarding such; also loose pages of his historical research. Contains entries re work and personal life. First entry, 3 March 1959; final entry, 26 May 1959.
JSP/Cuttings Book/2 Includes: Uniting Church Byron Parish newsletter; newspaper and magazine clippings; typed transcriptions of various items on Townsville and his notes regarding such; various dated entries, not in chronological order.
Also included is a printed copy of a proposal by Francis Carley, dated 30 January 1931, “to form a Syndicate to build a Concrete Swimming Basin… a large Combined Gymnasium and Dance Hall… and in front a Miniature Golf Links….an open-air Talkie Theatre.” On reverse of form is a “Specimen Copy of Front Portion of Ticket,” of which ten thousand were expected to be sold.JSP/Cuttings Book/3 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings on flora and fauna; a few dated entries for 1960/61. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/4 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings on flora and fauna. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/5 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings on flora and fauna; some loose notes and a loose clipping, “Fleay not the first”; dated entries from 16 January 1959 to 8 August 1960. Typed index loose inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/6 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings on flora and fauna; some dated entries for 1959/60. Typed index loose inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/7 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings and typed transcripts largely on Townsville shipping and transport, some on various identities and Aboriginal people. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/8 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings as well as handwritten and typed transcripts largely on Townsville region places and names; some loose notes and loose clippings. Includes dated entries ranging from 1950-61.
JSP/Cuttings Book/9 Includes newspaper and magazine clippings and typed transcripts largely on Townsville/NQ history and identities; includes pamphlet, “A New Deal for North Queensland through the Creation of a Self-governing State.” Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/Cuttings Book/10 Includes magazine clippings and dated entries ranging from 29 April 1959 to 31 October 1961. Typed index pasted inside front cover.
JSP/News cuttings/1 “Extensions to Villa McCauley blessed by Townsville bishop,” no details [probably Townsville Daily Bulletin, c.8-13 December 1980, as the extension was officially opened on 7 December 1980].
JSP/News cuttings/2 “Thank you” notice from Mary Popham re family member, Alf [Joseph Skinner Popham’s brother].
JSP/News cuttings/3 “Death of Mr Jesse Popham,” [Joseph Skinner Popham’s father] with handwritten note, “Queensland Times, Ipswich, 16/2/1918.” [see article in Trove Digitised Newspapers]
JSP/News cuttings/4 “New Memorial Awards,” re Alf Popham’s association with James Cook University rugby league team, the Saints.
JSP/News cuttings/5 “League stalwart dies,” re Alf Popham.
JSP/News cuttings/6 Death Notice for Fanny Popham, [Joseph Skinner Popham’s mother] with handwritten date, 1940.
JSP/News cuttings/7 Death Notice for Alfred Ernest Popham, d. 6 December 1979. 2 copies
JSP/News cuttings/8 Funeral Notice for Alfred Ernest Popham, to be held 10 December 1979.JSP/News cuttings/9 “League man dies,” re Alf Popham. 2 copies.
JSP/News cuttings/10 “Alf Popham for 20 years timekeeper,” with date typed on, 29-8-56.
JSP/A E Popham/1 Certificate of Service, No. 91, issued to Alfred Ernest Popham on 22 April 1926, qualifying him as a “Second Class Internal Combustion Engine Driver.” [The certificate has been glued on to a photo album index page]
JSP/A E Popham/2 Two photographs of cricket teams which include Alf Popham seated second from right in front row [glued onto back hardcover of photo album].
JSP/Letters/1 A collection of J S Popham’s written or typed memos, observations and thoughts on topics ranging broadly from family issues, politics, nature, etc., some are dated.
JSP/Letters/2 A large collection of letters between J S Popham and his son Jack, spanning from 1938 when Jack moved to Brisbane to study pharmacy through to 1961.
JSP/Addition/1 Framed photograph of the Methodist Church teenage girls group called the “Comrades”. Names are listed on the reverse of the photograph frame. No Date.
JSP/Addition/2 Photograph of Letter A Company of the First (1st ) Battalion “Cameronians”. No Date.
JSP/Addition/3 Photograph of the opening of the Soldiers’ Home, Lucknow India. Signed “From your loving Uncle Alick Dey”. Taken by C. I. Photographic Co., Main Street MHOW. No Date.
JSP/Addition/4 Photograph of the officers and members of the Rachabites. Signed “From your loving Uncle Alick Dey”. Taken by J. W. Chaplain, Lucknow and Agra, India. No Date.
JSP/Addition/5 Photograph of the First (1st ) Battalion “Cameronians” 26 Scottish Rifles. No Date.JSP/Addition/6 Photograph of the Queensland Colts Hockey Team. Australian Championships, Melbourne, 1960. Names listed. Taken by Sidney Riley, 246 Queen Street, Brisbane.
JSP/Addition/7 Photograph of the Commercial Hockey Club. Premiers B2 Grade, B.H.A., 1950. Names listed. Taken by Sidney Riley, 246 Queen Street, Brisbane. Coloured.
JSP/Addition/8 Blue and white enamel badge of the Methodist “Comrades”.
JSP/Addition/9 Blue and pink enamel badge of the Commercial Hockey Club.
JSP/Addition/10 A collection of hymns, for the use of the people called Methodists, by the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. With a supplement. London, Published by J. Mason, 14 City-road; and sold at 66 Paternoster-row. 1837. Signed “Jesse Popham Mark, From his affectionate Mother.”
JSP/Addition/11 Diary belonging to Jesse Popham. First entry dated April 1870.
JSP/Addition/12 Autograph book belonging to Rose Popham. Dates span from approximately 1914 to 1925. Includes coloured images, cartoons, paintings and photos.
JSP/Addition/13 Certificate from the University of Queensland, certifying that Allene Mary Popham has fulfilled the requirements for a Junior Public Certificate endorsed in the Home and Science sections. Dated 31 January, 1945. Laminated.
JSP/Addition/14 Merit certificate from Central home Science School, Willoughby, awarded to Allene Popham for general proficiency – second place in year (Home Science Course). Dated 14 December, 1943.
JSP/Addition/15 Certificate from The Department of Public Instruction, Queensland, certifying that Edie M. Popham, a student of the Townsville Technical College, passed the examination in Dressmaking. Dated 1914.
JSP/Addition/16 Certificate certifying that John William Marshall completed the Accident Control for Supervisors Communication Course. Dated 10 March, 1978.
JSP/Addition/17 Certificate certifying that John William Marshall completed the Accident Control for Supervisors Development Course. Dated 8 September, 1978.
JSP/Addition/18 Certificate from the University of Queensland certifying that Jack William Marshall has fulfilled the requirements for a Junior Public Certificate, endorsed in the General section. Dated 31 January, 1944.
JSP/Addition/19 Brisbane Gramma School Certificate of Merit awarded to J.W. Marshall. Dated 1943.
JSP/Addition/20 Brisbane Grammar School Sports Certificate awarded to J.W. Marshall for proficiency in athletics. First (1st ) in Chariot race. Dated 1943.
JSP/Addition/21 Brisbane Grammar School Sports Certificate awarded to J.W. Marshall for proficiency in swimming. Dated 1944.
JSP/Addition/22 Australia Natives’ Association Certificate of Merit awarded to Jack Marshall. Dated 1935.
JSP/Addition/23 20 Year Monarch certificate awarded to John Marshall for his twenty (20) year service to “his club, his district, and Lions Clubs International”. No Date.
JSP/Addition/24 Examination results for Miss A. M. Popham from the Junior Public Examination. Dated January 1945.
JSP/Addition/25 Examination results for John William Marshall, from the University of Queensland, Brisbane. Dated 27 November, 1950.
JSP/Addition/26 Brisbane Grammar School, school grades for J.W. Marshall. Dated 1941. “He must be more earnest in his efforts”.
JSP/Addition/27 Brisbane Grammar School, school grades for J.W. Marshall. Dated 1943. “A good term’s work”.
JSP/Addition/28 Poem Darwin B. B. (Before Blitz). No date, no author.
JSP/Addition/29 Photograph of john Marshall (figure on right) and two other unidentified men posing next to a light aeroplane. No date.
JSP/Addition/30 Letter to Mrs M. Popham from the Council of the City of Townsville. Dated 17 November, 1988. Regarding the Library’s Jubilee morning tea.
JSP/Addition/31 Photograph of the group attending morning tea with the Mayor on the occasion of the Library’s Jubilee. Dated 18 October, 1988. Names listed.
JSP/Addition/32 Townsville and its environs. Newspaper clipping, from the Northern Development section. Probably from the Townsville Bulletin. No date.
JSP/Addition/33 Circular to members of the administrative staff within the University, Administrative officer, University College of Townsville. 4 pages. Dated 18 November, 1960.
JSP/Addition/34 United Scientific Temperance Committee, Queensland, Pass certificate. Awarded to Jack Marshall for the 1938 Temperance Essay Test on the subject of “Effect of alcohol on the brain and nervous system”. Dated 1 September, 1938.
JSP/Addition/35 United Scientific Temperance Committee, Queensland, Pass certificate. Awarded to Jack Marshall for the 1939 Temperance Essay Test on the subject of “The effect of alcohol on digestion”. Dated 16 August, 1939.
JSP/Addition/36 Band of Hope Pledge signed by Allene M. Popham, promising to “abstain from all intoxicating liquors as beverages, and to get others to do the same”. Dated 6 November, 1945.
JSP/Addition/37 Photograph of South Queensland Hockey Team, 1959. Names listed. Taken by City Studios, Townsville.
JSP/Addition/38 Captured crocs. will go south. Newspaper clipping. No date.
JSP/Addition/39 Good catch by amateur. Newspaper clipping. No date.
JSP/Addition/40 Correspondence to J. Marshall. Dated 12 January 1961.
JSP/Addition/41 Miner’s Right permit, Queensland, valid 28 November 1968 to 27 November 1969. Issued to John William Marshall. Cost: fifty cents.
JSP/Addition/42 Speeding ticket dated 10 December 1954, issued to John William Marshall, for travelling “…at a speed greater than 30 miles per hour to wit at 47 7/19 miles per hour”. Fine: six shillings.
JSP/Addition/43 Letter advising John William Marshall of his appointment as a Magistrate of the State of Queensland. Dated 9 November 1967.
JSP/Addition/44 Letter of acknowledgement that John William Marshall was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the State of Queensland. Dated 25 August 1967.
JSP/Addition/45 Certificate of registration certifying John William Marshall as a Justice of the Peace for the State of Queensland. Dated 1 January 1970.
JSP/Addition/46 Letter advising that John Marshall has been awarded the 100% President’s Award for 1974 – 1975 by Lions International. Dated 15 October 1975.
JSP/Addition/47 Certificate of membership for John Marshall as a “…duly elected Lions Club member”. Dated 26 July 1966.
JSP/Addition/48 Lions Club of the City of Townsville “Host” Inc. 40th Anniversary. Booklet. Dated 21 March 1998.
JSP/Addition/49 Townsville railway station – 1910. Photograph. Not original.
JSP/Addition/50 White plastic badge identifying John Marshall as a Lions International Deputy District Governor, Region 2, District 201 Q4, 1978 – 1979.
JSP/Addition/51 Crystal jug, half red tinted belonging to Rose Popham. Engraved with “From Mother to Rosie, 1912”. Approximately 6.5 cm high.
