I am so anxious to know how you all are. I hope you are keeping well.
33-year-old Antonio was so taken with young Birdie upon first meeting her, that he asked her family to be his guests for dinner on the following Saturday night. When her father accepted the invitation, Antonio ordered a complimentary bottle of Alella sweet wine to accompany their dessert. It didn’t take long for Birdie and Antonio to begin courting and soon she was a regular dinner or luncheon guest at the Coffee Palace Hotel.
A year later, on Birdie’s twenty-first birthday, her mother wrote her a heartwarming letter.
12 June 1886
My own precious Birdie,
Today is your Twenty-first Birthday. To me, a memorable day. Well, do I remember the hour you first saw daylight! Well, dear, it’s little I have to give you on this your Natal Day. I present you with a small token of love — the books of all books. And I trust for my sake, as well as your precious soul’s sake, you will read it and learn to love its truths, and in reading it, I sincerely hope and pray you may find Redemption in the Atonement of Christ. My dear, I cannot say just how, but the few words I have said comes from a loving mother who is always thinking of her children and I trust, dear Birdie, it may keep in your heart. With much love, hoping you may live to see many, many Natal Days. Believe me, your affectionate and loving mother.
Rebecca Albon
By 1887, Antonio had become involved in some areas of the Mauri Brothers importing company, and had also become interested in the cork importing side of their business. When he and Birdie married on 20 March 1888 at St Patricks Church, Church Hill, Sydney by the Reverend Father Piquet, Andres Mauri was best man. Birdie had embraced Antonio’s religion and became a convert to the Roman Catholic Church prior to the wedding. It was a big day for the Albons, as Birdie’s younger sister, 19-year-old Maud, married Edwin A. Purches on the same day at the Mariners Church of England. Fortunately, both churches were close by in The Rocks.
On 2 February, two months before his wedding, Antonio dissolved his partnership with Martin Arenas by mutual consent, and Arenas took over the business of the Sydney Coffee Palace Hotel. Shortly after their wedding, Antonio and Birdie set off on a honeymoon, travelling on the steam ship , Zealandia to the US, Europe and England. Life on board the ship was extremely pleasant for the happy couple. They were in first class accommodation, and dined with the ship commander each evening. While in San Francisco mid-April, Antonio contributed along with others to a fine gift for the captain. During their time in London, they heard the news of the serial murders of prostitutes in the Whitechapel area, by a killer dubbed Jack the Ripper. The murders were so horrific it was the talk of the town.
They travelled to Portugal where Antonio met with cork growers; he also visited the headquarters of the Mauri Brothers8 in Seville and made contacts in San Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain, another rich cork area. He introduced his beautiful new bride to his delighted parents, relatives and friends and they celebrated with many a lavish party. They were away for nineteen months and during this time Birdie fell pregnant. After a sojourn in Paris, they went to Marseilles where they caught the French ship, Yarra, heading back to Australia. In Australian waters, Birdie gave birth to their first born, a son, Antonio (Tony) Stanley Joaquin (after good friend Joaquin Mauri) who was also on board; they landed in Sydney on 12 November 1889.
Over the next two years, Antonio made several trips to Melbourne and in 1892, the family moved to Melbourne, Victoria. He then set up the company, A. San Miguel and Company Cork Merchants and Importers in McKillop Street, Melbourne, and they took up residence at 1 Victoria Street, Mont Albert.9 In 1893, Birdie gave birth to their first daughter, Francisca Margarita Leonore.
A. San Miguel and Co. went from strength to strength. By 1894 they had moved to larger premises at 304 Flinders Street, specialising in the importation of corks, brewers’ requisites, and vignerons’ supplies.
On 28 February 1895, Antonio appeared in the County Court. He was being sued for damages by Alfred Condor of Abbotsford. In October of 1894, Antonio’s horse and cart was being cared for by his servant when it bolted away in Little Collins Street, running into Condor’s hansom cab to which it did serious damage. The case was not proved and it was dismissed by the judge.
In 1895, Andres and Joaquin Mauri disposed of their business to Ninian Miller Thomson and Edwin Charles Guttridge, changing the business name to Mauri Bros. & Thomson. By 1899 Antonio was taken into partnership with Messrs Thomson and Guttridge and they in turn became partners in A. San Miguel and Co. By this stage, each company had an office in Melbourne and Sydney.
On 20 April 1895, a second daughter, Ines Alma Irene was born at home in Mont Albert. Seventeen months later, on 13 September 1896, another son, Lionel Dudley Alfonso came into the world. Throughout 1895–98 Antonio made many trips overseas, setting up an office and headquarters in San Feliu de Guixols, Spain. In 1895, his older brother’s son, Antonet, arrived in Australia to attend school at Xavier College. He remained at school for four years, taking up residence with the San Miguel family in Mont Albert. During Antonio’s absence, Birdie had the help of nursery housemaids, servants and cooks. With four young children and her husband’s nephew to take care of, plus attending social and charity functions, her days were extremely busy.10 She was now fluent in Spanish, and all the children spoke it as well.
Early in April 1896, Tony San Miguel aged six years old had a nasty fall and badly broke his arm. The Melbourne doctors wrongly diagnosed that his arm would need to be amputated. X-Rays had been discovered a year before in 1895 by the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. Antonio made the decision to take his son to Barcelona to seek medical attention using the new technique. The result was a success and his arm was rectified, however, Tony’s handwriting remained shaky throughout his life. Father and son returned to Spain five months later for the doctors to re-examine it, returning to Australia on the French steamer, Armand Behic on 8 October.
1898 was an important year for Antonio and the San Miguel family. He obtained his naturalisation certificate on 19 April under the provisions of the parliament of Victoria, making him a British subject and an Australian resident, able to buy property and land with the ability to vote. Then on 23 July 1898, a third son, Jaime Cipriano San Miguel, was born at their home.
The Argus
Situations Vacant
Friday 31 December 1897
Superior girls, general, nursery housemaid, sisters, friends, references, fare paid.
Mrs San Miguel, Mont Albert.
In late 1898, the whole family, plus a servant maid and nursery maid left for Europe. They mainly travelled between Alella, San Feliu Guixols and Seville where Antonio continued with his business dealings. On 23 May 1899 they arrived back in Australia on board the SS Australian but returned to Spain later that year. Their youngest child, Patricia Mercedes, was born in Seville on 17 June 1900. The family remained in Spain for three years, returning to Australia on the RMS Victoria, 8th December 1903.
Throughout the three-year hiatus, Antonio made trips back to Australia. In early May of 1903, he bought a large amount of land at Milson’s Point in Sydney.11 He set up house at Hartland in Elmie Street, Auburn, Melbourne.12 A grand, two-story Victorian mansion, Antonio rented the property from Francis Catford, who lived in a home directly at the back of Hartland . He was a successful publisher who ran the Southern Cross newspaper and had arrived from England all by himself, aged just thirteen years old. He eventually brought his whole family to Australia to settle.
The Argus
Situations