Who was Nellie Payne?

Dower chest for Keva Allardyce. Carved 1923.

Dower chest for Keva Allardyce.

DB100

Katherine Angel Keva Allardyce was the daughter of Governor William Lamond Allardyce  and Lady Constance Angel Allardyce (née Green).  Allardyce was Governor of the Falkland Islands, Bahamas, then Tasmania from 1920-22, then Newfoundland.

Keva was born in Suva, Fiji – hence her name.

Keva married Charles Travers Butler (10/11/1887-1974) He was Second Lieut.in the Dorset (Queens Own) Yeomanry  WW1.  He studied law at the University of Tasmania and was enrolled in 1921 and later practiced in the firm Butler, MacIntyre and Butler.
They had 4 children.

  1. Katherine Ann Allardyce Butler (known as Ann) married Roger Jennings who went to Hutchins School, became QC, established legal firm, became Tasmanian solicitor-General. They had 5 children – Mark, Karen, Simon, Jane and Deborah.
  2. Charles Christopher Allardyce Butler (known as Chris) Chris married June Brown and they had 2 daughters (Sue and Helen) and 1 son.  Chris went to Hutchins and became Surveyor General of Tasmania from 1970-86.  He was killed in a car accident.
  3. William James Allardyce Butler (known as Jamie) who was a pastoralist and hop grower in the Scottsdale area. He married Jane Barton and had one daughter Jenny (Baulis) and 3 sons David, Michael (Jed) and Robert.
  4. Fairlie – Mrs Stewart Ferguson who lives in Launceston. They had 7 children.

Keva and her family lived in Fern Tree, Hobart, Tasmania, and were unfortunately burnt out in the 1967 bushfires and lost everything including the dower chest that Nellie had carved for her.

However her sister Viti had no children, so she left her dower chest to Keva’s son Christopher Butler and his wife June now has it.

Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1930), Sunday 11 February 1923, page 3.