WINIFRED HAWTHORNE McLAUGHLIN (1880-1950) was the daughter of Florence and Hugh McCall Hicks, a wealthy brewer, of Brisbane, of Queensland, Australia.

When she was aged eight a Professor W. Cross gave Winnie, as she was always called, a phrenological analysis. It stated "you will love devotedly and will be inclined to fall in love too early in life." In fact she was 29 when she was married to Lieut.-Colonel Hubert McLaughlin, retired for the second time and 20 years her senior.


For Brisbane's high society in 1909 it was the wedding of the year. The local paper gushingly described and pictured every detail of the ceremony, from the bridesmaids' dresses to the cake.

Just after her marriage, her father gave Winnie a set of stone martin furs (below right) for a birthday present. Related to the weasel, a stone martin has a very soft, dark brown pelt.

As exemplified by the intricate confection of dressmaking and millinery below left, Winnie was highly clothes-conscious.

Alas, it took time for the latest fashion news to trickle down under. For example, consider the photograph below taken in 1898. Oh, dear! That style is so 1896, the year in which puffed sleeves were at their puffiest. When Winnie posed for the picture sleeves were long and tight to the arm, with a round puff high at the shoulder.



During the Great War Winnnie became a Red Cross nurse, like my heroic grandaunt Louisa. It helped to console her for Hubert's death in 1915 which had been preceded by that of her father.

His grave (right) bears this epitaph: "In loving memory of H. M. Hicks, late of Brisbane, Australia. Died at Aldershot June 13th 1914 at the residence of his son-in-law Colonel McLaughlin."

Later Winnie, who had trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, was able to demonstrate her culinary skills to the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, who was her house guest during his exile in England.

Winnie claimed to have married into the McLaughlin family for the entertainment ─ soap opera not yet having been invented. She came to visit me when I was sharing a three-bedroom flat with another Old Cheltonian and a cultured female friend. Winnie had scarcely emerged from her car, driven by her paid woman companion, when she demanded "Tell me, who's sleeping with whom."

Winnie was besotted with her only child Adrian, pictured below with her mother Florence Hicks on the left.

© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin.
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