George Debney
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
George Debney (1818 – 15 May 1897) was an early settler of South Australia, a cabinetmaker whose shop became Gay's Arcade and part of Adelaide Arcade.
Debney of Whitechapel, London, with his parents Robert and Margaretta Debney, née Rennie, and their small family emigrated to South Australia aboard Lloyds, arriving in Adelaide in December 1838. He farmed at The Reedbeds,The Reedbeds was an area at the lower (western) reaches of the River Torrens now covered by the suburbs of Fulham, Lockleys and Underdale. and after making a small fortune as one of the fortunate "Snobs" group of investors in the Burra copper mines, purchased a fine property in Burnside and land at 103–105 Rundle Street (Section 84? 85?), where he opened a furniture factory, which soon won valuable contracts, including seating for the new Legislative Council chambers in 1855.{{cite web |url=https://localwiki.org/adelaide-hills/Biographies_-_D_to_F |title= localwiki:Adelaide Hills | author= Reg Butler |date= 2008 |accessdate= 13 January 2018}}
During this period his workshop was destroyed by fire, presumably from a candle left burning after the men, who had been working overtime, left the premises.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158104520 |title=Coroner's Inquest on the Late Fire |newspaper=Adelaide Observer |volume=XIII |issue=630 |location=South Australia |date=21 July 1855 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} His insurance was nowhere near sufficient to cover his losses, but despite the loss of materials, tools and facilities he was able to fill the contract satisfactorily. The work produced in his factory has been judged the colony's finest, with nearby Mayfield's a close second.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49830128 |title=Manufactures |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXIII |issue=4088 |location=South Australia |date=19 November 1859 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Another prestigious contract was for furnishing a private suite in Government House for the Duke of Edinburgh during his 1867 Royal Visit.
Tragedy struck Debney: his wife Susanna (née Woodward) and daughter Matilda drowned in 1860 when their sailing boat capsized off Glenelg.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1202706 |title=Trinity Board |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=II |issue=511 |location=South Australia |date=28 February 1860 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
He was part owner, with James Woodforde, of Mundowdna Station{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5283245 |title=Personal |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |volume=LII |issue=16,114 |location=South Australia |date=9 June 1910 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} and a licensed valuator.
He served as Chairman of the Burnside Council for six years,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129775711 |title=How Burnside Grew |newspaper=The News (Adelaide) |volume=VI |issue=924 |location=South Australia |date=30 June 1926 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} and as undertaker for the most prestigious funerals.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39184861 |title=Funeral of the Late Governor |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXXII |issue=6644 |location=South Australia |date=21 February 1868 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92288267 |title=Death of Mrs. Hay |newspaper=South Australian Chronicle And Weekly Mail |volume=XIII |issue=625 |location=South Australia |date=6 August 1870 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208172252 |title=Funeral of the Late J. H. Barrow, M.P. |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XI |issue=3,240 |location=South Australia |date=25 August 1874 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was the first Adelaide employer to reduce his men's working day from ten to nine hours.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39294473 |title=Complimentary Dinner |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXXVIII |issue=8367 |location=South Australia |date=10 September 1873 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In 1875 he sold his cabinetmaking business to Patrick Gay and in 1877 sold his Burnside property to Simpson NewlandThis became "Undelcarra", later the home of the (unrelated) Simpson family. Some references have the mansion built for Debney, others say Newland.
His Rundle Street property was sold in 1886 for £22,000.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197587305 |title=City Land Sale |newspaper=The Port Augusta Dispatch, Newcastle And Flinders Chronicle |volume=VI |issue=726 |location=South Australia |date=10 September 1886 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
He died at Gilberton; probably not destitute, but far from the wealthy man he had been.
Family
George Robert Debney married Susanna Woodward in South Australia on 5 March 1839.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73811316 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=South Australian Gazette And Colonial Register |location=South Australia |date=6 April 1839 |accessdate=26 January 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} She drowned in 1860.
:*Robert Debney (1841–1864)
:*George Leonard Debney (1843–1908) married Mary Jane Ross in 1871. He was partner until 1882 with George Chewings and Edwin Thomas Smith as "Chewings, Smith & Debney" graziers etc.,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208266548 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XIX |issue=5,599 |location=South Australia |date=9 September 1882 |accessdate=27 March 2018 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} died in Woodlands, near Bowen, Queensland.
:*Matilda Debney (1846–1860)
:*Frederic Debney (1847 – 14 September 1891) married Emily Harriet Stanford in 1875
:*Alfred Debney (1849 – )
:*Henry Woodward Debney (1851 – )
He married again, on 8 June 1861, to Ellen Elizabeth Turner (1833–1870). Ellen came to South Australia in 1852 and ran a school at Lyndoch.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90032068 |title=Board of Education |newspaper=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |volume=III |issue=131 |location=South Australia |date=19 January 1861 |accessdate=26 January 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} She wrote songs and poems, contributing, as "Ellie" and "Leila", to Adelaide papers and the Gawler Times.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28589557 |title=Ellie |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=South Australia |date=26 February 1870 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
:*Stanley Turner Debney (1862 – 1926)
:*Maude Debney (1870 – 1891) married Alfred Wilkinson in 1890
He married one more time, to Mary Watson on 9 March 1874. He had no further children.
A sister Margaretta ( –1885) married fellow Lloyds colonist John Edward Fielder ( –1903) shortly after arrival.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56218327 |title=Death of Mr. J. E. Fielder |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=XLVIII |issue=17,688 |location=South Australia |date=23 July 1903 |accessdate=14 January 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Another sister, Rebecca Sarah (c. 1810 – 12? July 1890) and her husband Willam Bulpitt (c. 1805 – 20 March 1845), also emigrated aboard Lloyds. Bulpitt had a furniture shop in Hindley Street, later on Rundle Street.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87446370 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Chronicle (Adelaide) |volume=LXII |issue=3,212 |location=South Australia |date=13 March 1920 |accessdate=13 January 2018 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} Rebecca married again, in 1845, to Edward Moss (died 1869). She married one more time, in 1872, to Thomas Hawken (died 1890).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208387641 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XXVII |issue=7,982 |location=South Australia |date=14 July 1890 |accessdate=15 January 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}