Children of Alfred B. Lambe and Mary E. Austin
The following are brief summaries of the lives of each of the children of Alfred Boydell Lambe and Mary Eliza Austin.
Arundel Lambe
Born May 31, 1840, Arundel Lambe was the eldest child of Alfred Boydell and Mary Eliza Lambe.1,2 He initially became a commercial clerk in the wholesale tea trade, along with brothers Alfred Jr. and George Lambe.3 He travelled to the United States during the U.S. Civil War, and was never heard from again.4
Jane Lambe
Jane Lambe was the eldest daughter, born July 20, 1842.5 Based on family information, Jane married Alfred Rawlins, and died during World War I when the house next door was blown up by a Zeppelin.6, 7
Mary Lambe
Born in 1843,8 Mary married G. Lucas Wright, according to family information.9 Mary immigrated in 1909 to Toronto. She first appears in the Canadian census as a widow in 1911 in the household of her sister Amy (Lambe) Clarkson and her sister's husband E.R.C. Clarkson.10 According to family information, by 1925 she lived in Java.11
Alfred Boydell Lambe (Jr.)
Alfred Jr. was born late in 1844.12 Like his brother Arundel, he initially became a commercial clerk in the wholesale tea trade.13 Alfred married Laura Hannah Drage in 1871, and subsequently, in 1893, Annie Woodburn Davidson.14 Once he moved to Toronto, Alfred Jr. established a tea merchant business at 39 Front St. E. with his brothers Harold and Roger.15 Alfred Jr. owned a farm in Etobicoke Township,16 where he farmed and attended Christ Church Mimico. Two of his children who didn't survive childhood are buried in its churchyard.17 In fact, a 1916 map of Toronto shows a Boydell Av. (now the section of Cloverhill Rd. that intersects Stephen Rd.) in the location of Alfred Jr.'s farm.18
Note that among Alfred Jr.'s children was a boy whose name was also Alfred Boydell Lambe, so the name survived at least three generations.19
Many members of the Lambe family appear to be interested in the Lambe family history. In a 1925 letter to his niece Aldyth Lambe, Alfred Jr. talked about information he had gathered on this topic, and how his nephew Willie was trying to add to it.20
Alfred Jr. died in 1935.21
George Lambe
Born in 1846, George followed his brothers to become a commercial clerk in the wholesale tea trade.22, 23 George married Clara Elizabeth Drage.24 Unlike many of his siblings, George did not immigrate to Canada, but stayed in England. He first lived in Camberwell, part of greater London,25 and then moved to Kent, where he lived next to his wife's parents.26
Despite being left behind, family members returned to England to visit George. Note the envelope at right, which was found in 2020 in a stamp dealer's inventory in London, Ontario.27 It was sent from someone in Toronto, perhaps a family memeber, to George's sister Gertie, who was evidently visiting George in 1883. Gertie was then in her twenties and had not yet gotten married,28 while George and Clara had had their first child more than a year previously.29
Florence Lambe
Florence was born September 14, 1847.30 On September 23, 1873, she married Charles Howard-Gibbon in Toronto, who was ten years her senior and worked as a railway agent.31, 32 By 1881, they were living in Penetanguishene, north of Toronto.
Florence died in 1930 on a visit to her youngest daughter in California, where she is buried.33
Roger Lambe
Roger was born in 1849.34 After immigrating to Canada in 1871, in 1872 he became a founding memeber of the Argonaut Rowing Club in Toronto, where he made his mark. In the words of the club's website,35
Among the original Argonauts were the brothers Roger and Harold Lambe. The Lambe brothers had recently moved to Canada from England, and provided the young club with its first major victory outside of southern Ontario. In 1873, they travelled to Saratoga, New York, and "easily won" both the Senior Pair and Senior Double events.
Roger was the captain of the Argonaut Rowers for many years.36 On June 1, 1875, Roger married Agnes Georgina Furlong in Toronto.37 He became a merchant in Toronto with brothers Alfred Jr. and Harold.38
Roger died in 1885.39
Harold Lambe
Of all the Lambe children, Harold was surely the star.
Born on May 24, 1850,40 Harold was 21 when his family immigrated to Canada. After helping found the Argonaut Rowing Club and claiming a key victory with his brother Roger, as described above, Harold was well on his way to athletic success.
Most remarkably, Harold attended the first U.S. Track and Field Championships in 1876, and won both the 880 yard and the mile track races for Canada.41 Given that the Modern Olympics were still twenty years in the future, winning this championship was a significant victory for himself, his family, and his new country.
To keep its rowers fit when the water was too choppy to row in, the Argonaut Rowing Club began to play competitive Canadian football. Today, the Toronto Argonauts are a key team in the Canadian Football League. Harold was the second coach of the team, as well as being a player.42
On October 10, 1877, Harold married Alice Elizabeth Clarkson in Toronto,43 the first of three Lambe children to marry Clarkson children. The Clarkson family home was just a few doors away from the Lambe family home.44
Harold worked with brothers Roger and Alfred Jr. as a tea merchant in Toronto.45 He then moved to Hamilton where he continued his profession.46 There, he founded the Leander Rowing Club, which gave the Argonaut Rowing Club stiff competition and handed them a number of key losses.47
Harold died on August 1, 1911 in Hamilton.48
Lionel Austin Lambe
Lionel was born in 1854.49 The Daily News of London recorded the death of Lionel as having taken place on Dec. 30, 1855 and noted that he was the sixth son of A.B. Lambe of 149 New Bond Street.50
Amy Lambe
Amy was born April 25, 1852.51 Amy married E.R.C. Clarkson on December 20, 1877.52
Amy would have lived close to the pinnacle of Toronto society, since her husband ran a significant official assignee business inherited from his father that gave him a high profile within the city, and a similarly high income.53 In 1913, for example, they lived at 71 Avenue Road,54 a relatively prestigious address, and summered in Muskoka. E.R.C.'s position would have required Amy to host major social events, an occupation at which she must have become expert.
According to family information, Amy died in 1924.55
Eliza Letitia Lambe
With her twin sister Gertie, "Letitia" was born May 31, 1855.56 Letitia became a kindergarten teacher.57
Letitia died July 25, 1893 from accidental drowning.58 The tragic death of Letitia during the summer of 1893 must have had a profound effect on the Lambe family.59
Fanny Gertrude Lambe
"Gertie" was born May 31, 1855 with her twin sister Letitia.60 She married George Helliwell Clarkson on November 25, 1885,61 with whom she had five children.
Gertie lived with her husband and children at 9 Prince Arthur Avenue in Yorkville, now part of Toronto.62 She and her husband were active in the Church of the Redeemer at the corner of Yonge St. and Avenue Rd.,63 and she was a member of the International Order of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire.64 She continued the artistic tradition from the Austin side of the family through her painting.65
Gertie nearly drowned in the summer of 1893 trying to save her twin sister Letita. The loss of her twin and subsequnt loss of her mother and her baby boy must have had a significant effect on her.
She died on July 23, 1945.66
Kate Lambe
Kate was born July 7, 1857.67 According to family sources, she married James Alexander Mackenzie, and by 1925 she was living in Wheaton, Illinois.68, 69, 70 She died February 21, 1947.71
William Geoffrey Austin Lambe
"Willie," as he was called as a child, was born in 1863 in Erith, Kent.72, 73 Willie founded a company of grocery brokers and was a world recognized bird watcher.74, 75 Percy Taverner, a fellow field ornithologist, recalled that, "From Lambe I was introduced to an old-world-like courtesty that I had not seen before." This speaks to the Lambe family's upbringing.
Willie married Laura Beverly Dixon on May 10, 1887,76 and subsequenly Carrie Massey Reid on June 21, 1904 in London, England.77 He was an acting second lieutenant of the Royal Grenadiers.78
Willie died in 1941,79 and is buried in St. James Cemetery on Parliament Street in Toronto.
Others
In addition, the information passed down through the family records three girls, all of which died as infants, and none of which were named in the family documents.80Footnotes
1The Register Booke of Christeninges, Marriages, and Burialls within the Precinct of the Cathedrall and Metropoliticall Church of Christe of Canterburie, London: 1878, p.47.
21841 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family, City of Westminster, Parish of St. George Hanover Square, p. 4.
31861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family, Erith, Kent, page number obscured (family #34).
4Untitled Family Tree prepared by Alfred Boydell Lambe Jr. for nephew Willie Lambe, son of George Lambe, 1925, p.2.
5Descendant Chart for John Lambe prepared by Hugh van Nostrand, March 4, 2010; consistent with 1851 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family, City of Westminster, Parish of St. George Hanover Square, p. 28.
6Lamb(e) Family Tree, typewritten, undated document said to have been prepared by Elsie Lambe.
7Untitled Family Tree, 1925, p. 2.
8Entry for Mary Lambe, General Record Office index, September 1843, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
9Lamb(e) Family Tree.
101911 Canadian Census Record for E.R.C. Clarkson and family, Ward 3, Toronto Ontario, p. 11.
11Untitled Family Tree, 1925, p. 2.
12Entry for Alfred Boydell Lambe, General Record Office index, December 1844, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
131861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
14Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
15Toronto directory for 1877, Toronto: Might & Taylor, 1877, p.295.
16Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of York and the Township of West Gwillimbury & Town of Bradford in the County of Simcoe Ont., Toronto: Miles & Co., 1878, p. 6.
17Burial Register of Chirst Church, Mimico, for Mary Lambe, 1879, and Bessie Lambe, 1881, identified and provided by the Anglican Diocese of Toronto Archives.
18Map of Greater Toronto and Suburbs, Toronto: The Map Company, 1916, University of Toronto reference G 3524 T6 16 1916.
191881 Canadian Census Record for Alfred B. Lamb and family, District of York West, Subdistrict of Etobicoke Division 1, Province of Ontario, p. 66.
20Letter from Alfred Boydell Lambe (jr.) to Aldyth Lambe, September 24, 1925, p. 2, courtesy of Hugh van Nostrand.
21Storey, Anne (ed.), The St. George's Society of Toronto, Agincourt, Ont.: Generation Press, 1987, p. 81.
22Entry for George Lambe, General Record Office index, June 1846, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
231861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
24Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
251891 UK Census Record for George Lambe and family, 7 Oaks, Kent, p. 5.
261891 UK Census Record for George Lambe and family.
27Envelope addressed to Miss F. G. Lambe, George Lambe Esq., Andrew G. Clarkson (photographer), Jan 2, 2021.
28Province of Ontario marriage registration for George Helliwell Clarkson and Fanny Gertrude Lambe, November 25, 1885.
291891 UK Census Record for George Lambe and family.
30Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
311851 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family, City of Westminster, Parish of St. George Hanover Square, p. 437.
321881 Canadian Census Record for Charles Howard-Gibbon and family, District 139, Subdistrict of Penatenguashine, Province of Ontario, p. 26.
33Florence Lambe Howard-Gibbon (1847-1930), www.findagrave.com, accessed July 20, 2012.
34Entry for Roger Lambe, General Record Office index, June 1849, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
35The Modern Era 1872-1979 on Argonaut Rowing Club website (www.argonautrowingclub.com/Content/About%20Us/Club.asp), accessed July 28, 2012, p. 2.
36Janssen, Frederick William, Janssen's American Athletic and Acquatic History 1829-1893, 1893, pp. 190-191.
37Province of Ontario marriage registration for Roger Lambe and Agnes Georgina Furlong, July 14, 1875.
38Toronto City Directory, 1877, p. 295.
39Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
40Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
41United States Championships (Men 1876-1942), on GBR Athletics website (www.gbrathletics.com/nc/usa.htm), accessed July 28, 2012.
42Year-by-Year History on Toronto Argonauts website (http://www.argonauts.ca/page/year-by-year-history) accessed July 15, 2012.
43Province of Ontario marriage registration for Edward R.C. Clarkson and Amy Lambe, December 20, 1877.
441881 Canadian Census Records for Mary A. Clarkson and family, and George Lambe and family, District 134 East Toronto, Subdistrict C St. Thomas Ward, Province of Ontario, pp. 19 and 20, respectively.
45Toronto City Directory, 1877, p. 295.
461891 Canadian Census Record for Harold Lambe and family, District 72 Hamilton, Subdistrict C Ward 2, Province of Ontario, pp. 34-35.
47Jannsen's American Athletic and Acquatic History, p. 193.
48Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
49Entry for Lionel Austin Lambe, General Record Office index, March 1854, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
50"Deaths" in the Daily News, January 2, 1855.
51Descendant Chart for John Lambe; consistent with 1861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
52Province of Ontario marriage registration for Edward R. C. Clarkson and Amy Lambe, December 20, 1877, as transcribed on http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maryc/york77p2.htm, accessed July 25, 2012.
53The Story of the Firm 1864-1964, Toronto: Clarkson, Gordon & Co., 1964, pp. 14-18.
54The Society Blue Book Toronto: A Social Directory, New York City: Dau Publishing Company, 1913, p. 51.
55Lamb(e) Family Tree.
56Descendant Chart for John Lambe; consistent with 1861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
57Ontario Legislature, Report of the Minister of Education (Ontario) for the Year 1892 with the Statistics of 1891, Toronto: Warwick & Sons, 1893, p. 110.
58Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
59Lamb(e) Family Tree.
60Descendant Chart for John Lambe; consistent with 1861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
61Province of Ontario marriage registration for George Helliwell Clarkson and Fanny Gertrude Lambe, November 25, 1885.
62The Society Blue Book Toronto, 1913, p. 51.
63See, for example, "Vestry Meetings" in The Globe, April 4, 1899, p. 8.
64The Society Blue Book Toronto, 1913, p. 51.
65Conversations of the author with Mary (Stinson) Clarkson, c. 2006.
66Letter by George Wilkes to the other grandchildren of Fanny Gertrude (Lambe) Clarkson, dated August 11, 1988.
67Descendant Chart for John Lambe; consistent with 1861 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
68Lamb(e) Family tree.
69Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
70Untitled Family Tree, 1925, p. 2.
71Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
72Entry for William Geoffrey Austin Lambe, General Record Office index, June 1863, on www2.freebmd.org.uk, accessed December 2, 2012.
731871 UK Census Record for Alfred B. Lambe and family.
74Cranmer-Byng, John L., "A Life with Birds: Percy A. Taverner, Canadian Ornithologist, 1875-1947" in The Canadian Field-Naturalist, vol. 110, no. 1, Ottawa: The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, 1996, p. 6.
75See, for example, "General Notes" in The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 58, no. 2, June 1946, p. 111.
76Descendant Chart for John Lambe.
77"Family Notices" in The Argus, Melbourne, June 25, 1904, p. 9.
78Champion, Thomas Edward, History of the 10th Royals and of the Royal Grenadiers, Toronto: The Hunter, Rose Company, Ltd., 1894, p. 201.
79The St. George's Society of Toronto, p. 81.
80Lamb(e) Family tree.
