Much to Nora's dismay, she and TLM-P she had 8 children. Unlike Matilda, Nora gave birth in urban settings with help at hand. She also remained healthy, so her babies were not so vulnerable: only one (Emmeline) died in infancy. Her children's choices when they grew up were firmly against marriage. Only 2 of her 4 surviving daughters married; only 1 of her 3 sons did so. While there was a dip in marriage rates at the time, and heterosexuality cannot be assumed, it is hard to escape the conclusion that one factor was their first-hand experience of the economic and personal costs of their father's fecundity.

Eileen and Rown Hickson had five children, all sons. The two youngest had no known direct descendants. They were:

4. George Harvey Foster Hickson (15 March 1909 - ?) He and his wife had no children.

5. Rowan Darvall Hickson (28 November 1911 - 3 May 1931) he did not marry and had no known children.

Like his sister Eileen Hickson, Robert M-P had five children. Only one, the eldest, had no direct descendants of her own (though she did have two step-daughters, one of whom was adopted).

1. Nora Estella (1909¹⁾ - 1984²⁾) See in the public section of this website as she had no known direct descendants. Like her sisters, she went to school at SCEGGS. She was active in youth groups including the Crusaders and the Brownies, the latter as a member and, when adult, leader. She trained in midwifery at Royal North Shore Hospital, graduating in 1937.³⁾ She worked at the War Memorial Hospital in Casino from September 1938 to March 1940. She then appears to have nursed in the south-west town of Young as she is remembered as the midwife for a birth there in 1940.⁴⁾ By 1944, she was employed as a nursing Sister by the Royal Far West Society, with her headquarters at Inverell.⁵⁾ The work involved much travelling around the local area. For more, click on **nursing with Royal Far West**.

Nora kept up her connection to Young, as she left the Royal Far West Children's Scheme early in 1949 to marry⁶⁾ widower Lawrence Ashley Frederick Boyd (known as Ashley). He had a sheep/wheat property, Eldorado, near Young, NSW. Ashley had two daughters (one adopted) by his first marriage, but had no children with Nora. My (Judith Godden) recollection of her is someone who could be very kind but also very tactless, while her extensive travelling in later life did not change her narrow view of the world.

The next three photos are of Nora⁷⁾:the 1st with her elder brother E. Sterling M-P; the 2nd probably on the day she qualified as a nurse; the 3rd with her mother (right):

For more photos, click on Nora Boyd photos