Summary

Joseph Skinner Popham (b.20 February 1884, d.1961) arrived in Townsville from Ipswich in 1894. Having passed with honours his studies in accountancy at the Townsville Technical College, he sat the Queensland Institute of Accountants examination in December 1918 and was admitted as an associate member. In 1919, he became an accountant for the family sawmilling and timber merchant business. Situated in Ogden Street adjacent to the railway station, the business was a partnership between the brothers Joseph Skinner Popham, Jesse William Popham and Alfred Ernest Popham which traded under the name, Jesse Popham. In 1936, however, the partnership was dissolved.

After leaving the family business, Joseph Skinner Popham worked as a public accountant and was admitted as a member of the Real Estate Institute (Qld) in 1938. He was very involved with the Masonic Lodge and also with the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society of Australia, of which he was Queensland Deputy Grand Master and a member of the Executive Council. He was also a keen collector of many things including rocks and Aboriginal artefacts. Joseph Skinner Popham had a daughter, Hazel Winifred (Winnie) and a son, Alfred John (Jack), who studied pharmacy at the University of Queensland and later practised in the Grafton/Byron districts.

Additions to the Joseph Skinner Popham Archive offer glimpses in to the lives of other family members such as Jesse Popham, father of Joseph Skinner Popham, and Rose Elizabeth Popham, sister of Joseph Skinner Popham. The archive also explores the family history of the Marshall family, connected to the Popham family via marriage. For information on the professional life of John Marshall, one of the first administrators of the University College of Townsville, please see the Marshall Archive.

List of this archive's contents

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Popham family tree

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