Leila Myrtle WILSON [3244]

  General Notes:

Leila had one son, Trevor whose father was said to be an air force pilot from Darwin, but his name was never mentioned to other family members.

Family lore states that when she became pregnant with her second child, the father being Thomas Clarke, the family insisted that they be married immediately. From the memory of Nancye Blackwell (Bonham), the marriage took place in the home of Leila's parents in Footscray (272 Somerville Road Yarraville). According to Nancye, Tom was not a nice character and even stole a specially made brooch from Nancye's sister Lola and had the inscription roughly changed to Leila and gave it to his wife. When this was discovered, he was more or less banned from visiting the Wilson household. Tom was murdered at Mt Martha in 1945.

Thomas Clarke was said to be a soldier at the time, and 25 year. He and two other men (Kevin Joiner and ? Harris) robbed the Maryport guest house in Mt Martha on April 17 1945. After the robbery the proceeds were divided amongst the men. For some reason one of the other robbers shot Thomas and left Thomas's body in a thick tea tree area. According to newspaper reports, Kevin Albert Joiner, thought Thomas looked nervous so he shot him. Thomas was shot several times, in the abdomen and head. One of the shots set Thomas's clothing on fire.

His body was found about a week later by a former police constable who owned the property. Thomas's clothing contained items that were said to have been stolen from the guest house. The police said that Thomas had been last seen in Footscray on the night of 14 April, (Leila and Tom's son Peter was born on 13 April 1945) and then in Melbourne on the 15th of April. A 17 year old man was questioned. When police searched his room, they found items said to have been stolen from the guest house along with a loaded black powder pistol and black powder. Kevin Joiner was charged with the murder of Thomas Clarke and was sentenced to death. This sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

Leila had a relationship with someone.

Leila next married Thomas Charles Michael CLARKE [3245] [MRIN: 967], son of Thomas CLARKE [10700] and Gladys OLIVER [10703], on 24 Apr 1943 in Footscray, Vic, Australia ³²²⁶.^,3227 (Thomas Charles Michael CLARKE [3245] was born on 3 Jan 1922 in Cope Cope, VIC, Australia,³²²⁸ died on 17 Apr 1945 in Mount Martha, Vic, Australia ^3229,3230 and was buried on 26 Apr 1945 in Brighton, Vic, Australia.)