Notable People of Collingwood

Collingwood Notables Database

Frederick Henry Warming

1827-19

Publican, Land Sale Agent

Frederick Warming’s Clifton Hill Hotel remains a Queens Parade landmark commemorating this man of many talents.  Warming’s life encompassed working in various locations and different occupations including as an accountant in London, as a mounted policeman in South Australia and Victoria and as a coach owner in northern Victoria in addition to his local roles as publican and land sales agent.

Frederick was born in Stepney, in London’s East End, in 1827 and was an accountant with the London Eastern Counties Railway before sailing to South Australia where he arrived in December 1849. There, he joined the Mounted Police in February 1851 and resigned in January 1852. He then transferred to the Victorian Mounted Police based in the Ballarat Goldfields and as a consequence was involved in the police operation in putting down the Eureka Riots in 1854. After Eureka he was a member of the Gold Escort until 1856 when he resigned and formed the Murray Fishing Company. He was also operating coaches from Echuca to Elmore.

By 1860 he had sold his share of the company and moved to Melbourne where he started his career as a licensed victualler at the Rifle Brigade Hotel in Carlton in 1861.  In 1862 he married Mary Ann Delaney and after that time he and Mary Ann, his sister-in-law (Eliza Delaney later Cox) and his later wife, Mary Catherine, ran a number of local hotels including the Albion in Carlton (1865-57), the Star in Fitzroy (1867-1873) and the Park View Hotel in North Fitzroy (1873-1880). 

By 1880 Eliza Cox had bought the Clifton Hill Hotel and Frederick became the licensee. The hotel, which had been called the Daniel O’Connell from 1869 until 1870 and would be demolished by 1900, was on the site of the present-day Bendigo Bank. This block of what was then called Heidelberg Road was only sparsely occupied at the time, with two hotels and a wooden grocer’s shop spread along vacant land. However, Frederick was an enterprising man who soon recognised the potential population growth in the Clifton Hill area. He purchased a large block of land on the corner of Wellington Street from contractor James Nation, and a much grander hotel was built. In November 1884 he applied ‘to remove a license to other premises on the 9th day of December from the house and premises known as the Clifton Hill Hotel to a house situated at the junction of Wellington St and Heidelberg Rd’ (The Argus, 22 November 1884, p 5). The hotel comprised 20 rooms and was a two-storey Italianate style stucco brick. It is a prominent element in the streetscape with the lettering on the parapet reading F.H. Warming 1884. Warming was definitely making a statement. Frederick continued to own and run the hotel until he retired in 1897 and left it to his wife on his death in 1911. The family still had ownership of the hotel in 1933, when his son Rudolph and daughter Evelyn, as owners, applied to the Licensing Board to carry out alterations to the hotel. 

As well as the hotel business he operated with his women business partners, Frederick was also a local house and land agent for over a period of 10 years, selling blocks and houses in Fitzroy, North Fitzroy, Clifton Hill, Carlton and Brunswick. The newspapers of the time were full of advertisements for allotments of a variety of sizes, on high ground at 12 shillings a foot, and splendid cottages with every convenience.

The hotel must have been a hive of activity what with land and house sales, the usual activity of a pub, political meetings, inquests and lodge meetings. It is easy to imagine Frederick at the centre of all that was happening in the hotel and the local community.  It would appear that at least two lodges were opened at the hotel. February 1885 saw the opening of a branch of the United Ancient Order of Druids with 70 members (Fitzroy City Press, 31 Jan 1885 p 2) followed on June 11, 1885 by the Loyal Boundary Lodge, a branch of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows. No evidence has been found to indicate whether Frederick was a member or if this was just a way to make sure he had plenty of customers in the hotel.  

The Warming family were parishioners of St John the Baptist Catholic Church, which was a few doors west of the hotel and on the other side of Queens Parade from Moira, where the family moved after Frederick’s retirement. Family weddings and funeral services took place at the church. Frederick’s children Rudolph, Anna Louisa and Evelyn were particular pillars of the parish as musicians and organisers. Rudolph was a committee member of the parish council, organist, and occasional choir member, while his half-sister, Louisa, directed the choir, played the organ at weddings and funerals, supervised the Children of Mary sodality, and was always on hand when stalls were neededat fund-raising bazaars and fairs. Unmarried Louisa lived in the family home, while Rudolph moved next door to number 220 after his marriage in 1913. Evelyn married in 1909; as a fine soprano she continued to contribute her talents to church events, especially after she was widowed in 1918. One other connection remains as a permanent link to their beloved church: stained glass windows were installed in 1928 in honour of Frederick, Evelyn’s husband, Timothy Mangan, and two other parishioners.

Though he suffered misfortune during his life with the death of his first wife Mary Ann, two children in infancy, two daughters at 15 and 32 and a son at 22, Frederick also had good fortune in his business and his will showed he had real estate of the hotel, his house Moiraand two neighbouring cottages in Queens Parade, North Fitzroy, leaving an estate worth £10,855. 

Frederick Warming was a successful businessman who made a lasting impact on the community of Clifton Hill, through his land and house sales in the early days of the suburb and then with his impressive hotel that became a vital and prominent part of the community.

Life Summary

Birth Date Birth Place
21 July 1827 Stepney, London, England
Spouse Name Date of Marriage Children
Mary Ann Delaney, 1836-1871 1862 Frederick, 1862-63, Alice Mary 1865-1895, Anna Louisa 1866-1950
Mary Catherine O'Connor, 1850-1930 1872 Reginald Frederick Clifton 1874-96, Rudolph Archer 1875-1936, Hilda Catherine 1876-1892, Evelyn 1877-1943, Olive Ella 1878-79
Home Addresses
Home Street Home City Status of Building
222 Queens Parade North Fitzroy Demolished
Work Addresses
Work Street Work City Status of Building
89 Queens Parade Clifton Hill Extant
Church Lodge
St John the Baptist Catholic church, Clifton Hill
Death Date Death Place Cemetery
16 November 1911 North Fitzroy Melbourne General
Sources

The AgeThe ArgusFitzroy City PressThe AdvocateTable TalkMelbourne PunchThe Herald.

Clifton Hill Hotel (old)

Clifton Hill Hotel (current)

Upcoming Events

Follow Us

Share This