Alfred Henry Padley

Alfred Padley, was a Melbourne land developer. Through his Cosmopolitan Land and Banking Company he purchased a number of farms in the St. Albans district and subdivided them into residential lots.

 

Alfred gave St. Albans it's name. He had a vision of the suburb of becoming an oasis in the west with wide tree-lined avenues where men of influence and wealth could live surrounded by the finer things of life.

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Born, Alfred Henry Padley on the 29th September 1850 in Middlesex, England. His parents were Thomas Padley and Caroline Jeffs. He had seven siblings, Elizabeth Mary Purser (b27/6/1843 d9/8/1914), Thomas Juffes (b11/5/1845 d30/4/1846), William Rufus (b1847 d7/11/1847), 

Amelia (b1853 d1853), Louise (b1853 d1853), Emily Elizabeth (b9/9/1854) & Clara Alice Jeffs (b11/1858 d15/5/1859). Alfred and his three older siblings were all born in England and his four youngest siblings were born in Victoria, Australia.

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Alfred's parents including Alfred and his oldest sister Elizabeth emigrated to Australia in 1852. His two brothers had died young before them emigrating to Australia.

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Alfred married Mary Elizabeth Clark in 1874 in Victoria.

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The pair had nine children, Mary Alfrieda (b1875 d26/8/1951), Emily Caroline (b1877 d9/4/1949), Kate Constance (b1879 d4/4/1966), Amy Brucine Ruth (b1881 d1963), Winifred Shirley Clara (b2/4/1883 d31/7/1967), Queenie Victoria (b1885 d1986), Thomas St. Albans (b10/9/1887 d8/12/1928), Helen Mary (b1890 d1963) & Dorothy Martha (b1890 d24/9/1891). The last two children's births were registered in Keilor.

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Alfred Padley built his St. Albans house "Kieglo" in 1887. It faced Winifred St. This section of street is now closed and has become part of the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School. The house itself has become the school's Presbytery.

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Alfred named many of St. Albans streets after his children, Alfrieda St (Mary Alfrieda), Amy St (Amy Brucine Ruth), Constance St (Kate Constance), Emily St (Emily Caroline), Helen St (Helen Mary), Kate St (Kate Constance), Ruth St (Amy Brucine Ruth), Shirley St (Winifred Shirley Clara), Thomas St (Thomas St. Albans) & Winifred St (Winifred Shirley Clara).

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Other local locations named after the Padley family include Padley St & Padley Park.

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Alfred's wife died in Campbellfield in 1925. He died four years later on the 1st April 1929 in West Melbourne.

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Four of Alfred's daughters did not marry, Mary Alfrieda, Kate Constance, Amy Brucine Ruth & Helen Mary.

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Ref: Frontier Suburb, A Short History of St. Albans by Jeff Maynard