David Ritchie, my 2x great-grandfather, was the son of a Scottish carpenter. David worked as a contract manager, Burgh surveyor, travelling salesman, and businessman. He was quite the entrepreneur and community-minded.

When the North of Scotland Transport Company David was working for went out of business in the early 1920s, David packed up his family (wife, children, and grandchild), and emigrated to the other side of the world to make a fresh start.

Family lore has it David was promised work in Australia, though who by is uncertain. What is certain is the promise didn’t eventuate as expected. The Ritchies based themselves in the country town of Coolamon, and from there David worked for a while as a representative of Rawleigh’s, travelling the countryside to sell their products.

Store proprietor

Sometime around 1935 the Ritchie family moved to the bigger town of Albury, where David became proprietor of a series of different stores. They included one which sold sandwiches, pies, cream horns, and the like. It was opposite Albury High School and popular with the students. Later he took on the Regent Milk Bar on Dean Street, which was in the Regent Theatre building. Being a rather canny man, he employed his teenage granddaughter as an extra attraction for the local boys!

David ran the Regent Milk Bar for eight years from about 1939, including throughout the Second World War and shortly afterwards. Advertisements were frequently published in the local newspaper. They demonstrated David’s business savvy, using taglines like “Spacious & modern milk bar–Caters for your health”, “Remodelled and enlarged and now the finest in town”, and “Create employment for local diggers–Buy local goods”. They also highlighted David’s own military service in World War One, saying that he was “One of the originals of the 51st Highland Division, and a keen worker for the Rehabilitation of all Diggers”.

Supporting the community

As a prominent businessman, David was an active supporter of fundraising efforts, especially in relation to the war effort. Being a veteran of World War One, and having experienced the impact of war on life in the United Kingdom would have made him particularly aware of the need behind such causes.

In 1944, an appeal was held to raise £1000 for the War Services’ Memorial Hall being built for servicemen. David was the first to buy an auction ‘brick’, paying £10 and 10 shillings. He wasn’t alone, with his wife Margaret and two sons each buying a brick for similar amounts.

When a Food for Britain appeal was held in June 1946, local ladies filled 10,000 cream puffs for sale, with proceeds going to the appeal. It was a huge quantity and all were gone by 8pm the same day. Sixty dozen of them were bought by David who donated them to patients of the military hospital at the nearby Bonegilla Army Camp.

David retired from being a store proprietor in his late sixties, though he continued to work for a few years. He spent leisure time with family, including great-grandchildren, although he was saddened by the early deaths of his grandson, daughter, and wife across a short period in the early 1950s. David died in Melbourne in 1963 at the age of 83, and is fondly remembered by his family.

Selected references

‘Albury said it with bricks’, Border Morning Mail, 23 Mar 1944, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257979711, accessed 24 March 2024.

‘Buy a brick! Buy a brick!’, Border Morning Mail, 24 Mar 1944, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257979711, accessed 24 March 2024.

‘Filled 10,000 cream puffs; British food appeal aided’, Border Morning Mail, 15 June 1946, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article258122944, accessed 24 March 2024.

Advertisement for the Regent Milk Bar, ‘Border Morning Mail’ 4 February 1946, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article258101233, accessed 17 February 2024.

Advertisement for the Regent Milk Bar, ‘Border Morning Mail’ 17 November 1943, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254941133, accessed 17 February 2024.

Advertisement for the Regent Milk Bar, ‘Border Morning Mail’ 22 January 1944, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257964528, accessed 17 February 2024.

Passenger list entry for David Ritchie and family, Euripides, 22 May 1924, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, BT27-133648, The National Archives, Surrey, England, Ancestry.com, accessed 2 July 2017.

Ritchie, David, Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, Australian Electoral Commission, Ancestry.com, accessed 1 April 2024.

‘Appointment to Hillside Man’, Montrose Review, 27 June 1919, p. 3.