Herbert


Herbert Wilson Corbin, sixth child of James & Margaret, was born on 14 August 1878 when the family was living at Valley Heights.

Herbert married Margaret Scoles at Molong in 1906. They had a large family, all nine surviving to adulthood.

They lived in Sydney, in the Eastern and Southern suburbs where they changed address often. Intriguingly, one of these addresses was 363 Glebe Point Rd - perhaps, with his father James dead for just a few years, the house had not been disposed of and was available for them to use - they were in it around 1921-1923, during which time their sixth child Geoffrey Alresford Corbin was born. The house was said to be the grandest of any that they lived in.


There are three children of Herbert still living at the time of writing, the only three of the 27 grandchildren of James & Margaret. They are Pat, Colin and June. They have shared some memories of their father Herbert. He was "a quietly spoken, gentle, generous man. He worked for J.James Ironmongers of Hunter Street, Sydney". It was a close association between James Bentley Corbin and J.James, both with their businesses in Hunter Street, that is thought to have given Herbert the original opportunity to work at J.James.

Herbert died suddenly, at their home 228 Oberon St Coogee, on 17 October 1937, aged 59 years.

His wife Margaret lived on to the age of 93, died in 1977 and was buried with her husband in Randwick Cemetery by Fr Eric Corbin.

As with some of the other families, members of this family remember that Fr Eric carried out a number of baptisms, marriages and funerals for them, perhaps the last ongoing link between Herbert's family and Percy's.

                       Hugh                                                                           Colin, Geoff, Tas, Greg, David

Herbert's son David had a part in the startling story of the Corbin/Harpur connection.

Currently there are 40 living descendants of Herbert & Margaret.