Gordon Winn
Gordon Russell Winn (1887 - 1964) was a hearing man from a well-known NSW family, who was involved with both the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of NSW and the NSW Association of Deaf and Dumb Citizens from the 1920s to the 1940s. Read more…
Gordon Russell Winn was born in Newcastle NSW in 1887 to a Methodist family. His brother Stanley Dickson Winn (1889 - 1959) was deaf and was educated at the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution in Sydney.
Gordon’s father, William Winn (1849 - 1929), founded the store W. Winn & Co, drapers and milliners in Newcastle, NSW. The firm became one of the largest drapery establishments in NSW. When Winn moved to Sydney around 1909 he founded a new store, Winn and Sons. Gordon became the managing director of Winn’s Ltd. in Oxford Street, Sydney.
During World War I, Gordon served in the Australian Imperial Force as a private from December 1916 until he was discharged in August 1918 because of medical unfitness. During this period he served in England and France.
Gordon and his deaf brother Stanley were involved with the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of NSW in the 1920s. His father, William Winn Senior, was the vice-president of the Society from 1921 to 1923 and was on the executive council of the Society from 1922 until his death in 1929. He was also a board member of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution at Darlington in the late 1910s.
Gordon joined the board of the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of NSW in 1920 and resigned in 1925. He and his father became life members of the Society in 1928. In 1929, the NSW Association of Deaf and Dumb Citizens was established as a breakaway group from the Deaf Society. Gordon Winn and his brothers were supportive of the breakaway, and Gordon served on its board. He regularly wrote articles for its magazine The Deaf Advocate. However, after the merger between the Deaf Society and the breakaway group in 1937, Gordon Winn re-joined the Deaf Society and served as a council member until 1942. He was also their vice-president from 1937 to 1944. Gordon’s first cousin, Arthur Winn, was also on the council of the Deaf Society from 1937 to 1941.
Gordon was married twice, first to Sarah McMurtrie in 1916 and later to Nancie Lane in 1947. He died in Lindfield in 1964 at the age of 76.
Sources
Ancestry.com databases
National Archives of Australia databases
SMH 16 Dec 1916 TROVE
SMH 17 Mar 1917 TROVE
SMH 18 Aug 1927 TROVE
SMH 24/5/1929 TROVE