Family background
William De Putron was born 22 July 1872 at Redfern, NSW, the son of John Hamilton De Putron and Barbara Johnella. He married Alice May Humphries (1874-1941) 27 December 1911 at St Leonards, NSW. De Putron lived at 18 Codrington Street, Darlington and at 50 Bellevue Street, North Sydney.
De Putron died at Mosman on 20 April 1946, aged 74 years, and was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium. He left a will and his estate and assets were valued at £5,372.
Occupation & interests
William De Putron was first articled to R Clarence Backhouse, architect, in 1891, and was then employed at the engineering firm of J Wildridge and Sinclair, working at their office in Brisbane, Queensland. From 1898 to about 1909 he served as chief draftsman in the architectural firm of Robertson and Marks in Sydney. Although De Putron had an association with architect, David Thomas Morrow, in the early 1890s, however, the pair did not form a partnership until October 1909. De Putron resigned from the firm in 1925, due to ill health.
De Putron was the principal architect for Babworth House in Darling Point (1912) and he was the architect for the Anzac Memorial Hall at Mosman (1922). After World War 1, De Putron was the honorary architect to the Soldiers’ Garden Village at Matraville, a settlement for wounded soldiers and soldier’s widows.
He was a member of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. In the organisation’s journal for May 1927 De Putron was described as having done ‘a very great deal to make our profession respected outside our own ranks’, including assisting many charitable causes including the Day Nursing Association.
De Putron was a member of the Newtown Cricket Club.
Community activity
William De Putron was a council auditor for a number of years. In 1902 De Putron was treasurer of the Darlington branch of the Australian Protestant Defence Association.
In 1917, De Putron also served as president of the Mosman branch of the Voluntary Workers’ Association, which was formed in 1916 to organise voluntary labour of the community to build houses for disabled returned soldiers’ and soldiers’ widows and their families.
He was a panel chairperson on the Commission to undertake preparation and collection of representative exhibits from NSW for display at the British Empire Exhibition 1924.
Local government service
William De Putron was an alderman on Darlington Council in 1901-03 and 1907-16. He was mayor in 1912. He was also an alderman with Mosman Council.
References
‘Darlington Municipal Election’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September 1901, p. 9, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14412749
‘Mayors elected’, Evening News, 13 February 1912, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113814015
‘Cheap and Comfortable Homes’, Construction and Local Government Journal, 12 March 1917, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109676090
‘William De Putron’, The Daily Telegraph, 25 January 1924, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245891826
‘The Late William De Putron’, Construction, 1 May 1946, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222873377
‘William De Putron’, Architecture, 1 May 1927, Vol 16, No. 5, p. 87, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3007858712