Name: Kitty Lillian Vollrath

Date of Birth: 10 July 1907

Birth Location: Tin Pott Cottages, Anningston, Steyning, Sussex, England

Maiden Name: Wells

Also Known As: Kitty

Date of Death: 15 September 1995

Age: 88 years

Death Location: Freeman Nursing Home, Rossmoyne, Western Australia, Australia

Date of Burial: 20 September 1995

Denomination: Seventh Day Adventist

Row/Grave: Row 3. Grave # 28

Grave Transcription:

VOLLRATH

KITTY LILLIAN

Nee WELLS

1907 – 1995

LOVING MOTHER OF

JIM, ROBIN, MELVA & JOHN

IN THE ARMS OF JESUS

Father: Harry Wells. Born 30 September 1885 at Shipley, Sussex, England. Died 6 February 1954 at Busselton, Western Australia, Australia.

Mother: Mary Ann Temperance Allen. Born 2 May 1882 at Steyning, Sussex, England. Died 23 September 1935 at Busselton, Western Australia, Australia.

Grandparents (father): Frederick Wells. Born 6 September 1850 at Shipley, Sussex, England. Died 6 October 1916 in England and Harriet Balchin Adams. Born 2 October 1854 at Shipley, Sussex, England. Died 17 March 1916 at Coombes, Sussex, England.

Grandparents (mother): Alonzo Walter Allen. Born 15 November 1857 at New Shoreham, Sussex England. Died 16 December 1950 at Littlehampton, Sussex, England and Jane Sayers. Born 7 November 1858 at New Shoreham, Sussex, England. Died 1897 at New Shoreham, Sussex, England.

Siblings:

Harry Wells. Born 16 October 1908 at Tin Pott Cottages, Anningston, Steyning, Sussex, England. Died 9 April 1979. Buried at Margaret River, Western Australia.

Frederick Wells. Born 23 May 1910 at Tin Pott Cottages, Anningston, Steyning, Sussex, England. Died 11 June 1973. Buried Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth, Western Australia.

Ivy Mary Wells. Born 3 November 1914 at Durrington Cottages, Durrington, Worthing, Sussex, England. Died 3 February 2016 (101 years and 4 months old) at Rossmoyne Retirement Village, Rossmoyne, Western Australia.

Joseph Wells. Born 16 May 1912 at Durrington Cottages, Durrington, Worthing, Sussex, England. Died 16 December 1982. Buried at Capel Cemetery, Western Australia.

Dorothy Wells. Born 23 May 1923 at Fittleworth, Sussex, England. Died 8 December 2017 at Busselton, Western Australia.

Spouse: Herbert Karl Vollrath. Born 25 February 1909 at Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Died 8 February 1983 in Bunbury, Western Australia.

Children:

Charles Barber Wells (Jim). Born 7 February 1929 at Capel Western Australia. Died 24 April 2003 at Capel Western Australia.

Robin Rodney Vollrath. Born 15 March 1935. Died 31 March 2017. Married Yula Elizabeth Ashlin in 1958

Melva Joy Vollrath. Born 10 September 1938. Married Norman Dickson Ashlin in 1964

Lindsay John Vollrath. Born 2 June 1942. Married Elizabeth May Doubikin in 1965

Occupation: Farmer

Their Story

Kitty came to Australia on board the T.S.S “Largs Bay” on 05 May 1924 with her parents and siblings. The “Largs Bay” was built by Wm Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir, and launched on 20 June 1921. It was built to service the London-Australia passenger route and its maiden voyage commenced on 4 January 1922. They arrived in Fremantle on 04 April 1924, coming as part of the Group Settlement scheme. This was a government assisted migration scheme operating in Western Australia in the 1920s.  It was an attempt by the British and Australian governments to expand the Western Australian population and economy. Settlers worked together in groups of twenty to establish dairy farms and were initially paid for their work. Later each would take on a farm when it was ready for dairying. Kitty’s family came to Group 49, Lilyvale. Later Ambergate. In 1927 the family moved to Group 53, Lennox near Jindong, Western Australia.

Before migrating, the family lived at Lea Farm, Cotts, Littleworth, Sussex. Family members relate that Kitty’s mother, Mary was unwell on the journey and Kitty, as the eldest girl, was responsible for the care of her siblings.  Kitty was 16 years of age when they arrived in Adelaide.

Mary passed away after a brief illness on 23 September 1935, and is buried in the Busselton cemetery.  According to newspaper reports, nineteen years later, Kitty’s father, Harry, died on 06 February 1954, having taken his own life. He was found in his caravan at Vasse with a gunshot wound to his head, and a rifle nearby.

When Kitty was 19 years of age, she was working in the general store in Capel and was asked to go to work at ‘Hope Farm’ Elgin to help an older farmer Charles Barber with a wheelchair bound wife.  She was to assist in milking their cows. In 1931, two years after the birth of her son Jim, Kitty was living at ‘Hope Farm’ Elgin and is described in the Electoral Roll as a domestic. When Kitty was 25 years old, she married Herbert Karl Vollrath on 28 February 1933 at the Seven Day Adventist Church, Capel.

Electoral records show that Kitty and Herbert and their family lived on an old property at ‘Hope Farm’ Elgin where they ran a dairy farm, subsequently moving to Stratham where they purchased an 80 acre property with an old weatherboard house on it on the main road from Bunbury to Capel, continuing to farm and raise their own children.

Kitty subsequently married Herbert Karl Vollrath born 25 February 1909 on 28 February 1933 and they had three children:

i              Robin Rodney born 15 March 1935, died 31 March 2017 married Yula born 1934.

ii             Melva Joy born 10 September 1938 married Norman Ashlin.

iii            Lindsay John born 02 June 1942 married Elizabeth May Doubikin in 1965.

Herbert died 08 February 1983, age 74, at Bunbury. Kitty died 20 September 1995, aged 88.

Kitty and Herbert had been married forty-nine years.

Vollrath’s in Capel Saturday 16 November 1935 South Western Times Bunbury

Story written by Annette Carter for the Capel District Cemeteries Project website.

Links to other websites with additional information included in story.

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© Capel District Cemeteries Project 10/11/2025