User:Lester/Lyall Howard

Lyall Falconer Howard (1896-1955) was an Australian World War 1 veteran, and small businessman. He is notable for being the father of current Australian Prime Minister, John Howard.

Early years
Howard was born and raised near Maclean in the Clarence River region in northern New South Wales, and became an engineer by trade.

During World war I, Howard was known as a proud patriot. On 16 January, 1916, at age 19, he signed up to the armed forces as part of the 3rd Pioneer Battalion. Records show he had attempted to sign up on a previous occasion, but was rejected because his height of 157cm was deemed too short. Private Lyall Howard left Port Melbourne aboard the HMAT Wandilla and was shipped to the Western Front. In battle, he was wounded by a mustard gas attack in Passchendaele and spent 10 weeks recuperating.

Lyall's father, Walter Howard, had also enlisted and was transferred to the battlefields of Europe. In an extraordinary situation of chance during the mass movement of troops near the village of Clery, France, the father and son's paths crossed, and they met on the eve of the Battle of Mont St. Quentin.

A handwritten entry in Lyall Howard's diary, dated 30 August, 1918, simply reads: "Met dad at Clery."

Recounts John Howard: "There's just this pithy or laconic entry in the diary. It's just so Australian - 'Met dad at Clery'. They didn't verbalise their experience in the way men do now. It's one of the big changes in Aussie blokes. I think it's a good thing. They don't bottle it all up, but they did in those days.

After the war, Lyall worked as a fitter and turner for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR).

In 1925 he married an office worker, Mona Kell, who was described as having a "forceful" personality. Lyall and Mona Howard lived in a comfortable Californian-style bungalow at 25 William Street, Earlwood (now the site of a KFC outlet). Their first son, Walter (junior), was born in 1926, followed by Stanley in 1930, Robert in 1936, and the youngest, John Howard in 1939.

New Guinea interests
Lyall and Walter Howard later acquired numerous copra plantations in New Guinea valued at the time at more than £100,000 (over AUD $4 million in today's currency) where 200 native labourers worked. The Australian government administrator of New Guinea suspected the Howards of being "dummies" (proxies) for the trading house W. R. Carpenter and Co Ltd. The National Archives of Australia show a 1929 cable sent from the administrator to the Investigation Branch (now known as ASIO) in Canberra:


 * "Walter and Lyall Falconer Howard apply consent purchase property valued at £25,000 and £100,000 respectively. Strongly suspect dummies for Carpenter and Coy. Could Investigation Branch enquire into status and financial circumstances these men and report the result urgently?"

The 1928-29 Auditor General's report stated that in the Howard's case, there is "no doubt whatever that dummying exists", but said "the offence is not so open and the pretence is better maintained" compared to other cases. Prime Minister John Howard has declined media interviews about his family's business ventures in New Guinea.

Depression and war
During the 1930s, Lyall was retrenched from CSR. Lyall and his father Walter Howard then ran a petrol station and mechanical workshop on the corner of Ewart Street and Wardell Road in Dulwich Hill, where John Howard worked as a boy. According to a Sydney Morning Herald report published on 7 January, 1989, there were some suspicions in the Howard family that Lyall was a member of the New Guard, an unofficial paramilitary organisation which stood for "unswerving loyalty to the throne, sane and honourable government, suppression of any disloyal and immoral elements in government, industrial and social circles, [and] the full liberty of the individual"

During World War II, Lyall was strongly against appeasement, and an admirer of Winston Churchill. Both Lyall and Mona Howard were enthusiastic supporters of the Liberal Party of Australia from its foundation in 1944, and Lyall became a paid member.

Lyall Howard has been described as a shy and gentle, strong on self-reliance, but not an outwardly affectionate man. He died of chronic bronchitis in 1955, at the age of 59.