Family
Fingleton met his wife Philippa "Pip" Street in 1938 during the sea voyage from Australia to England for the Test series. Philippa was the daughter of Kenneth and Jessie Street. Her father later became the Chief Justice of New South Wales, while her mother was a prominent left-wing women's rights activist and the Streets were a wealthy family of the Protestant establishment. Jessie had taken her daughter with her to a meeting of the League of Nations and then for a long tour of Europe. At the time, Philippa was only 18, and Fingleton 30, and Jessie was concerned when the pair fell in love, anticipating that problems would arise over religion. She hoped that the young couple would drift apart, but Fingleton gave the family tickets to the Fifth Test in London, only to injure himself during the match and not be able to bat. Upon returning to Australia, the couple wanted to marry, but the Streets forbade their daughter from marrying until 21. Fingleton wanted Philippa to adopt Catholicism, something that concerned her mother, as she had clashed with Catholic leaders in her advocacy of birth control. The wedding went ahead in January 1942 after Philippa agreed to convert and Fingleton fitted in easily with his in-laws' left-wing orientation.
Read more about this topic: Jack Fingleton
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish or a German girl scrubbing floors in that home, a Welsh boy mining coal to keep the home-baked goodies warm, a black girl doing the family laundry, a black mother and child picking cotton to be made into clothes for the family, and a Jewish or an Italian daughter in a sweatshop making “ladies” dresses or artificial flowers for the family to purchase.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)
“The family is in flux, and signs of trouble are widespread. Expectations remain high. But realities are disturbing.”
—Robert Neelly Bellah (20th century)
“Q: What would have made a family and career easier for you?
A: Being born a man.”
—Anonymous Mother, U.S. physician and mother of four. As quoted in Women and the Work Family Dilemma, by Deborah J. Swiss and Judith P. Walker, ch. 2 (1993)