Tom Dowswell (Wests # 79) is the first cousin of Clarrie Tye (Wests # 146).
Tom Dowswell’s mother, Florence Lillian Tye was the sister of Stephen Alfred Tye who was the father of Clarrie Tye. Their great grandparents were Alfred Tye and Harriett Hoad.
The Tye family was originally from the Counties of Kent and East Sussex, England. They emigrated to Sydney in the mid 1800’s.
Alfred Tye started a small brick making business at Glebe before going into partnership with Frederick Goodsell at St Peters and establishing one of the major brickworks in Sydney by the late 1800’s.
Alfred Tye also had a number of Hotels in Sydney but ironically Tye’s Hotel at Ashfield was not one of them. Charles Tye who had the Ashfield Hotel is not an immediate relative.
Tom Dowswell died at Mortlake, NSW in March 1921 at the age of thirty one.