Rumpf, Ann

Entrepreneur who ran a galvanised iron works on King Street, Newtown. 

Ann migrated from England to New Zealand with her parents William and Christina Melhuish, where she married a German farmer, Johannes Rumpf. Johannes migrated to Sydney and Ann followed soon after with her infant son. Johannes managed a billiard saloon on Castlereagh Street and the family lived on the premises. Ann petitioned for a divorce in 1894 on the grounds of 'desertion and habitual drunkenness' which made Johannes a 'brutal and disagreeable tyrant in his own home'. During the proceedings her children detailed numerous incidents of domestic violence which culminated in Ann leaving her husband in 1884 to live in Newtown. The judge found in favour of Ann and the marriage was dissolved.

During the 1880s she purchased properties in Newtown including shops at 2-10 King Street and ran the Mount Eagle Tin and Galvanised Iron Works. The business expanded to Wilson Street in about 1907. She retired from business in 1917. She died leaving an estate worth over £12,000.