The Clarence and Richmond Examiner, Saturday 3 February 1900
(Grafton, New South Wales)

Death of Mr. W. Penrose
As briefly announced in our issue of Tuesday, Mr. Penrose died suddenly in Sydney on Monday. The body of the deceased gentleman was brought back to Grafton on Thursday by the City of Grafton. On arrival of the steamer Mr. H. Sanders conveyed the coffin to the Cathedral, where, after a short interval, the first part of the burial service was read. The funeral procession then started for the cemetery, where the service was concluded, the Archdeacon being the officiant. The coffin was carried, principally, by either past or present residents of the Yulgilbar district, the chief mourners being Mr. C. A. G. Lillingston, Hon. T. H. Smith, Messrs C. F. Tindal, John Tindal, P. Clarence and C. Bundock. The late Mr. Penrose was not very largely known to the general public of Grafton, but throughout the whole of the Upper Clarence he was profoundly respected, and his loss will be deeply felt. He was a keen and particularly able business man, as is evidenced by the complete confidence reposed in him by the late Hon. E. D. Ogilvie. But, in addition to this, he possessed a highly cultivated intellect, and his opinion on any subject invariable proved remarkable powers for unbiassed and skilled judgment. By all the station-owners of the Clarence and Richmond he was warmly respected, and the miners, selectors and other residents of the wide area between Coaldale and Drake, almost to a man, speak in the highest terms of his genial presence and friendly behaviour. He leaves a widow, one son and three daughters, and we cordially join the general expression of deep sympathy for them in their sudden bereavement.
Mr. T. G. Hewitt, proprietor of the Northern Star, writes:—Mr. Penrose was a native of Cornwall, England, and came to the colony about 1874 or 1875, and shortly afterwards obtained a situation on Yulgilbar. In a few years he was entrusted by the proprietor, the Hon. E. D. Ogilvie, with the sole management of the station, the largest one on the Clarence, and as proof of the great regard in which he was held by Mr. Ogilvie the latter gentleman appointed him one of his executors. He was a man of great natural ability, indomitable energy, and one of those men who, in any walk of life, would have risen to an exalted position. His loss is one that the district will feel, and Lismore shares in it, for it was his intention to have retired from the management of Yulgilbar this year and take up his residence here, where he had made preliminary arrangements to build a residence on his town property.

Contributed by Bob Bolitho