Chapter 97 / James Soden of Albury [AUS] and Leitrim [IRL]

James Soden, 1861 – 1944

Albury, NSW, Australia

Hotel Proprietor of ‘Soden’s Hotel Australia’

PO Box 3038,Albury, NSW 2640

1894 – 1944

Another interesting Soden story is that of James Soden, born in Ireland in 1860, probably in the Mohill area and his life and successful business career in Albury, NSW , Australia.

Albury lies between Sydney and Melboure in Eastern Australia. When and how James got there is not known but he did serve his time there as the phrase goes and worked his way up through all facets of the hotel hospitality business. It seems this was in his blood and so no one was surprised when he purchased the ‘Old Building’ as it was known, renovated it increasing the number of rooms from 15 to 60. At the beginning of the 20th century the hotel was ideally placed for those aficionados of horse racing to visit the Melbourne Cup . James Soden added on fine stables to cater for the high quality race horses that would be kept there as they passed through the area to the races.

The biggest names in Australian Horse Racing both horses, owners, trainers and jockeys stayed at Sodens during these year. The horses stabled there were Melbourne Cup Winers such as

1909 Prince Foot

1912 Piastre

1925 Windbag

1928 Statesman

1930 Pharlap

1932/4 Peter Pan

1947 Hiraji

1949 Foxami

1951 Delta

The hotel was also very popular with commercial travellers, shopkeepers and business people who came to inspect goods and place their orders. By all accounts James Soden ran ‘a tight shop’, never lowering the price of beer and maintaining a very high service standard.

James Soden died in 1944 aged 83 years at which point the hotel was put into the hands of George Carter who had started with the Sodens in 1907 as an apprentice.He ran it until 1966.He retired in 1968 and the hotel is still going strong. The stables are gone though the hotel caters for many events locally .

[Source: Fiona McVitty, Ballinalee, Co. Longford & Roberta Soden Machnik, Montreal,Canada]

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http://www.sodens.com.au/History2.html

[2006]

Copyright Felix Soden © 2023