Friday, December 19, 2008

Gentry Story


Image taken April 2002. Avondale-Waterview Historical Society collection.

I remember visiting this shop, The Gentry at 1685 Great North Road, on spotting it while researching for Heart of the Whau in late 2001, and looking inside. It was one of the last of the old-time barber shops then (a men's hairdresser, they call it these days). Now, I'm only going on memory here, but I'm fairly sure the proprietor, a very helpful person, told me that the place had legends attached to it. One was that it was built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries as a soft-drink stop for thirsty travellers who didn't want to use the more alcoholic facilities provided by the Avondale Hotel a mile or so further down the road (it's claimed that masses of bottles were found at the rear of the house to which the shop is attached), and the other was that it was haunted, and had apparently featured on the telly at some time.

Avondale, even though we're just a suburb of Auckland these days, has a number of ghost stories about the place handed down over the centuries.

Anyway ... come December 2008, and I wondered if the soft-drink part of the story might have meant that this place had an association with James Turton, "cordial manufacturer and hawker" living in Avondale 1895-1903. So, I went digging.

Benjamin Irwin Bollard (son of John Bollard, an early Avondale horseback postie, postal clerk in the city, and Whau storekeeper) purchased part of the former Gittos landholding near present-day Heron Park in 1904, 12½ acres between Great North Road and the Waitemata Harbour (now part of Motu Manawa Reserve.) Looking up the 1912 valuation roll for the Avondale Road Board at Auckland City Archives yesterday, I found that Ben Bollard had a handful of other land holdings in the Avondale area as well. When his father died in March 1915, it was Ben Bollard who took over his business.

In 1909, Bollard dedicated a road through his property at Allotment 69, and called it Seaview Road (excellent choice of name when selling property in Auckland). Today, after a number of changes over the years, the street is called Saltaire. In August 1909, he sold part of the property to an Avondale carpenter/builder named David John Habgood, the site of The Gentry. Habgood wasn't there for long -- just enough to possibly build a house on the site before selling it to Frederick Thomas Beazley, a labourer living in Avondale. By 1919, when Bollard was selling off his Seaview Road sections in earnest, the house was on the site -- but not lock-up shop at the front as yet. This was the year when Beazley sold the property in turn to Francis Ross Mackie, recorded as an attendant (given the proximity of the Mental Hospital, he may have worked there). Mackie named his home "Iona" (harking back to Scottish memories, perhaps).

The earliest certain documentation for the existence of the shop at the front is 1928 when the Auckland City Council's valuers described it as a "lock-up" type of business after the amalgamation with Avondale. Tracing back through the directories, which is also largely guesswork at this early stage, the names of Percy and Edward Sanderson show up alongside that of Mackie along Great North Road. Possibly (only possibly, mind you), Percy who was a boot importer and Edward who imported cutlery, may have operated from the small shop from a time, c.1924-1930.

From c.1930, Mackie's wife is listed in the directories alongside him, as a dressmaker. This may have denoted that she operated a dressmaking home business from the shop. This business appears have been carried on by the wife of the next owner of the property, Arthur Eli Sydney Butler originally from Pt Chevalier (from 1938-1954). Butler worked as a concrete worker and kerb layer.

Under Robert Millar Hay's ownership from 1954, the shop was rented out and became a hairdressers (in 1959, the proprietor was a Mrs. Jan E. Medwood). According to internet searches today, it still is, although there have been many changes of ownership since the 1950s.

So ... I have my doubts about the soft-drink-stop story, and the ghost story sounds a bit out of place as well, unless the ghost is one of Robert Chisholm's sheep from his farm (of which this site was a part) in the 19th century). The bottles found could have just been what Hapgood, Beazley, Mackie and Butler had gone through over the years.

Still, as I well know, interesting stories (even without a shred of truth to them) will always stick around.

Sources:
LINZ records: certificates of title, DP 4736
Auckland postal directories, Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Central Library
Valuation field sheets (ACC 213/59d) and Avondale Road Board/Borough Council valuation records 1913 & 1924, AVB 004/2-6, Auckland City Archives



Thursday, December 18, 2008

Canvas City: the 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles at Avondale

Well, I've just finished the article I mentioned back at this post and loaded it to Scribd.

Canvas City: The 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles camp, Avondale Racecourse 1912

Sgt. James Turton of the Avondale Rifles

While including James Turton's story in my post on Avondale's Rifle Volunteers, I wondered if the James Turton described by the Observer as a wife-beater was the same Sergeant Turton who seemed to be, even if aloofly, admired by the volunteer forces. Confirmation came today, via his obituary published in the Auckland Star on 7 May 1903, that they are indeed one and the same.

"Sergeant James Turton, whose burial took place to-day, was originally a member of the Coldstream Guards, and after getting his discharge from that famous corps, gave up professional soldiering, and came to the colony several decades ago. He was for many years a contractor on the East Coast [Poverty Bay, so I've found, at Whataupoko, where one of his wives, Margaret, left him, he commanded the J Battery of artillery volunteers, and he went bankrupt in July 1889, according to the Poverty Bay Herald], and coming afterwards to Auckland joined the Avondale Rifles in 1895.

"When that corps dissolved, he still clung to the amateur profession of arms, and became a sergeant in the Gordon Rifles, which position he held till his death. He was accorded all the honours of war with a military funeral, and the cortege included a strong party of Gordons and numerous representatives of other associated corps. The procession started from Mr. McIvor's undertaker's shop in Karangahape-road, and went out to the Avondale Cemetery [Rosebank Road], where the ceremony of interment was performed by the Rev. W. H. Wilson. The late sergeant was well-respected amongst his fellows, and was one of the best-known figures in local volunteering circles."

Daniel Pollen, warts and all

I have previously posted about Daniel Pollen and his place in Avondale's history. The Observer and other papers published some fascinating insights into his life and career here in New Zealand. Suddenly, at least to me, he has become three-dimensional, and his character all the more intriguing.

(Post updated 10 March 2011)

The Colonial Journal.— On Monday the New Zealand Times [Wellington] was published in an enlarged form. Dr Pollen, who has been appointed its Editor, is to receive a salary of £300 per annum.
Southland Times, 1 May 1878

The New Zealander this morning, after giving an account of what took place in the House in June,1877, in reference to the Piako Swamp and Pepepe coalfield blocks, and the new telegrams on the subject which, have recently been made public, especially Mr Sinclair's telegram to Dr Pollen, of June 23rd, 1876, goes on to say, "The instructions which thus required one public officer to avoid another—one who was seeking official information to prove the truth of statements made on hia authority—information which honour and. fairness to Sir George Grey required should be produced, even if the Government cared,nothing for their own fair fame—had disappeared, no doubt, in accordance with other instructions. Murder will out, however, and guilty attempts to make away with evidence do not often succeed much better in real life than in novels, or on the stage. Some little point is overlooked, some chance of discovery is left unguarded, and at the right moment the fatal evidence crops up.

"No doubt Dr Pollen washed his hands gleefully in imaginary water with invisible soap when he knew that Mr- Sinclair had not placed his 'instructions' on record, but had burnt or otherwise destroyed them. Dr Pollen, however, with all his astuteness, forgot that his instructions had been telegraphed, and that it was only the copy which had reached Mr Sinclair. The original was, of course, in the telegraph office here, and here it is:—

'Wellington, June 23rd, 1876, Andrew Sinclair, Esq., General Government offices, Auckland.
Mr Tole, I understood, is now in the habit of visiting your office, and inspecting records for the purpose of obtaining information regarding administration of the confiscated land, which is afterwards most unfairly used. Should Mr Tole again apply to you for this purpose, be good enough to invite him in my name to attend to his own business, of which the administration of confiscated lands forms no part. I am ready to give my full and complete information on all and every subject to Mr Tole, or any other person whom it may concern, but application must be made  in writing and be referred to me—Daniel Pollen.'

There is something quite melodramatic about this discovery and leaving the Hon. Dr Pollen gazing in horrified amazement at the resurrection of the witness which he deemed long ago dead and buried, we drop the curtain, content with the knowledge that, no doubt in due course, public justice will be satisfied.
Otago Daily Times, 6 May 1878

The poor New Zealand Times, the once ambitious Colonial journal, continues to whine and cry about the Government advertisements. It has for years, ever since indeed the Vogel Government bought it and changed the name to the present one, been accustomed to live on Government patronage. It has regularly had about three times as much money per annum from the Treasury as the two evening papers put together, and this despite the fact that its circulation has never been much more than one-half that of the least popular of its evening rivals. That all this should cease just at the very time when a dangerous morning antagonist in the shape of the New Zealander threatens to drive the Times, never a paying property, into extremis altogether, is, of course, felt to be very hard lines, but all its complaints and pitiful appeals only excite public contempt and ridicule. Already people are beginning to speculate as to how many months more the Times is likely to exist. The New Zealander already more than doubles it in circulation. Desperate changes are being made in the Times's management to endeavour to stave off the inevitable collapse. Mr Thomas McKenzie, the former proprietor of the Independent who, since he sold out to the Times, has been their manager, has been quietly shelved, or rather reduced to the position of country collector, while Dr Pollen is not only editor but also managing superintendent, whatever that high-sounding title may imply in a newspaper sense. In connection with this change an amusing skit, in the shape of a new version of the popular song, "Tommy make room for your Uncle," has been going round the city within the last few days. Mr McKenzie's name is Thomas, and with poetic license "Saponaceous Dan" is assumed by the writer to stand in the relation of " Mine Uncle" to him.

Otago Witness, 29 June 1878

Speight made some capital points in his speech, and told some good stories. There was a good deal of humour in his recital of Dr. Pollen's successful struggle for a pension. The doctor had been refused it by the Grey Government on the clearly-expressed .and well-reasoned opinion of its Attorney-General that he had forfeited his claim by acting as Minister and Premier for several years, because these offices carried no pensions with them. That a Civil servant should he Premier of the Colony — he, in fact, his own servant — was a disgraceful anomaly. Dr Pollen should have resigned "before going into political life and have taken his pension then if he was entitled to it.

His being allowed to act otherwise was one of the evil things done in an evil time, when the Legislature was indulging in State prosecutions and carrying things with the high hand — that brought Sir George Grey into the field, and rallied the people so enthusiastically to his support. The change of Ministry brought consolation to the patriotic doctor, as it did to many others. A new Attorney-General reversed the opinion of his predecessor, and a new Government gave to the doctor both the pension and the full arrears for which he had before been fighting in vain.

Mr. Speight was right in describing this proceeding as very detrimental to the character of the Ministry. It appears they were afraid to propose the vote in a form that would render it open to discussion; so they merely placed it among the permanent appropriations under the Pensions Act, and carefully kept hack the doctor's name. It figured as "Arrears of pension, £1433." and it was by the merest accident that the true meaning of this item leaked out. For a long time it had been regarded as providing for arrears of an ordinary kind and excited no comment. When the discovery was made it was too late for definite action during that session.

It seems, too, that among the offices held by the doctor, and for which the Government have thus pensioned him at the expense of the Colony, is that of Paymaster of Imperial Pensions. It was an office that Dr. Pollen filled only in name, but of which others did the duty. It had nothing whatever to do with Colonial responsibilities or with the Colonial service; yet Ministers include in their calculation of his pension the £300 a-year which he was supposed to draw for duties which he was not even supposed to perform. A more dishonest action could not have been perpetrated, and Ministers will yet find it rising up against them. Mr. Speight has done good service in recalling public attention to it.
Observer 9 April 1881


Pen and Ink Portraits.
No. 24. — Daniel Pollen,
The doctor came to New Zealand, I am told, in a whaling ship, in 1839, landing at the Bay of Islands. Many people think that he came to New Zealand at a later date, but the doctor said in the debate which took place on the New Zealand Settlement Act, in November 1862, in the General Assembly, in Auckland:

"Allusion has been made to the Treaty of Waitangi, and the rights the natives acquired under the treaty. He (the speaker) was present at the meeting of Waitangi on the 6th of February, 1840, when the treaty was proposed, and he was an attentive and anxious listener to all that had passed. He had heard Her Majesty's representative arguing, explaining, and promising to the natives, pledging the faith of the Queen and of the British people to the due observance of it — giving, upon the honour of an English gentleman, the broadest interpretation of the words in which the treaty was couched ; and he could assure the Council that definite and clear as the terms of the treaty appeared to us now, they bear about the same relation to the picture which it was made to represent to the natives, on that day, as the skeleton does to the living and breathing body."

Many, many years after the signing of the treaty, and many after the .words above quoted were spoken, the whirligig of time saw the doctor Native Minister. In January, 1877 the doctor interviewed the King natives and left a record of his interview in the Native Office. It read as follows :— " On landing at Kaipoha, on the 30th of January, I was met with the usual welcome. Manuhiri and the other chief men came forward to shake hands. They left me whilst food was being prepared, and, after dinner, Manuhiri and Takerei, and two or three others, returned. I being invited, it was Maori etiquette, for which the old men are great sticklers, that they should speak first. We sat in silence, face to face, for a long time, Manuhiri occasionally looking up and smiling, and then dropping his head, and apparently relapsing into contemplation of his stomach. Finally, he spoke, and was again silent. After waiting long, I saw that nothing more was to be done that day, and I rose to take leave, saying that I would wait at Alexandra next day and see any of them that came to me. All the party except Manuhiri himself, who is feeble and unable to travel, came into Alexandra on that evening. On the next day, we had our interview, and I entertained our distinguished visitors, some of them sans cullotes, at dinner. We had much drink, and were extremely sociable."

From these extracts it will be learned that the doctor was a not undistinguished guest at the meeting held at Mr. Busby's farm on the 5th and 6th of February, 1840 ; and what sort of a Native Minister the Honourable Daniel Pollen proved himself to be. I shall be obliged if any of your readers will correct any chronological errors in this portrait.

The doctor came to Auckland with Messrs Whitaker and Kelly, from Kororareka, in 1840. The carcase would be cut up in Auckland, and thither the eagles gathered. The doctor took to medicine, and the lawyer to law. Daniel Pollen, at this time, was reputed to be a member of the Catholic Church, and his name will be found, in the list of subscribers to the erection of the first Catholic Chapel built in Auckland, promising to pay three pounds towards so holy an object — a large sum in those days. Catholicity, in Auckland, in those days, was a different thing to what it is now, and the Catholics were so poor and mean in those days that Pollen did not care to be seen with, or identified with, them. Some few years after this the doctor married a Protestant lady possessed of money in her own right, when his connection with the church of his forefathers became complete, and he has since that period looked with coolness on men and women more steadfast than himself, and with hatred, on the faith from which he apostatised.

Early in the forties the doctor lived at Parnell, and had a horse at his command to visit his patients. To soothe their minds and allay their tears were the main features of his treatment. Thus, when Saunder's mother sent for the doctor to visit her son, (now in the House of Representatives) who was supposed to be sick, the doctor paid his visit on horseback and found the patient ready to hold his horse. On being told that the stripling at his horse's head was sick, the doctor felt his pulse, looked at his tongue, told him to take care of himself, to avoid excitement, and prescribed some bread pills. Trivial as this anecdote may appear, it is emblematic of the life of Daniel Pollen. Quieta non movere has been the guiding maxim of his life, provided the "great things" were pleasant.

Early in his Colonial career Dr Pollen commenced to write for the Press. In the columns of the New Zealander will be found his letters vindicating the policy of Sir George Grey against land-sharking interests. They are signed X. Writing in a clear and humourous style, they commanded attention and exercised considerable influence. Writing for position, the doctor chose, as he thought, the winning side. From being a contributor to the New Zealander he became its editor. It was at one time expected, after his connection with the New Zealander there, hie might be induced to espouse the Methodist form of faith. Williamson and Wilson and others were fain to believe that the doctor was adapted to shine in a religious vocation.

After his connection with the Press the watch episode in his career took place. His wife's mother having visited New Zealand was greatly pleased with the attendance given to her by some long celt, who acted as the doctor's body servant. On her departure for the old country she promised Mike, or whatever his name was, that she would send him a present as a token of her appreciation of his services. True to her word, she sent him a watch consigned to the doctor. Mike, however, had misbehaved himself in the Pollen eye, and had been discharged from wearing the Pollen livery, and eating the Pollen food. Ingratitude in the doctor's mind was a deadly sin, and so it was determined that Mike should not have the watch. The court case and all the details, are they not in the Auckland papers, and in the recollections of its old residents?

Beside physic and the Press the doctor has been engaged in manufactures. Many years since he commenced brickmaking at the Whau on a somewhat extensive scale. He employed some new chums to commence his manufactures on the same terms that the Egyptians long since sought to impose on the Jews. The brickmakers in both instances became discontented men. In this case, however, as in the days of Pharaoh an impressive and enduring structure was intended to have been constructed from Pollen bricks. A well known Auckland auctioneer, not long dead, tired of waiting for the receipt of a long due account, gave the Doctor an order for several millions of bricks, which he intended to utilise by constructing a palatial residence at the North Shore. Fortunately for the brickmakers of those days the order was countermanded, the auctioneer got his account, and the palatial residence was, unfortunately, never built.

Two things are said of the doctor which I neither venture to affirm nor to deny. They are that he caused the seat of Government to be removed from Auckland that he might be made Resident Agent; and that he broke poor John Williamson's heart. Some Auckland men still enquire "Had Tinri peace who slew his master." Yet on the green old age of the doctor remorse seems to carry no time, indeed, as his detractors say, he has still a wicked wink for a wench.

The Williamson and Wilson people put the Doctor into the Auckland Provincial Council, having first squared Bracy to resign, and canvassed the district to make the doctor's election sure. He then, if my memory serves me right, became Provincial clerk, an office afterwards called Provincial secretary. His special delight in the Council was to bully Daldy and then run away.

Some of my readers will remember a large building that was erected at Freeman's Bay for a bacon curing establishment. The names of the builder and bacon curer have both passed from my recollection. It came into the doctor's possession, and was used by him as a kind of emigration depot. When men, not over wise in this respect, wanted work, he used with a humourous kind of benevolence to send them to clear his land at so much per acre. The men worked with a will, but found that their labour was requited at an insufficient price. But still the land was cleared.

Through a long and varied career, the doctor has nourished and lived on the public. He will do so for the remainder of his days. His pension is secure; his seal in the Council is a life seal; and has he not the brick yard at the Whau. He is a clever man although he called the men he brought from Australia the scum of the earth. He hates the Thames with a deadly hatred — and Grey with a still greater virulence. He has held many offices in his day. He has been Government agent in Auckland ; Sub-Treasurer for the purposes of the Native Lands Act ; Paymaster of Imperial Pensions ; Receiver of Land Revenue; Commissioner of Confiscated Lands; Trust Commissioner, under the Native Lands Fraud Prevention Act; Treasurer to the Waste Lands Board; Native Minister, and Premier of New Zealand. He was born in the year 1812.
KONEKE.
Observer,16 July 1881

A correspondent writes : " The reference in the excellent pen and ink portrait of Dr Pollen in a recent issue, to the fact of that gentleman having ' seceded ' from the religion of his fathers, reminds me of a little incident which occurred, in the Auckland Club some years ago, when it occupied the building now used by the new Auckland Club, called by irreverent people the ' Boys' Club.' It was a Friday, and a large number of gentlemen were sitting at lunch. Among them was a Catholic gentleman (who was not ashamed to conform to the requirements of his church, and who was making his lunch off fish) and Dr Pollen, who was eating meat. The latter jeeringly said to the former, ' Ha, you are one of the good people who starve themselves once a week.'

'Yes,' was the reply, ' and if everyone acted according to the dictates of his conscience you also would be eating fish.'

The doctor got as near to blushing as he ever did in his life, and, hastily finishing his lunch, went away to keep an appointment.
Observer, 30 July 1881


A special reporter met Dr Pollen one day in the lobbies and informed him that he was suspected of being the author of the "Ignotus" papers. In his blandest so(a)ponacious style the doctor replied, " Well, of course, you must have known that I did not write them, because there were so many statements in them that you and I know to be contrary to fact."

" Why, my dear doctor," replied the reporter, " that was the very reason I attributed them to you." The doctor had an appointment down the street.
Observer, 8 October 1881


(On members of the Legislative Council)
Daniel Pollen has been and still, is a valuable member. The infirmities of age are, however, creeping upon him. I do not think there is a single bill or paper laid before the Council but what he studies carefully. He is thoroughly conscientious, and records his vote accordingly. Thus it is that he is not looked upon with favour, in Auckland. He is a man wno could not be well spared from'the Council.
Otago Witness, 5 November 1881

TO THE HON. DAN POLLEN.

Dan Pollen, you're the finest flour
That ever found a buyer;
But though you're nice, and never sour,
You're seconds to Josiah.
The Jews made bricks —
I don't know how —
Sans straw, the clime was sunny;
You beat them out there at the Whau —
You made bricks without money.
Observer, 11 February 1882

DR POLLEN'S LITTLE GAME.
It was stated last week that the saponaceous Daniel, with his usual artfulness, had contrived to get water on the cheap from the City Supply. Further inquiry shows that the modus operandi was thusly — there is a main which supplies the Hospital, Gaol, and Mount Eden Railway Station and a number of private residences, the charge being calculated by measuring the quantity used by the latter and charging the Government with the difference. It appears, however, that some years ago instructions were issued that the doctor was to be left out of the calculation, and by lapse of time he had come to regard free water supply in the light of a vested right. The thing was discovered by the merest accident. Orders have now been issued that the doctor shall be made to pay the same as other consumers.
Observer, 29 July 1882


Our somewhat dull but esteemed contemporary, the Hokitika Guardian, has somehow or other drifted into the weak way of which the Reefton paper set the example instead of giving the public its own opinion as to respective merits of the candidates. The Guardian of the 5th publishes a parliamentary sketch of Mr Wakefield written many months ago by some flaneur or hanger of the Press. It appeared originally over the signature of "Ignatus," in the New Zealand Times, and the literary cuttle-fish who wrote it was generally supposed to be the Hon. Daniel Pollen, or " Soapy Dan," as the Auckland people dubbed him, and they ought to know best the application of the soubriquet. Dan, be it understood, is a successful civil servant and a disappointed politician. He is a genial and cultivated old gentleman, a cross between the satirist and humorist, with a spice of malice ever at the end of his quill. He is one of those old veterans who live in the past, and treat the rising generation with lofty contempt, though rather partial to administering a prod when occasion serves. The colony owes Dan nothing. He has done his work, raked in his rocks, and can now take a back seat.
Grey River Argus, 11 May 1883

Dr. Pollen invites the Government to alter New Zealand's anniversary day to the 30th January, instead of the 29th, to make it more strictly accurate.
Observer, 12 July 1890


Dr. Pollen has been gathered to his fathers at the sunset of a busy and eventful life, the greater part of which has been bound up with the public affairs of this Colony. He was a resident of Kororareka in January, 1840, when Captain Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand, landed there and proclaimed the sovereignty of Great Britain over these islands. Through all the most troublous period of our early history he played an active part both as journalist and politician in moulding and leading public opinion.

How severe those early troubles were, Dr. Pollen has himself pointed out in a speech delivered in the Legislative Council in 1890.

“After the sacking of Kororareka,” he said, “we had war in the North and war in the South. We had an empty Treasury, and an Income Tax with but few incomes. We had paper money. We had shin-plasters for twopence, threepence, and fourpence, all taking the place of the ordinary currency of the times. Coin had disappeared, and it is a fact within my knowledge that, when it was necessary to send troops to the Bay of Islands, the gentleman who, at that time, was Assistant Commissary-General, bought 500 sovereigns at £1/5s each, and had to pay in Commissariat bills at par, the market value of which was 10 per cent, at least above the nominal value.”

Forty-two years ago, Dr Pollen was associated in the Provincial Executive of Auckland with Col. Wynyard, the first Superintendent of the Province. Since then, he has been a Minister of the Crown on several occasions, Premier for one brief period, and up to the very last, a member of the Legislative Council. He was, perhaps, the most polished speaker in Parliament, and certainly the most witty and humorous. His wit and humour were pointed, but never descended to rude personality, and he had a very happy faculty for neat epigram and keen, incisive satire. Take as an illustration the manner in which he hit off Sir Robert Stout in his speech on the Threats and Molestation Bill in September, 1890: —

“There is no one who has a greater admiration for Sir Robert Stout than I have. I look upon him as being an eminently clever man — as a many-sided man in the widest sense of that term, but, unfortunately, the sides, owing to the limited nature of human faculties, are not all of them broad. There are some of them to which may be applied another expression of a very different value from that. He is emotional, like numbers of the Celtic stock from which come my honorable friend opposite (Sir P. Buckley) and myself, and very much at times a creature of impulse that takes the colour of its surroundings. In reading some of the speeches and some of the letters which he is credited with having written and uttered, I am constantly reminded — the thought constantly occurs to me — that after the termination of one of these strange speeches he must in self applause have felt inclined to use the favourite expression of David Copperfield's friend, Miss Moucher, and, like her, exclaim, " Ain't I volatile." '

It was Dr. Pollen who, in allusion to the Premier's activity in mining legislation, declared it was his own opinion that “if the jurisdiction of this Colony could be extended from the Kermadecs and the Bounty Islands to the planet Mars, we would immediately see an Order-in-Council with "R. J. Seddon" and "God Save the Queen" at the end of it, constituting that fiery orb a mining district and declaring that the canals which have been discovered in that planet could be utilised as sludge channels or for the deposit of tailings.”

It was Dr Pollen who, in reference to an address delivered by Mr. W. J. Napier before the Auckland Liberal Association, in the course of which he had said the Legislative Council was in its dotage sarcastically remarked that the learned gentleman “found it necessary occasionally to make a little quacking and flapping in the little duckpond of Liberalism in the North.” And it was Dr Pollen also who retorted upon the Hon. John Mackenzie: “It would not be difficult for me to put an
arrow into that loud-tartan waistcoat which has been sent about the country like the fiery cross to summon the clans to the poll. I could place an arrow in that waistcoat which would stick and sting.”

The busy mind is now stilled for ever, the eloquent tongue is mute, and the place of the statesman will know him no more. After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.
Observer, 23 May 1896

Here is a reminiscence from the early life of the late Dr. Pollen, related in his own words :— “

In the closing years of the first quarter of this century, I was myself, as a boy, fighting with tiny weapons amongst those of my countrymen who were struggling for that freedom which they thought would be accomplished for them by what was then known as Catholic Emancipation. I can remember, too, with what determination I saved my pocket money how I stinted myself in the usual luxuries of sugar-stick and gingerbread — in order that I might have the delight, on the Sundays, of flinging the coppers that I had saved in the faces of my oppressors when I made my weekly contribution to what was known — in the vernacular of my country — as the ' rint '— ' the Catholic Rint.'
Observer, 23 May 1896

The story goes that back in the days when Dr Pollen was Premier of the colony, he was staying in Auckland at a critical period, and a local journalist was sent to his residence in the small hours of the morning to get some urgently needed information. Rat-tat-tat went his knock on the big front door, and the reporter waited for results.

Presently the window of a bedroom was thrown up with a bang, and the Premier appeared at it in his nightshirt, with the shining barrel of a shotgun painfully in evidence, and gruffly demanded what right anyone had to come and disturb a peaceful citizen at that unearthly hour. Terrified at the apparition, the pressman stammered out bis request for information, but neither his efforts at politeness nor the added weight of his editor's compliments had any influence. Daniel Pollen was a determined, and in this instance an indignant man, and he resolutely refused to parley with the disturber of his slumbers. Argument with an armed man is obviously a bootless business, and the reporter fled back to his ottice thankful to escape with a whole skin, while Daniel Pollen returned to bed chuckling at the success of his little ruse.

Observer, 8 December 1906

The Editor, the Bulldog, and the Donkey

I love the Observer, and have done since Papers Past first put it up a few years ago. Now it's searchable, it's a great window into the life of Auckland and surrounds from 1880-1909. I wish it went further into the 20th century (the paper continued well into the 1900s) but -- I'll take what we can get with gratitude.

The following is the piece that first made me sit up and take notice of this quirky, gossipy Auckland newspaper: the incident with the donkey.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 7, 30 October 1880, Page 52
Ructions at the "Observer" Office.

MR. HOPKINS, HIS BULLDOG, HIS DONKEY, AND HIS FORTY MERRIE MEN— McMURDO TO THE RESCUE! - AN EXPLANATION — ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

On Monday evening last, it was my lot to experience some of those joys to which the editor of a Society journal who is not Jem Mace, Tom Sayers, and Heenan rolled into one is heir to. I do not wish to colour the story unnaturally, or to throw any opprobrium on my opponents. We all according to report behaved as well as possible, people invariably do in these cases. It is, however, only right that the facts should be known, and to that end I beg to place before my readers a plain unvarnished tale.

In the first place, then, let me tell you I weigh 8st. 7lbs., have only recently recovered from a very severe illness, which left a slight heart disease behind it, and can in consequence boast no muscle whatever. Any schoolboy of 14 or 15 possessing an average amount of "vim" could at the present time thrash me easily, and it is to this fact no doubt I owe so many courageous threats of horsewhippings, pummellings, and the like. I do not, however, edit the Observer to secure these blessings. Strange as it may seem my hope is to make the paper popular. Mistakes have occurred and doubtless will occur, till I begin to understand exactly what offends people and what does not, but, as time passes, they will it is to be hoped grow less frequent.

On Monday afternoon, about four o'clock, I was standing in the front office, when two gentlemen, armed with sticks and followed by a ferocious looking bull-dog, entered and asked for the editor. I saw at once there was likely to be a row, and that things would probably go hard with me, though who the gentlemen were, and what their quarrel with me was, I couldn't conceive. There appeared, however, no use in showing the white feather, so in as indifferent a tone as I could muster, I asked what they wanted. The bigger of the two (whose name I now know to be Hopkins) hereupon came round the counter, and advancing with stick upraised said menacingly, " I want you to come along outside with me."

What would have happened had no one interfered at this crisis I know not, but as luck would have it who should enter but Charlie McMURDO. He ran in rapidly, and pushing us both asunder, ejaculated melodramatically, "No Hopkins you shall not touch him. " On this Mr. Hopkins paused to survey McMURDO'S somewhat stalwart figure, and a barney ensued between the two re the right of the latter to interfere. McMURDO then explained that he wasn't going to see forty men set upon one without defending that one, and the two retired to the back to discuss the question.

The scene in the street at this time beggars description. Not content with himself, his bull-dog, and his friend, Mr. HOPKINS had collected about forty "casuals" to assist him, including one very strong man to hold the poor little editor on the donkey. His purpose, I may now explain, was to seize me bodily, and with the aid of these "merrie men" give me a ride up Queen-street. To witness this edifying spectacle well-nigh the whole town had collected. Messrs. Archibald CLARK & Sons (including the head of that firm), turned out en masse, all the prominent members of the Auckland Club were there, and so were numerous bank managers and lawyers. To not one amongst all this crowd of chivalrous Englishmen does it seem to have occurred that there was anything unfair in upwards of forty men (not to mention the bull-dog) setting on one weak fellow. Though magistrates many of them they stood there ready to applaud a breach of the peace, and to lend the light of their countenances to a deliberate assault. This too, be it understood, although it was known that I knew nothing of the cause of offence, and certainly didn't write the article complained of.

Whilst McMURDO and Mr. HOPKINS were discussing whether the assault should or should not be committed, it occurred to me to ask Mr. HOPKINS'S friend the cause of the commotion. I then learnt, for the first time, that the following sentence in the article on the Rink Ball was the casus belli.

"Messrs. DARGAVILLE, GREENWOOD, and HOPKINS were resplendent in the uniform of British officers. The costume suited the two former admirably, but the last-named looked, if possible, worse than he does when he walks about town in riding trousers."

Now, I did not, as I have said before, write the article in question, but I am responsible for it, and I readily admit my responsibility. The fact is, not knowing Mr. HOPKINS either by name, sight, or reputation, I thought my contributor was giving a rub to some counter-jumper masquerading in the Queen's uniform, and, seeing no particular harm in this, I let it pass. I how learn that Mr. HOPKINS wore (as he had every right to) the uniform of a militia regiment, to which he belonged in England, and was, as a matter of fact, as correctly costumed as the other military mummers. I am very sorry, indeed, he should have been insulted in these columns, and I trust he will accept my amende honorable.

But to return to the story. After a confab of some minutes, Messrs McMURDO and HOPKINS emerged, and we began to discuss the matter rather more amicably. A lengthy debate re my apologising ensued. Mr. HOPKINS, who gave up the idea of a jolly row with evident regret, wanted me to write an apology there and then, to be stuck up in the Clubs, but to this I politely, yet firmly demurred. The objectionable par had appeared in the OBSERVER, and it seemed to me {sufficient if its correction appeared in the OBSERVER too. After some further talk, the terms were accepted, and we shook hand.

Now the affair is over, I should like to ask Mr. HOPKINS whether it wouldn't have been better to have come to me quietly and asked me to put the matter right. He says he didn't mean to commit an assault, but, debilitated though I unfortunately am just now, he can scarcely suppose that I should have submitted to a gross indignity without a struggle of some kind, or that my manager would have stood by quietly and seen me outraged. Of course we should both have been overpowered, for what could two, or even half-a-dozen men, have done against such a mob. But even if Mr. HOPKINS had succeeded in dragging me out, and with the aid of a lot of roughs, stuck me on that donkey, how much the better would he have been? When one weak man succumbs to forty strong ones, where, I may ask, does the disgrace lie — with the forty who fall upon the one? — with the one who is fallen upon? or with the onlookers who would permit such an assault. Mr. HOPKINS himself could have reduced me to pulp with ease, and why he engaged a lot of bravoes to assist him, I can't think. For the despicable coward who egged on the two young men to this exploit without meaning to share a tittle of the risk, I cannot sufficiently express my contempt. His whole part in the affair is known to me, and if I suppress the facts, it is not for his sake. I comprehend perfectly the influences which were brought to bear, and can well understand why his face was livid with fury when the affair resulted in a "fizzle."

For more than an hour previously, the person referred to, had been button-holing people in Queen-street, and sending them up to the Observer Office to witness the exhibition. He was also kind enough to lend his little brother for the occasion.

And now it becomes my pleasing duty to say, "Thank you — thank you very heartily," to Mr. McMURDO. L am told that had the affair come to a fight, others were ready to back me up, but as I don't know these gentlemen’s names and as they kept carefully in the background, I cannot thank them. To McMURDO, at any rate, belongs the kudos (if any) of having stopped the row. When he entered, Mr. HOPKINS was just about to begin, and only the knowledge that he would have to tackle McMURDO first, led to our talking the affair over.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 7, 30 October 1880, Page 51
The whole plot of the donkey business was laid in the house of a J.P., who is one of “our most respected citizens." This gentleman has a “down" on the Observer for publishing a caricature of him and saying he isn't popular.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 8, 6 November 1880, Page 57
Thanks to Mr. Hopkins and his projected donkey ride, the Observer's circulation last Saturday was larger than ever, in fact we only want another fracas of the kind for it to touch 5000. The extraordinary increase of advertisements has rendered it necessary to add two extra pages to the present issue. I am also able to announce that the paper will be permanently enlarged very shortly. Next week the opening chapters of a thrilling sensational story, entitled "Hunted Down, " will appear, and several other novel features are in contemplation.

With reference to the famous donkey ride business, Mr. Hopkins has asked me to explain that, though in the heat of the moment he said there were thirty or forty persons at his beck and call on that Monday afternoon, there were, as a matter of fact, nothing like the number. He certainly "shouted" for several fellows, and asked them to prevent interference, and to assist him in the event of the Observer staff proving obstreperous, but otherwise his intention was to carry out the affair by himself. I was glad to hear this, because the forty to one game was the one thing that seemed a little fishy. I could easily imagine a man pledging himself to a somewhat rough practical joke, and being egged on by mischief-makers to execute it, but the procuring backers seemed inexplicable.

Another thing re this matter and then I have done with it. On the night of the ball Mr. Hopkins wore the uniform of a militia regiment to which he belonged in England. It is not, he says, usual for officers to don uniform after leaving the service, but he received special permission from his Colonel Lord Somebody-or-other (I heard the name but I forget it) to use it for fancy balls, &c.

During the past week I have received a regular inundation of friendly letters, mostly from ladies, some of whom are kind enough to take the liveliest interest in the Observer's welfare. Here is a specimen : " Dear Mr. Editor, We have experienced great pleasure in reading your very amusing paper. It was just the thing that was wanted here to take some of the pomp and conceit out of the present generation. Awfully glad to see you came out so well out of the bull-dog-donkey business. Never mind your enemies. The ladies all stick up for you, and would have enlisted under Charlie McMurdo's banner. Hoping you will continue to give us plenty of town gossip and fun.—We remain, your especial admirers, Two Blonde and Brunette Sisters."

This is a life-like representation of Mr. Hopkins's bull-dog as he appeared when snuffing angrily around Charlie McMurdo's calves last Monday week. Mac's face just then was a picture, which only the pencil of a Frith or Millais could do justice to.



Observer, Volume 1, Issue 19, 22 January 1881, Page 188
If there was anything of a ludicrous nature in the two day's sports at all, it was the circumstance of the Stewards all turning out in white belltoppers. Many of them had never before aspired to such a dignity, and it certainly did not sit easy in some cases. I might mention names, but having no desire, if discovered, to take an impromptu ride on a donkey, I refrain.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Cyclopedia of New Zealand online


I've posted photos from out of Volume 2 of the set before -- now, I've just found out today that the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre have digitised volumes 1 (Wellington) and 6 (Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wellington Provincial Districts), with more to follow as time goes on.

This is great news for those who want to access a snapshot record of New Zealand, its organisations, government, industries and general history at the close of the Victorian era. Granted, it is a rose-tinted spectacles view, and not exactly hard-edged journalism, but treated as a guide to further research, it is a treasure.

Avondale's Riflemen

Edited and updated: 3 October 2014.

In 1890, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Yelverton Goring (1846-1923), a grandson of the 3rd Viscount Avonmore, assumed command of the Permanent Artillery at Auckland. This post was a carry-over from the “Russian scare” period of our history, and Goring was in charge of both the forts established, and the volunteer units. In 1894, he instigated the establishment of the Avondale Volunteer Rifles at a meeting held in the district on 18 December – something which did not fit in with the best suggestions for New Zealand’s defence as described by the government’s inspector, Commandant Lieutenant-Colonel Fox.

A meeting was held at Avondale last night to discuss the advisability of forming a volunteer rifle corps in that district. Colonel Goring was in attendance, and explained what would be required of the men in the event of a corps being accepted by the Defence Minister. Mr Foley said that unfortunately it had not reached the ears of those signing the requisition that a meeting was to be held, otherwise there would have been a larger muster. Colonel Goring expressed a wish to see the men previous to any further action, so it was agreed to call a further meeting after the holidays, due notice to be given through the press. There seems to be every probability of this corps being successfully formed, and with the prospect of acquiring a much-needed rifle range of about 1,000 yards.


Auckland Star 19 December 1894

The adjourned meeting was advertised for 8 January 1895, convened by Michael Foley and J B Birch, at the public hall. There was an Avondale Rifles formed by April that year.


In July 1895, however – the Observer asked where they were, and why they weren’t on parade. n August, a number of the Avondale Rifles were cited for non-attendance.

An inspection parade of the Victoria Rifles and City Guards, joined as one company, was held at the Drill-shed last night ... At the close of the drill, Captain Robertson read to the parade a district order notifying that seven men (whose names were mentioned) belonging to the Avondale Rifle Volunteer Company were dismissed from the Volunteer Force of New Zealand for non-attendance at their duties (vide paragraph 48, sub section 1, New Zealand Defence Act, 1886). The officer commanding the company is instructed to take immediate steps to collect from these men all Government property on issue to them, and failing to do so to report to the officer commanding the district, when proceedings would be taken. Officers commanding companies are requested to note the names of the men dismissed.




NZ Herald 21 August 1895


They were still rather scarce in September that year –
“Once again Auckland volunteers fare badly at the hands of Colonel Fox in his annual report on the defence of the colony. He passes some severe criticisms, and characterises the infantry as inefficient and unreliable. This, however, was only to be expected, and the few visits the colonel paid to Auckland must have shown him that volunteering was on the down grade. There are supposed to be three rifle companies in the City of Auckland, but of this number the Avondale Rifles have never yet been inside the Drill Shed. The remaining companies have run down so low that a joint parade is always necessary to make even a muster. For this state of affairs the colonel hasn't far to look for the reason, and whilst the artillery corps have received a little encouragement, those men in the infantry have simply been guyed out of the service. “
With the idea of military volunteerism languishing, Defence Minister (and future Premier) Richard Seddon’s ideas for re-organising the system were welcomed in October 1895. But Avondale seemed to be a non-starter.
“The volunteers of Auckland, and all others who have the interests of our citizen soldiery at heart, are anxious just now to hear that Defence Minister Seddon really intends to redeem his promise to come to Auckland and put the volunteer force, in this part of the colony, on a better footing. Some such action as this is an immediate necessity, if it is desired to prevent volunteering from becoming a mere memory of the past …

“As an antidote to the failing strength of the force in Auckland, the Colonel of the district went considerably out of his way recently to establish a rifle corps at Avondale, quite contrary to the principle already laid down by Colonel Fox that inland infantry corps were quite useless for the purposes of defence. But Colonel
Goring's enthusiasm broke out in the wrong place. Already, the Avondale Rifle Corps is almost as dead as the proverbial door nail.”
Perhaps this spurred the plucky Avondale riflemen on? By January 1896, they were on parade, and about to start a week’s camp at Avondale. They had another camp in in October that year. In March 1897 they were parading at the Drill Hall. Colonel Goring was obliged to retire that year and return briefly to England with failing eyesight. Archives New Zealand hold capitation records for the Avondale Volunteer Rifles at Wellington for 1896-1898. October 1898 is the last sighted record of them, a cricket match between Auckland Rifles v. Avondale Rifles. Then, nothing further.

(An update, 22 December 2008: The Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives in 1896, H19 p. 9, has the following information from Fox's report on the Avondale Rifles: 1 officer, 50 non-commisiomed officers and men, 38 qualified for capitation, 13 unqualified, 41 at inspection, "new company; promises fairly well.")

So far, I have one name of a member of the Avondale Volunteer Rifles – a Sergeant Turton who, the Observer said a year after his death in 1903, was the central figure of an inadvertent comedy at the old Drill Hall.
“He was illustrating to a squad of recruits, the method of "porting" arms with the Martini- Enfield rifle and for the purpose of better explaining himself, borrowed a gun from one of his men. He brought it to the "port," but noticing by the indicator (the Martini’s are provided with indicators), that the rifle was cocked, intuitively pressed the trigger. The result was hardly what he expected. There was cartridge in the chamber of the rifle and its explosion diverted the thoughts of the recruits to other channels than those of drill.”
The Observer went on to describe him:
“Belated recollections of Sergeant Turton indicate that he was not understood, and perhaps because of that, not popular with those thrown into touch with him. He was a soldier of the stiff, unbending sort, taciturn; and without great education. Nevertheless he could be trusted to do his duty, and with him duty dominated self. He had gained an active experience of the actualities of military life in the ranks of the British Army, and on settlement in the colony Turton devoted no inconsiderable portion of his declining years to volunteer work, serving as Sergeant of the old Avondale Rifles and later as Provost-Sergeant of the local infantry Battalion.”
Also:
“Sergt.Turton… was a well-known figure in connection with Auckland volunteering. He joined the Gordon Rifles on the formation of that company some five or six years ago, and was shortly afterwards transferred to the Battalion staff, with the rank of provost-Sergt. Before coming to thecolony, Turton had considerable experience in professional soldiering, and he was for many years a member of the Coldstream Guards.”
Could this have been James Turton, who featured rather unfortunately in the Observer in 1897? [Update as at 18 December 2008 -- yes. Link to new post here.]
“James Turton is a cordial manufacturer and hawker, who honours Avondale with his residence. And he has a large experience in the matrimonial line. He has survived two wives, and has quite recently been breaking in the third. But Mrs. Turton No. 3 does not like the breaking-in process. That is why James appeared before the beak at the end of last week, charged at the suit of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children with having on the 27th December, just by way of Xmas diversion, we presume, assaulted his wife by knocking her down, struck her with his hand and dragged her along the ground by her feet.

“The wife's story shows that it is much better to be housekeeper to some men than to be their wives. Mrs. Turton entered the cordial making James's service in February last as housekeeper, but he speedily popped the question, and a month later they were married. He thought so much of her that he insured her life. But that may have been James's provident way of making ready for the contingency of a fourth marriage, for Constable Brown at any rate understands that both the previous wives had been insured. However, the third wife soon found out matrimony was a very serious business in the Turton household. There were continual rows, and several forcible arguments from James’s fists, culminating in the affair which took the parties to Court.

“The magistrate inflicted a fine of 40s, with 29s costs, with the alternative of 21 days hard labour, and as James said he was unable to pay the fine, he is most probably just now taking out the alternative in the cordial factory presided over by Gaoler Reston. His effervescence will have time to cool down inside three weeks.”
The successors of the Avondale Volunteer Rifles, although not directly, was the Akarana Rifle Club. From 1901-1905, there was a piece of ground somewhere in Avondale used by the club for both their rifle shooting, and for meetings of the Auckland Rifle Club once the range at Mt Eden was closed in 1902. So far, I can’t say that anyone in the club was a resident of Avondale, but their lease expired in 1905 and they folded for a time, only to restart at a new range in Penrose from 1906.

From 1911 until World War I, at least, it is said that there was a practice range used by local school cadets at the end of today’s Holly Street, with some telling me of spent cartridges being found there and near the Avondale College grounds. Archives New Zealand appear to hold a record of a “miniature rifle range” at Avondale College, from 1948-1964.

Updated 11 February 2014 -- additional info.

Crack shots at Avondale, 1895-1903

In 1895, the Avondale Rifle Volunteers was formed. In 1896, they set up a series of camps at Avondale for instruction and practice, possibly on the original racecourse land near Wingate Street. “Yesterday (Sunday) was a red letter day at Avondale. The Avondale Rifle Volunteers who are in camp for a week held a church parade in the morning. The whole company, under command of Lieut. Potter, and headed by the Auckland Garrison Band, marched to the Anglican Church. The church was crowded to excess. The Rev. F Larkins, the vicar of the parish, conducted the service and preached an excellent sermon for the occasion. The service was bright and cheery, singing and music being exceptionally good. Several volunteer officers from town attended the church parade. During the afternoon a large number of people, including many ladies, visited the camp, where the band kindly played many appropriate and beautiful selections. In the evening the company attended the Presbyterian Church, which was also crowded to excess. The Rev. Mr McLean conducted the service.” Mr Ingram replaced Mr Potter as lieutenant for Avondale Rifles in 1898, but the corps disbanded later that year.

More successful was the newly-formed Akarana Rifle Club for recreational shooters , which took up a lease from Thomas Ching in 1897 for part of his land in Avondale – through which Holly Street lies today, including Avondale Intermediate’s grounds. Virtually all the land bounded by Holly Street, Eastdale and Rosebank Roads, four sections of around 55 acres total, was bought for just £18 in July 1882 by Devonshire-born Ching. Ching had very little to do with his purchase, living in Remuera and leasing out the pieces of farmland he owned around the Auckland area for income.

There, a proper rifle range was set up, 700 yards long. The range was officially opened on 26 February 1898 by the Mayor of Auckland Patrick Dignan. Miss Essie Holland fired the first shot from 500 yards (a bullseye). The club operated their rifle range there until 1903, when moves were made by Ching to sell that part of his land to the Government for workman’s homes (a scheme incidentally promoted by Avondale’s John Bollard, in Parliament). At first the club thought the range would stay in place, with interest in taking up the settlement lad quite low. But, in December 1903, the range finally closed, and the site was subdivided for building purposes in what was called “Kitchener Hamlet” (and later, for the future intermediate school and Avondale College grounds). The road passing through the rifle range ground was called Kitchener Road, until it was renamed Holly Street in the 1930s.

Early Cricketers of the Whau

Thanks to the National Library’s Paper’s Past site, and the recent addition of searchability of their collection of the NZ Observer and Free Lance, a bit of trawling pulled up some hints of Avondale’s early cricketing history.

The first reports of a (Whau) Union Cricket Club appear in October 1880, with a Mr. A. Brett as captain, and Mr. Bollard (they never say which Mr. Bollard, but possibly it was Richard Francis) as vice-captain. Brett appears to have found fame over and above the sport of leather and willow the following month in walking championship challenges. He won a two mile match in Ellerslie in November 1880, then took on and defeated T. Fernandez in a £40 a side championship challenge of seven miles in February, winning by half-a-mile. The next month, he defeated a Canterbury champion over an 18-mile course from Auckland’s Choral Hall by three-quarters of a mile. By the end of December, he appears to have moved to the Wellington district, and fades from the record.

Meanwhile, the Whau Union Cricket Club won against Carlton Club in December 1880, but were defeated by the second eleven of the West End Cricket Club in February 1881, possibly in the absence of Brett. Later that month, a new vice-captain came onto the team, John Sinclair (known as an M.C. of local socials and functions, such as a ball held in a new building at the Riversdale Manufacturing Company in April 1882, and later in 1883 as the organising secretary of an Avondale sports day which was, according to the Observer, rather less than successful). Back in February 1881, however, the same paper describing his cricketing skills thus: “… an excellent long-stop, a good wicketkeep, and a first-class bowler. His action alone is enough to frighten twenty Australians.”

The Whau Club was reorganised in October 1881, possibly after a number of consecutive losses.
“The Whau Union Cricket Club has been reorganized under a new code of rules, and Mr. James Owen, an honorary member, has offered a complete set of cricketing requisites on condition that the club win not less than three matches during the season. There are two or three clubs who would like the same offer.” Owen’s offer worked, according to a report two months later. “The Whau Union has gained the prize of a set of cricketing material, offered to them by Mr. James Owen, on condition that they should win not less than three matches during the season. A match between the Union and United Cricket Clubs took place at the Whau on Saturday and resulted in a victory for the Union. The scores were, Union, 30, United, 21. The bowling was good on both sides, and accounted in a great manner for the smallness of the scores.”
The club were then defeated by the Alphas Club, but in turn downed the United second eleven later that month by seven runs.

January 1882: “The Alpha cricketers were badly beaten by the Whau Union last Saturday. Singularly enough, they have been very quiet this week …Wallace and Bollard bowled for Whau Union,, and scattered the Alpha's timbers. Finlay Hay made three splendid catches while fielding at long on in the … match.”

The Gordon Club defeated the Whau men in April 1882, but the (now) Avondale Union again defeated West End that December. The Avondale men went on to defeat Ponsonby. The following year, they fortunes seemed to change for the worse, and from 1885 until 1892, I could find no further mention.

There was a brief revival in 1892, with the entry of Loo Hoffman on the team. In October 1892:
“The Ramblers journeyed to Avondale last Saturday, and played a friendly game with that club. The ground is being worked up by the country players, and any club requiring a good afternoon's sport might do worse than communicate with them. The Ramblers were highly pleased, refreshments were provided, and a splendid day spent. One of the features of the Avondale-Rambler's match was the gallant efforts put forth by Loo Hoffman, and such attempts should have met with better success. I hope he won't get disheartened, but go in next time with even greater determination.”
Then, in January 1893:
“Loo Hoffman kept up his reputation last week at Avondale, and made things merry while he was at the wickets. The All Saints' team journeyed to Avondale on Saturday last, and defeated the local club by 15 runs on the first innings. Brookes and Mackie bowled so consistently against Avondale on Saturday last that they could only register 22 runs in their first venture.”
Cricket apparently was not Hoffman’s first love. He was a champion trick cyclist, and the Observer in 1894 described him as 6 foot 4 inches (whether this was comedic exaggeration on their part or not, I don’t know).

After this, there is no further mention.

The Avondale Cricket Club was founded again in the mid 20th century, although early teams were photographed between 1900 and 1920. Today, the club has their headquarters on the Avondale racecourse (possibly where the early at-home matches were held in the 19th century).

Tamahere Forum

Tamahere Forum is a beautiful Wordpress blog and forum on "News and events in Tamahere, Waikato, New Zealand". I bring the site to my readers' attention because the author has been so kind as to spot Timespanner and link back to my earlier post on Richard F. Bollard, in her post here.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

More on the Andrews Andrew St. John headstone

Update from here.

Seems the headstone is incorrect -- which is a pity after waiting 106 years. (Update: 22 December 2008 -- Audrey Lange says the headstone is correct. St John gained the "s" at the end of the first Andrew while in the diplomatic service. See below*) This from Yahoo/Xtra:
American Civil War veteran Andrews St John may be turning in his west Auckland grave.

The old soldier waited 106 years for a headstone at the Waikumete Cemetery, only to have his name spelt wrong when it was dedicated today.

Tucked away in an overgrown corner of the country's largest cemetery the brand new marble headstone, sent from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs , is missing a letter in his Christian name.

Mr St John's burial register spelled his two Christian names "Andrews Andrew" St John but his headstone said "Andrew A" St John.

"Someone's made a bit of a booboo there," said Phil McKenna, from the US Consul-General's office in Auckland.

He said there may be room on the headstone to add an extra letter and correct the spelling of the name.

"It is very unfortunate and I have got to say I was sort of hoping no one would pick up on it," Mr McKenna said after a service today to dedicate the headstone.

Cemetery manager Daniel Sales said the cemetery records spelt the name "Andrews but the stone says Andrew".

The American Civil War veteran is one of only eight Civil War veterans buried in New Zealand...

Winifred St John Chappell had always believed her grandfather died and was buried in Fiji and when she heard his grave had been found in Auckland and his Civil War service was to be remembered with a Veterans Affairs memorial stone, she was speechless and in tears, Ms Lange said.

"We have achieved something. It is an achievement to find this and do something about it. We have the family involved. In a way I have gone through their emotional journey."

She said after 106 years it was a special moment to see the headstone dedicated.
I wonder if they include among those eight Civil War vets one Charles Gallagher?

Some NZPA images (for the moment) here.

* The following was emailed to me by Audrey Lange:
"In the St. John's family history book, he is listed as Andrew Andrew St. John. Military records show his name as Andrew A St. John with same place and date of birth. When his son Burr Gould was born, he gave his name as Andrew Andrew St. John.

The name then used was Andrew Andrew St John until he entered the diplomatic corps, his name then became Andrews Andrew St. John. Adding the 'S' on Andrew, possibly used to save the problem of the same christian name twice. Reports written while in the Diplomatic Corps, gives his name as Andrews Andrew St. John, he is buried under the name of Andrews Andrew St. John.

Therefore the tombstone is correct. From what I understand, military tombstones are usually in the name they use when enlisted. Could be that when he entered the diplomatic corps, could it have been decided that having Andrew Andrew as his christian names could be questionable or confusing, he then became known thereafter an Andrews Andrew St. John.

All of this just adds more interest and intrigue to trying to understand this man."

The unveiling of a memorial to an American soldier and diplomat



After 106 years, a grave in Waikumete Cemtery finally received its headstone today.



Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland, is New Zealand's largest, started by the Auckland City Council in the 1880s and transferred to Waitakere City Council after local government restructuring late last century.



It is an intriguing place. I hope to be able to do some exploring amongst the history on its vast fields before my own earthly remains go up in smoke at the on-site crematorium.





I was invited to attend the unveiling of a memorial to an American who had been buried last century, but whose family then left the country, returning to the land of his birth. It was a good ceremony, on a fine sunny (and hot!) day amidst old gravestones and tall grass.

The following information comes primarily from historian Audrey Lange, who conducte the research into his story and first located the grave.

Andrew Andrews St. John (according to his headstone, although Audrey and the printed order of service for the unveiling of the headstone had his name as Andrews Andrew St. John), was born in 1835 in Connecticut, and enlisted as a private the Union Army during the American Civil War, mustering as a Corporal in August 1862. His time in the Army was short; after his regiment marched from Harrisburg to Washington DC, followed by postings at Poolesville and Falmouth, St. John received a disability certificate in December 1862, and was invalided out of the army.

His occupations over the next 20 years are indicated by service as a county clerk in 1870, and a return to his pre-war trade as a dentist by 1879. Next, he appears as the Commercial Agent in Fiji for the United States government in 1886, appointed initially as a “recess appointment” (one made by the U.S. President during the recess of the Senate) which was confirmed a few months later. He was posted initially at Levuka, already by then no longer the capital of Fiji (this had been shifted to Suva earlier by the British Government), but later he operated from Suva.

He left his post in 1893. According to John Desrocher, Consul General of the United States in Auckland (in his speech today at the graveside):
"It was in 1893, when the second administration of President Grover Cleveland turned its attention to what was called the ‘spoils system’ and, in particular, the salaries of U.S. representatives overseas, that St John left his post. Consular officers earning up to $1,000 per year could live off the fees they charged for their services, and also engage in trade locally. Those earning over $1,000 were no longer allowed to engage in trade. By Executive Order President Cleveland also required officers with salaries more than $1,000 to pass exams on consular regulations and foreign language proficiency. It was presumably this combination of more work for less money which prompted Andrews to leave Fiji after 7 years."
St. John took up another position in Batavia (modern day Jakarta), but ended up by 1894 in Australia and the New Zealand. He died here in 1902, and was buried at Waikumete without a headstone. According to John Desrocher, his widow and family returned to the United States in 1908.

Audrey has been in touch with the surviving descendants of St. John, who are happily overwhelmed that their ancestor’s gravesite has been located and will now be marked with a veteran’s headstone.

Early photographs of Levuka from the 1880s can be seen here. Actually, I think there should be a book done sometime about the American commercial agents/consuls in 19th century Fiji. They appear to have had a lively history. Aaron Von Camp was also a Civil War veteran (of sorts) – he operated as a spy for the Confederacy, yet was still appointed to the post in Fiji (and also Samoa). Another, William Henry Bruce apparently invested in land in Fiji, the majority of which he lost when the British Government changed the rules in 1892. It's a shame any archives on Fijian history are at present inaccessible.

An update here.

Further update (10 November 2009): Jim Gray, of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland Inc, advised today (see comments below) that he was instrumental in the provision of St John's headstone at Waikumete Cemetery (and he's sent through documents via email to prove it). However (and here's yet another update, 4 November 2017) I've now been told by Robert Taylor, editor for the ACWRTQ that they did not authorise any action regarding the application for the headstone "...in fact we do not condone the erection of monuments for people outside of Queensland as we cannot supervise the procedure."

Audrey Lange passed away this year (2017).

Monday, December 15, 2008

Missing the station in 1904

Travelling by rail at night these days can be a disorientating experience, despite the 21st century's benefit of obiquitous neon/fluoro and streetlights. Losing track of exactly where you are on the Western Line is easy to do -- which is why some carriages these days have the helpful automatic signs which tell you which station you're leaving, and which one is coming up.

In the very early 20th century, with few streetlights and none of the techological help we expect today, confusion must have happened from time to time. Such as this occasion, reported in the Observer, 4 June 1904.
"Three business men on the northern suburban train one evening last week got into a heated argument on the population question, or the training of children, or something of the kind, with inconvenient results all round. One of the party, whose destination was Mount Albert, was so absorbed in the discussion that he failed to notice his station, and was over-carried to Avondale before he remembered home and family. Then he got out quietly and the other two, still occupied in their weighty problem, and never dreaming of the Mount Albert man’s mistake, reckoned there was still the distance to Avondale to be run.

"Presently, one of them espied the reflection of the fire from the brick kiln at New Lynn, and worked himself into a fever of excitement over a supposed burning of the Avondale railway station.

"When they found themselves at New Lynn instead of Avondale, they bound each other by a dreadful oath to keep the adventure a close secret, and stole back to Avondale by back lanes, with their coat collars up and their hats over their ears. But the story of the over-carriage has leaked out, and they are now hard put to it to explain to fellow travellers how the mistake came about."

Cartoon on the Avondale Races (1900)


Originally published in the Observer, 19 May 1900. The caption reads:
After the Race
AN AVONDALE SKETCH
Mug: What's up with me? I've just had the "Dentist", and a strong pull has broken me up. What's up with you?
Tug: Just had the "Needle" very bad and fallen in. (Voice from lucky backer in the distance: "Hoo-ray.")

An early Avondale-inspired cartoon



This was published by the Observer on 6 January 1886, in response to the reports of our localised "earthquake" of December 1885. The caption reads:
"Groggins (who was in town for Christmas) says he distinctly felt the shock, on two occasions the road got up and hit him on the nose, and he had the greatest difficulty in keeping his feet, the whole landscape seemed "on the go", and the only steady thing in it was Groggins."
This may actually be the first ever cartoon loosely concerning happenings here in Avondale. I'm sure Groggins was feeling quite loose that Christmas!

Advertisements -- Mataura Ensign, 1900


The Mataura Ensign is still published, as the Ensign, in Gore.



Derby associated the joy of smoking with receiving a darn good spanking, having snowballs chucked in the face, and a shipwreck (or someone tossing the 'baccy overboard). A rather strange advertising campaign. A couple more ads of theirs here, via Australia. The brand was apparently Canadian in origin, manufactured by D. Ritchie & Co of Montreal, who also made "Old Chum" brand. The company was bought out early in the 20th century by Imperial Tobacco.


Mr. Craig was clearly a businessman who believed in diversification. Funeral Director, cabinet maker, upholsterer (all of which go together in the trade) -- and "first-class picture framer".




Charles Todd (1868-1942) lived in Heriot for 31 years before moving to Dunedin in 1915, starting his motor franchise career which ended up as the Todd Motor Co. Before all that fame and fortune, however, he was selling (as Todd Bros.) seed sowers in Heriot.



William Gawne (c.1830-1899) was a well-known sauce manufacturer in late Victorian times down in the South Island. The following comes from the Otago Witness, 6 July 1899, after Gawne's sudden death.
Mr E. H. Carew. coroner, held an inquest on Monday afternoon on the body of William Gawne, sauce manufacturer, who died suddenly on Sunday.

Margaret Gawne deposed that deceased was her father-in-law. He was taken with pain on Sunday morning on the way to church, and said that he wished he had not come. He had been suffering for some time past, and complained of pains in the stomach, and was frequently laid up. Witness did not know if he was asthmatic.

Walter Bull, fruiterer, stated that he knew deceased intimately. Of late he had been very unwell, and on several occasions while at church he had been seized with fainting fits, and had to be carried out. He did not always recover quickly, and sometimes he had to be taken home. On Sunday last he went to Trinity Wesleyan Church at 10 a.m. to attend the early service which was held in the lower hall beneath the church. During the first prayer witness heard a shuffling noise, and on looking round he saw deceased grasping the pew in front of him, while several gentlemen were supporting him. He assisted to carry deceased out, and they laid him down in the aisle of the church. Witness then went for Dr Roberts, who came immediately, but deceased appeared to be dead when they got back. Dr Roberts in his evidence said that he had never seen deceased before. When he was summoned he found that deceased was just dead. His face was flushed, but there were no unusual indications to suggest the cause of death. Taking into consideration the description of the attack, he thought it was caused by heart failure, probably of the nature of angina pectoris. The jury adopted this view, and returned their verdict accordingly.