Grave Digger
On 24th July 1918, the gravediggers at Karori Cemetery wrote a letter to the Mayor (John-Pearce Luke) requesting the following:
- To receive full pay when on sick leave. They pointed out that when digging graves and officiating and interments, they have to do so bare headed and chilled which causes sickness.
- To be provided with oilskins
The following men signed the letter: H. (Henry) Harness, A. Sutton, George Robinson, Ellis Wallwortk and David Shotter.
In response to this letter, the Town Clerk asked the Officer in Charge of Cemeteries to look into the requests. George Kay, who was the Sexton, replied that the employees were given half wages when they had to take leave due to an accident. He recommended that they should receive full wages for this leave and in other instances on a case by case basis. Gum boots and oiled leggings were supplied to the grave diggers already. When digging graves in wet weather, a tent fly was erected over them to keep them dry. He noted that some City employees, such as the dustmen, weresupplied with oil coats but their work was different. He did not think them necessary for the grave diggers.
The council’s cemetery committee met and resolved to adopt the report of George Kay, but also to provide three oilskins in case of emergencies.
Henry Harness was 65 years old when he signed the letter. He was born in Patrington, Yorkshire, England. His mother died when he was 6 years old and perhaps unable to cope, his widowed father sent him to live as a boarder in the house of a cordwainer (shoe maker). He married Jane Ann Wilson in 1875 and their honeymoon was spent on the ship ‘Waimea’ as it headed to New Zealand. The couple initially lived in the old military barracks in Wellington.
Henry later left the army and they lived in various part of the North Island, returning to Wellington in the 1880s. One night in 1894 Henry was charged with cheating ‘in a certain game with dice’ with the intent to defraud Kips Baldwin. The accusation was made in a military camp of volunteers at Porirua. Kip discovered that each of the die only had six faces and therefore could not have the eight symbols marked on them. Henry had to wait until June for his trial, and much to his relief, the Court found a verdict of not guilty.
In 1896, a late-night animated discussion on politics with Jane was sufficient to wake Constable Baker, who lived two doors further down Lewisville Terrace. When the constable came to find what the source of the row was, he was subjected to a great deal of obscene language from Henry. A neighbour, William Hook, used obscene language when he came to complain about the row. Henry and William were charged. In turn, Jane charged Constable Baker with threatening to break Henry’s head with his baton. All three ended up in court and the case was dismissed.
Henry died in 1933 and was buried at Karori Cemetery, in a large family plot. Jane died in 1941 in Hawera, where she had gone to attend her granddaughter’s wedding. She collapsed shortly after the ceremony. At her death she was survived by two daughters and a son, nine grand children, and four great grandchildren. Jane was buried in the same family plot.
Plot: *Ch Eng 2/D/465
By Julia Kennedy
Reference: Wellington City Council Archives, 00233-1918/1347
