Charlotte Harris (nee Newman)
Charlotte was born and married Luke Harris in East Chinnock, Somerset. In the 1841 census they are listed as living there with Luke’s parents, Luke and Anne, who are both aged 70, and their five children. Luke senior and George (Charlotte’s oldest son aged 12 from a previous marriage) are listed as agricultural labourers and Luke is listed as a sail weaver. Luke is aged 25 and Charlotte is 30. In the 1851 UK census there is no mention of any of them and records show that Luke senior died in the Yeovil Workhouse on 21st March 1841. Ann, his wife, died in 1864 in East Chinnock. It is unclear why Luke and Ann seemed to have different ends to their lives.
Luke and his family obtained assisted passage under the ‘Poor Scheme’ to New Zealand and on 2nd October 1841, Luke, Charlotte and five children, and Luke’s brother Charles and his wife Mary, left Gravesend, London on the ‘Clifford’ and arrived in Port Nicholson, Wellington on 15th February 1842. Luke’s sister Elizabeth and her husband William Pike were also assisted under the Poor Scheme.
Luke and Charlotte had three more children, and Luke is listed as part of the 65th Regiment on Foot from 1845-66.
In 1876 there are local newspaper articles indicating that Luke has abandoned his wife, failed to show in court and had a warrant out for his arrest. There are also a number of newspaper clippings around this time where Luke is charged with drunkenness – in April 1876, he is fined 10s or 48 hours prison for his 4th conviction in a month. Two years later in 1878 Luke died at the Empire Stables in Masterton where he was a drover. He was about 62 years old. On his death certificate it was listed as ‘accidental death from an accident’, but there are letters to the editor from Fred Dowsett (Luke’s brother-in-law) in Wellington representing the family, who insisted that it was foul play. Luke is buried in Masterton but there is no headstone.
Charlotte died in 1893, aged around 83, and is buried in Karori Cemetery in Wellington. She is in a plot with her daughter, Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s husband Henry Walker, and two of Elizabeth and Henry’s children.
Plot: *Public/#/356
By Kelly Townsend
Plot photos courtesy of FindaGrave. Charlotte is recorded on the side of the monument.
