Sarah Poor, known as Sophie, was born in 1852 in Portsea, Hampshire, England. Her parents were Samuel Henry and Sophia Poor (born Hibberd). The family lived with Samuel’s mother, Sarah Poor, and Samuel ran his mother’s 20-acre farm as a market garden, employing a small team. Sadly Samuel died in 1861 leaving his widow Sophia with four young children and £100.
In 1879, Sophie formed a relationship with John Joshua. John was born in Adelaide in 1847. As John was Jewish, he asked to put off their marriage as it would grieve his elderly mother who had two other sons who had married Christians. They lived together for four years and she was introduced to her relations and his friends as his wife.
John had promised to marry her by a certain date, and if that did not happen then Sophie planned to leave him. John kept his word and in 1883 they were married at St George Hanover Square, London. Shortly after the wedding the couple emigrated to New Zealand bringing Sophie’s again widowed mother, Mrs Kemp with them. They adopted a daughter, Louise Martha Salter, who came from Portsmouth. She was sent out to join the Joshuas in 1884 and became known as Midge Joshua.
John obtained the licence of the Taupo Sanitorium. For sightseers and holiday-makers, this hotel offered detached cottages, swimming baths and hot and cold waters. As a publicity piece, it was printed that Sophie ‘was quite crippled’ before she took the waters. Midge was described as ‘one of the chief attractions of the place’ and Mrs Kemp ran the household.
John ‘decorated’ the various hotel buildings with Māori carvings. In 1886, he purchased the wharenui Te Tiki o Tamamutu for £150. The building was carved between 1860 and 1870 by renowned master carver Wero Taroi, assisted by a young Tene Waitere. John had it moved to the hotel and it was inappropriately used as a dining and smoking room for guests.
In 1889 (it was later alleged), that John became ‘improperly intimate’ with seventeen-year-old Annie Tuft, one of the hotel domestic staff. Also that he cohabited with her in 1891 in a cottage in Farndon. In 1892, Sophie petitioned for a judicial separation on the grounds of John’s adultery with Annie Tuft and also Ada Keep. At the same time, John sued Sophie for divorce, naming two co-respondents – Mr Anderson and Mr Kennedy. The two petitions were heard in the Napier Court, which was closed to the public. Mr Gully, who acted for Sophie, stated that he would prove by independent witnesses that ‘the evidence laid against her was a mass of deliberate perjury’.
Letters written by Annie Tuft had been intercepted by Sophie and were read out in court. Between 30 and 50 witnesses were called and the trial lasted several weeks. This is one of the many articles about it on Papers Past: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18921017.2.20?end_date=31-12-1989&items_per_page=10&query=kennedy+anderson+joshua&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-01-1892
The jury found John guilty of adultery by a three-fourths majority and were unanimous in holding Sophie innocent of the charges laid against her. A decree was made for judicial separation and John was ordered to pay all costs including £150 each to the two [alleged?] co-respondents. The verdict was applauded in court.
With the court case behind her, Sophie took on the management of the Terrace Hotel, while John retained the Taupo Sanitorium. In 1895, Sophie moved again to take over the management of the Geyser Hotel, which was damaged by fire the day after she took charge! In December 1898, Sophie took over the licence of the Lake Hotel at Pohui. She quickly built a new hotel adjacent, in order to utilise the existing licence. It was described as commodious and could cater a table d’hôte for any number.
Sophie travelled to Wellington in early March 1900 to have an operation, with plans to make further improvements to the hotel on her return. Sadly, the operation proved fatal and she died at Miss Palmer’s Private Hospital on 21st March.
Later in 1900, John married Annie Tuft in Sydney.
Sophie’s daughter Midge and her husband Charles Corlett took over the running of the Lake Hotel and retained it until 1907.
Plot: *Ch Eng/O/7
By Julia Kennedy
This meeting house was later to become the dining room of the Joshua’s Spa Hotel.
Courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Ref: Mr and Mrs John Joshua outside a Maori meeting house, Taupo. Birnie, J W: Photographs taken in Taupo including the Spa Hotel. Ref: 1/2-028367-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23213238
Courtesy Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1677-ALB333-11-02
Courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19070613-14-03
