Mary Louisa Hancock

Our heads were turned first by the Hancock plot, and after a little delving realised the connection with a plot three along to the right. This is the story of the Wickens family which was kindly supplemented by a descendant.

Frederick Nimrod Wickens, born 1830 in Sussex, married firstly Maria Stornton in 1852. His occupation was a land surveyor. He was one of many children and as not all could inherit the family farm, in 1856 he travelled alone to New Zealand in search of an easier life. He settled in Dunedin and described himself as a gentleman. He made an application for land from the Crown in February 1860 which he then subdivided to create the village of Frant (named after a village in Sussex) at West Harbour.

Frederick was widowed in 1866 and returned to England where he married Elizabeth Turner Peek in 1871 in Sussex. She was aged 20 and the illegitimate daughter of William Turner, an auctioneer and surveyor. She was also an artist and the family still have some of her drawings. Their children Frederick William, Trayton George and Mary Louisa (May) were born in the following years.

In 1878 the family travelled as steerage passengers on the ‘Auckland’ to New Zealand. The younger sons Frank Nimrod and Stanely Huia were born in New Zealand. Over the following years, Frederick’s jobs ranged from running a Coal & Wood business, local councillor and picture framer.

Elizabeth died in 1896. According to the family, she never really recovered following the birth of Stanley. The family then moved to Wellington. Frederick struggled with his young family and at times Stanley was sent to Te Aro school at a young age to be cared for. Money was short and May was sent out to get a job as a shop assistant. Family letters home reflect a general tone of disillusionment at how difficult life was in New Zealand.

In 1897 Frederick acquired the lease of the Ponsonby Hall off Abel Smith Street and lived in the quarters attached. The hall could be let from the Wickens for ‘Evening parties, socials, dancing or other classes’

Son Trayton George Wickens opened a studio in Manners Street called ‘T G Wickens & Co’, “for executing high class Photography in all its branches, at very low prices”. In 1899 he registered the copyright for ‘the design for a medal in commemoration of departure of New Zealand Second Contingent to the Transval’ and sold these in the form of a sterling silver medal with 5% of proceeds from the sale being donated to the Patriotic Fund. He died aged 26 in 1900 from typhoid fever and was the first interment in the righthand side plot.

Daughter May married Henry Arthur Hancock in 1900. He was a telegraph cadet. She died in 1902 of tuberculosis and he erected this magnificent headstone for her. He remarried to Lena Langdon, the divorced wife of Hart Langdon in 1923. Henry and Lena are also interred in this plot but are not named on the headstone.

Son Frank Nimrod Wickens died aged 24 from meningitis in 1908 and was the second interment in the Wickens’ plot.

Frederick Nimrod Wickens followed in 1909, aged 80,  after a long illness. In his will, he bequeathed a section in the village of Frant (section 32a and 32b upper harbour west) to his son Arthur Henry.

In 2018,the Public Trust advertised its proposal to become manager of section 32A and 32B of Upper West Harbor as the owner, Frederick Nimrod Wickens “is believed to no longer be resident in New Zealand, or even whether he is alive or dead”. So if there are any Arthur Henry Wickens descendants out there, do come forward and claim your land …

Mary Louisa Hancock

Hancock Plot
The Wickens’ plot is far right hand side.

Louis Peter Christeson

Louis was born about 1861 in Denmark. He married Eveline Stephens (born 1866) in 1883 in New Zealand and became a naturalised citizen the same year. His profession was recorded as hairdresser. A son Thomas was born in 1885 and daughter Annie in 1889.

He was an active participant in the Wellington Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Association and the Wellington Scandinavian Society. He was also an amateur photographer, and whose photos give us a glimpse into his domestic life.

In 1901 Louis went to Australia where he was engaged as a ladies’ hairdresser during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. And then in 1902 he travelled to Paris to further his studies in the latest styles of “postiche” and the most up to date fashions in ladies hairdressings. He was away for about 10 months and on his return invited “ladies who are admirers of pretty hair and who for fashion, convenience or necessity require some additional hair of any kind to call and inspect our Artistic Fringes of Natural Curled Human Hair on invisible foundations”. 

“Wigs on the Green”. In 1906 Louis sued Albert Mould for £3 that he claimed was owing for the price of a “scalp” supplied by him to Albert defendant. “A scalp” was described as “something like a wig, only it is rather less than a wig”. It was claimed the “scalp” was a loan until the permanent one was supplied and when it was returned it was useless. Louis won the case.

From at least 1893 until his death, Louis lived with both his wife Eveline and a woman named Priscilla Page (born 1870). On the Electoral Rolls, Priscilla is only described as a spinster so we have no clue as to their relationship. At his death, Louis left half of his estate to his wife, and half “to my friend Priscilla”. His total estate was worth £54,000 which has the buying power of £1.3mil today. All three died the same year and all three are interred in the same unmarked grave. Priscilla died in June, aged 86; Louis in July, age 92 and Eveline in Ocotber aged 87.

Plot: Public 3/H/541

Louis (far RHS) and his wife outside of his Willis Street store
Man in garden of Louis P Christeson (we assume this is Louis)

Alan & Elizabeth Loxton

The couple had only been married a few months before they were accidentally drowned in Wellington Harbour in 1899.

Alan Parsons Loxton was born in NSW in 1866. He trained as a draughtsman in Sydney and in 1895 was working for William Chatfield in Wellington. At the time of his death he was working for Clere, Fitzgerald and Richmond. His sister Lucinda was married to Boulton Molineaux, manager of the Bank of NSW in Wellington.

In November 1899 he became engaged to Elizabeth Davy, daughter of Chief Judge George Boutflower Davy of the Native Courts. Her sister was married to a nephew of Sir James Prendergast.

Elizabeth Davy was born in 1877. We don’t know much about Elizabeth, except what she wore in society: 14.06.95 – pale blue veiling and cream lace; 15.10.96 – pale blue silk and pompadour ribbon; 10.06.97 – pretty grey silk and lace; 26.08.97 – pink silk with gauze frills. We also know she went to Dunedin in 1897 to consult Dr Fergusson about her eyes.

The couple were married in June 1899.

At about 6pm on Tuesday 19th September, they went to Jervois Quay to hire a boat from Richard Huffam. Richard noticed the woman had a bag of fruit in her hands and she caught sight of the name Little Nell on the stern of one of his boats, a skiff 3ft wide and 14 ft long. Elizabeth remembered being out in that boat with Alan about six months ago and expressed a wish that they might have the Little Nell again.

Alan folded his overcoat for Elizabeth to sit on, and took his place at the oars. They said they would be back by 9pm and by 11:30pm Richard became anxious and started checking the other wharves in case they had returned elsewhere. At about 12:15am, the steamer Te Kapu came into port and the captain told the duty constable that they had picked up a boat half full of water and some articles of clothing.

Elizabeth’s body was found near shore by Ngauranga train station the next morning. She was wearing a black coat with one buttoned fastened. Papers in the pocket with the name B.M. Molineaux assisted in alerting the family.

An inquest was held at the couple’s house in Palmer Street. Her brother in law stated the couple were happy and often went boating on moonlit evenings. Alan was a good swimmer but suffered from asthma.

Mr Huffam’s theory was that Elizabeth had stood up and lost her balance and her husband had tried to seize her, causing himself to fall in. This would cause the boat to ship water, but not capsize. The jury returned a verdict of accidentally drowned through falling from a boat. Alan’s body was never recovered.

Plot: Ch Eng/M/14

Robert Holliday

Robert (Robie) was born in 1855 in Genoa, Italy, the son of Thomas Holliday and Ann Jeal. Thomas moved the family from England due to his work as an Engineer. He died at Greenwich in 1862 leaving Ann with ten children.

Ann travelled with her daughters Fanny (22), Mary (19) and Annie (9), and son Robie (17) on the ship Glenmark to Lyttelton in 1871. He called himself a labourer. Daughter Clara (16) and son William (11) followed on the ship Halcione in 1873. All were assisted immigrants. Three sons remained in England.

The family settled on the west coast and Miss Holliday opened the Greymouth Academy for Young Ladies. A number of the daughters married and in 1875 the family sold up and moved to Wellington.

In 1878 Robie and his brother Thomas acquired Mr Jackson’s business at Stationers’ Hall, Lambton Quay and began trading as R. Holliday & Co: Importers pf Books, Stationery and Fancy Goods. He  claimed considerable experience in the business and began immediately with a large clearing sale.

His first advertisement was for “the most beautiful variety ever imported to Wellington in cloth, raised wood and beaded cushions, chair-backs, banner screens, tea coseys and slippers” His latest consignment was of “fancy goods of an unusually attractive description”.

His shop windows were a novelty too. In 1881 his windows were illuminated and a solitary lady who was working the newly introduced Davis’ sewing machines. He also drew customers in with exhibitions of oleograph portraits received from overseas including that of Lord Beaconsfield and Mr Gladstone.

The shop also served as the “box office” for the Opera House, Theatre Royal and other places.

In 1900 his widowed sister Annie Parker and her son Randall came to live with Robie in his house on Clifton Terrace.

He sold his business to Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd in 1912 and made this third trip to England in 1914 where he had intended taking a tour of the continent with a Cook’s touring party “but on account of the ugly rumours about war, decided not to go”.

He returned to New Zealand in March of 1915 and December he had a serious nervous breakdown from which he never recovered.

Robie died on the 30th August 1918 aged 63 at Porirua Hospital and was interred at Karori with his mother. His death “will be regretted by a wide circle of friends”.

Plot: Ch Eng/#/89

Robie’s shop at Stationers Hall on Lambton Quay (left)

George Presswood

G.H.P

So mysterious to have only the initials on a plot. By accessing the digitised burial register we realised this is the plot of George Housely Presswood. Knowing how pricey lead lettering is/was, it is unusual to see only initials followed by two lines of a hymn. “Rock of Ages” was written by the Reformed Anglican minister Augustus Toplady in 1763.

George was born in 1846 in Newark, England to John and Millicent. John worked as an ostler (a man employed to look after the horses of people staying at an inn). By 1871 George was working as an apprentice watchmaker. He departed for New Zealand in 1874 using the passenger name of “Housley Presswood” as an assisted immigrant . Travelling with him as his family were Ellen and son William (aged 1 ½). George and Ellen subsequently married in 1875. Three more children were born.

In March 1876 he opened his shop in High Street, Blenheim as a “practical watchmaker and working jeweller” but sadly in November that year his shop was destroyed by a large fire. In 1878 he donated £5 to the Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade. His premises were also destroyed again by a large fire in 1878. By 1885 he moved to Christchurch where once again his premises were destroyed by a large fire. Fortunately his stock had been removed for safety.

By 1887 he was trading in Masterton. In 1900 a large fire broke out but the brigade’s efforts were focussed on saving the Empire Hotel. Once the hotel’s contents were removed, their attention turned to Mr Presswood’s premises and managed to save it. He subsequently presented them with a trophy for competition amongst the members.

He retired to Napier but his stay there was a short one as he was admitted to Mt View Hospital in 1906. He died at Porirua Hospital in 1912.

His son William appears to have followed him into the jewellery business.

Plot Ch Eng/A/296

Wreck of the S.S. Penguin

The USS Co’s SS Penguin was a very familiar sight in Wellington harbour as she plied back and forward to Nelson and Picton providing a ferry service much like today.  On 12 February 1909, the Penguin departed Picton  for Wellington in good conditions. However, by the time she was in mid Cook Strait, with the night well advanced, she encountered a wild southerly storm and very poor visibility.  The very experienced Captain Naylor decided to steam back into mid channel and see the storm out but in turning he hit Thoms Rock (though he disputed this, claiming he hit a submerged hull from a wreck the month before) and water started to pour in. Women and children were loaded into the lifeboats, but the rough seas immediately flipped them and only one woman survived.  In all 72 people lost their lives and there were 30 survivors including Captain Naylor, making it the worst maritime disaster in NZ in the 20th Century. Debris and bodies were strewn all along the south coast and the Terawhiti Station homestead became the centre of the recovery effort. 

The disaster had a major impact on the Wellington community, and a day was set aside for the funerals and the burials at Karori Cemetery.  There are some remarkable photos of the huge crowds that accompanied the coffins on the longish walk up to Karori Cemetery. 

The wreck of the SS Penguin is not as well remembered as the Wahine disaster, and the wreck itself has never been located.  However in 2000, Bruce Collins published a very informative book on the Penguin disaster, and the extensive information in the book, and photos, allowed in turn the WCC to commission Deirdre Hogan from the Karori Historical Society to prepare a self-guided walking tour of the graves of the deceased in the Karori Cemetery. The Friends plan to introduce a guided tour of the SS Penguin grave sites to reflect its historical significance and impact on the city. 

Image courtesy of Te Papa.

Sir Francis Bell

Francis Henry Dillon Bell was born in 1851 the eldest son of the former New Zealand Company agent Francis Dillon Bell. He was educated at Auckland Grammar, Otago Boys, and Cambridge University. He joined his father’s law firm now known as Bell Gully. In 1878 he married Caroline Robinson in Christchurch and they had four daughters and four sons. As a rising lawyer, and son of a former minister, Bell was soon under pressure to enter politics.

He was elected mayor of Wellington in 1891, 1892 and 1896, and he established the city’s first proper rubbish disposal service and drainage scheme. After a brief skirmish with national politics, which he did not enjoy, he focussed on legal matters and became one of the leading lawyers in NZ. Today we know his legal firm as Bell Gully.

He was a close friend of Prime Minister Massey and joined his Ministry from 1912 to 1926 holding many portfolios. When Massey died in office in 1925, Bell – then aged 74 – was formally appointed as Prime Minister while the Reform Party elected a new leader (Gordon Coates was successful).

Bell was at times Crown Solicitor, President of the N.Z. Law Society, King’s Counsel, and a Privy Councillor.

Bell is widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s most outstanding lawyers. But he also had extensive involvement in public affairs including long standing leadership roles in cricket, rugby, racing and with the Freemasons.

He died in 1936 at age 85. Plot Ch Eng/M/1

Bell plot in Church of England

Sir Francis and Lady Bell

Albert Martin

Albert Martin (1882-1940)

Last November Margaret, who is one of our Members, put us in touch with Alan and Yvonne Townsend who she found looking a bit lost in the Cemetery. Alan and Yvonne were visiting from England and had come to the Cemetery in search of Alan’s grandfather, Albert Martin’s plot. No family member had been able to visit the grave since his death and so the occasion was a special one. We located the grave for Alan. As it was not marked, it had made the search more challenging. Thanks to Alan and Yvonne for letting us share Albert’s story and for providing a photo and documents for him.

Albert was born in West Ham, England in 1881. His parents were William and Mary Ann who were both born in Waterford, Ireland. His father was a Ship Wright and  his older brothers worked as seamen and firemen. Aged 19 he sailed on his first ship the “Lake Erie” from Liverpool to London, signing his agreement at sea. In 1901 he married Elizabeth Spicer and they had five children: Albert, Mary, Elizabeth, Maud and Frank.

Albert worked as a merchant seaman his whole life. In April 1940, his ship the S.S. Raranga was docked in Wellington harbour. Presumably due to the war, we cannot trace the movements of this ship at that time. Albert became unwell and was taken to Wellington hospital where he died six days later on 4th May.

Albert was buried the same day at Karori Cemetery in the Catholic section, his service officiated by the Rev. Father Bradford.

Yvonne noticed that Albert’s plot lies next to that of another merchant seaman, and also next to the stream which keeps Albert connected with the sea.

Albert Martin
S.S. Raranga
Albert’s plot lies to the left of the righthand side formed plot. The stream runs parallel to the path.

Dr David Nairn

(information supplied in part by one of his descendants)

David was born in 1863 in Dundee, Scotland to William Nairn and his wife Elizabeth Mathewson. William was a merchant linen company agent but died in 1865.

David’s brothers worked as sales clerks and bank clerks but David trained in medicine. Having passed his exams he secured passage to New Zealand working as the ship’s medical officer in about 1884. He practised for 36 years in Blenheim which in 1884 was lacking a third doctor and where he “was out and about the country in all weathers ministering to the sick” (NZ Herald 24 July 1924). He was an anaesthesiologist at Wairau for many years

He was married first to Margaret Hood in 1885, and they had four daughters. After Margaret died he married Hannah Maria “Annie” Farmar in 1894 and they had four sons.

In 1903 Annie accepted £250 and expenses in settlement of an action brought by her in the Scotch Courts against the New Zealand Shipping Company in which she claimed £3,000 damages in respect to the injuries sustained by her when disembarking from the ‘Wakanui’ to go ashore in Teneriffe. As she was passing down the gangway into the boat, the content of a shute from the kitchen galley were discharged upon her which caused her to fall into the water (Motueka Star,20 January 1903).

After serving in the war, two of their sons (Norman and Gerald) went to Syria where they conducted a trans-desert motor mail service.

Exposure to the rain and storms eventually took its toll on David Nairn and he suffered from rheumatism which compelled him to give up practice in 1920 and move to Wellington where he died in 1924. He is buried with his second wife Annie in Public 2 section (L/394).

Reginald Berry

Reginald George James Berry (known as James)
designer of the first New Zealand decimal coins

Berry was born in London in 1906. He went to Russell Hill boarding school and won prizes for art. He started working life as an insurance clerk but finding the work uncongenial, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1925. He paid off his assisted passage as a farm cadet in Gisborne.

In 1927 he began working as a commercial artist with Goldberg Advertising Agency in Wellington. In 1932 he married Miriel Frances Hewitt and they went on to have five daughters and one son. From 1935 until 1942 he was staff artist at the Dominion. From 1944 onwards he was self-employed designing book covers, illustrations, bookplates and then stamps, coins and medals.

Berry designed the entire peace issue of stamps in 1946 and then the lighthouse stamps for the Government Insurance Department issues.

In 1964, New Zealand decided to change to decimal currency. Designs were invited and Berry sent four sets featuring New Zealand flora and fauna. One set was selected and subsequently approved by the Royal Mint and issued in 1967. He was named ‘1966 Man of the Year’ by The Dominion Sunday Times, and awarded the OBE in 1968. The 1, 2 and 5 cent coins have been withdrawn from circulation and the 20 cent redesigned. But Berry’s 10 and 50 cent coin remain in use today.

He was an honorary member of the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Ex Libris Society and the Friends of the Turnbull Library.

Berry died in 1979 and was cremated at Karori Cemetery. During his lifetime he completed more than 1,000 designs for stamps, coins and medals.