Thomas and Maria bird arrived in New Zealand about 1875. Thomas was born in 1823 in Yalding, Kent, England. He married Maria Humphrey at Plaxtol, Kent in 1846. Thomas worked as an agricultural labourer and they raised a family of ten children.
When the Birds emigrated to Wellington with their younger children, they lived in Thompson Street. Their neighbours were the Henderson family who were often before the Courts for their behaviour. In February 1884, Maria witnessed Mr Henderson walking up and down Thompson Street in ‘an indecent manner’. He had been drinking. As a consequence, he was fined 40s.
Shortly afterwards Mrs Henderson separated from her husband and had a protection order made against him. In February 1885, Thomas was called by Mrs Henderson to stop her husband, who had shown up on her premises, from beating her son. The newspapers described Thomas as ‘a brisk little elderly man’ at the time. Thomas had heard the cries of the boy and pulled Mr Henderson off his son and as a result, Mr Henderson struck Thomas. The court fined Mr Henderson 40s and ordered him to find sureties to keep the peace for six months.
Thomas’s occupation when they left England was a labourer in a brewery. In In New Zealand, Thomas worked as a carpenter to support the family.
Maria died on 2nd September 1895 and was buried at Karori Cemetery. She was 66 years old. Just a few weeks later, on 21st September, Townsend and Paul began advertising an auction for the whole of Thomas’s’ household furniture and effects, held at their Thompson Street home:
‘Chest drawers, washstands and ware, iron double bedstead, spring mattress, bedding, looking-glass, couch, chiffonier, round table, dining table, pictures, dinner service, tea service, crockery, cutlery, saucepans, meat safe, mangle, carpenters tools, garden tools, carpenters tool chest, and a quantity of fancy nick-nacks.’
He may have moved to live with one of his children after Maria’s death. Thomas received the pension from 1900, worth £18 per year. He died in 1901 and his funeral departed his daughter Eliza Baker’s house in Hopper Street for Karori Cemetery on 15th January. He is buried in the same plot as Maria.
Plot: *Ch Eng/E/25
By Julia Kennedy
