Even in William’s early life, he dreamt of being elsewhere. Born in Yorkshire, the 9th child of the family, he grew up to say he wanted ‘a freer life.’William became a tutor, saving up his wages for his voyage to Canterbury, arriving in Lyttelton in 1858. He turned down a job working in a office …
Around 1500 years ago, a Maori village stretched from Victoria Square (pictured) to Bealey Ave and was known as Puari. Around the Waitaka Pa, 800 Maori had made Puari their home.Puari’s burial grounds – the sites of the old Library Chambers (demolished due to earthquake damage) and the Central Police Station (future unknown) each on …
Earthquakes truly don’t play nice with old graveyards! The side of the column that is facing downward is in the memory of William Rising Taylor who was a passenger on the Charlotte Jane – the first of the first four ships to arrive at Lyttelton in 1850. He was in the company of his parents …
I have walked around St Cuthbert’s Cemetery in Governor’s Bay many, many times, always intrigued by the headstones of the families that are buried there. The marriages between them ignited my imagination delightfully! As a teenager, I recorded down the info on these headstones and worked out the who’s who by the clues left to …
Here is a great example of why I walk along and read every gravestone I come across. Found this fellow at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Upper Riccarton and his name made me pause for a moment longer. Randolph Theodore Chaney was born on 10th September, 1850 at Bay of Biscay aboard the “Randolph” on …
Growing up with older siblings, it was common place for my sister to get all dolled up and head out to meet with friends at Warners, the pub and hotel in Cathedral Square. Old Warners didn’t fight well against the earthquakes and is now an empty lot. The old historic icon in Cathedral Square is …
Mrs. Rebecca Money couldn’t quite believe her ears. She had been wiping down table tops in the dining room of the Victoria Hotel she owned with her husband Charles when she heard the first scream from the street. Confused at first, Rebecca paused before glancing out into the night from the window. An eerie orange …
Eliza Robinson had no idea what to think when loud screaming from the hallway made her look up from her cup of tea. She had been enjoying a hot drink with her daughters and house guest Patrick Campbell in the dining toom when within a moment, her maid Margaret Burke burst into the room, stumbling …
As a Management Committee member for the Canterbury Association, I’m sure Henry Le Cren felt a sense of achievement as he made his way down the jetty from the ‘Barbara Gordon” with all his worldly belongings. His cousin John Longden was with him – what an adventure to be in Canterbury, especially with the first …
