George Gatonby Stead was born in London, England. At the age of 9, his parents moved his life to South Africa where he lived until he was 24. During that time he became a excellent rider and good shot with a rifle. On returning to England in 1865, he soon decided to emigrate to Canterbury, …
In 1856, 12 gentlemen farmers founded The Christchurch Club. Referred to as ‘The Club’ at first, it started its life in a leased building in Durham Street. Benjamin Mountfort drew up a design for a clubhouse which resulted in the building of their pre-earthquake location at 154 Worchester Street in 1863 – some of the …
JOHN JENKINS PEACOCK – 1798 – 1868 From Sumner to Shag Pile (Shag’s Rock) is known as Peacock’s Gallop. Imagine it’s the 1850’s in Sumner. It’s still early morning, you may be still in bed when in the dimness comes the faint rumble of pounding horse hooves. It grows louder and louder, then you catch …
Maybe it had been the tedious bumpy ROADLESS journey over the sea of tussock – from Hawkins (a stone’s throw from Darfield) to Rolleston – that made the farmhand lower the new plough down to harvesting position before he towed it back to Bangor in which he worked. He had been sent out hours before …
In 1872 – in a breakaway move from The Christchurch Club which opened in 1856 – The Canterbury Club was founded. Land was needed to build their clubhouse so a ballot was organized and a section on the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Worchester Street was selected. Designs were soon drawn up by Fredrick Stout …
On 24 December 1864, Christchurch’s first gas powered street lights flickered to life. The first ever street lamp was erected in Market Place (now known as Victoria Square) in 1862 and was powered by kerosene. The following year the Christchurch Gas Company opened and by 1876, 152 gas street lights lit up the city. By …
