On 1 April 1903, Linwood joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. How long do you wait before you marry the sister of your dead wife? Not long enough when it concerned Dr. Joseph Brittan. The scandal that chased Joseph and his new bride (and sister-in-law) Sophia down the church …
On 1 April 1903, St Albans joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. Many of the early settlers just kept going past the area that would become St Albans. It wasn’t just the extremely boggy land, but the 10 foot or so toi toi was also a great deterrent! If …
On 1 April 1903, Sydenham and Waltham joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. When Charles Prince arrived in Lyttelton in 1858, I’m sure he had no idea that two future suburb names would be influenced by him with very little effort made by him at all. An ex-school master, …
On 31 March 1903, Canterbury pioneer aviator Richard Pearse made his controversial flight into the history books. It was 1901 when Richard made his first attempt to fly. He had built and patented a bicycle with crank gears. This attempt was nothing more than just ‘hopping along’, it was later reported. 1903 was the year …
On 22 January 1903, the Christchurch Tramway Board held their first meeting. Amongst the members of this first transport board were names like Henry Francis Wigram (remembered in the naming of the suburb) and George Stead (founder of the Heathcote Malt Works, owner of The Press – just to name a few). From 1880, horse …
It had been so unusual to the see Martin’s Eyreton property so quiet and still. Concerned neighbours soon raised the alarm and a party of four made their way towards the house. Upon finding all the doors locked, windows fastened and no reply to their knocking, Obed Frederick Clothier smashed the window of the bedroom …
In July 1901, after a forty year argument between the Christchurch City Council, the Police, the Canterbury Hospital Board, the city’s doctors and yes, even our publicans – the Christchurch City Morgue was opened. As Christchurch rolled along during its first ten years of settlement, the highest death rate was people tumbling into the Avon …
On 22nd June 1901, the future King George V and Queen Mary arrived in Canterbury as part of their Royal tour of New Zealand. At the time, they were the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. As if on cue, the heavy clouds that covered the Lyttelton sky suddenly cleared as the Royal ship ‘Ophir’ was …
One can easily imagine the hard decision it was for Jane Deans to approve the demolition of the old Deans/Manson/Gebbie’s barn at Riccarton in 1897. It was after all the city’s oldest building – erected by Samuel Manson in 1843 – seven years before the Canterbury Association’s First Four Ships! The historic barn was now …
Legend has it that the front doors of the England Brothers Architectural Office blew open dramatically and there entered the eccentric rich land owner Allan McLean, demanding the startled staff inside to see some house designs. Upon showing him a plan for a four bedroom house that was proving popular in Christchurch at that time, …
