I have always been very fortunate with my diggings (excuse the pun) around cemeteries when I find a tombstone that seems to offer up a good story. I enjoy nothing more than putting together the puzzle made from a few clues but this Captain McLean is keeping his secrets buried with him. I have more …
At Church Corner, at the western end of Riccarton Road, opposite Countdown are a series of shops and arcades. Long past their prime and popularity, one arcade there especially doesn’t fit in and that would be the Peerswick Mall. This very British sounding collection of shops is now the hub of Christchurch’s Asian shopping market, …
Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820 – 1879) Died of alcoholism Place of Death: Ashburton, Canterbury * Son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield – the Father of New Zealand – owner of The New Zealand Company and The Canterbury Association. * Cousin to the New Zealand Company/Canterbury Association surveyor Charles Orbin Torlesse. * 1848 – 1849 …
As the First Four ships sat at anchor in Lyttelton Harbour that warm December 1850, rural section 6 sat waiting for its owner to make it into something wonderful. Business partners Charles Weatherby and Henry Gordon had intended to be part of the first wave of settlers to Canterbury but their names were never on …
As the citizens of Christchurch went about their business at the Land Office, upstairs in a very small room sat four of our founding fathers, squished in side by side behind a small table. They were John Robert Godley (founder of Canterbury), Mark Stoddart (first European to explore Lake Coleridge and whom also named Diamond …
Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820-1879) had a lot going for him – he really had the world laid out before him. Born to Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Pattle in London, he became a member of a family that made colonising New Zealand a family business! Jerningham (as I will call him to save confusion with …
It never seemed to occur to Charlotte Godley that staying behind in England was an understandable option. After all, her husband, John Robert Godley was not to be away in New Zealand for more than 3 years. Charlotte Griffith Wynne was born in North Wales in 1821. One of eight children in a well-to-do family, …
As the citizens of Christchurch went about their business at the Land Office (which is now a part of the Canterbury Provincial Chambers), upstairs, in a very small room sat four of our founding fathers, squished in side by side behind a small table. They were John Robert Godley (founder of Canterbury), Mark Stoddart (first …
Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796 – 1862) could roll with the punches! Born in London, he was a politician who took a keen interest in colonisation, firstly with South Australia.Before all the drama started, Edward eloped with a very rich Eliza Pattle; his eyes not so fixed on his new bride but the £70,000 she came …
