Memories of Elizabeth Hawdon nee Barker

Elizabeth Barker was the eldest daughter of Dr. A.C. Baker and his wife Emma. The Barkers arrived in Canterbury aboard the ‘Charlotte Jane’ on the 16th December 1850. Emma was pregnant with Elizabeth during the voyage. The couple already had three boys. Elizabeth was born on the morning of the 15th March 1851 under a …

William Derisley (W.D.) Wood (1824 – 1904 )

William Derisley (W.D.) Wood (1824 – 1904 )   Died of old age      Place of Death: Christchurch Founder of Riccarton and Addington Flour Mill.  Remembered in the naming of Wood Lane in Fendalton. Buried in the Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch The story of William Derisley (W.D.) Wood (1824 – 1904 ): http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/william-derisley-w-d-wood-1824-1904/ Photo taken by Chris …

Walpole Cheshyre Fendall (1830 – 1913)

Walpole Cheshire Fendall 1830 – 1913 Behind the naming of the suburb Fendalton. Buried at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Papanui, Christchurch Read the story of Walpole Cheshire Fendall: http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/fendalton-walpole-cheshire-fendall-1830-1913/ Photo taken by Annette Bulovic

Fendalton – Walpole Cheshyre Fendall (1830 -1913)

Walpole Fendall arrived in Christchurch on the Sir George Seymour, one of the first four ships. From England, his father had purchased an 50 acre block for Walpole which he subdivided quickly. With a road already going through his land (now Fendalton Road) and with the development of housing, it soon became known as Fendall …

The Avon River (Ōtākaro)

I can’t begin to fathom how surreal the afternoon/evening of the 16th December 1850 would have been for the Deans brothers. Especially as they may have stood in the doorway of the Deans Cottage while the shrieks and shouts of two stripped down male settlers splashed about in the Avon River – their echoes adding …

BURNSIDE – William Boag (1828 – 1904)

What made William Boag walk from Lyttelton to Pigeon Bay to seek work straight off his ship in 1851, we may never know. Was it watching the hundreds of pilgrims pile over the Bridle Path, that made him take off in the opposite direction with no money, nothing going for him except the determination that …

BRYNDWR – Charles Jeffery (1821 – 1904)

Charles was born in Cardiganshire, Wales in 1821. He married Clara in 1851 and with her came 100 acres of the new colony of New Zealand, and more importantly Christchurch. The Jeffery’s arrived in 1853 and took up their land in what was then called Fendall Town. These days we know that area as Fendalton. …