Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Lyttelton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lyttelton. Show all posts

Monday 22 January 2024

James Higgs and Ellen Trevail

Whistow Farm
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Phil Williams - geograph.org.uk/p/196552

Ellen Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married James Higgs, son of Samuel Nicholas Higgs, farmer, of Whistow Farm, Lanlivery, and Maria Olver (m. 9 Oct 1821 in Morval) at Luxulyan Parish Church, on 22 Jan 1862. Upon their marriage, James Higgs was listed as a Policeman.

In Dec 1862, James (24), Ellen (22) and their infant daughter, Maria Jane, embarked on that same voyage on the Huntress, with her younger sister, Mary Ann, arriving in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 Apr 1863. 

Records suggest that James and Ellen had at least eight children: 
  1. Maria Jane Higgs, bap 10 Aug 1862 at Luxulyandied, in 1863, in New Zealand at 13 months.
  2. Kate Higgs born 12 Jul 1864 in New Zealand
  3. Joseph Higgs born 1868
  4. James Higgs born 1871
  5. Dahlia Higgs born 1873
  6. Ellen Olivia Higgs born 1876
  7. Emma Jane Higgs born 1878
  8. William John Higgs born 1881 (died 30 Mar 1910, aged 28 and is buried at Linwood Cemetery along with his wife, Amelia “Mena” Higgs)
James Higgs died on 17 Apr 1913 and is buried at Linwood Cemetery. In his will, he appointed his sons, Joseph and James, as his executors, both butchers. Ellen Higgs died on 21 Jul 1929, aged 88, and is also buried at Linwood Cemetery, along with her husband and youngest son.


I've found no further records for Dahlia, Ellen Olivia or Emma Jane.

Sunday 7 January 2024

John Bawden and Mary Ann Burn Trevail

Luxulyan Church
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Rod Allday - geograph.org.uk/p/2708738

Mary Ann Burn Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married John Bawden (bap. 3 Apr 1837 in Lanlivery), son of John Bawden and Elizabeth Giles, at Luxulyan Parish Church, on 7 Jan 1861. Mary Ann's sister, Ellen Trevail, was bridesmaid at the wedding. Witnesses were the bride's father, Joseph Trevail and James Higgs, who married Ellen Trevail the following year, who it may be imagined was likely best man.

In 1861, newlyweds John (24) and Mary Ann (19) were living in the household of his parents, a miller at Lanlivery. The address, in 1851, was listed as Rosnea Mill, Lanlivery. Roseney Mill is used as an AirBnB

Then John Bawden Snr died in 1862 and whether that had anything to do with their decision, but on 10 Dec 1862, John Bawden (25), Mary Ann and their infant son, Nicholas (bap. 6 Apr 1862 at Lanlivery), embarked in London aboard the ship, the Huntress. They arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 Apr 1863, after what must have been a nightmare journey of 130+ days

Between the tactless and unpopular captain, quarrels and firearms being drawn, much discontent about the way victuals were cooked and a terrible cyclone just south of the equator, when passengers were locked up in their quarters (for their protection, but equally frightening), when, "The ship reared almost perpendicularly bows or stern up or down, also rolling sideways, and all ways, in a most alarming manner", this was certainly no pleasure cruise.

Travelling on the same voyage was Mary Ann's sister, Ellen (22), her husband James Higgs (24) and their infant daughter, Maria Jane. Each couple contributed £17 towards the £26 for the cost of the passage as assisted emigration. £17 in 1862 is worth £2,644 in 2023. A big investment.

On the voyage there were "15 deaths, all children with the exception of one young women aged 17 and a boy belonging to the ship". Nicholas Bawdin (sic), died, aged 16 months, in New Zealand, in 1863. Ellen's daughter, Maria Jane Higgs, also perished at 13 months. The deaths were registered in New Zealand, but they could have been part of those grim statistics.

At the end of their arduous journey, John Bawden undertook heavy manual work digging the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel - the first tunnel in the world to be taken through the side of an extinct volcano - completed 1867 and, in 1921, John was "one of the last survivors of that little band of tunnel workers."

Although the Trevails were farmers, not miners, reading how Cornish Miners were going to New Zealand for new lives and to work on this project when and because the tin mines closed in Cornwall - and one can imagine much local talk and newspaper coverage of that in Cornwall - probably explains where they will have got the idea to make the decision to emigrate.

John and Mary Ann Bawden had 10 children in total, seven sons and two daughters survived: 
  1. Nicholas Bawden bap. 6 Apr 1862 at Lanlivery, Cornwall (died, aged 16 months, in 1863 in New Zealand)
  2. Mary Jane Bawden born 1864 in New Zealand
  3. John Bawden born 1866 in New Zealand
  4. Henry Bawden born 1868 in New Zealand
  5. Joseph Bawden born 1869 in New Zealand
  6. Alfred Bowden (sic) born 1872 in New Zealand
  7. Charles Bowden (sic) born 1874 in New Zealand
  8. Samuel Nicholas Bowden (sic) born 1876 in New Zealand
  9. Emma Bawden born 1878 in New Zealand
  10. William Bowden (sic) born 1883 in New Zealand
Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden died on 5 Jan 1921, aged 79-80. Sadly, Mary Ann just missed her diamond wedding anniversary by two days, because the marriage certificate shows that they were married on 7th Jan (not 2nd as it says in the article). Mary Ann is buried at Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery

John Bawden died on 14 Aug 1929, aged 91, and is buried with his wife.

The obituary for John Bawden lists eldest daughter as Mrs M Lewis: Mary Jane Bowden (sic) married Isaac Lewis in 1894 and their younger daughter as Mrs E Ballard: Emma Bowden (sic) married Walter Charles Ballard in 1906.

The Lyttelton portal of the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel with construction workers in 1867
Very likely one of the men in this picture was John Bawden.

Sunday 13 June 2021

Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey

SS Miltiades (1903)

Herbert Fleming Trevail, son of Charles Trevail and Mary Flemming, married Alice Maud Stanley Blazey, daughter of Francis Robert Blazey and Louisa Susan Stanley, in 1898, in Kensington, London. My 3rd great-grandparents, Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns were Alice's grandparents, which makes her my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

In 1901, Alice (25) was at her father's household at 31, Sinclair Gardens, Hammersmith, Fulham, along with her daughter, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail, born 1900, while Herbert (24) Carpenter and Joiner, was alone at what was presumably their home at 83, South Lambeth Road, Lambeth. 

Various records point to Herbert and Alice having at least six children:
  1. Daisy Trevail born 1899 in Lambeth (died 1899, aged 0)
  2. Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail born 16 Sep 1900 in Lambeth
  3. Eric Herbert Stanley Trevail born 29 Jul 1904, bap. 18 Sep 1904 in WelwynHertfordshire
  4. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail born circa. 1911, in New Zealand?
  5. Edna A S (if I was betting, I'd go for Alice Stanley), born and died in 1915 in Balmain North, New South Wales, Australia
  6. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail born circa. 1917 in Australia
On 5 Aug 1908, Mr H Trevail (31), Mrs A Trevail (32), Miss W Trevail (7) and Master E Trevail (2½), embarked in London on the SS Miltiades. They were bound for Sydney, where they arrived in the September. 

There could well have been a seventh child, because there is a burial of a stillborn child, listed only with the surname Trevail, born 25 Oct 1908, at Linwood Cemetery, Linwood, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand. That would indicate that Alice was pregnant during the voyage. This pregnancy also fits neatly into the otherwise long gap between 1904 and 1911.

They were in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where Herbert's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - because reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there.

In 1911, Herbert Fleming Trevail, carpenter, and Alice Maud Trevail were listed on the New Zealand Electoral Rolls at 56 Stanmore Rd, Linwood, Christchurch. (Herbert's aunt, Jane Rundle Robinson, lived in Christchurch.)

Then in 1913, we find both of them listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at Mount Victoria, Hartley, New South Wales, Australia.

Painting of the British ocean liner RMS Olympic by Fred Pansing

On 2 Feb 1927, Herbert Trevail (49), Alice (50), Lance (16) and Carmen (10) sailed from Southampton to New York on the White Star Line's RMS Olympic. They gave their last address in the UK as 62 Milton Road, Wallington, Surrey, the home of Herbert's parents. On 29 Aug 1927, they left San Francisco, bound for Sydney, on the RMS Tahiti. (Known for the Greycliffe disaster.)

Herbert must have made another visit to England, because on 1 Mar 1933, he sailed, on his own, from Southampton to Sydney on the SS Moreton Bay.

In 1935, Herbert and Alice Trevail are both listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at 3 Griffiths Avenue, North Bondi, New South Wales

On 8 Jul 1949, Mr H. F. Trevail (72) Builder, and Mrs A. M. Trevail (74), travelled from London (Port of Tilbury) to Sydney on the SS Orontes

Herbert Fleming Trevail reportedly died on 26 Nov 1961 in Ashfield, Sydney NSW. I've been unable to find the record of Alice Maud's death.

  • In 1923 Eric H S Trevail married Miriam E Tuppling, in Balmain South, New South Wales, Australia. They went on to have two children: Conway Eric Stanley Trevail who married Beryl Pearl De Berg and Lois Winifred Stanley Trevail who married Ross Munro Brown, both in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1944.
  • Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail married Nancy Mary Harris Matthews in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1935. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail, Casket Maker, died on 6 Sep 1947, in Bondi, NSW.
  • On 30 Sep 1937, Miss C. J. S. Trevail (21) travelled from Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney on the MS Wanganella, her profession listed as Theatrical. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail married Leslie Earnest Hull in Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia in 1938.

Friday 11 June 2021

Jane Rundle Trevail and James Robinson

Eastern Monarch (ship, 1874)

Jane Rundle Trevail, youngest daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, aged 15, embarked on the Eastern Monarch, one of seventy-four single women on the voyage, mostly domestics, all as Assisted Immigrants to Canterbury, New Zealand. In Jane's case, it would appear that the New Zealand Government bore the whole of the cost of her passage. The ship sailed from Plymouth on 7 May 1874 and arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 22 Jul 1874. 

Jane's two eldest sisters, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Bawden and their husbands, had emigrated together, to Lyttelton, New Zealand, at the end of 1862.

The initial report, on 23 Jul 1874, on the ship's arrival, said that "During the voyage (73 days) fifteen deaths, principally infants, occurred.A subsequent report, on 24 Jul 1874, called it a floating village with talk of entertainments. It also remarked, "The Eastern Monarch brings 552 souls, representing 473 statute adults. They appear to be a well selected and healthy-looking lot of immigrants ..." which makes them sound like little more than slaves!

In 1875, when Jane must have been no more than 16, she married James Robinson, in New Zealand. Later records suggest that he was born in 1854, so will have been 21. Unfortunately, there are far too many people called James Robinson and no other clues, to be able to trace his origins.

The records I could find point to James and Jane having five children:
  1. James Robinson born 1876
  2. Elizabeth Jane Robinson born 1878
  3. Alfred Trevail Robinson born 1888
  4. Mabel Eveline Robinson born 1890
  5. Eva Mary Robinson born 1891 (appears to have died 1891 or 1892)
James Robinson died on 16 Jul 1945, aged 91. He is buried at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch City. Jane Rundle Robinson died on 9 Jul 1947, at 87. She also, is buried at Linwood Cemetery, alongside her husband. 

Jane's will appoints Mabel Evelyn Price and Elizabeth Estall as the Executrices and Trustees of the Will. We can probably assume that these are her daughters. To Mabel she left properties at 241 Hereford Street and at 244 Hereford Street, Christchurch and to Elizabeth Estall her property at 242 Hereford Street. Jane also left a property at 49 Keppel Street, New Brighton, to her son Alfred Trevail Robinson. Son James isn't mentioned, so may also have predeceased her. Again, as there are too many people called James Robinson, it's not possible to identify the relevant record to confirm. There are no records to suggest what James or Jane did for a living, but they seem to have done pretty well on it.