Newsletter of the LOWER HUTT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. Preserve the past, Challenge the future March 2019.

Transcription

1 Newsletter of the LOWER HUTT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. Preserve the past, Challenge the future March Contents: St Mark s Church, Woburn Road. At the meeting committee member and former librarian Hilda McDonnell will speak about 'The Mediterranean shore'. In the course of her overseas travels she spent some months on the island of Sicily. All welcome. 1

2 Our thanks to last month's Guest Speaker, Bill Sheat, for his very interesting presentation about New Zealand's first Theatre. Next month, our meeting venue is required for another activity. Therefore, we won't be having a meeting in April. There will be an April newsletter in which there will be information about future speakers and topics. Hope YOU can come along on Friday evening to hear Hilda's presentation. Graeme Ross 2

3 By Hilda McDonnell Round the rocks, Clyde Quay: Timothy & Mary O Loughlin. Long a resident in the Oriental Bay area Mary O'Loughlin, the widow of Timothy, died in Wellington at the end of An obituary appeared in the NZ Times (reprinted NZ Herald 15 December 1897): This couple came from Sydney in 1840 and entered the service of Lord Peters [Henry William, son of Lord Petre], but after a short while entered into dairying business at Depis [Duppa's], Oriental Bay, and finding this place too small they afterwards went to Okiwi Bay [Brown's Bay, Eastbourne]. Mr O'Loughlin was drowned while crossing the harbour shortly afterwards. Mrs O'Loughlin reared a family of five. One son went to Australia. One daughter Mrs John Smith was the wife of one of the City Councillors. Another daughter was Mrs Cook of Wanganui. Mrs O'Loughlin passed away on Saturday and was buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery. Timothy and Mary had five children. All were born in Wellington. Daughter Elizabeth married David Bell and had eight children; son Richard died in America; daughter Mary, born in 1843, married John Smith; daughter Ellen married George Cook of Wanganui; son Timothy was born in 1848; a builder, he merited an entry in the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, written in March 1897, by which time he was living in Boulcott Street. A Jury List for February 1846 listed Timothy O'Loughlin, Te Aro, dairyman. By mid-1846 he was listed as Timothy O'Loughlin, Oriental Bay, dairyman. Timothy O'Loughlin drowned in Wellington harbour at the end of July 1848 while taking his schooner to the eastern side of the harbour. The NZ Spectator & Cook's Strait Guardian (2 Aug 1848) reported that a coroner's inquest had been held 'yesterday' at the Cottage of Content [near Munn's Wharf at Pipitea, south of the present Moore Street steps] before Dr Fitzgerald, coroner. He reported: It appeared that the deceased left Mr Rhodes's wharf for Okiwi, to which place he had recently removed, in a whaleboat in company with another man on Sunday afternoon; he appeared sober at the time. His body was found next day by a policeman, about two miles beyond Ngahuranga [Ngauranga] the boat was turned bottom upwards, and the rope of one of the sheets was found around his neck...the body of the other man has not been found. Verdict: Found drowned. The deceased left a wife and four children. Mary gave birth on 6 August, a month after her husband's death. Her youngest child was named after his father. Wm Mills Sergt of Police, the informant at the birth registration, recorded that he was the son of 'Timothy O'Loughlin, dairyman, and Mary O'Loughlin, formerly Day'. Timothy and Mary had come to Port Nicholson from Sydney, according to the Scholefield Papers at Wellington Public Library. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born in Wellington on 17 March

4 Descendant H. C. O'Loughlin of the National Broadcasting Service, Dunedin wrote to Dr Scholefield about 1940: On a Sunday in 1848 Timothy (1) and several members of his crew were crossing from Brown's Bay [Eastbourne] on the other side of the harbour, where the schooner was apparently anchored, to Wellington in an open boat it is understood for provisions when a southerly gale swept over the harbour, swamping the boat. All occupants were drowned. Again: Elizabeth, child of Timothy and Mary, married David Bell who conducted the first Military Band in Wellington...Timothy (2) was the first drummer boy in Wellington. He married Sophia Margaret Jackson, eldest daughter of Thomas Jackson who came to New Zealand with the 65 th Regiment. Timothy died in Auckland on 6 October 1925 aged 77 years. The O Loughlins eldest daughter Elizabeth married David Bell, a veteran of the New Zealand wars (see Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1897) and later band-sergeant. We find from Hugh Hughes that 3182 Corporal David Bell, born in Tralee, County Kerry, labourer, enlisted on 16 May 1853; he was discharged at Otahuhu on 09 Sept Like his father, David was in the 65 th Regiment. His wife Elizabeth Bell died on 24 April 1888 and was buried at Mount Street cemetery, aged 48 years. The O Loughlins remained in the area. The Wellington Almanack 1874 listed Mrs O'Loughlin, Clyde Quay, laundress, and T. O'Loughlin, Clyde Quay, carpenter. In 1879 her son Timothy was running a bakery on land he owned fronting Clyde Quay, part of Town Acre 366 (the Town Acre on the northern corner of Clyde Quay and Majoribanks Street). The property consisted of a shop and dwelling of four rooms. The shop was used for a bakery and grocery business, was fitted with a counter and shelving; there was a bakehouse, oven, store, and stable. By now Timothy was in financial difficulties. He was declared bankrupt and the land and business were sold (EP 8 April 1879). A support at this time was John Henry Smith, who had married into the family. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1897) showed that John Smith, who married the O'Loughlins' second girl Mary, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne. He arrived with his parents in Nelson per Phoebe in 1843 and came to Wellington in 1847 via Wanganui on HMS Calliope. He lived the rest of his life in Wellington and had the Vulcan Foundry in Manners Street. John Smith was a City Councillor for many years, having been first elected in John and Mary Smith had nine children. On Thomas Ward's Survey of 1891, a police station is shown on Town Acre 366. This was on the south side of Clyde Quay School. According to Stone's Directory Mary O'Loughlin lived just south of the police station. Further north was the Clyde Quay Hotel. In June 1889 Timothy had been granted the license for the Clyde-quay Hotel containing 15 rooms, exclusive of those required for the use of the family, owned by Martin Kennedy. By the early 1890s Timothy had moved to the Manawatu; he kept the Wellington & Manawatu Club at Shannon. Among its notable acquisitions the Turnbull Library Record 2018 listed a painting by C.D. Barraud entitled Round the Rocks, Clyde Quay. McLaughlin s Farm, [B ][Copied below]. In the foreground are people digging for pipi. The watercolour was purchased at Dunbar Sloane s auction on 10 August The Turnbull Library noted on the title record: McLoughlin (name from auction catalogue) might refer to a relative of Tim O Loughlin, who lived at Clyde Quay in about The Jury List for February 1848 listed Timothy O Loughlan, Oriental Bay, dairyman and Dugald McLaclan, Thorndon quay, labourer. In February 1853 Dugald was still at the same Thorndon address. Footnote: This article was first published in Heritage Link December 2018 and is reprinted here with permission of the author. 4

5 A scene showing Clyde Quay with Mount Victoria in the background. In the left foreground is a group of Maori, two of whom are sitting, three who are digging for pipis on the beach, with large kete for gathering them. Other Maori are visible in the scene. On the right is a kainga with palisades, with several European buildings beyond that. Original caption. [Round the Rocks, Clyde Quay, McLoughlin's Farm (sic)]. Water colour by Charles Decimus Barraud, Ref: B , Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. 5

6 An excerpt from Thomas Ward s Survey (1891) of Wellington, overlaid on a recent aerial map of the City, showing Town Acre 366 as mentioned in the text. Town Acre 367 is the original site of the Clyde Quay School and now the Wellington Fire Station. The Clyde Quay Hotel was located on Town Acre 369. Clyde Quay, itself, is now incorporated into Oriental Parade. City Council records show the address of the Hotel as Oriental Parade, where the GSL Promotus building is today. Overlay and map credit: Wellington City Council. Prepared by G.D.,