1820’s
John Stanley was born on 18 February 1827 in Malvern, Worcestershire, to Ann Court, age 28, born Stow-on-Wold and John Stanley, age 31, born Overbury.
1830’s
Mary Barber was born on 6th November 1830 in Malvern, Worcestershire, to John Barber.
1840’s
Built in 1848 to 1849, the Randolph, No.28117 PVDK a ship-rigged merchant vessel. Rigging: sheathed in felt, fastened with copper bolts, was built in Sunderland. Sunderland has been building ships since at least 1346, when Thomas Menvill had a yard at Hendon. The Sunderland Herald proclaimed the town to be “the greatest shipbuilding port in the world” and during 1846-54 Wearside produced almost one-third of all ships built in the UK. The Randolph, 132 x 29.8 feet, 761 tons, Owners: D. Dunbar. Port of registry: London. Captain William Dale and a crew of 26. Mr. Scott, Chief Officer, Mr. Puckle and Mr. Willock, officiating ministers, and Mr. Earle, Surgeon Superintendent.
1850’s
The Family settled in the village of Broadway, in the Cotswold’s, in 1850, 26 miles from Malvern, 12 miles from Stow-on-Wold and 12 miles from Overbury. Broadway is a village within the Cotswold’s, it is sometimes referred to as the “Jewel of the Cotswold’s”.
The “broad way” is the wide grass-fringed main street, centered on the Green, which is lined with red chestnut trees and honey-colored Cotswold limestone buildings, many dating from the 16th century. It is known for its association with the Arts and Crafts movement, and is situated in an area of outstanding scenery and conservation. The Lygon Arms, still a working hotel to this day, was built in the 14th century and was a key connection between Wales, Worcester and London during the Elizabethan period. The earliest written record of the inn dates to 1377, and dates the current structure to the early seventeenth century. The coaching inn played a role in the English Civil War in 1649, serving both sides. Oliver Cromwell stayed there before the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Charles I also used it as a place to meet his supporters during the unrest.
John aged 23, Agricultural Labour set to become a horticulturalist, had three brothers and three sisters, Charles age 27, William age 25, Susannah age 22, Thomas age 17, Mary age 15, and Martha age 13 years.
John, aged 23, and Mary, aged 20, were married 12th August 1850, in St. John-in-Bedwardine Parish church, in Worcester, by Curate, Fred H Bennett, in the presence of William Walters and Fanny Maria Barford. Mary signed her name ‘x’. The Church dates from about 1165, and was made the Parish church on 17th February 1372. The tower was built in about 1481 and apart from leaning slightly backwards, once carried a ‘lofty leaden steeple’, which was shot off by cannon fire during the civil war. The church suffered very badly during the civil war, being plundered and set on fire. Parliament granted £80 towards its repair at the Restoration.
John and Mary being married for two weeks, arrived at the ship, the Randolph, 29th August 1850. Leaving the London East India Export Docks, eleven o’clock on the Friday 30th, to Gravesend.
Sunday 1st September they were all conveyed by train to St Paul’s Cathedral, London where the archbishop of Canterbury preached a special sermon for the pilgrims. A song “Canterbury Pilgrims”, especially for the occasion, with words by Martin Tupper and music by G W Martin. St Paul’s Cathedral was founded in AD 604, with the present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren, completed in his lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the City after the Great Fire of London.
The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of London. The dome remains among the highest in the world. Services held at St Paul’s have included the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth II.
On Monday 2nd September 1850, shortly after one o’clock, a dinner accompanied by a military band was given to the laboring emigrants, in booths erected for the purpose in the fields adjoining Wate’s Hotel, Commercial Place Gravesend, the hotel itself not being able to accommodate so large a party. It was named after James Wates, its first proprietor in 1819. Charles Dickens stayed here in 1857, when he was waiting to move into Gads Hill Place. With the Randolph anchored alongside on the river Thames, about 600 persons sat down to an excellent dinner of good old English fare of roast beef, plum-pudding, and John Barleycorn.
The Randolph departed Gravesend 5th September, taken in tow by steam ship tug Hercules 07:30 am and cast off 09:30 am off Nore Fleming, for Plymouth. On the night of Saturday 7th September 1850, the Randolph set sail for New Zealand. Steerage passengers had a small space below the main deck. Married couples shared a bunk 6 ½ feet long by 3 ½ feet wide and had a curtain for privacy. This space was used not only for sleeping, but also for storing everything they needed for the voyage. The ship was becalmed two days in company with a French barque, having on board an operatic company who were proceeding to Mauritius. On the first day some of the Randolph passengers pulled to the French vessel and invited a large party to dine with them, and on the second day they kept a promise exacted by the visitors on leaving the day before by dinning on board the French vessel. The toast drinking on both sides was most amusing. A great deal of Italian music was sung in really first-rate style. On the 6th November there was almost a mutiny on board but it was suppressed through the promptness of the Captain supported by his officers and the passengers. Never seeing land after leaving Plymouth until 3 days before arriving in Lyttelton, 99 days is a long time to see nothing but sky and water. On moon-light nights there were fiddling and dancing on deck. On the 25th November, Sheridan’s play of The Rivals was performed, with great éclat, by an all-male cast, with the ship’s Captain Dale playing the part of ‘Sir Antony Absolute’. It was staged between decks before an overflowing audience, and a second performance was asked for by those who were unable to gain admission. The Rivals was first performed at Covent Garden, London, on 17 January 1775. Indeed, it became a favorite of the royal family, receiving five command performances in ten years, and also in the Colonies (it was George Washington’s favorite play. It became a standard show in the repertoires of 19th-century companies in England and the US.
There were five deaths (all children) and nine births on board. The voyage is declared by common consent to have been agreeable, the only unpleasant part being that which was passed in the low latitudes between the Cape and New Zealand, on account of the cold and fog, which proved fatal to almost all the game on board.
Before dawn on 12 December, they caught first sight of land – Stewart Island. After a most delightful run up the coast, she entered Port Victoria (renamed Port Lyttelton) at half past three o’clock in the afternoon 16th December 1850, having accomplished the passage in ninety-nine days. On the anchor being dropped God Save the Queen was sung by all the passengers on the poop.
Late on the 19th December 1850 they landed. At the time of the arrival of the pilgrims, they found a neat little village consisting of about 60 houses and 300 inhabitants. No land cultivated, not more than 3 or 4 gardens in Lyttelton.
“I was fortunate enough to arrive here with £3 in my pocket in the first boat of emigrants to this island. I calculated before I left England to arrive with a few shillings, but owing to an unexpected present or too, made me thus rich” – John noted in a letter back to England.
The Canterbury Association provided one week’s free lodgings with provisions in the Immigration Barracks constructed for new arrivals at Lyttleton. John and Mary stayed in Barrack D, Room 6. Immediately on getting settled John Stanley sought work and was given the responsibility to bring goods from the jetty to the association store. The pay was sixpence an hour but by working overtime sometimes for fourteen hours a day, John received five pounds for the three-week period. During this time John entered in a lease agreement with the Rev Dudley. A new colonist, born in Dudley, Worcestershire (47 miles from Broadway), in late 1805, and his wife arrived Lyttelton on the “Cressey”. He became Rev. Benjamin Woolley Dudley, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church and the first vicar of Lyttelton. Dudley was one of the first purchasers of rural land in the Christchurch district, choosing rural section 40 near Lyttelton.
For one acre of land at four guineas a year for twenty-one years. By paying the first year’s rent in advance John Stanley, was able to have the use of the cottage without further charge. This was a happy arrangement as he had been renting one room with no cooking facilities, for five shilling a week.
Sadly, the Randolph never made it back home to London. Having departed, within a month from Lyttleton 7th January 1851, for the Straits of Lombock. Lost on 25 June 1851 on a reef off Amber Island (Mapon). Nothing belonging to the vessel could be saved. Two European sailors, nine men (immigrants), ten women and three children drowned. The ship is remembered to this day, in the name of a road, Randolph Terrace, in the port of Lyttelton, leading up to the Time Ball.
In a letter 1st October 1851, John notes – “There have been 3 shocks of earth quakes. I heard the noise of one like the rumbling of distant thunder, but I did not feel the motion”.
By now the work at the Port had reduced and his wages accordingly. So, with a tent on his back John set out on a fourteen mile walk to the plains where he got two months fencing work at five shilling a day. At the end of this period, he was fortunate to get a job as a warehouse man at Lyttleton, a permanent position. The hours of employment were ideal, from eight in the morning until five, with one hour for a midday meal which allowed him time to fence his acre of land. His wages were 1 pound 10.0 a week. The cultivation of land around the port was not easy, being as he said “as steep as the roof of house” but it was fertile soil. The rewards for effort were good. John’s wife Mary gave birth to their first child, Mary Ann, in Lyttleton 29th January 1852. John then set about to build himself a house of one room twenty feet by ten feet divided across the middle to make a living area and a separate sleeping area. Believed to be in what is now Hawkhurst Road, it was completed by Christmas 1852 and having only been nine months in the Rev Dudley’s cottage he was able to rent that out for the remaining three months, that had been agreed upon. This brought him in a further 1 pound 16.0, and his new house had cost him very little with only two window sashes and wood for a door to buy. Their second child, and first son, Thomas Court, was born in Lyttleton 10th October 1853. John writes from Port Lyttelton in May 1854 “I have time enough to manage my own garden now, which I now find a great benefit there from as I grow my own vegetables and some for market “.
John continued to work at the warehouse beyond the time of accumulating sufficient finance to purchase the thirty acres which he had previously had on lease at Harewood, to allow for extra provisions. He saved a considerable amount of cash by paying in advance. So once more John set off for Harewood with his tent on his back, to claim his property which he named “Broadway”. Though winter was approaching he survived three weeks in the tent while he built a house and then was able to bring his wife and family of two to join him. It was not an ideal time and the first months were rough. But soon he had got land ploughed for which he exchanged Labour and, in the spring, he was able to plant his first crop. By the following spring he had bought two fine bullocks and a plough and was able to cultivate the land himself. Though it was a hard time for all they were spurred on by the ownership they now had of good land. John wrote to his family in 1855 “I never expected to make myself master of such a piece of land. A spring rises on one side and runs across it”. Susannah Court was born Harewood, Christchurch, 19th May 1855. The year 1856 was a special one with the birth of a second son, William Thomas, 28th January 1856. His family now has two girls and two boys. He had built a second house when he discovered the first one was three chains over his boundary.
With much of his land under cultivation and his stock increasing he was rapidly becoming self-sufficient and was able to turn to his work that he most enjoyed; that of grafting fruit trees. Having turned his attention to fruit growing, in which career he was eminently successful. Between the year 1857 and 1862 John Stanley calculated that he had grafted eighteen thousand four hundred fruit trees and added another thousand to the twelve hundred he already had in his orchard. He states that he had sold many trees to nurserymen in Christchurch and was having good luck in rearing the trees. As well as apple trees mostly of the English varieties, he had peaches, plums and cherries. His three- and four-year-old trees exceeded all expectation bearing 27-37 pound of fruit and he was soon selling apples at one shilling a pound. A few peach trees produced six hundred dozen peaches in total in their early fruiting years. It is believed John introduced the Cox’s apple to New Zealand.
As his family grew each was given their special jobs and the whole enterprise was run in a business-like manner. The girls shared the housework and made approximately fourteen pound of butter a week.
John walked with his two eldest children, the three miles to Papanui to teach Sunday School at St Paul’s as a teacher and become a vestryman there.
1860’s
1st August 1860 – “There is a piece of land 5 acres reserved for a church for 10 years. If no church is built in 10 years the land goes back to the government. It lies on one side of the road and my land lies on the other side. We are going to start a subscription for it.” It is recalled that once a barrel organ (Hurdy Gurdy) was transported around the countryside and played at various homes to raise funds for the building. Whether this effort brought in a good sum we may never know, but the organizers received personal encouragement at most homes they visited, in the form of a glass of ale each. A very happy time was had by all. The funds were indeed raised and the St James Harewood Church built. The first service was on Palm Sunday 13 April 1862, by Bishop Harper, then primate of New Zealand. The St James Bell which still summons us all to worship to this day was from the first St Paul’s church Papanui. The bell is believed to have come from the “Cressey” – one of the first four ships. We are not sure whether it was the bell off the “Cressey” or was brought out on the “Cressey” or merely an enduring local legend. What we do know is that the bell was cast in England by T Mears and T Mears junior and bears the inscription “A gift from Thomas Mears of Canterbury 1850.
Martha Stanley was born on 15 January 1865 in Harewood Christchurch, Canterbury, the third daughter of Mary Stanley nee Barber, age 34, and John Stanley, age 37.
1870’s
John Stanley had a Harmonium which was lent to St James Church, soon after it was built in 1862. A collection was taken to purchase it from the Stanleys in 1870. His granddaughter, Myrtle Hockey was an accomplished player at St James Church. The Harmonium served the congregation at every service until replaced by an electric keyboard in 2001. It is now kept in the church hall and still gives a good sound when the paddles are pumped energetically. It is bought out and played on special occasions, such as his Great great grandsons Bryan and Aya’s wedding 26th April 2014.
In 1871 the land for the present Harewood school was purchased from John Stanley for 25 pounds. John Stanley was a member of the Committee for over twenty years. The School master, who had been John Stanley’s head gardener, was Mr. T Mulligan (1870 to 1886) with a salary of £150 a year. The school mistress was Mrs. Somerset, both taught in the room, one using each end. Children would sit on forms at long desks and write mainly on slates. Reading was mainly confined to reading aloud from the class reader for the year. School holidays arranged to fit in with harvest time. The two teachers resigned after completing 16 year’s service in 1886.
The family, now a total of five boys and five girls – Mary Ann born 1852, Thomas Court 1853, Susannah Court 1855, William Thomas 1856, Charles John 1860, George Henry 1862, Martha Stanley 1865, Richard Stanley 1867, Edith Emily 1869, Rosa Laura 1871. Mary gave birth to their last child Randolph 9th August 1873, who died 5th October 1873.
John, aged 51, when his mother, Ann Court died in 1878 in Evesham, Worcestershire, England when she was 80 years old.
1880’s
John, aged 53, when his father, also named, John Stanley died in 1880 in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England, when he was 85 years old.
The Stanley family home in Harewood was named “Broadway” after the village in the Cotswold’s England where John Stanley emigrated. Ivy growing on the side of the house covers the original entrance way and on the far left, there were new additions, and the veranda, which in later days was glassed in. “Broadway” was actually the third building erected. The house stood for over 100 years, until 1993 when it was destroyed by fire. The granary, dilapidated as it was, was still standing in 1993. This was the building where many social events for the district took place. The piano was hoisted up by block and tackle to the top floor – there was even a six-point chandelier to provide illumination. The downstairs part of the granary was a place to store the horse carriage and harness. Well recorded are the daily and seasonal activities at Broadway – not recorded is the hospitality shown to others, especially at the dining table, where large gatherings often took place. The social traditions of the family have continued on into the 1900’s. The Harewood District built its own hall in 1906, adjacent to the school.
Of their ten children four were married in the same year 1884 – Mary Ann, age 32, Susannah Court, age 29, William age 28, 23rd July 1884 and Charles John, age 24, 8th May 1884.
Russley Cricket Club annual meeting 26th September 1889, officers were elected, and as President, Mr. John Stanley.
1890’s
John Stanley died 11th June 1891, 64 years of age. Sadly, John Stanley developed in his last twenty years what was then known as rheumatic gout confining him to bed for many weeks at a time, but on Thursday he was up and reading his newspaper when a sudden attack of rheumatism in the heart brought about his sudden death. The funeral left his late residence, Broadway farm, Harewood Road, 2:00 pm Sunday, 14th June 1891. He was buried in the Harewood Road St James Church yard, Row 42 and 43. A large cross and wreath reach’s up high above a grand white gravestone. The double plot is surrounded by an ornate wrought iron fence and gate.
John was a somewhat prominent part, being for many years a member of the Riccarton Road Board of the district so long as his health lasted, and threw into the energetic work which characterized his dealing with anything which he took his hand too. John took a very warm interest, being a member of the Church of England, and the church in the district is much indebted to his energy and liberality. He held to the end quite old-fashioned ideas and clung to old Colonial hospitality and memories; and his bullock dray, one of the last to be seen in the city. He for many years made a practice of attending the Lyttelton regatta on New Year’s Day, thereby keeping up his old associations with the Port and its people, and many of his old acquaintances will miss him as a hard working honest, useful colonist. Mr. Stanleys uprightness of character, his genial and kindly disposition and unassuming manner endeared him to a large circle of friends.
Upon John Stanley’s death in 1891, he had been of some considerable success at farming, having a total of £7250-4-11 in cash in the bank and seven land parcels, 495, 584, 461, and 2510 and part sections 137, 58 and 492, of at the least 239 acres with a total value of £6998, in the will.
Mary Stanley’s son William Thomas Stanley died 2nd November 1894, age 38 years, survived by his wife and seven children.
Mary Stanley, aged 64, had a Granddaughter, Myrtle Amelia Hockey, born, an only child on 27 September 1895 in Harewood, Canterbury, her father, John, was 28, and her mother, Martha Hockey nee Stanley, was 30.
1900’s
Mary Stanley nee Barber died in her 72 year, on Sunday morning 1st December 1901. The Funeral left the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. John Burrows off Sawyer’s Arms Road, now Gardners Road Harewood, 2:30 pm Tuesday 3rd December 1901, Mary is buried together with her husband John Stanley, in the Harewood Road St James Church yard, Row 42 and 43. Mary was of a kindly and benevolent disposition and took an active part in establishing St James Church and the local school. She leaves ten children, nearly, all of whom are married and settled in the district and 34 grandchildren.
For several years it had been her custom to gather her children and grandchildren together on Christmas day.
The Stanley family are remembered today in the naming of Stanley Road, Harewood in Christchurch.
Research by Great Great Grandson Bryan James Wilkinson.
