Frances Anne Fendall (1827-1914), Emma Fendall (1831-1878), Mary Eliza Fendall (1833-1903), Charles Whitelocke Fendall (1835-1856) Jane Charlotte Fendall (1826-1895) and Philip William Fendall (1828-1871)
– Children of the Rev. Henry Fendall
Seven years after Walpole had first travelled to Canterbury, Frances Anne and her sister Mary Eliza accompanied their father Rev. Henry Fendall to New Zealand on the vessel ‘Rose of Sharon’ arriving in 1857.
Of Rev. Henry’s four daughters, only Emma so far had married. Jane Charlotte, Frances Anne, and Mary Eliza were all spinsters at the time of the journey to New Zealand. It appears from the shipping lists that Jane Charlotte was already in Canterbury after accompanying Walpole’s fiancée Lucy Hyacinthe Swann out three years prior, and Emma was also in NZ having arrived in 1856 newly married to Rev. John Chapman Andrew.
Living at the Parsonage at Heathcote with her father, Frances Anne met and subsequently married Capt.Belfield Woollcombe RN, another early settler who had arrived in 1852. They were married at the Heathcote Parsonage by Rev. Croasdaile Bowen on New Year’s Day 1861. Frances was attended by Nora Alice Scott, the daughter of “Glenthorne Station” run-holder Major Henry Arthur Scott, Janetta Maria Cookson, wife of Isaac Thomas Cookson MP, and Elizabeth Watts-Russell, wife of James Charles Watts-Russell. The Watts-Russell’s were fellow passengers of Walpole Chesshyre Fendall on the vessel ‘Sir George Seymour’ arriving in 1850.
They built their homestead ‘Ilam’ which was named after James’ ancestral home and for which the suburb was named after.
The Woollcombe’s travelled to Timaru after the wedding where Belfield had previously settled, his cobb residence being just one of a handful of dwellings there at the time. One of their daughters related the story of that journey from Christchurch to Timaru which took a fortnight’s travelling, as her mother had told her.
“They set forth from Christchurch with a bullock dray, two bullock drivers, a dog cart towed behind the dray, and a dog. They had great trouble with the rivers, and the dog cart breaking its axle, had to be brought most of the way on the dray. The Geraldine Creek was too high for them to cross, and a stay of several days had to be made with Mr Alfred Cox, of Raukapuka. When at last they reached their home at Waimataitai it was impossible to use the dog cart because the road from there to Timaru would not allow it to be used. Journeys to the settlement or to distant neighbour’s were not made then by the road so often as in a direct line “across country.”
Frances Anne and Belfield lived in the cobb residence whilst their home which he named ‘Ashbury’ was being built on the 87 acres that had been purchased. It was named after his ancestral home in Devon. Considered the ‘Father’ of Timaru Belfield held many of its civic positons – first resident magistrate, harbour-master, coroner, sub-treasurer, returning officer, and official registrar of births, deaths, and marriages.
They had six children who all survived into adulthood. Their only son Belfield Morth Woollcombe, was killed along with his wife Margaret in Singapore in 1915, victims of the Sepoy Mutiny. Their eldest daughter Laura Russell Woollcombe was the first NZ qualified nurse to serve in the Boer War. They had four other daughters – Jaquetta, Katherine, Effie, and Frances. Belfield passed away on 22nd July 1891 aged 75. Frances Anne lived for another 23 years passing away on 25th March 1914. They are buried at Timaru cemetery. Although their home ‘Ashbury’ no longer stands, Ashbury Park overlooking Caroline Bay remains of the Woollcombe estate.

Belfield and Frances Anne Woollcombe (née Fendall)
On Thursday 6th December 1855, at St Michael’s in Crambe, Yorkshire, Emma Fendall, Rev. Henry’s third daughter was married to Rev. John Chapman Andrew MA, (1822-1907) Fellow, and late tutor of Lincoln College (University of Oxford). In June of the following year, they arrived in Lyttelton on the ‘Westminster’.
The passenger list shows that a ‘Mr Luxmore’ (sic) was a fellow passenger. He was Philip Bouverie Luxmoore, grandson of the Honourable Philip Bouverie-Pusey and nephew to Edward Bouverie-Pusey, a leader of the Oxford Movement. In 1860 he would marry Emma’s younger sister Mary Eliza.
Upon arrival, Emma stayed with the family in Christchurch whilst Rev. JC Andrew travelled south, exploring South Canterbury and the Mackenzie country searching for land to settle on. He took up 30,000 acres at Otematata on the south bank of the Waitaki and by 1861 he was running nearly 3500 merino sheep.
It was at Otematata Station that Mary Eliza Fendall married Philip Bouverie Luxmoore. At 24, Philip was ten years younger than Rev. JC Andrew and was considered a cadet of JC Andrew wanting to learn about sheep farming. He along with Emma’s youngest brother Charles Whitelocke Fendall, who had arrived in 1852 and had been working with Walpole, had travelled with the Andrew’s on the journey south to help establish the farm after the Reverend had selected the Otematata run. Charles had just relinquished the tenancy of the ‘Newbiggen’ farm in Christchurch. It was on the return journey back to Christchurch with Philip Luxmoore, (possibly to collect more supplies) that he lost his life in the Rangitata river (very near Mt Peel Station). Philip reported to the coroner that whilst they were making the crossing, Charles’ horse was washed off its feet upon which he tried to get to an island but was swept away in the swollen river. The horse did make it to a shingle sandbank, but Charles’ body was found 6 miles away. He was just 21 at the time of his death and is buried in Barbadoes St cemetery.
After marrying in 1860, Philip and Mary Eliza made their home initially at Heathcote before settling in Timaru.
It was whilst they were still in Heathcote that their only child, Henry Montague Bouverie Luxmoore died. He was only 7 months old and is also buried at Barbadoes St cemetery. Moving south to Timaru, their large residence on 397 acres, was named ‘Marchweil’ after his home in Wales. Philip was an active member of the community and was Chairman of various public bodies until his death in 1882 at the age of 50. He reportedly had been unwell for some months.
Mary Eliza died twenty one years later aged 70. It was considered a great loss to the Timaru district for she had been unceasing in her work for the Timaru community. She had financed the Sanditown school church as well as the large marble columns of St Mary’s church, was secretary and treasurer of the St Mary’s Benevolent Society and was President of the St Barnabas Society. Both Philip and Mary Eliza are buried in Timaru cemetery.
As for Emma and Rev. JC Andrew, he sold the Otematata run in 1864 and the family relocated to the Wairarapa where he continued farming an 18,000 acre run he called ‘ICA’. As well as a successful pastoralist, he was also MP for Wairarapa, a supporter of the new University of New Zealand where he would eventually be appointed its Vice Chancellor, as well as overseeing the founding of the University of Victoria. The Andrew family (now 6 children) finally settled in Nelson where he was head of Nelson College. Emma died in 1878 and is buried at St Barnabas Anglican cemetery in Stoke, Nelson. Rev. John married again two years later in 1880. He died in 1907 and is also buried at St Barnabas with Emma.

Rev. John Chapman Andrew MA
The eldest of Rev. Henry Fendall’s daughters was Jane Charlotte. Family lore says that she never left England but the shipping records coupled with the census tell a different story. When Walpole’s fiancée Lucy Hyacinthe Swann arrived in 1854, the passenger list shows her arriving with a ‘Miss Fendall’. A couple of years later, in January of 1857, Rev. Henry Fendall and, according to the passenger list printed in the January 21st edition of the Wellington Independent, Mary Eliza and Frances Anne arrive. When he returns to England for a visit in 1862, the shipping intelligence states that he is accompanied by ‘Miss Fendall and servant’. By that year of 1862, Mary Eliza was married (Luxmoore), as was Frances Anne (Woollcombe), and also Emma (Andrew).

Emma Andrew (née Fendall) with her youngest son Philip Oswald Andrew
The only unmarried ‘Miss Fendall’ was Jane Charlotte. Further to this, she does not appear in the 1861 England census and her Will, proved at Christchurch, NZ in 1896, shows that she owned Section 1757 Lot 1 in Timaru. It appears very much that she did make the journey to New Zealand (probably with Lucy Hyacinthe in 1854) and returned to England with her father in 1862. She lived as a spinster ‘on own means’ (per the census records – she reappears in the 1871, 1881 and 1891 census) and passed away in Bournemouth in 1895.

Mary Eliza Luxmoore
(née Fendall)
Philip William Fendall, the second eldest son of Rev. Henry Benson Fendall joined the naval arm of the East India Company after leaving school in 1847. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant, he was appointed Commander of the Naval Brigade of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Indian Navy, as it was known as, disbanded in 1863, renaming itself the ‘Bombay Marine’ and it was perhaps this that was the impetus for Philip to leave and journey instead to New Zealand to join the family.
Arriving on the ‘Devonshire’ into Lyttelton, Philip moved to Timaru where he lived with his sister Frances Anne and brother-in-law Belfield Woollcombe at ‘Ashbury’. Appointed Captain of the Timaru Rifle Volunteers much of his time was spent conductng training and drills. In 1867 he was appointed to the position of ‘Provincial sub-Treasurer’ of Timaru in the absence of his brother-in-law Belfield Woollcombe.
Philip eventually relocated to the Wairarapa where his sister Emma and brother-in-law Rev. JC Andrew were now residing. Appointed Captain of the Wairarapa Militia and a resident magistrate of the district, it was whilst he was leading a horse that an old gunshot wound was exacerbated by the jerking of the animal and never subsequently healed. It turned septic and lead to his early death in 1871. He was 42.
Author: Janine Fendall
Text and pictures kindly supplied by Walpole Fendall’s great-great grandaughter, Janine Fendall