Family Treasures: - Uncle Willie's violin

This beautiful violin is one of my favourite old family treasures. It once belonged to my great, great uncle, William WALLIS, but has been in my possession now for about 35 years.

William WALLIS

William Stewart WALLIS was born in Riverton, New Zealand in October 1884. He was the eldest of five brothers of my maternal great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth SCHULTZ (nee WALLIS). William, or Uncle Willie as he was known to the family, never married and spent most of his life living with my great grandmother and her family. Like two of his younger brothers, Uncle Willie spent some of his life as a racehorse trainer, and also worked as a labourer. From what I have been told he was a very, very lovely, quiet man who worked hard and loved spending time with his horses and also his nieces and nephews. He died after a short illness in October 1968 at the age of 83 and is buried in the Gore cemetery.

William WALLIS  (1884 - 1968)

I have no idea when or where Uncle Willie got his violin from, all I know is that he could play it beautifully. I never heard him play it as he died before I was born, but I was very fortunate to be given the violin by my great grandmother when I began to take violin lessons at the age of eight or nine. I took lessons for about seven years but you would never really say I was that good at it. Sure, I read the sheet music and played the tunes that were put in front of me, but I never really mastered it and never learnt to play by ear like so many of the wonderful old family violinists did. To listen to someone who can play like that is just beautiful. I doubt that you could ever call my violin playing “beautiful”, probably quite the opposite, but I tried and I have been left this beautiful violin as a legacy of that effort. Maybe I should have stuck at it for a bit longer. Maybe someday I might pick it up again and start to play again. Maybe ……. !!!

I was told by my late nana that my great aunt Nora SCHULTZ (Uncle Willie's niece who also lived in the same household) played the violin too, so perhaps this is the violin that she played also.

I have no idea of the value of this violin but to me it’s value is immeasurable. It belonged to my great, great uncle Willie and that alone makes it valuable beyond measure. It has writing inside it that says “Antonius Stradiuarius, Cremonenlis, Facebat Anno 17..  Made in Germany”. A quick search for this name on the internet reveals that this violin is one of the many fake Stradivarius violins that were made in the early 19th century. It is probably well over 150 years old, maybe even 200 years old, but it is definitely not a genuine Stradivarius. But that’s quite alright. I will love it and treasure it for what it is and for whose it was, and that’s enough for me. My only wish is that I had been around to have heard my great, great uncle Willie play a tune for me.

Reflections: ..... and a conversation with my Dad

Last week on the television I saw a list of 'new' words that have been officially recognised as being able to be used in the game of Scrabble. The words are all part of our modern language, many of them are used frequently by my teenage children, and they really got me thinking. The thing that struck me the most is just how much our language has changed in the last twenty years, or even in the last five years.

My own dad (Ron ENGLISH) died in 1978 when I was seven years old. He was only 36 and although it doesn't seem that long ago, the world we live in now is just so far removed from that in which he lived. I miss having my dad in my life, and I especially miss the fact that his beautiful grandchildren never had the chance to get to know him and love him.

My father Ron ENGLISH
(1941 - 1978)

But I often wonder; - if Dad was to walk through my door today, would he even have the slightest clue what my children were talking about? Or would the modern lingo be like a foreign language to him.

So just for a bit of fun I have decided to draw up my own small list of modern phrases and words that have slowly crept into our lives. We think nothing of them now, but what on earth would Dad have thought.

Where else could I start but with the latest trend, the 'selfie'. In 1978 there were no 'selfies'. Nor was there any 'texting', 'skyping' or 'tweeting'.  There was no 'going online', there were no 'downloads' or 'uploads', and 'the web', well that was where the spiders in the garden shed lived.

In 1978 you watched the tele, not 'podcasts', 'MySky', 'freeview', 'YouTube', 'dvds' or 'blu-ray'. There were no 'flatscreens' or 'HD', and if you were lucky you had not just one channel, but two. You listened to an LP, the wireless or the radio, as a 'cd', a 'playlist', an 'iPod' or 'iHeart radio' were not yet part of our world.

Dad played rugby, golf and tennis, whereas nowadays kids play 'X-box', 'Playstation' or 'Wii'. Back in Dad's day you swallowed your 'tablet', not played a game on it, and 'the cloud' was the fluffy thing that floated in the sky. Things weren't 'munted', they were broken, and if you wanted to know something you went to the library to look up the Encyclopaedia Britannica, not pull out your 'smartphone' to 'google' it.

In 1978 you couldn't be 'tagged', 'blocked', 'liked' or 'unfriended', and if you were 'followed' a call to the police may have been necessary. A 'Big Mac' was a large truck, an 'apple' was for eating,  and to be 'photo-bombed' sounds a very dangerous thing indeed. If someone said 'sweet' they were usually offering you a lollie and if the words 'sup', 'skuxx' or 'broski' came from your mouth it would have got you many odd looks indeed.

'Snail mail' existed but Dad wouldn't have known it as such, and an 'internet cafe', 'e-mail' and an 'attachment' were years away yet. 'Generation Y' was yet to be born and an 'anti-virus' was prescribed by your GP and picked up from your chemist. When you went to visit a friend the first thing you often asked was "do you want to go outside to play", certainly not "what's your Wi-Fi password".

In 1978 there was no 'speed-dating', 'rogernomics', 'glamping', 'me-time', 'hoodies', 'Angry Birds', 'Twitter' or 'zumba'. No 'cyber-space', 'couch-potatoes', 'fat-pants', 'puffa-jackets', 'Super 15' or 'flash-mobs'. No 'Big Wednesday', 'gigabytes', 'TradeMe', 'pixels', 'ringtones', 'widgets', 'hash-tags' or 'Facebook'.

The modern world is moving so fast that at times even I feel a bit left behind by it all. Technology is old and out-dated almost as soon as it is released, and it seems that only the young can keep up with it all. 2014 is indeed a very different world from that of 1978 when my father lasted breathed on this earth. I know Dad would have loved to have still been here with us but the modern world just wasn't where he was destined to be.

So back to my first question, ..... if Dad was to walk through my door today, would he even have the slightest clue what my children were talking about? Probably not, but I would sit him down for a nice long chat, fill him in with all that he's missed and help him to catch up.

Final Resting Places: - John and Mia Hurrell

Ruru Lawn Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand is the final resting place for my husband's paternal grandparents, John Joseph and Mia Edith Myrtle (nee PRESTIDGE) HURRELL.

Mia (nee PRESTIDGE) and John HURRELL **

John Joseph HURRELL was born on the 16th of November 1901 in Park Road, Christchurch, the fourth child and eldest son of Albert Augustus and Fanny Frances (nee BRUNT) HURRELL. John grew up in Christchurch alongside his six siblings; Maude (b. 1897), Olive Myrtle (b. 1899), Lawrence Edgar (b. 1900), William Romney (b. 1904), George Edward (b. 1906) and Frank (b. 1910). 

On the 23rd of February 1927 John married Mia PRESTIDGE at the St Michael's and All Angels Church in Christchurch. John was aged 25 and Mia 19.

Mia was born Edith Mia Myrtle PRESTIDGE on the 17th of February 1907,  the fifth daughter of Alice Augusta Jean EDWARD and the second daughter of Edward PRESTIDGE. She had an older sister Elsie Hannah Jane PRESTIDGE (b. 1904), and three older half sisters, Eleanor Alice Mary WARREN (b. 1894), Anita Dorothy WARREN (b. 1896) and Penelope Maude WARREN (b. 1899).

At the time of their marriage John was working as a motor driver. The newly-weds settled in Christchurch and went on to have a family of four children together; John Edward Albert (b. 1929, d. 1979), Frances, Alice and Kevin.

An untimely death

John was accidentally killed on the 19th of August 1954, aged just 52 years. I located his death registration and it reveals the terrible truth of what actually happened to him. His cause of death is listed as:

"Coroners finding: Cardio respiratory failure caused by lacerations and contusions

of the brain when a bicycle ridden by deceased collided with a Transport Board

bus at the intersection of Oxford Terrace and Antigma Street, Christchurch."

His accident must have been a huge shock to his family. His children were aged between 10 and 25 at the time. Mia lived in Christchurch for the rest of her life until her death 11 years later on the 14th of September 1965. She was aged just 58 years old. She was buried on the 16th of September alongside John at the Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch.

The plaque belonging to my husband's paternal grandparents, John and

Mia HURRELL, Block 36, Plot 278, Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch

______________________________

(Please note: the photo marked ** is not mine and was kindly loaned to me by Frances, daughter of John and Mia)

World War 1: 100 years on, ....... "we will remember them"

The 4th of August 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War 1; - the Great War, the war to end all wars, or so it seemed. Over the next few years I hope to feature on this blog the stories of some of the heroes of this war, including my own brave family members who fought "for King and country". Some of them were badly injured but were fortunate to make it home alive, while others paid the ultimate price and died far across the seas in foreign lands.

Today I want to pay tribute to all those millions and millions of brave souls who answered the call to arms and fought for their nations. To begin with it may have seemed like some great adventure they were heading on, but all too soon they were living the nightmare and experiencing the horrors that were World War 1.  The courage it took to live through this time, and the effects it had on them, will never be truly known or understood by our generation alive today. I hope and pray that we will never have to live through what they did but their sacrifices and their memory must never be forgotten. 

Ever since I was a young child I have been fascinated by World War 1, mainly because I heard so many stories from my grandmother about her father and her uncles that went away to war. I have spent a lot of time researching my ancestors and family members who lived through this time, and every day it seems my list of brave soldiers continues to grow. Below are the names of 22 family members who I know all answered the call and fought during this time. Seven of them paid the ultimate price with their lives. I will never stop remembering them and never stop thanking them for their bravery and their courage.  

My Scottish Soldiers

James RENSHAW

Herbert RENSHAW - R.Q.M.Sgt, 5th Btn Scottish Rifles (240026)

James RENSHAW - Pte, 18th Btn (4th Glasgow Yeomanry) Highland Light Infantry (350658). Killed in action, 25 March 1918, France. His body was never found and he is remembered with honour on the Pozieres Memorial, France. Aged 23 years.

William RENSHAW - service details unknown

David RENSHAW - service details unknown

Robert Speirs LINDSAY - 2nd Btn, Royal Engineers (15827), 3rd Btn (1st) Cameron Highlanders (18162)

James Close LINDSAY - 4th Btn, 2nd Scottish Rifles (B/7813)

James KEITH

Robert LINDSAY - service details unknown

Andrew LINDSAY - service details unknown

Douglas McCALLIE - Pte, 1st Btn, Royal Scots Fusiliers (8159). Killed in action, 1 Sept 1914, France. His body was never found and he is remembered with honour on the La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-et-Marne, France. Aged 28 years.

James KEITH - Pte, 5th (1st) Btn, King’s Own Scottish Borderers (1486). Killed in action, 12 July 1915, Gallipoli, Turkey. His body was never found and he is remembered with honour on the Helles Memorial, Turkey. Aged 24 years.

Robert McCALLIE  - 5th Btn, King’s Own Scottish Borderers (1435), then 460th Btn, Agriculture Co. Labour Corp. (483477)

My New Zealand Soldiers

William Michael DWYER

Michael Joseph EGAN - Pte, NZEF 18th Reinforcements Otago Regiment 8th Co. (29756)

John Patrick EGAN - Warrant Officer, NZEF 4th Reinforcements, 1st Btn NZ Rifle Brigade, "E" Co. (23/1976)

Thomas Joseph EGAN - Corporal, NZEF 8th Reinforcements, Otago Mounted Rifles (9/1675), NZ Machine Gun Btn, No. 2 Co. "D" Squadron

James EGAN - Corporal, NZEF 35th Reinforcements, Otago Infantry “B” Co. (58993)

William Michael DWYER - Bombardier, NZEF 2nd Reinforcements, Otago Mounted Rifles, NZ Field Artillery (9/694). Died of sickness, 2 Aug 1917, France. Buried in the Etaples Military Cemetery, France. Aged 29 years.

Henry John BRUNT

John Michael REAL - NZEF, Canterbury Mounted Rifles (7/107), NZ Army Service Corp, No. 3 Co. (5/107B). Seriously injured at Gallipoli on 13 Aug 1915,   died of gunshot wounds on 1 Sept 1915 at No. 1 Australian Hospital, Heliopolis. Buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. Aged 21 years.

Michael COSGRIFF -  Trooper, NZEF 41st Reinforcements, NZ Machine Gun Btn (74617)

Albert HURRELL - Sgt, NZEF 6th Reinforcements, 3rd Btn Wellington Regiment (10/2656)

Herbert HURRELL - Pte, NZEF 29th Reinforcements (58538)

Leslie HURRELL - Gunner, NZEF 2nd NZ Field Artillery 8th Brigade (2/43). Died of sickness, 3 November 1917, Belgium. Buried in the Zuydcoote Military Cemetery, Belgium. Aged 20 years.

Henry John BRUNT - Pte, NZEF 24th Reinforcements, 1st Btn Canterbury Regiment (43948). Killed in action, 12 Oct 1917 at Passchendaele, Belguim. Buried in the Passchendaele New British Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belguim. Aged 33 years.

__________________________

The following family members were all on the NZ Reserves List. As yet I don’t know whether any of them were called-up, whether they served overseas or not, or whether they just remained on stand-by should they have ever been needed.

John COSGRIFF - Pte, NZEF 44th Reinforcements (78879), Edward COSGRIFF  - Reserve classification D, Matthew EGAN - Second Reserves, classification E, William Francis EGAN - First Reserves, William Joseph EGAN - Second Reserves, classification D, Michael Patrick EGAN - Second Reserves, classification E, James Francis EGAN  - Second Reserves, classification B, Frank SCHULTZ  - Second Reserves, classification A, Joseph SCHULTZ - Second Reserves, classification C, Thomas SCHULTZ - First Reserves, Thomas COSGRIFF, William WALLIS and Benjamin WALLIS.

__________________________

"They will grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning.

We will remember them."

The fourth stanza from "For the Fallen", by Laurence Binyon

Final Resting Places: ..... and a city destroyed

In February 2011 the city of Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a strong, shallow magnitude 6.3 earthquake that destroyed large areas of the city and left over 180 people dead. As well as having to contend with the shaking, many suburbs were affected by liquefaction, a term that before the earthquake many had never heard of. Much of the city had been build on land that had a shallow soil structure with a sandy base, and as a result, with all the shaking the sand and water rose to the surface and spewed up from the ground. 

The cemeteries in the eastern parts of Christchurch took a real hammering. Hundreds and hundreds of old historic headstones were no match for the shaking and were rocked off their foundations and smashed. Other areas were affected by liquefaction that resulted in the lowering of the ground levels in many places. Although I did not see the damage to these cemeteries in person for nearly two years,  even after all this time and a bit of tidying up, it was still heartbreaking to see.

My husband's family has very strong roots in Christchurch and many of his family members, including his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great, great grandparents are all buried there. We venture north to Christchurch only about once a year and ever since we were first married it had always been my intention of visiting the various cemeteries and finding their final resting places. But like many other things in this life on my "to-do list", I had not quite got around to it yet. I did have photos of some of the graves, but always felt that a visit was needed to pay my respects to them, especially to my mother-in-law and father-in-law that I never had a chance to meet.

Seeing the damage for myself

In March 2013 my husband and I got to visit Christchurch for the first time since the earthquake and see for ourselves the damage first-hand. To see it on television is one thing, but to see it in person is something else. Although two years had passed, in places it still looked as though the earthquake had happened just yesterday. A drive through the now-deserted suburb of Bexely was heart-breaking. Street after street after street of near-new houses, all broken and empty, windows boarded up, gardens overgrown. A very, very sad thing to witness.

And not far from there we visited the first of three cemeteries that we would visit that day. Ruru Lawn Cemetery was our first port of call to hopefully find Ross's parents and grandparents. I had been online and had downloaded maps of the cemeteries and had found the plot numbers that I needed. I was sure that this would be a quick, easy job locating the graves we wanted. But as soon as we drove in the gate I knew I had severely under-estimated the task. What greeted me wasn't the rows and rows of upright headstones that I am so used to down home. Instead I discovered that this was a cemetery where the plot markers and plaques lie flat on the ground. Which is all good and well in a normal situation. But when you add into the equation an earthquake and massive amounts of liquefaction, what we then have is a logistical nightmare.

I could tell where many of the rows were, or should have been. And I could see plenty of plot markers were still visible. But many of them were no longer visible, having sunk below the surface when the earth was shaking. This wasn't going to be an easy task at all.

The area where Ross' parents graves are located, but hardly a plot marker to be seen.

After nearly half an hour spent searching for Ross's parents graves in the small area where I knew they should have been, we had to admit defeat. Sadly, they were no where to be found. So we moved on to the next search in a different area, searching for Ross's paternal grandparents, John and Mia (nee PRESTIDGE) HURRELL.

Clearing away the dirt to reveal the plaque
four inches below the surface.

After another half hour of fruitless searching we were once again about to give up, but then we struck the jackpot. We were just walking back towards the car and walked across an area of grass with some plaques visible, but with many others buried. And in just one quick glimpse down I suddenly thought I saw some letters that looked familiar. In a small hole in the ground the letters "ELL" caught my eye. I scraped my foot over it to try to push some of the grass aside and the whole word "HURRELL" appeared. Finally we had found one of the plaques we were looking for. After a bit of digging by hand and a clean with a wet rag, Ross's grandparents plaque was once again visible to the world.

That same day we also visited the nearby Bromley Cemetery and the Linwood Cemetery, two of the older cemeteries in Christchurch. Although the "Friends of Linwood Cemetery" organisation have spent a lot of time and energy at the cemetery since the earthquake, there is still so much damage apparent. Many of the oldest historic headstones are broken and smashed, or have fallen face down so they are unable to be read. As is the case in most cemeteries, the Christchurch City Council is only responsible for the actual cemetery, not the headstones. Any repairs to actual headstones must be made by the families. The big problem with this is two-fold. The first problem is that many of the headstones are very old and the chances of finding any family members still connected to these families is probably quite slim. And the second big problem, even if they do find family members related to the people buried in the plots, they probably would not be willing nor able to afford the cost of repairing these headstones.

My husband's paternal grandparents,

Ruru Lawn Cemetery

Of all the plots we were looking for the day we visited the Christchurch cemeteries, we had about a 50% success rate in finding what we were looking for. Although we had the maps and the plot numbers, it definitely wasn't an easy task. I hope to return to Christchurch early next year to continue my search for all those plots that eluded me the last time we visited.

From the Newspapers: - A Famous Ride

Below is an interesting newspaper article that I came across on my search for family information on the New Zealand history website "Papers Past".

Otago Witness, 28 July 1892 (page 20)

Michael Egan (1844 - 1928)

The Michael EGAN mentioned in this article was the brother of my maternal great, great grandfather, William EGAN. Michael was born in Tipperary, Ireland and came out to New Zealand in 1867 on board the "Elizabeth Fleming".  He married and settled at Wairio in Southland. Here Michael and his wife Margaret (nee DWYER) raised a family of six sons and one daughter. 

For those that aren't familiar with the particular section of road mentioned in the article, the Devil's Staircase (part of S.H.6) even now-days is a road that requires care. It is a winding road, quite narrow in places, that is carved out of the rock cliffs and sits high above Lake Wakatipu in the Queenstown Lakes District. In places it is a very long drop down into the cold, dark lake below. 

Back in 1892 I would imagine the road wouldn't have been much more than a rough dirt track which is what makes Michael's ride such an incredible feat. He was either very brave, or perhaps a wee bit stupid, to attempt this ride on horseback, ..... in the middle of winter, ..... in the dark !!!

As mentioned in the article, the purpose of his ride was to attend a funeral. It was the funeral of his niece, seventeen year old Margaret DWYER (daughter of Matthew and Ellen DWYER), who had died from tuberculosis at Frankton on the 16th of July 1892. 

Brick Wall: Herbert Renshaw ..... war hero (Pt 2)

Continued from Pt 1

My paternal great grandfather, Herbert RENSHAW, is one of the many brick walls in my family history research.

Herbert survived almost five years in the trenches of France and Belgium during the Great War and thankfully returned home safely to his family in Bothwellhaugh, Scotland in late February 1919. Over 9,000,000 British soldiers served overseas during the first world war, of which over 1,000,000 were killed and remain forever in foreign lands. Another 4,000,000 were badly wounded or crippled and came home to a new life and a new world much changed from that they had left.

After the war Herbert, along with millions of other British soldiers, received medals for their efforts in the war. These three medals immediately below were amongst six that Herbert received, with most soldiers receiving these three WW1 campaign medals, commonly and affectionately known as “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”.

Herbert’s 1914 - 1915 Star , also known in the military world as “Pip”. It was issued in 1918 to any soldier who served in Germany between 5th Aug 1914 and 31st Dec 1915. It was not issued alone though, and the recipient had to have received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal also. An estimated 2.4 million of these medals were issued.

Herbert’s British War Medal, also known in the military world as “Squeak”. This medal was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who served overseas between 5th Aug 1915 and 11th Nov 1918. Approximately 6.4 million of these medals were issued, each with the recipient’s service number, rank, name and unit engraved on the rim.

Herbert’s Allied Victory Medal, also known in the military world as “Wilfred”. Approximately 5.7 million Victory Medals were issued. Interestingly, eligibility for this medal was more restrictive and not everyone who received the British War Medal (Squeak) also received the Victory Medal (Wilfred). However, in general, all recipients of “Wilfred” also received “Squeak'”and all recipients of “Pip” also received both “Squeak” and “Wilfred”. 



Herbert also received three other medals that are very special to our family. They are the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Medaille Militaire.

Herbert’s Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. It was a medal of the United Kingdom, awarded for long service in the Territorial Forces. The criteria was a minimum of 12 years service, with war service counting as double. Herbert’s service was calculated at 16 years; six years prior to the outbreak of war, and then five years in active service overseas (being counted as double).

Herbert’s Meritorious Service Medal, which was awarded to recognise meritorious service in the field by non-commissioned officers. Recipients were also granted an annuity, the amount being based on rank. Herbert was awarded this medal in June 1918.

Below is Herbert’s most special award, the Medaille Militaire. This is a French medal, an award for extreme valour and France’s second highest medal (ranking immediately after the prestigious Legion of Honor). It is awarded for distinguished acts of bravery in action against enemy forces and was awarded to Herbert by the French government after the war, for putting his life on the line and saving the Fabre family (that I mentioned previously). Exactly what Herbert did I have never been able to find out. My grandmother told me that Herbert (her father), like many soldiers who lived through the great war, would never talk about what had happened to him during this time. They came home from the war and just wanted to try to forget the horrendous conditions they had lived through and the horrors they had seen. 

According to my grandmother, the French government offered Herbert the opportunity to go and live in France after the war and offered to educate his children in the best French schools. But Herbert didn’t want to head back to France ever again, it held too many bad memories for him and he wanted to settle down to a quiet life again in Scotland.

The Medaille Militaire is a very high ranking medal, is reasonably rare and not readily found in many British or Commonwealth groups of medals. I am very, very proud of Herbert for receiving this award; I only wish I could find out more about what he did to earn it.

A very precious document from my family archives; Herbert’s 1919 demobilization papers.

As a child I was always fascinated by Herbert’s war medals and loved to take them out and hold them and look at them. They were left to my older brother by my grandmother when she died in 2000, so unfortunately I never get to see them now. But they will always be very special to me, even more so now that I have finally been able to find out a bit more about what Herbert did during the war and what he lived through.

Right from when Herbert received his medals, he always kept them in this special tin, where they still live to this day. This is a 1914 Christmas tin, sent to the troops fighting at the front line in France for Christmas 1914. The idea was the initiative of Princess Mary, the 17 year old daughter of King George V. Each tin contained a gift for the soldiers and included such things as tobacco or cigarettes, shaving brushes and combs, pencils and notepaper, sweets or chocolates, and a small christmas card.

Another interesting piece of information I very recently learned about Herbert was that his unit was one of many that took part in the now-famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914, where the war stopped for one day and both german and allied soldiers spent the day “fraternizing with the enemy”; singing carols, having a drink together, exchanging small gifts with each other and even playing football. 

Herbert with his wife Bessie (Elizabeth Speirs nee LINDSAY) and family, not long after his return home from war.  The small girl is my grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Speirs RENSHAW (later ENGLISH), with her older brother Davy. Herbert and Bessie later had another two sons, Herbert (Bert), born in Dec 1920 and Bryan, born and died in Nov 1934.

By early 1926 the Scottish mining industry was in turmoil. The war had seriously depleted many coal seams and exports were falling drastically. Mine owners tried to compensate for lost income by lowering wages of miner workers and increasing hours. In March it was suggested that mine workers should receive a 13.5% decrease in pay to try to improve the industry as a whole. Mine owners threatened to lock out the workers if they did not accept these new terms by May 1st. Workers rejected these new terms and true to their word, mine owners locked out over one million mine workers. Because of this the National Trade Unions called for a general strike to begin on May 3rd in support of the miners. The magnitude of the strike astounded both the union and the government, with more then three million industrial workers going out in support of the mine workers. However, after ten days when things began to turn violent the trade union decided to call off the general strike. Miners remained stoic for a few more months before being forced by their own economic needs to accept the new conditions and return to the mines.

Herbert and Bessie would have been a part of this turmoil and this must have influenced their decision to try to find a better life for themselves. Their eldest son Davy had just turned 15 years old at this time and Herbert had always maintained that “no son of mine will ever  go down the mines”.

Below is the reference that Herbert received from the Bent Colliery Company in late May 1926. This was just after the general strike had finished but the miners had still not returned to work. After 25 years in the mine Herbert had spent many years underground but had now progressed to a more senior role and was a safety inspector and fireman with the mine. I am only guessing but this may have meant he was still working and was not a part of the strike. This is a fine reference, which I very much doubt would have been given to someone still on strike.

"S.S. Ruapehu"  **

In mid August 1926 Herbert and Bessie and their three children packed up all of their belongings and left Scotland behind in search of a new and better life. They made their way to Southampton and on Aug 26th they boarded the New Zealand Shipping Company steam ship “Ruapehu” for a journey that would take them to the other side of the world, to a land very, very different to that from which they had come.

To the right is part of the passenger manuscript for their ship, “S.S.Ruapehu”, that sailed for New Zealand carrying 230 adults and 61 children as passengers. Their names are shown two-thirds of the way down the page. Herbert is listed as a miner but interestingly, Davy is listed as farming, not something he had done yet but obviously what his intentions were when he got to New Zealand.

The decision to leave Scotland and make a voyage to the unknown on the other side of the world must have been a very difficult decision to make. Herbert left behind his aunt and uncle who had raised him but poor Bessie left behind so much more. She had to say goodbye, knowing it was probably forever, to her father, her grandfather, her three brothers and their wives, nieces and nephews, and numerous other close relations who all lived nearby.

Herbert, Bessie and Davy would never see their beloved Scotland again and it was almost fifty years later before Lizzie and Bert made their way back there again for a visit.

Their voyage to New Zealand was quite rough at times and I can remember my grandmother telling me that many of their precious possessions they brought with them were broken on the journey, possibly when being loaded or unloaded by rough deckhands and ships crew. Things such as special items of crockery that had belonged to Bessie’s family, although well packed, were all smashed. When they were finally able to unpack in their new home town of Mataura, Bessie just sat and cried and cried when she discovered what had happened. 

The family settled well into life in New Zealand. Herbert gained employment in the paper mill, one of two large factories in their new hometown of Mataura. He worked there for many years, right up until he reached retirement age. Although Herbert and Bessie eventually came to love their new country, my grandmother told me it was always her mothers greatest wish “to go back home”, ... back to Scotland. But sadly she never, ever got the chance.

Below is one of the last photos ever taken of Herbert RENSHAW, taken with his family in the mid 1950’s. Herbert is sitting on the step on the left with his wife Bessie standing directly behind him. Standing on the other side is their daughter Lizzie (my grandmother), with her husband Bob ENGLISH also sitting on the step. Lizzie and Bob’s two sons Evan and Ron are also there. I believe this photo was taken on a family holiday they had together at Riverton.

Herbert died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Bristol Street, Mataura on 15th December 1957, aged 72. The photo below shows Herbert’s wife Bessie and daughter Lizzie sitting by his graveside at the Mataura Cemetery. 

The grave of Herbert RENSHAW, and also his wife
Bessie and their two sons Davy and Bryan. This
grave is located in the Mataura Cemetery and is
one of the many graves of my ancestors that
I maintain and visit regularly. 

My great grandfather Herbert RENSHAW is a man that I would love to have known. Although he looks so serious in the few photos that I have of him, from what I gathered from my grandmother, he was a very quiet, gentle, kind and loving man. I would love to have been able to sit and have a chat with him to really get to know him, but sadly he died 14 years before I was born. His life was obviously not easy and I am very proud of him for overcoming all the obstacles he faced.

I would love to know what happened to his parents in Ireland and also his family in Bothwellhaugh. I am also very keen to know what happened to him during the war and find out more about the Fabre family. So with those goals in mind I will keep searching and searching in the hope that someday I will have the answers that I seek.

Thank you Herbert for your bravery and for your service to your country. Thank you also for bringing your family from the other side of the world to settle in New Zealand. I am very, very proud that you are my great grandfather.

__________________________

(Please note; the photo marked ** is not mine and was found online during my research)