A very independent woman

Yatton Park from above, 2026.  Mansel Street is at extreme top-left corner.  The site of the original homestead, above the bend of the Waimapu Stream, is entirely covered by trees. Image: Google Maps

During the Victorian era, intrepid female explorers defied strict societal expectations of domesticity, travelling the globe for adventure, scientific discovery, and personal freedom. Mary Kingsley explored west African jungles and swamps, Isabella Bird the explorer and travel writer rode 800 miles over the Rocky Mountains, while the artist Marianne North ventured to all of the continents and her collection of botanical art is housed at Kew Gardens in London. Another woman, this one Irish-born, Lucy Mansel travelled to New Zealand prepared to break in the land and farm, accompanied by six of her nephews.

As well as her sense of adventure, the family background may also have led to a desire to leave England as her brother and later her sister did, for their father Robert Mansel, who was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 6^th Inneskilling Dragoons, was the first of several illegitimate children fathered by General Robert Manners and his common-law wife Mary Ann Goodchild. Mary was the daughter of a coachman so not of the same class as her partner. Manners never married and died aged 65 in 1823 in London but had lived at Bloxham Hall in Lincolnshire.

Lucy Mansel heard of George Vesey Stewart’s Katikati settlement in New Zealand from a friend and decided to take a big step and emigrate. She was unmarried and, on the Northumberland in 1884, brought with her six nephews: Charles, Herbert, William and Harold Mansel, sons of her brother Robert, and Clement and Robert Dowell, sons of her sister Mary Dowell [1].  She had been caring for Herbert since he was five years old. On arrival in New Zealand, she decided against settling in Katikati with the other Stewart people and instead bought an established farm on the outskirts of Tauranga. It was Yatton, the 320-acre property formerly owned by John Chadwick [2].

Miss Lucy Mansel (centre, holding a dog) and her young relatives, October 1899. Herbert sits in front.

Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries 09-003

Miss Mansel, as she was known in those more formal days, extended the existing house at Yatton to one with eight bedrooms and also built a large barn that was used for balls and other social occasions.  The domestic buildings were built on a high point overlooking the estuary. She was a very strong supporter of the Anglican Church, helping to fund-raise for the new church of St George’s at Gate Pa, and was the only woman on the building committee. She donated the font for the new church. Lucy made the Methodist Sunday School children welcome each year for their annual picnic at her farm after their short voyage up the estuary from Tauranga to the landing at Yatton.  The barn provided shelter if there was poor weather. 

 Miss Lucy Mantel and her boating party on the Waimapu, October 1889.

Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries Photo 09-004

Lucy Mansel was also a committee member of a group of Tauranga women who organised the gift of a photograph album for Mary, Duchess of Cornwall, later George V’s Queen, on the occasion of the Royal Visit in 1905.  It was an album of Tauranga and district photographs by Tauranga’s leading photographer Mary Humphries.

As well as having her nephews working on the farm, she also accommodated farm cadets from England as G.V. Stewart and some of his Katikati settlers did. She never married and left the farm to her nephew Herbert Benbow Mansel, the five-year-old whom she had brought up. It was this legacy to Herbert that prompted Lucy’s niece, Mary Constance Dowell, to contest the will that Lucy had signed in 1910.  Her claims of her aunt’s fading mental facilities and encroaching blindness were disputed by George Maltby, lawyer; Reverend Eric Rice, vicar; Dr Budenell her doctor; Walter Baigent, accountant; and nephew Herbert Mansel.  In light of the information from these men Mary Constance withdrew her objection to the granting of probate.

It is from Herbert’s submission that the family stories are revealed. Robert Mansel and his wife, parents of Herbert and his brothers, retired from the Royal Navy where his rank was Commander, to farm in Africa where he died in 1872. When he married in Tauranga, Herbert built another house on Yatton for his future family, adjacent to Lucy’s. His parents had taken four of his siblings to Africa. Herbert was 17 when he arrived in Tauranga and totally dependent on his aunt. During her lifetime Lucy gave Herbert part of Yatton in trust for his children and helped him financially, including help with the education of his children. Lucy also told him she would leave him the remainder of the Yatton estate. By 1914 she had sold any remaining property in England and brought the money to New Zealand. Lucy’s eyesight did get worse but she lived until 1916. She died in Auckland and is buried in Tauranga’s Anglican cemetery [3].

Subdivisional map of Yatton, May 1919.  Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries Map 20-230

Lucy’s sister Mary Mansel married George Dare Dowell of the Royal Marines.  He won the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War. It was his sons who had travelled to Tauranga in 1884 with their Aunt Lucy. Following Dowell’s retirement, the couple moved to New Zealand until his death in August 1910. His wife died 6 weeks later.

Family military tradition emerged again when the First World War broke out and three sons of Robert Charles Mansel and his wife Beatrix enlisted.  George Victor and Robert Charles Mansel returned home after the war but Herbert Pengelly Mansel died in Palestine from malaria.  Although he is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery [4], his memorial can be found in St George’s Church, Gate Pa.

Both images: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.  
At right: AWNS-19160727-45-25; at left, photo by Janes Bruce Ringer, 3003-2914

References

[1] Rorke, Jinty, entry in Dictionary of NZ Biography 1993: Lucy Mansel

[2] Bay of Plenty Times, 4 April 1941: see Papers Past, National Library. Viewed 16/05/2026.

[3] Will of Lucy Mansel, Archives NZ. Auckland Probates IE48341583. Viewed 17/05/2026.

[4] Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database.

 

E is for Embroidery

“Success is not fame or money or the power to bewitch. It is to have created something valuable from your own individuality and skill, a garden, an embroidery, a painting, a cake, a life." Charlotte Gray, Canadian biographer and historian

This sampler is an example of embroidery created to demonstrate skill and proficiency in needlework. 
Tauranga Museum, 0283/84.

This embroidery sampler was created in 1913 by Iris Shead and, according to Tauranga Museum’s receipt book, was donated to the collection in 1972 by Mrs Wapp. When I first came across it, a few questions quickly came to mind: Who was Iris? How old was she when she embroidered the sampler? And where, or what, was Hamont?

Research revealed that Iris was born in Ashburton in 1898 to Amy and Walter Shead. Just a year after her birth, her mother was involved in a shocking railway accident at Rakaia, where four passengers were killed when two excursion trains collided due to excessive speed. Amy was pregnant at the time and sustained serious back injuries, prompting Walter to take a civil case against the Crown. The case was successful and became something of a landmark, leading to improvements in railway safety across New Zealand. Amy received £700 in compensation, and Walter £500, awarded for “the expenses he had been put to by his wife’s illness (he had been forced to hire a housekeeper) and as compensation for the loss of society and companionship.”

The Rakaia Railway Disaster: view of wrecked carriage in which victims were killed. 
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-18990324-04-03

 You may be wondering what any of this has to do with an embroidered sampler. A few months after receiving the payout, the Shead family left New Zealand for Europe. By 1913 Iris, aged 14 or 15, was living in Hamont, Belgium, where she embroidered this sampler.

In 1920, Iris married Englishman Wilfred Phillips, had a son, and eventually returned to New Zealand. She later divorced Phillips and, in 1927, married Arthur Wapp. Together they would also have a son. Through all these moves and life changes, Iris’s sampler travelled with her. Toward the end of her life, she chose to preserve it by donating it to the museum’s collection. What initially appears to be a modest example of needlework becomes something far more evocative - a stitched record of a young woman’s life shaped by family tragedy, migration, and resilience.

 A to Z of Tauranga Museum - A is for apron

Charlie Haua outside his blacksmith shop in Grey Street. Late 1960s.

Image: Tauranga Museum.

It feels fitting to begin our Tauranga Museum artifact alphabet with a blacksmith apron once worn by Charlie Haua. In 1969, Charlie’s tools and equipment were acquired by the Tauranga Historical Society, forming the foundation of the museum’s collection. Although the Rotorua Museum offered a higher price, Charlie accepted the Society’s offer of £500, as he wanted his blacksmith shop to remain part of our story. “I’ve been at it all my life ... this is a dying trade, and I could not sell out. There is a great deal of old stuff here – material that you would not find in many places.”

Charlie Haua’s apron.

Image: Tauranga Museum

Born in 1903, Charlie came from a well-known and respected Tauranga family. He was the grandson of Anaru Haua (son of Watene and Merepokowai), and the son of James Haua and Mary Hearling. Charlie attended Tauranga District High School until 1919 and was a gifted all-round sportsman. He competed in rowing, rugby, hockey, sailing, athletics, gymnastics, and was a key figure in the local sporting community. He was the first captain of the Cadet Old Boys Rugby Football Club and went on to represent the Bay of Plenty in 1929. Later, he was made a life member of the Tauranga Rugby Association, a reflection of his long-standing contribution to the sport in this region.

Tauranga Football Representatives, 1925. Charlie Haua is pictured at the far right of the front row in this team photograph, taken by local photographer Robert Rendell.

Image: Tauranga Museum

After finishing school, Charlie Haua became the town’s most well-known and longest-serving blacksmith, dedicating an impressive 49 years to the trade. Even in retirement, Charlie and his blacksmith shop remained at the heart of the community, becoming a star attraction at the museum in Durham Street and then at the Historic Village and District Museum, which opened on Seventeenth Avenue in 1975.

Charlie Haua making a horseshoe for the bride and groom. Early 1970s.

Image: Tauranga Museum.

Charlie generously volunteered countless hours, captivating visitors with his skill and bringing the museum to life. His handcrafted miniature horseshoes became popular souvenirs, with thousands sold to help fund the museum’s development. In recognition of his remarkable contribution to the community, Charlie was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1976. 

Nellie Haua (left) and Charlie Haua. The person on the right is currently unidentified.

Image: Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 03-047

Source:

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Hunt’s Halfway House, Upper Kaimai, 1911-1937

 

Harry and Emma Hunt with daughter Maude

Joseph Henry (aka Harry or “Puki”) and Emma Hunt and their only daughter Maude came to farm in the district in 1911. As time went by, their home, of modest proportions, became known as Hunt’s Halfway House.  Tea and hot meals could be obtained and overnight accommodation was provided for stranded motorists on many an occasion. The service car drivers made good use of the refreshments provided by Emma and Maude.

Hunt’s Halfway House

In the early 1920s the Hunts, together with their neighbours the Scotts and Stephens, provided metal from their own local rhyolite quarry and fixed the roads in the area, including seven miles up Omanawa, at a rate of one mile a day. They also held Farmers’ Union meetings at their home. 

Another service provided was rescuing stranded vehicles from the mud, often at the expense of time used to run the farms. Motorists, if they were well prepared, carried a variety of tools in addition to tyre chains, including spades, axes, slashers, wire strainers, timber blocks and timber jacks.

Maude Hunt in front of the halfway house

Maude married James Scott who purchased land from his father-in-law in 1928 and in 1938 the Ministry of Works purchased, for 50 pounds, two of those acres for a quarry. The tramline into the bush for the nearby Henderson’s Sawmill was built across James and Maude’s land.

“Puki” helping children with the pony

In May 1937 the Hunts retired to Gate Pa in the Borough of Tauranga and were given a farewell by people of the Kaimai district. Much appreciation was expressed for 25 years of serving their community in so many ways, including their wonderful hospitality to all and sundry.

Sources

Kaimai Revisited — 75th Jubilee of Kaimai School, edited by Betty Coubrough
Papers Past, BOP Times, 1920- 1940
Linda Fairgray (one of the grandchildren of James and Maude Scott)

All images are courtesy of Linda Fairgray