Recollections of Dennis George Marsh

Part 1 of a series contributed by guest author Dennis Marsh

“Bill Rolfe and George Marsh”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

My Dad George Ascot Marsh was born in Tauranga, as was his father, as was I. He lived on the Cambridge Road farm - located where the water tanks now stand – and from an early age was required by his parents to help milk morning and night, along with other members of the family as they became old enough.

“George's School Photo, Old Otumoetai School, top of hill where current school is located”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

He did his schooling at the Otumoetai Primary School that was situated not far from its present day location.

Image collection of Dennis Marsh

To get to school, they used a horse and in later years the family had a bike. One child would go to a pre-arranged point leave the bike and start to walk. Two of the other kids would ride the horse form home to where the bike had been left, and they would leave the horse and ride the bike to the next pre-arranged point passing the walking kids on their way. They other kids would start walking from home, get to where the horse was and ride it to where the bike had been left – the second stop. The kids on the horse at the second stop would then walk to school, the kids on the bike would bike to school and the kids on the horse rode the horse to school and tied him up in a paddock provided for the purpose. After school they did the whole thing in reverse.

“Cot Marsh (Pop), Tom Tanner, Ron Brown, Dad, Ted Tammel, First Farm”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad did all his schooling there, I do not know how old he was when he left. He started working as a drover with a couple of his mates Cyril Griffiths and Sam Sherman.

“Mum and Dad”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

He met my Mum, Nola Morine, while she was working in a milk bar on the corner of McLean Street and The Strand  — owned by the Harrison family. It was a large shop for its time and was like a corner dairy which specialised in ice creams and milk shakes. Mum and Dad used to attend dances that were sometimes held in the Town Hall in Wharf Street between Durham and Willow Street. They also used to go to the weekly dances held in Hayman’s Hall opposite the Boys College on Cameron Road. Mum’s family had a dance band and they used to provide the music for the dances at Hayman’s Hall.

“Dennis and George Marsh with 1939 Ford V8 truck at first farm”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

I can recall going to the dances on a Saturday night, Mum and Dad would put us to sleep on the back seat of the Ford V8 that they owned at that time.

(To be continued)

A Season of Pain and Trial

Marsh Brown (1831-1845)
The Elms Collection, 1935.0128

The exact circumstances of Marsh Brown’s accident will never be known. In April 1844 Bishop Selwyn, founder of the College of St John, wrote to his father, Reverend Alfred Brown, that he had “received a blow” which in a few days “brought on swelling.”

Having been at St John’s, Te Waimate, for only a few weeks, Marsh was confined to bed unable to move his arms and legs. Despite consulting nine doctors over seventeen months, the cause of his confinement remained a mystery. Suggestions included erysipelas (a bacterial skin infection), remittent fever, rheumatic fever, disease of the spine and anasarca (a painful swelling of the skin caused by excess fluid).

To alleviate Marsh’s pain Bishop Selwyn constructed a waterbed from a large tin case and a stretched McIntosh cloth. While the bed was credited with extending his life, the true extend of his affliction was made known after his death: “All the processes of the spine were bare, and wounds, which had been hidden by the calico of the frame, were now for the first time brought to light. Severe as we knew his sufferings had been, we felt that their intensity could only have been fully known to himself and to that God who had promised (and who had fulfilled that promise) never to leave or forsake him.”

Bishop Selwyn
From Auckland Weekly News Supplement, 29 April 1909
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19090429-6-1

Marsh needed constant care, and this was shared amongst family, friends and Hemi Warana, one of his most attentive nurses. “Marsh was never left night or day, it being necessary to change very frequently the position of some of the many pads which were placed under different parts of his body.” 

Due to unrest in the North, Marsh and his waterbed were transported by foot to Paihia and later, accompanied by his father, he travelled by ship to Auckland. It was there that Marsh "renewed a wish to return home – as he called Tauranga – forgetting, perhaps, that in his debilitated state, it could no longer be to him the happy home that he once so much enjoyed."

Returning to Te Papa on 21 August 1845, Marsh was placed in the sitting room of the raupo whare looking out to the garden. In the days before his death he was visited by many Maori, who according to Brown: “Entered the room, a few at a time – gazed affectionately for a minute or two on the wasted form of your brother, received his friendly smile – and then walked quietly out; the silent tear on many a cheek giving utterance to the feeling of the heart.”

The Burial Ground, Te Papa, Tauranga, (December) 1962
Copy print of photograph taken by John Kinder, The Elms Collection

Marsh died on 14 September 1845 was buried at the Mission Cemetery three days later surrounded by family and friends, including 200 Maori whose presence gave a great deal of comfort.

After his death Reverend Brown wrote a letter to Marsh’s ‘surviving sister’ Celia that later became a small publication titled "Brief Memorials of an Only Son." It outlined, in painful detail, Marsh’s illness and death. Brown hoped that the record would give Celia guidance: “May an occasional reference to these pages in your future pilgrimage bring back to its original freshness the remembrance of your brother … follow him as he followed Christ.”

An original manuscript of ‘Brief Memorials of an only son’
The Elms Collection, 2008.0063

Unravelling the Wrigleys

Wrigley's Building, 52-54 Devonport Road, Tauranga
Photograph copyright Rodney Giddens and courtesy of Pae Korokī Ref. 15-227

Among the ghost buildings in Devonport Road where the name on the building has no connection to the present occupiers, stands Wrigley’s Building. Research quickly revealed that there were several families of that name in Tauranga in the nineteenth century. The Wrigley Building at 54 to 56 Devonport Road was built by Karl Johanson in 1933 for John Julius Wrigley who had owned the land since 1921. John J. a chemist, was born in Tauranga of a Yorkshire family. Ownership passed to Charles Frederick Wrigley in 1932 and the building remained with the Wrigley family until 1977.

Although the Tauranga City Council Heritage Study 2008 states its purpose, among others, “to provide recommendations for the protection and ongoing management of heritage in the Tauranga CBD area,” the need for earthquake strengthening has provided an excuse to demolish some of the buildings that make up the Art Deco 1920 and 30s streetscape. This building is a simple Art Deco style with some decoration on the two storied building. There is a fluted plaster band across the top of the building and design repeated below. The upper level has a projecting bay window. Painted a fading cream none of the decoration is outlined in a second colour which could have added to its appearance. The Wrigley Building has an air of neglect about it that could well be indicating its fate.

Star Hotel, 1902 (the Springwell Brewery is the two storied gable roofed building on right side of image. Cnr of Willow Street -2 white hitching (?) posts on corner.)
Photograph courtesy of Pae Korokī Ref. 02-363

Another Wrigley business family in Tauranga was that of Thomas Dale Wrigley, who with his son and later G Ellis owned the Springwell Brewery that stood on the north side of Spring Street on the west corner of Willow Street from 1873. It was located there because of the proximity to the spring that also provided water to the cordial or soft drink factory opposite on the corner of Spring and Grey Streets. Thomas Dale Wrigley was born in Manchester and came to Tauranga. Following an accident where he had broken his leg, the medical practices of the day were insufficient to save him and he died three months later in 1878 aged 48. His son John Dale Wrigley also died young when he drowned after falling from a yacht on a trip to Motiti Island from Tauranga.

Thomas Wrigley, Mayor of Tauranga
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Council

The third and earlier Wrigley was Thomas who in 1861 opened a store and trading post in Maketu before moving to Tauranga in 1863. His Tauranga store was destroyed by the 1881 fire that burnt out two blocks of the town. Thomas Wrigley held several positions in Tauranga including member of the Town Board, JP, Chairman of the County Council and Mayor of the Borough for three years.  He was a committee member of the Bay of Plenty Steam Navigation Company when it commenced in 1866. The company engaged Niccol, North Shore to build a steamer, the Tauranga that was launched in 1867 and christened by Miss Catherine Wrigley. Thomas Wrigley was one of the largest shareholders in the company. He was born in Stockport, Lancashire and died there on a trip home.

References

Tauranga Library, Vertical files/biographical.
Tauranga City Council Heritage Study (2008)
Papers Past: Daily Southern Cross, Bay of Plenty Times

John Macquarters (1869-1915)

Representatives of the Tauranga Mounted Rifles selected to form part of the Royal escort to Rotorua
Toned silver gelatin print on album page, by John Macquarters, Tauranga, May 1901
Courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0299/08 (Gifted by V. Simon)

This group portrait of eight members of the Tauranga Mounted Rifles was captured in May 1901 on the eve of their departure for Rotorua, where they were to form a guard of honour to the Duke of Cornwall during his Royal visit to the Hot Lakes District. The photograph was taken – as evidenced from the byline of the same image published in the Auckland Weekly News Supplement on 31 May (Auckland Libraries Heritage Images Ref. AWNS-19010531-11-3) – by John Macquarters. A somewhat disgruntled member of the unit later calculated that, since “the only duty this force performed was to present arms at the railway station for about five minutes, each man must have cost the country at least 4/6 per minute for the trip.”

The Tauranga Mounted Rifles were part of a country-wide effort to recruit and train militias, from which volunteers could be drawn to serve in the ten contingents of mounted riflemen that New Zealand sent to fight in the Boer War.

Te Puna School and pupils, with teacher Winnie Morley, c1900
Copy print of original mounted silver gelatin print, by John Macquarters
Courtesy of Tauranga Library, Pae Koroki Ref. 06-175

Macquarters was present at a company parade in Te Puke in December 1900, where he took photos of players of the Lawn Tennis Club. He had joined the ranks of the Tauranga Mounted Rifles by April 1901, when he was among those who met to form the Tauranga Football Club. In mid-September that year he attended a meeting of the organizing committee for a fundraising Grand Volunteer Ball to be given by the T.M.R. at the Theatre Royal two weeks later. Although he was active photographically, few photographs have survived from this period. The portrait of pupils and teacher at Te Puna School (above) is a copy print, and therefore difficult to date accurately, but was presumably taken around this time.

Sergeant Allan Bell, Opotiki Mounted Rifles, c. late 1902 - 1903
Copy film negative of original mounted silver gelatin print, by John Macquarters, Opotiki
Image courtesy of Whakatāne Museum, Ref. F277-1

Macquarters moved to Opotiki between late 1901 and late 1902. His portrait of Sergeant Allan Bell shows the latter wearing the typical uniform of a mounted rifleman, with slouch hat, 1896 pattern bandolier and two silver fern collar badges issued to troops serving in the South African (Boer) War. Allan Bell went overseas with the 9th Contingent in March 1902, and presumably returned soon after the end of the war in June-July that year. Bell participated in a shooting match between the O.M.R. and the T.M.R. in November 1902, when he may have posed for this portrait. Macquarters was settled enough in Opotiki by then to have had personalized card mounts printed.

McGowan child, c. 1890s
Glass plate copy negative by Tyree Studios, Nelson,
of a carte de visite portrait taken by Macquarters and Ray, Waimate
Courtesy of Nelson Provincial Museum, Ref. 51400

John Thomas Macquarters was born c. 1869 in Manchester, England and emigrated to New Zealand on board the RMS Coptic – arriving in December 1891 – following his father Joseph (1838-1926) and an elder brother William Henry (1862-1928). Although he was a glass salesman in England, like his father, he was working as a photographer in Fairlie, Canterbury by 1896. It is conceivable that he was one half of the partnership of “Macquarters & Ray” of Waimate, who produced the carte de visite portrait of an unidentified child shown above.

By May 1895 he was in Poverty Bay. He is listed as a photographer in Gisborne in 1896, although clearly struggling, as evidenced by the court claims for goods delivered and work done by fellow cameraman John Robb - £8 in September 1898, more than £18 a year later. It seems unsurprising that he moved on to the Bay of Plenty soon after.

Opening up the East Coast Country: A Settler’s Camp in the Waioeka Block
Photographed by John Macquarters, Published in the Auckland Weekly News, 5 Sep 1907
Image courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Images, Ref. AWNS-19070912-3-2

His sojourn in the Eastern Bay of Plenty was the most productive period of his career, if not entirely economically successful. Creditors continued to pursue him through the courts, many related to bills from photographic suppliers. Between May 1903 and September 1907 he made several contributions to the Auckland Weekly News and New Zealand Graphic depicting pakeha settlers “opening up” the bush for sawmilling and farming activities in the Motu and Waioeka valleys. He also photographed the settlers engaged in leisure time pursuits, such as pheasant shooting (June 1905) and visiting the active volcano Whakaari (March 1906).

Rua Kenana’s Visit to Taneauta, 1907
Mounted silver gelatin print by John Macquarters, Opotiki
Courtesy of Whakatāne Museum, Ref. P10736

Macquarters documented important local events, such as the unveiling of a memorial at Maraenui on 23 March 1905 by Native Minister James Carroll – dedicated to 16 boys and girls and two adults of Te Whanau-a-Apanui drowned whilst crossing the Motu River in August 1900 – the visit of Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana to Taneatua in 1907 (shown above), and the stranding of the coastal steamer Ngatiawa on the Opotiki Bar between 1 and 6 January 1909.

James Edward Durand (1869-1913) and Fortunita Haua (1886-1974) on their wedding day, 1904
Mounted silver gelatin print by John Macquarters, Opotiki
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Pae Koroki Ref. 04-169

He also undertook regular commissions, including portraits of individuals, couples and groups. The bulk of the photos mounted on his printed cardstock surviving in institutional collections around the country are of this type. Although the portrait shown above is a studio portrait, others using this painted backdrop of an idyllic rural scene are more hastily arranged, revealing floors of bare earth or rough wooden fences, indicating that they were taken outdoors. Other examples of group portraits include a class of girls at Opotiki School (c.1907) and a men’s cricket team (c.1911).

St Mary’s Convent and Church, Opotiki, c.1910-1915
Hand-coloured postcard published by The Price Photo Co., Auckland, W.A.P. Series, 2202D
Image courtesy of Whakatāne Museum, Ref. P1818

No postcards imprinted with his name have been found during this study. However, there were a number of postcards of Opotiki street views taken during the time that he was the only resident photographer, and some of these may be attributable to him. It is conceivable, for example, that he took at least some of the views of Opotiki published by The Price Photo Co. of Auckland as the W.A.P. Series (for William Arthur Price). Perhaps the “Newell Series” of postcards sold by Opotiki stationer William Jabez Newell could also have been taken by Macquarters. He may well have decided that selling the glass plate negatives of his scenes for quick money was a better option, considering his straightened circumstances, than the long-term proposition of printing and selling them himself.

As the photographer Charles Henry Harris had discovered before him in the late 1890s, the small settlement of Opotiki just could not provide sufficient trade for a full-time photographic business to thrive. He ventured further afield, attempting a partnership with C. James in Taneatua in 1911, but even that was short-lived. When a fire burnt down an entire Opotiki block, including his studio, on the night of Sunday 9 November 1913, and with suppliers still pursuing him for payment of photographic materials that had presumably been lost in the conflagration, that was possibly the last straw, and Macquarters moved on.

By August 1914 John Macquarters was in Morrinsville, where his father was living; his elder brother lived in Te Aroha by then. His latest debt, to G.W. Bennett & Co. photographic suppliers of Auckland had grown to over £31, equivalent to roughly $10,000 today. He died nine months later in Hamilton, on 19 May 1915, of asphyxia (pneumonia) and was buried in Hamilton West cemetery. Joseph Macquarters advertised the sale of his late son’s photographic business for £100 in the New Zealand Herald three weeks later. John Macquarters did not marry, and left no known issue.

Acknowledgements

I’m very grateful for assistance from staff of the Tauranga Library’s Ngā Wāhi Rangahau and Fiona Kean of the Tauranga Heritage Collection for their assistance in researching this article. An article of this breadth could not have even been contemplated without access to the following online collections: Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland Library Heritage Images, Auckland Museum, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tauranga Library (Pae Korokī) and Tauranga Heritage Collection. I’d like to acknowledge my employer, Whakatāne Museum, for permission to reproduce images of photographs from their collection, for which an online portal is currently planned. Maree Fagan’s family tree including her great-great-grandfather William Henry Macquarters also proved very useful.

References

Auckland Library Photographers Database
Bradford Bandolier, New Zealand History, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/bradford-bandolier, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 18-Aug-2014
Death Certificate for John Macquarters, New Zealand Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages
Embarkation Database, New History, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/soldier/allan-bell (Ministry for Culture and Heritage)
Fagan Family Tree by Maree Fagan on Ancestry
Hamilton Cemetery interment records from Hamilton City Council
Hamilton West Cemetery Memorials from FindaGrave
Censuses, Parish Registers, Electoral Rolls, Directories and other databases from Ancestry
Papers Past Newspapers from National Library of New Zealand
New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973 from Family Search
Reserve Bank of New Zealand Te Pūtea Matua Inflation Calculator
South African War Service Records on Archway from Archives New Zealand

The Badsey connection

From Tauranga City Library’s archives
A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

It all started with a box of uncatalogued photographic material: gelatin prints, glass plates, lantern slides, and negatives. The box was labelled “Bernard Sladden”. A name the library’s Heritage and Research Team know well. When Sladden’s books were placed under the care of the Tauranga Public Library, shortly after his death in 1961, it was the beginning of our heritage and research collections. 

Tauranga City Libraries Image 00-177: Bernard Sladden (left) on board his launch "Severn". c. 1940

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While we knew the provenance of the items, the content was more of a mystery. Fortunately for us, it was a one that was easy to solve through describing and digitising the images. In doing so, we quickly discovered Sladden was keen on photographing coastal scenes. This makes sense given he was appointed honorary ranger for Motuotau Island in 1928, and was gazetted inspector, with responsibility for all the offshore islands in the Bay of Plenty, in 1932. Hiding among the many gulls and islets, was a set of images taken in Europe. We do not think these were taken by Sladden, but were possibly collected out of interest. This makes sense because Sladden served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force between 1916 and 1918. It was this collection of images that acted as a springboard to discovering the Badsey connection. 

Tauranga City Libraries Image bs-540: Group of soldiers and motor vehicle in square in front of large buildings. Noted with file: B.57 Y.M.C.A. Party at the Louvre, Paris. 1917. Photographer unknown. 

Being contemporary researchers, our first instinct was to Google “Bernard Sladden AND WW1” (apologies to all the other wonderful library-resources at our fingertips!). The search directed us to the Badsey Society’s website, where we were amazed to find a collection of letters from Bernard Sladden to his uncle, Julius Sladden, written during the First World War. A quick browse through the website informed us there were two branches of the Sladden family: one in the UK and another in New Zealand. 

With Sladden being such a significant part of our collections, we decided to reach out to the Badsey Society to find out more. Maureen Spinks, the chairman, replied with helpful historical information, as well as details of a rather special performance:

You might be amused to know that Bernard featured in a performance we put in 2017 when extracts from the Sladden letters were read.  The part of Bernard was played by his great-great-nephew, Jonathan Miller. No problems guessing which one he is in these photos! Jonathan’s mother, Patsy (nee Sladden), managed to borrow a “wide-awake” hat from someone at the New Zealand High Commission.

Patsy and Anthony Miller with their son, Jonathan Miller, playing the part of his great-great-uncle, Private Bernard Sladden of New Zealand. Patsy was able to borrow a New Zealand “wide-awake” hat for the occasion. Bernard was one of the 11 children of Dilnot Sladden (elder brother of Julius Sladden) who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1860s. 

The fact Bernard Sladden’s descendants continue to remember and celebrate his life demonstrates what a remarkable person he was. 

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This archival item has been digitised and is available to view on Pae Korokī. For more information about this and other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage & Research Team: Research@tauranga.govt.nz

Written by Abigail Wharne, Heritage Specialist at Tauranga City Libraries.