Holland-Hayward Family

New Zealand Family Biography

George Potticary Holland was born on 8 October 1858, at 2 Stanhope Street, Deptford, London, 'within the sound of Bow Bells' - signifying that he qualified as a Cockney. He was the seventh of thirteen children born to Joseph Holland and his wife May Ann, nee Sutton. George's grandfather had been a brewer in London, yet despite this, George grew up a strict teetotaller and an avid member of the 'Band of Hope'.

He attended John Addey's Charity School for boys and girls, and somehow managed to find a copy of the will of the original benefactor - which stated that it was to be a 'free' school. The Trustees had, however, been charging their pupils and were sued as a result!

George was later employed as a paper boy and dispensed copies of the Kentish Mercury, before finding employment at some factories on the Isle of Dogs.

In September 1874, eighteen-year-old George joined the crew of the passenger sailing ship Clarence, which was bound for New Zealand carrying emigrants. He worked as the cabin boy, although (as I recall, but have not yet double checked) he was also listed as a passenger on the passenger list. Possibly he was working his passage to New Zealand.

The Clarence was in a terrible state. It leaked and the rope-work was rotten. Even the women passengers had to take their turn on the ship's pumps, while the officers had to threaten crew members with revolvers to get them up the rigging. Two men were put in chains for refusing to climb the rotten rigging. George secretly put honey in the bread when he prepared their meals.

The crew's fears proved valid when the main mast was lost overboard when the ship was off the Cape of Good Hope. This caused the ship to list badly. For a while, the 350 passengers and 45 crew members thought their time had come. To make matters worse, typhoid then broke out and twenty-six people died. Another man fell overboard and was lost.

Despite typhoid being on the ship, there was no medical inspection at Napier when the ship arrived and an epidemic - which became known as 'Clarence Fever' - subsequently raged through the town. The Clarence was lost during its return voyage to England.

George settled in Napier and on New Year's Day 1881 he married Emily Annie Consitt, the only daughter of Mr J.W. Consitt, at Napier. The couple had two children, George junior and Emily Annie junior. However, the day after little Emily was born in May 1883, her twenty-year-old mother died.

It is not certain how George coped with the dilemma he suddenly faced with his two very young motherless children. However, on 6 December 1884, he married Gertrude Ruth Hayward.

Gertrude, the second daughter of Samuel Hayward, had been born on 27 December 1859, in the little town of Peasenhall, Suffolk, England. When she was eight years old, her father was transferred to Paris, to manage a new branch of the agricultural implement firm Messrs. James Smyth & Sons, which was based at Peasenhall. The company designed and manufactured a special seed drill, for which the town is still remembered.

The Hayward family had scarcely settled into their new home in Paris before the Franco-Prussian War broke out. As a result, for the remainder of the war, the family lived in Dieppe. During the course of the war, the family were obliged to accommodate both French and German soldiers in their implement shed as the front line ebbed and flowed.

Gertrude travelled to New Zealand aboard the sailing ship Wanganui, arriving at Lyttelton on 25 November 1883. She had become governess to the children of Captain (later Major) Henry Rutherford - whom she referred to as "Mr H.". Gertrude, along with the Rutherford party of "Mr. H.", his wife, mother, three children and the nurse, had been booked through to Napier. Also aboard the ship was her fiance, Mr Walker, who was a jeweller.

While Gertrude's voyage to New Zealand was less spectacular than that of her future husband, it was no less eventful on a personal scale. She kept a diary of the early weeks of the voyage and this documents the difficulties she found herself in.

"Sailed on Monday the 20th of August 1883 from Gravesend for New Zealand, at 10:00 o'clock at night. Very mild and calm, did not know we were moving."

Tuesday, 21st: "Pilot left at about 10:00 (am). He went ahsore at Dover, the tug remaining there as there was no wind. Left at 10:00 (pm), ...saw the Dieppe steamer Orleans going to Newhaven. A lovely moonlite night."

Wednesday, 22nd: "Feel very swimmy (pronounced 'Sw-eye-me'). Mrs H. feeling very bad, also Mr H. The sea as smooth as glass. Mr Bateman fell down in a fit while dressing. Nurse helped to bring him to."

The passengers settled in after a few days. Gertrude sewed for the Rutherfords and also took in sewing orders from other passengers and the ship's crew. One of the other Saloon passengers, a Mr Satchnell (presumably the Auckland-bound Walter Satchell [sic] from the passenger list) who she later described to her family as in fact being the ship's First Officer, developed a boil on his neck. Gertrude treated the boil, but the friendship that developed between the two as a result, came to be a huge problem during the voyage.

Gertrude's fiance, Mr Walker, grew jealous of her involvement with Mr Satchnell, and on Sunday, 2 September, she wrote in her diary "Spent the evening as usual with Mr Walker (whose name doesn't appear on the passenger list, suggesting he perhaps worked his passage to New Zealand as a crewmember). He took my ring away. (He) had a Philipine with him at dinner!" He returned the ring the next evening, however, "Mrs H. was as cross-as-two-sticks." A few days later Mrs H. warned her about the attention she was receiving from Mr Satchnell, but the sea-borne eternal triangle continued awkwardly for some days. 

Finally Gertrude attempted to break off her friendship with Mr Satchnell. On Thursday, 18 September she wrote: "The Captain (Rutherford presumably) very cross with me on account of Mr Satchnell. I feel very sorry for him. I hope it will be a lesson for me." 

The diary ends with the 22 September entry, following which the remaining pages have been torn out. Probably this suggests a series of distressed entries she preferred not to preserve.

Gertrude and Mr Walker did not repair their relationship. Many years later she received a postcard from him, postmarked 'Hastings' and signed "from your old boyfriend." Mr Satchnell also vanished from her life. He turned out to be a charmer who allegedly had "a girl in every port."

Thus Gertrude the governess arrived in Napier, via Lyttelton, the home town of the widower George Holland and his two infant children. It is not now known how they came to meet, however, twelve months later the couple married.

A few months after their marriage, Gertrude received some words of advice from her seventy-nine-year-old grandmother, Maria Hayward of Peasenhall. She wrote in phonetic English on 11 May 1885:

"I was very pleased ... to hear of your well-faer. I like to hear from you, thou I cannot see you. Many are the changes in this life and your's a very important one ... you are not onely to become a wife, but you are to become a mother, which is a very important charge. I hope you will be a good and kind (mother) to the dear berevd babes, then the Lord will bless you. I hope you will be a good and kind wife to your belovd husben, a kepen at home, minden your own buseness and have'n you home comfortable. When your belovd husben is in the way, that will be the way for him to like his home. I hope Dear, you will excuse the hints I have given you, but you know I have treaded the same steps before you."

Gertrude took her grandmother's advice. She brought her step-children up just as her own, and the couple had a long and happy marriage. However, their first child, Sydney Coptic, who was born in late 1885, unfortunately died early the following year. Later in 1886, Frederick Alexander arrived, followed by Violet Agatha in 1889 and Herbert Henry Coptic in 1891.

The couple built a two-storied house on Marine Parade, Napier - now prime real estate. It is known that this house survived the 1931 Napier Earthquake, although its present fate is unknown. Records destroyed in the 1931 catastrophe doubtless would ensure that this information could never be rediscovered.

They were still living in Napier when their fourth child together, Herbert, was born in 1891. However, by 1893 when their fifth and final child together, Ida Constance, was born, they were living 'down the line' at Waipukurau.

In about 1896, the family moved to 21 Halswell Street, Wanganui - to a house they named 'Peasenhall' after Gertrude's birthplace. Here the family grew up, in time brought their own children home to, and the couple grew old together surrounded by their grandchildren. The Halswell Street house was to be the scene of many happy family gatherings and reunions of family and friends for over fifty years.

Throughout his working life, George had worked as a blacksmith (engineer or fitter & turner, rather than the modern horse-related interpretation which was then called a farrier). Initially he worked on steamships and then he began a career with the New Zealand Railways. At first he was based at the Napier Railway Workshops and then in the early 1890s he began working at the NZR workshops at Waipukurau - which was also on the Hawkes Bay Railway.

The family's move to Wanganui revolved around George's transfer to the Eastown Railway Workshops in the town, and he remained there for the rest of his working life. His achievements there included training a considerable number of others in the engineering trade.

In England as a youth, George had been involved with the Volunteer Fire Brigade, and he had continued this activity in Napier and then in Wanganui. He won many cups and medals in Fire Brigade contests. In the late 1940s, George was one of the oldest (albeit retired) firemen in the country.

The Holland family had a close involvement with the Ingestre Street Baptist Church, where Gertrude was a deaconess for thirty-five years. Gertrude enjoyed such activities as writing poetry and sewing for orphans, while for many years George was a keen bowler with the St. John's Bowling Club, until his health began to fail.

Gertrude died in April 1938, aged seventy-nine. George died in April 1952, aged ninety-three. They are buried together at the Aramoho Cemetery, Wanganui.