Christensen Family of Manawatu, NZ

Calvert 'Collie' Christensen

(1876-2 October 1907)

Despite the name he was registered with, Charlvart became better recognised as Calvert, or 'Collie' for short. His birth registration (1876, Folio 1149) named him 'Charlvart Marius Christensen', while his death was registered (1907, Folio 2751) merely as 'Calvert Christensen.' He is buried at Terrace End Cemetery as 'Calvert Morris Christensen.' His unmarked grave (Block 49 Plot 4, confusingly named as 'Morris, Morris Christian C.") is on the immediate right side of the closest (concrete-covered) grave shown below - photographed 16/12/2000. There are no known photos of him.

Calvert lived a short and rather tragic life. He evidently suffered depression, though any possibly cause can only be speculation. Shortly after the death of his father from cancer, he attempted suicide and eventually died as a result.

He attended Stoney Creek School with his siblings, and was about nine years old when his mother died in March1885. While two of the younger children were fostered out, Calvert was possibly old enough to be of assistance to his father - or at least less of a burden to raise. The farm was sold in June 1885 and he attended Stoney Creek School for the last time on 17 June 1885. His name was removed from the school roll, along with Niobar's, on 2 July. Perhaps he transferred to Terrace End School, where the family subsequently lived. However, the destination of both boys according to the school roll was 'Home'.

There is no tradition of Calvert having married, and those stories that do survive relate to his death. Obviously some of these traditions must be treated as perhaps not entirely correct.

The various newspaper articles and the Coroner's Report indicate that Calvert had spent time in the Porirua Asylum a short time prior to his death. Since his return to his father's 'whare' (i.e. a small roughly made cottage), he had been very depressed and had spoken of suicide.

Finally, on 19 September 1907, he attempted to shoot himself in the head, and it was with the resulting injury that he was found by his boarder, a labourer named Michael Andrews (his signature reads" Macel Andrues"). Michael rushed for help and soon after Calvert was taken by train to Palmerston North Hospital. 

The Manawatu Evening Standard on 21 September 1907 reported under the headline 'Attempted Suicide,' that: "In connection with the attempted suicide which took place at Shannon yesterday, it transpires that C. Christensen, who attempted to shoot himself, had been admitted to the Porirua Asylum in March. Subsequently he came to Shannon, where he lived in a whare with a countryman of his. Yesterday he was found in the whare with a bullet wound in his right temple. 

"The Police Constable on Shannon was away and Mr O'Connor, J.P. was at once notified. He immediately telegraphed for Constable Kirby of Levin and Dr. McKenzie. The Doctor immediately drove down in his motor car and tended the injured man, who was at once conveyed to the railway station, from where Constable Kirby brought him to Palmerston Hospital. Christensen was conscious during the journey and, on being asked by the Constable as to why he had done the deed, said he wanted to die.

"An operation was performed on him last evening, but the bullet could not be extracted, and the injured man now lies in a very critical condition."

The Evening Standard of 26 September reported that "The man C. Christensen, who shot himself in Shannon, is making satisfactory progress towards recovery." However, on 2 October it recorded that "The man C. Christensen, who recently shot himself in the head at Shannon, Died in the Palmerston N. Hospital this morning shortly after 10 AM." The injury had became infected.

He was buried at Terrace End Cemetery two days later, although there was some confusion as to just what his name was. He was described as a labourer. Although he was buried in Block 49, Plot 4, he was also given a second entry that stated his body buried in the Public Reserve the same day. The funeral director was Thos Grigg, while the service was conducted by Rev. Lewer (or perhaps Levi as mentioned on the second entry).

One family tradition says that Calvert had been involved in sheep-stealing, and that he had seen a policeman coming in the front door, so had rushed out the back door and shot himself. Supposedly the policeman had been coming only to tell him that his missing bike had been found. However, the Coroner's Report indicates that the Shannon policeman was out of town that day, and that the Levin policeman had needed to be called to attend the incident. 

Another tradition (from Leo Burr, Lydia's son) was that he had seen  the police (?) at the gate and had thought they were coming to take him back to Porirua Asylum.

What is known is that his father had died of stomach cancer at the Ohiro Old Men's Home in Wellington, only 33 days before the shooting. Calvert and his father had lived together in Shannon, while the rest of the family were settled elsewhere, so possibly this loss featured in his depression.

No tradition of his burial at Terrace End Cemetery survived to reach his Burr niece and nephew, although his sister Lydia (their mother) used to visit her mother's grave there. He is buried in a plot that is easily traced - rather than in an anonymous 'pauper's grave,' although the cemetery records indicate that, like his father's grave a few weeks earlier, the grave was never paid for.

Last updated: 23/12/2000