Somes Prisoners

Quarantine Burials on Somes Island

Most of the following names appear on a large memorial monument adjoining the Somes Island Cemetery and the road from the wharf to the top of the island. It seems likely that more quarantine burials occurred than are known about, and that only by searching the records of each ship quarantined there that most burials will ever be known.

Originally many of the graves had their own headstones or markers. However, around 1970 the Dept. of Agriculture decided to gather up the what was left of the scattered headstones and replace them with a single large monument. One headstone, that of the signalman of the HMS Geranium, was subsequently reinstalled by the War Graves Commission. Another, that of Mary Rudman, is still in its original place.

The monument lists the names shown below and is headed with the inscription: "This Memorial was erected in 1971 in honour of those who died on Somes Island. They are interred in the burial ground in which this monument stands or elsewhere on the Island."

After thirty years stored in the bull pen/stable, four inscribed headstones and two others that have lost their inscriptions (a wooden cross and a concrete slab) were laid within the wooden picket fence surrounding the monument in late January 2000. These were then rededicated.  

In late Winter, many clumps of jonquils appear and flower around the area covered by the old cemetery.

There are no internees buried on Somes Island. This is because most died off the island (i.e. in hospital) or, as in the case of the only WWI death on the island, his body had to be taken to Wellington for an autopsy. They are buried at Karori Cemetery.

Name Died Age Cause Ship headstone?
Lauritz Larsen 7 March 1872 5 yrs   England No
Ole Olsen 10 March 1872 1 mth   England No
Mary Elizabeth Maude Rudman 26 July 1872 2 yrs 2 mths   Nebraska Headstone on North Point & monument
Gustave Yensen 7 July 1873     Halcione Monument
Maria Larsen 14 July 1873     Halcione Monument
Abraham Ford 19 July 1873     Halcione ? Monument
Christine Yensen 28 July 1873     Halcione Monument
Annie Smith 26 Mar. 1874 4 yrs Scarlet Fever Woodlark Monument
William Palmer 28  Mar. 1874 (or 23 & body kept aboard ship) 1 yr Phthisis Woodlark Monument
Marion Taft/Toft 3 May 1874 5 yrs Scarlet Fever Golden Sea Monument
Clara Lee 16 Oct. 1874 12 days   Cartvale Monument
Clara Cumberland 16 Oct. 1874 18 mths   Cartvale Monument
Annie Nash 16 Oct. 1874 3 yrs   Cartvale Monument
'Baby' Arthur Nash 16 Oct. 1874 17 mths   Cartvale Monument
Elizabeth Butler 18 Oct. 1874 7 mths   Cartvale Monument
Marion Douglas Pope 24 Oct. 1874 3 mths   Cartvale Monument
David Barr 2 Nov. 1874 1 yr   Cartvale Monument
Mary Ann Tonkin 2 Nov. 1874 59 yrs   Cartvale Monument
Winifred Lucy Moore 2(or 1) Nov. 1874 1 mth.   Cartvale Monument
Anthony Alderson Feb. 1875 50   Berar Monument
Lawrence (or Florence) Wright Feb. 1875 (2 yrs)   Berar Monument
George Skeeles/Skeels 17 July 1875 3 yrs   Collingwood Monument
Annie Tomlinson 20 July 1875 1 yr   Collingwood Monument
George Baker 20 July 1875 7 yrs   Collingwood Monument
Jens Jacob Jurgensen 30 July 1875 7 yrs   Collingwood Monument
Timothy Harker 10 Aug 1875 35 yrs   Collingwood Monument
Timothy Troy 11 Sep 1875 18 mths   Rodney Monument
Juliane Kakrowsky Seodrowsky 30 Jan. 1876   childbirth Shakespear Monument
Baby Seodrowsky 30 Jan. 1876 1 day childbirth ex-Shakespear Monument
Albert Ewald 26 Mar 1876 32 yrs   Terpsichore?? Monument
Thomas Lund 30 Mar 1876 31 yrs   Terpsichore Monument
Anna Lassen/Larsen 9 April 1876 14 yrs   Terpsichore Monument
Anna Goose  20 Dec. 1878 (not 1873) 18 yrs   Hermione Monument
Catherina Crabb 26 August 1883 25 yrs   Oxford Headstone & monument
Jemima Robertson Walde 19 July 1889 39 yrs   Tongariro Headstone & monument
Kim Lee 14 March 1904 56 yrs leprosy?? Mokopuna Island Monument
Carl Christian Frederick Larsen 5 May 1919   Influenza Manuka Monument
John Sullivan 8 May 1919 35 yrs Influenza Manuka Headstone & monument
James McGinley 9 May 1919 32 yrs Influenza Manuka Headstone & monument
George Taylor 9 May 1919   Influenza Manuka Monument
John Ball 12 May 1919   Influenza Manuka Monument
George Stanley 30 June 1919 26 yrs   signalman, HMS Geranium Headstone erected on grave & monument

Headstone Inscriptions

The following headstones survive, along with two others that have lost their inscriptions

To the Memory of MARY ELIZABETH MAUDE RUDMAN, died 26 July 1872, aged 2 years, 2 months.

Sacred to the Memory of CATHERINA. The beloved daughter of Sampson and Eliza CRABB, who fell asleep in Jesus, August 26th 1883, aged 25 years. "Farewell Father and Mother dear, Brothers and sisters too. I am not dead but in heaven, Waiting and watching for you."

Sacred to the Memory of JEMIMA ROBERTSON WALDIE, the beloved wife of Rev. J.W. Waldie, who fell asleep in Jesus, 19th July 1889, aged 39 years.

In Loving Memory of JOHN SULLIVAN who departed this life May 8 1919, aged 35 years. "Sweet heart of Jesus, have mercy on his soul" R.I.P.

In Loving Memory of JAMES MCGINLEY died May 9 1919 aged 32 years. R.I.P. "My Jesus Mercy" Erected by his loving wife Catherine McGinley.

Sacred to the Memory of GEORGE STANLEY (signalman of H.M.S. Geranium) who died June 30th 1919 aged 26 years. He has answered the signal.