 For just over a year, New Zealanders were fascinated by a tightrope walker who distinguished himself from other entertainers by walking across our rivers.
Senor Vertelli - sometimes called the Australian Blondin (after Charles Blondin who famously walked across Niagara Falls) - came to New Zealand in 1867 to entertain. His plan was to string wires to buildings, walk up them and perform tricks. But during his visit to Whanganui a new idea came to him. He would walk across the rope wire of the river ferry. Vertelli was, in fact, John Morcom. His father Samuel Morcom had come to Australia in September 1847 on the Rajah to be a mining captain in charge of a large group of miners who then departed in search of gold. But he ended up in Adelaide running Morcom’s Temperance Hotel. Samuel was a Quaker. HIs family, wife Mary and children followed him out from Cornwall in England in 1849. John Morcom (Vertelli was a stage name taken from a guest at the hotel) was born on June 12, 1840. He got his first taste of gymnastics at school then learned rope walking at Joe Worley’s gymnasium. He began performing, often stringing a wire across natural features like gorges. In 1867, Vertelli came to New Zealand, beginning in Hokitika where he strung a wire across Revell Street from the Commercial Hotel, walking it several times, sometimes pushing a wheelbarrow or blindfolded. He went to Nelson and Wellington, picking landmark buildings to perform at. Then in October 1867 he came to Whanganui. And for the first time he opted to walk across the river. It was 900 metres and he used the existing ferry cable. His initial performance at a building had had fewer spectators than he had liked and the walk across the river drew quite the crowd. So at 3pm in the afternoon on October 17 he calmly strolled across the river. And then back. It was more impressive because only a few months before James Cooke from the Great World Circus had tried and declared it impossible. Vertelli said he would do it walking backwards - or carrying someone who could swim - presumably in case he dropped that person. The Whanganui Chronicle noted that no one was daring enough - or foolish enough - to do it with him. It began a change to his tour. Where he could he would use natural features in his performance. In Lyttelton he walked across the Waimakariri River - which he did, before diving into the water and swimming ashore. The only misstep was on January 18, 1868, when he tried to cross Timaru’s Saltwater Creek but fell in when the rope failed. By March 1868 he was back in Australia and spent many years travelling and performing before going to Japan and China in 1875 where he toured for over a year. He also married Annie in about 1870 and had six children, none of whom survived past 1900. He and his family went to America in 1877 based in West Berkeley, California until his health began to fail in the 1890’s ending up with a tightrope walker’s worst nightmare - paralysed feet. Morcom/Vertelli died January 8, 1914 and is buried in West Berkeley in California. Photo by Sean Benesh.
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 The invention of instant coffee, dissolvable in hot water, was credited to a Japanese chemist working in Chicago in 1901.
Turns out, it was a Kiwi - more 10 years earlier. David Strang, who owned a coffee and spice works factory in Invercargill, applied (and got) a patent for soluble coffee powder in 1889 under the name Strang’s Coffee. But until recently it was a barely known fact until the Historic Places Trust registered the house owned by one of his sons, James. Strang was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1847, and one of his first jobs was in a coffee warehouse. He was only 16 when he boarded the Barwood to come to New Zealand in 1863, landing in Bluff. He worked in several trades until in 1872 he established a coffee factory in Esk Street, Invercargill. The business grew quickly, expanding into other foods including spices sold around New Zealand and Fiji. Strang’s products began winning awards around the country and in Australia. In 1889, he applied for the patent for soluble coffee, the first of its kind in the world and began selling it. With sharp marketing in mind, he sent samples to newspapers to get the word out. The Otago Daily Times reviewed the substance: "Strang's soluble coffee powder requires no boiling, but is made instantly with boiling water. Then, again, it can be made in a breakfast cup and requires neither the use of pots nor the employment of experienced cooks." He was also one of the first people to successfully claim a patent under New Zealand law. He said he used a ‘dry hot air’ process to make it, essentially blowing hot air over liquid coffee until it reduced to a solid. Strang also filed patents for a "coffee-roasting apparatus of novel design" and Strang's Eclipse Hot Air Grain Dryer. He was also credited with making mocha. He married Mary Jane Ramsey in 1877 and they had five sons and six daughters. Strang died aged 69 on July 19, 1916 and is buried in Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill with his wife  We don't normally discuss what we are working on at GI on our Facebook page because of confidentiality, but this case is a bit special and we have permission from the family and the law firm to share this with you with the hope that someone might be able to help. GI is searching for Kevin Thomas Hodgson who was born in Whangarei on 30 October 1967 and was last heard from in about 2002 when he was living in Melbourne. His father has passed away and no one has been able to reach him to let him know. The attached photo was taken in 1986, so he will have aged somewhat since then. Kevin is a bit of an adventurer so may have travelled around a bit, have left Australia or even come home to New Zealand. We are hoping someone may have met up with him at some point since 2002, or even better know where he is now. Any bits of info would be amazing to help us in our search. If you can help in any way please send us a message, or email us at [email protected] Please feel free to share this post - someone out there may have the key to this. Thanks Fran and Deb.
 Around the country, clocks in towers and on post offices still tell time or their chimes ring out over the surrounding cities.
We take them for granted, walking past the imposing structures without giving them a second thought. It was the firm Littlejohns of Wellington which is responsible for at least 13 huge turret/tower clocks around the country. Wilson Littlejohn was born on October 25, 1836, and married Margaret Gordon. He and his family came to New Zealand in 1879. Along with his son Alexander Ironside Littlejohn, and with Wilson’s nephew Peter Still set up Littlejohn and Son, a jewellery and watch/clock maker on Wellington’s Lambton Quay. A sprawling three storey building, it was the right size for a manufacturing store. It was one of their clocks on the Wellington Post Office that regularly chimed the quarter hour. For years they were commissioned to provide clocks for towers in towns around the country. The former Invercargill Post Office clock was put up in 1893, had four bells that chimed the same tune as at Westminster, London. They also provided the New Zealand Insurance Company Clock in Invercargill which sat unmoving for years before being recently repositioned. The Cambridge Town Hall and tower clock was put up in 1909. The Edwardian design created an iconic structure. The clock itself had been supplied by Littlejohns in 1908 for the Post Office. The clock atop Iona Port Chalmers church is another of Littlejohn's, the clock set in a neo-Gothic tower. Installed in 1885 it needed to be wound once a week by hand. It was restored in 2014. Blenheim’s war memorial clock, which was dismantled, carefully cleaned and restored in 2019 was also from Littlejohn’s. Wilson died in June 29, 1897 and is buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery in Nelson. Alexander died May 25, 1910 and has a rather impressive grave site at Karori Cemetery. There’s really only one thing missing from the tall monument - a clock.  The four-year-old black thoroughbred mare was with the group of other horses donated to the first World War cause.
Drawn from all over New Zealand, they were picked over as the mounts that would go overseas. Ten thousand were bought by the Government or gifted to be used. At the time, known as Zelma, the mare was bred at Matawhero near Martinborough. She met the requirements needed, between 4-7 years old, 14-15 hands and of a dark colour. She was allocated to the Wellington Mounted Rifles regiment and picked by Captain Charles Guy Powles as his mount. He renamed her Bess. It was a hard uncertain life. A horse first had to survive the trip. Bess and Captain Powles (who had previously served in South Africa) left Wellington in October 1914 heading for Egypt. Bess was in cramped quarters with 3815 other horses. She served as his personal horse except for the Gallipoli campaign after which she was reunited with him on the men's return. Bess remained in the Middle East and was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. She and other horses allowed the men to travel quickly between positions. A horse carried a heavy load - not just their rider, but weapons, ammunition, food and water over difficult terrain, dealing with parasites, poor feed and water and weather they were never bred for. Along with the appalling conditions was the ever present danger of being wounded by enemy fire. By the end of the war, most horses had been killed or died under the conditions. Shortly before the Palestine campaign ended, Powles and Bess joined the New Zealand Division in France. After France, she served with Powles during the occupation of Germany’s Rhineland. It was near impossible to return the brave mounts to New Zealand. Lack of transport and quarantine requirements made it difficult. Bess is only one of four known to have returned from the first world war. The horses were sent to England in March 1919 and to 12 months quarantine. Then they arrived back in New Zealand in July 1920. After the war Bess was the model for the sculpture of a wounded New Zealand horse on a memorial to the Anzac mounted troops at Port Said in Egypt which was later destroyed. Copies were made and put up at Albany in Western Australia and in Canberra. Bess was again reunited with Powles while he was a commander at Trentham and later as headmaster at Flock House in Bulls, an agricultural training school for dependents of war veterans. Bess produced several foals, and died on land close to Flock House in 1934. Powles buried her at Flock House and erected a memorial. The square-shaped memorial, topped by a large rock, features two memorial plaques. One denotes the places where Bess served during and after the war. The other bears an Arabic inscription that translates as ‘In the Name of the Most High God’. A children’s book called Bess the Brave War Horse was written by Susan Brocker and illustrated by Raymond McGrath.  John Guilford was woken in the middle of the night. A volunteer firefighter, he could be called out at all hours.
He dressed and hurried out leaving his wife and three young children for a fire that had broken out on the barque The City of Newcastle on Wellington’s wharf in the early hours of August 22, 1872. There were more than the obvious dangers. If the fire spread to the wharf or nearby ships it might be impossible to stop. Guilford was part of the Central Volunteer Fire Brigade. They reached the ship first. With his mate James Craig he hurried on to the ship. If they could stop the fire, the ship would not need to be sent out into Wellington harbour to burn. The fire had broken out at the fore of the ship and was burning merrily by the time the two men reached the deck. They hurried on, and in the dark, with smoke billowing, Guilford fell through an open hatch into the belly of the ship, breaking his back and dying. He was the first fireman to die on duty in New Zealand. At an inquest his death was ruled accidental but there was a great deal of criticism of the practice of having hatches open. Only three months later The City of Newcastle ran aground on rocks of Wellington head. Along with that was the arrest of John Ranie, sometimes Rannie or Rennie of suspicion of arson after two kerosene cans were found with holes made by a knife in them. Guilford’s death shocked Wellington which put on a large funeral for him. As a mark of respect, shops and businesses closed for the day. Despite heavy rain, there was a procession of police, military, bands and parliamentary members. Many officials, including the mayor, attended and money was raised to support John’s widow. John Sydney Guilford was born on January 30, 1849 in Glebe, Australia to James and Rebecca Guilford. Both had been born in England and come to Australia in 1841. He had married Frances McCafferty and had three children, John, William and Rosanna. He worked as a gardener when not fighting fires. John was buried in the Bolton St cemetery, but now the site of his grave is not known. It may be he was one of those moved when graves were disinterred to make way for the motorway or that the plot was not recorded. (We note that there is a John Sydney Guilford in the Karori Cemetery. He is the eldest son).  Rowdy women was the title police used to give to sex workers and those women who lived on the edge of society - the euphemism was often used in newspapers, but everyone knew what it meant.
They drank and swore too much and were left with few options to support themselves. Of those often mentioned was Mary Ann Greaves, whose exploits made Christchurch papers regularly. Her police record said she was five foot four inches tall, of medium build with a fresh complexion, sandy hair and grey eyes. Greaves, who may have started life as Alice Purnell, seems to have been born in 1834 in Leicestershire, England. A great deal of her early life is not known but convict lists showed she also used the last name Grear and was convicted of a crime in London (although it's not clear what the crime was) and deported to Australia on the Duchess of Northumberland in April 1853. Her sentence was 10 years. There she had a daughter Catherine before coming to New Zealand in 1859, landing in Canterbury. Her criminal career here started in 1862. She was listed as one of 14 known prostitutes at a Kaiapoi brothel in 1864. By 1866, her criminality was considered "infamous". She came to know the courts well, appearing in a number of cases of prostitution, robberies, public drunkenness, using obscene language and vagrancy, among other crimes. Greaves ended up with two years jail for assault and robbery of a Thomas Davies in 1866 along with two others. By 1869, she got another two years for going through the pockets of another client and then hit him when he confronted her. She was released in 1871 on May 12 about 4pm but within a few hours she was back inside after being arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour and solicitation. As part of that sentence, she agreed to leave Christchurch but was arrested again outside the Mitre Hotel in March 1872. Since nothing appeared to deter her, authorities charged her next under the Contagious Diseases Act which required sex workers to under go medical examinations. When she failed to attend one, she was charged and sent to the Contagious Diseases Reformatory. In 1877 she was the Crown’s witness in the robbery of a boarding house in Oamaru - turned out she committed perjury - but it was likely she did so because she claimed she was owed wages by the couple who owned the house. She got 18 months in jail - but the man of the house was still committed for trial on her perjurious evidence. But in 1887 she was fined 30 shillings for being drunk and fighting with another woman. She was still listed as a sex worker in 1893 but by then did not appear to be causing trouble and last lived in Sydenham with a notorious thief. She died there on February 18, 1897 aged 60 and is buried in Linwood Cemetery. Picture by Sergio Alves Santos.  Thomas Frederick Moore advertised his services like dentistry openly.
But many in Waipawa knew it was really a front for performing abortions. Moore, who was believed to have come to New Zealand from Victoria, Australia, was supposed to have been a steam engineer before he set up shop in then tiny Central Hawke’s Bay town. He was born on May 25, 1835, in Castle Cary, Somerset England, son of Samuel and Jane Moore. It’s unclear when he came to New Zealand or even if it's true he had been in Australia but he married Elizabeth Maria Brooks who had been born in Nelson. By 1870, he was living in Waipawa and calling himself Professor T F Moore. But what his qualifications were is anyone’s guess. Moore lived in Rose Street, but leased a store in High St, called the Medical Hall, now demolished. At first he advertised photography, then a wholesale chemist then as a doctor. He was mentioned several times in the first southern HB newspaper, the Waipawa Mail. Moore had a certain notoriety. He barricaded his home and was living with Mary Ann Mills and her grandchild there. What had happened between him and Elizabeth - with whom he had at least six children, is uncertain. He lived with Mills for over 20 years. People, in particular women, came and went from his shop. In 1886, he was before the courts for unlawfully pretending to be a doctor, with the word surgery posted outside his home and business. Atarata Ropiha was treated by him at the local pā - he gave her a medicine which turned out to be oil of kupeba, used for the treatment of venereal disease. Ropiha had typhoid. Later that year he was back before the court for assaulting a woman and fined 10 shillings after an argument about a piece of leather. But it was in 1902 that it all came to an end when a young woman came to his store. In October Lottie Ancell, came into Moore’s shop. Ancell said she was unwell and needed to lie down and Mills sent her upstairs. Moore said he found the girl foaming at the mouth and ran for help. Lottie appeared to have died from asphyxia. It seemed a mystery as Lottie had been seen getting off the train earlier in the day, went shopping and appeared quite well. An inquest, however, found she was nearly five months pregnant. And police’s suspicions were aroused when they found an instrument, used for things like causing an abortion, at Moore’s. Moore and Mills were arrested and tried for her murder. The first trial, in Napier, resulted in a hung jury. They said they would have acquitted Mills but were unable to agree on Moore. At a second trial, Moore was found guilty of manslaughter and went on to be sentenced to seven years' hard labour. The Crown withdrew the charge of murder against Mills but promptly charged her with perjury, for lying about Lottie being ill before she came into the shop. She was given 12 months' probation and a fine. She died only a few months later - likely from a stroke. It wasn’t, however, the last time Moore was before the court. After the death of Mills he petitioned the court through the Public Trustee for £100 and interest from her estate. One of Moore’s sons then petitioned the courts for leniency due to his age and failing health and he was released early from jail in 1907 having served nearly four years of his sentence. Moore never returned to Waipawa after he was released, but lived with his son in Pahiatua for the rest of his life until his death on July 14, 1930. He is buried in the Mangatinoka/Pahiatua Cemetery.  How much do New Zealanders love their pies? And coffee? And chocolate fish?
Well, while Richard Hudson did not invent any of those things, he is the one the men behind these things being as popular as they are. Richard Hudson was born Daniel Richard Bullock in 1841 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England to John and Susan Bullock. By the age of nine he had been orphaned. He originally worked in a locomotive and carriage building business before going to sea as a cabin boy. He came to New Zealand in 1865, landing in Lyttelton where he learned to bake under the eye of John Griffin. After a short stint trying his hand in the gold fields he ended up in Dunedin in 1868, where he worked as a pastry cook. He would take his biscuits down to the docks to sell and his reputation spread. He married Mary Ann Riley in 1868 and they had eight children. Several of the children had the surname Hudson-Bullock but in 1874 Bullock was dropped altogether along with his first name. In 1884, he opened the first chocolate manufacturer in Moray Place. After a trip to Europe in 1885, where he saw the technical advances, he brought them back to New Zealand. He launched a biscuit, cake and confectionary bakehouse. He is believed to be the first trader to sell a pie and a cup of coffee for sixpence. Hudson was one of the richest men in Dunedin and Hudson’s had become a household name. Remember Cookie Bear - well that was Hudson’s. The factory was on a block of land bounded by Cumberland and Castle Streets. Hudson was an innovator and a firm advocate of the eight-hour working day. He also banned working on Saturday afternoons. In 1930, Hudson’s merged with Cadbury’s. While it can’t be said definitively that Hudson was behind the chocolate fish - excavation of the old factory unearthed a chocolate fish mould. The first mention of chocolate fish was in the Feilding Star in 1926 when a sweet shop in Whanganui was burgled. Tooth marks were found in the chocolate fish. The little marks seemed to be from children. Hudson died April 10, 1903, aged 61, and was buried in Dunedin’s Northern Cemetery. He had said he wanted no memorial - so there is no headstone on his grave, however it is surrounded by a beautiful cast iron fence.  When Pipi Katene brutally bludgeoned a man to death in 1941, he was eligible for the death penalty.
But he wasn’t hanged as his conviction came just one month after capital punishment was repealed. Katene was the first man to benefit from a change in Government and social policy when the first Labour government was elected in 1935. The election had already been delayed for a year because of the Great Depression. Disillusioned voters wanted something new. Nothing the old Government had done was shifting the economy forward. It helped that Michael Joseph Savage took over as leader before the election. Capital punishment was abolished in 1941 (with the exceptions being treason and piracy) and by the time Katene was convicted in October 1941 - the new law was a month old. Arthur Harding Parkinson was a shopkeeper in Waitotara, in South Taranaki. In the early hours of August 5, 1941 he was found badly injured with a mallet and an axe lying nearby. He was 78. The store’s safe was open and the money gone. Katene knew Parkinson, knew when he was going to be in the shop alone and knew he kept money in the safe. He lay in wait outside the store that night then went in and asked for cigarettes. When Parkinson turned his back, Katene hit him on the head with a piece of wood. After Parkinson fell to the floor, he hit him several more times. He dragged him into the back then used an axe to make sure he was dead. Katene took the keys from Parkinson’s body and opened the safe. He was arrested in Patea a day later with a lot of money. He told the police he had not worked for several months and had been getting a social security benefit. It took the jury 43 minutes to find him guilty and instead of the hangman’s noose, he was sentenced to 10 years hard labour. Parkinson was born in 1862 in Rangitikei to Charles and Jane Eleanor who had come from England. His first wife Maria Margaret Dunn - who he married in 1884 - died 1886, not long after the birth of their daughter. In 1901 he remarried to Mary Laing with whom he had a son. Parkinson was buried in the Hawera Cemetery with his first wife. |
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