The ice cream man
Getting ice cream to the masses was a mammoth task. It wasn’t like today with modern freezers. You needed milk or cream, sugar and of course to freeze it - which meant ice or snow. It had to be made in a modified butter churn. There was no popping down to the supermarket. So when Wellington hotelier James Osgood advertised - for the first time in New Zealand - that ice cream would be served at his hotel - the Empire - it was a big deal. Not the least part of which was that ice was being imported into New Zealand from the Lake Wenham Ice Company in Massachusetts. On January 27, 1866, Osgood put out the advert that ice cream would be served and that he had Wenham Ice. It doesn’t say what flavour or how much it was. But it was new. Osgood wasn’t a stranger to new. He is sometimes credited with revolutionising hotel care and stays in New Zealand. An American, from New York, Osgood had been born in 1829 and on coming to New Zealand had gone into the hotel trade. He ran the Empire - where the old BNZ centre is now - and later others, opening a family style hotel in the Hutt and also the Metropolitan where he was the host. The arrival of refrigeration in the 1870’s changed things again, along with ice available commercially. It still wouldn’t have been something that could easily be made at home. Ice cream began being advertised around the country - it had to be made fresh daily. In 1875 a W Marshall, a fruiterer who had a shop on Lambton Quay in Wellington was advertising the manufacture of ice cream on a commercial basis. Osgood was considered a master of hospitality, twice he was appointed in charge of Parliament’s own restaurant Bellamy’s. He is also considered one of the founder’s of Wellington’s volunteer fire brigade. Osgood died October 29, 1876 after a long illness and was buried in the Bolton St Cemetery. His funeral procession was accompanied by the local fire brigades and the City Rifle Band. Picture by Lama Roscu.
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Justice Henry Samuel Chapman - the first Supreme Court judge in Wellington - must have wondered what on earth he was hearing when a case of drunken piracy hit his court in March 1850.
Chapman had been in the job less than a year when the odd case came before him. George Jefferson and John Jones were charged with an alleged plot to take charge of the William and James and take off for America. Chapman was sitting as a Vice-Admiralty court - basically a juryless court that had jurisdiction over legal matters related to maritime crimes. It was the first time such a court had sat in New Zealand. As a crime, piracy is very rarely used in New Zealand - even though it remains on the books to the present day. But Chapman can’t have expected anything like this little plot. The barque William and James was outfitted to take passengers. Jefferson was a seamen on board while Jones was a passenger. Thomas Morgan was the master on January 12, 1850, when Jefferson came up to him while the ship was in Queen Charlotte Sound and said he did not intend to go to Taranaki where the ship was bound, but to California to make a fortune. He wanted Morgan to shift course or agree to be put ashore. After this momentous announcement Jefferson and Jones went to the forecastle of the ship. It appears they were drinking - anything they could get their hands on from beer to spirits. One person said there were 14 bottles on the ship and none when Jefferson and Jones finished with them. Drunk, both with power and liquor, they proposed they should head away from New Zealand and if they did not have enough provisions, a spot of cannibalism would do. Morgan and the cook got into a boat and headed for help which arrived to take back the ship. Jefferson and Jones were arrested and dragged before the court. But their clever lawyer had a plan. Once the Crown had presented its whole case the lawyer reminded Chapman that at no point had it been proven that the ship was owned by a British subject. Chapman was forced to concede that was true - and gave a verdict of not guilty. Chapman had been born in London to a civil servant father Henry and wife Ann. After a private education he went to Canada where he worked as a merchant before starting a newspaper. After returning to England he studied law. After arriving in New Zealand he became a judge of the Supreme Court living in Karori. Later he went to Australia where he was a judge before returning to New Zealand as a judge in 1864. Chapman married twice, to Catherine DeLancy Brewer who tragically drowned along with three of their seven children. He later married Selina Frances Carr. Several of his sons followed him into law, carving out their own distinguished careers. He died in Dunedin in December 1881 and is buried in the Northern Cemetery. Photo by Raimond Klavins. Two horses lined up for the Ormond Memorial gold cup race in Hawke’s Bay in 1925.
And it sent the crowd into a frenzy. One was The Hawk - a Caulfield Stakes winner who had seven wins under his saddle and the other was a bay gelding, Gloaming. Both were considered stars. Initially two other horses were supposed to race, but when they were scratched it turned into a match race. It was a true battle. Between them the lead changed several times to the roar of the crowd. But with 200 metres to go Gloaming gained the lead and won by a length. He was nearly 10-years-old and it would be his last win and race before his retirement. It brought to the end a racing career to rival other legends - Gloaming had won 57 of his 67 starts. His name is considered up there with the likes of Phar Lap but not as well known. Born in Australia at Melton Stud in 1915, he was considered an ordinary looking bay gelding, who had caught the disease strangles. Which led to the bay colt being sold to G D Greenwood for what amounted to $480 odd and brought to New Zealand. It wasn’t until Gloaming was three that he first showed the promise that would lead to his extraordinary career. He was sent back to Australia for the Chelmsford race and after settling at the back of the pack, he flew past them all in the straight to win. By eight lengths. In his debut race. After a loss in the GG Stead Memorial Stakes, he won the AJC Derby before returning to New Zealand. It would set the tone for his career, crossing back and forth to Australia. In 1919, he took on champion mare Desert Gold but it all went wrong. He became tangled in the barrier strands and missed the start. Gloaming chased Desert Gold down but couldn’t catch her. Then six days later they had a rematch and this time Desert Gold got caught up in the strands. When she made it clear she had to hurdle a fallen horse but it was too late. Gloaming had won. By the time he faced The Hawk in Hawke’s Bay he was a rising 10-year-old. His opponent was half his age. He wasn’t expected to be able to beat The Hawk. It was his last race. He was immediately retired to his owner’s property in Teviotdale in North Canterbury. He died in May 1932 and was buried there. Gloaming never seemed to reach the heights of fame of other horses whose names are still spoken of, like Carbine or Phar Lap but he still holds a few records today. His trainer Richard Mason had been born in Wellington in 1853 before becoming a jockey then a trainer. He had a number of well known horses but Gloaming was special. Mason died a week after the horse he had trained for so many wins. His trainer - Richard Mason - who waited to retire until Gloaming did, died only a week after one of his most famous horses. He is buried in St Peter’s Anglican Churchyard in Christchurch. Pineapple lumps have been in the news recently but did you know they were a mistake?
A yummy chocolatey mistake. Nevertheless they have gone on to become one of the most iconic lollies New Zealand has ever known. And expats around the world often have requests of friends visiting - bring pineapple lumps. Charles Richard Diver wasn’t actually supposed to be making pineapple lumps. In 1952, he was told to find a way to use up the waste from the daily run of marshmallow. The most waste came from a type of chocolate fish with pineapple marshmallow. Diver used it to create chunks of the marshmallow and before long the forerunner of pineapple lumps were born. Diver was born November 22, 1910 in Alexandra, Otago to John and Elizabeth. He worked at the Regina Confectionery Factory as confectionery chef and floor production manager and it was during his time that the pineapple lumps were created. He was also responsible for other sweets. Pineapple lumps were introduced to the public around 1952-54. Originally they were called pineapple chunks with the name changed in the 1960’s. Cadbury’s later acquired the name and began selling them under their Pascall brand. A variety of other brands also sell similar named products. The Diver family still has a copy of Charles’ original recipe. The children remember being used as guinea pigs for the lumps and other sweets. Meanwhile Regina has also continued producing pineapple chunks themselves and now used a slightly modified version of Charles’ original recipe. And for anyone who wants to know - the Diver family kept theirs in the freezer. Charles died on May 5, 1994 aged 83 and is buried in the Oamaru Lawn Cemetery with his wife Ivy. Agnes Bennett was determined to go to war.
A female doctor in a time when they were not common, she offered her services to the New Zealand Government at the outbreak of World War One but no one was interested in having a woman doctor. Agnes didn’t let it stop her. She sailed for Europe instead and joined the French Red Cross. But during her service in Cairo, she was offered a job in the New Zealand Medical Corp with the status and pay of Captain although she was not given a formal commission. After a year she left for England where she was appointed commanding officer of the 7th Medical Unit, Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service. She resigned after an attack of malaria. Agnes was given several honours before she became medical officer on troop-ships then worked in the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, during the 1918 influenza epidemic. Agnes was born on June 24, 1872, to Wiliam Christopher Bennett and his wife Agnes Amelia in Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia. They took her (and their six others) to England for schooling, returning to Australia after her mother died of smallpox. After initially gaining qualifications in geology and biology, Agnes went to Scotland to study medicine. Working however was not easy. Back in Australia she had to take a job in an asylum before the opportunity to work with Dr Isabella Watson in Wellington came up. In 1908 she became medical officer at St Helen’s maternity hospital where she began an interest in obstetrics and a particular interest in breastfeeding which was the basis of her thesis for her doctor’s degree. A champion of education for women, she fought publicly with Dr Truby King and others who did not think mothers needed higher education. Back in Wellington after the war, she focussed on women’s health, particularly the mortality rates of mothers, newborns and stillbirths. She strictly enforced good antenatal care. In 1936, Agnes “retired” then went on to do a stint with the flying doctor service in Queensland in 1939. But the Second World War saw her organising the Women’s War Service Auxiliary and in 1940 she sailed for England to continue working as a medical officer. She returned to New Zealand in 1942 before answering the call for a doctor on the Chatham Islands in 1947 as the resident doctor was ill. Aged 75 she administered to the ill on the islands, in winter, often on horseback. Agnes received an OBE in recognition of her long life of work. Described as highly energetic and organised, she is responsible for a huge improvement in the care of mothers and infants during her day. Agnes never married and died on November 27, 1960 and was cremated at Karori. If it wasn’t for Richard Seddon - we’d be Australian.
We’ve written about Seddon before (King Dick the lion from the Wellington zoo is named after him) but most people don’t know that it was Seddon who turned down an invitation to make New Zealand part of the pending new Commonwealth of Australia. Seddon is a towering political figure in New Zealand. His importance to our history can’t be overlooked. He championed old age pensions, liquor licensing, opposed women’s suffrage - then changed his mind and supported it. Born on June 22, 1845 in Lancashire, England, to Thomas and Jane Seddon. Both were teachers. Ironic because Seddon wasn’t a good student, ending up working on his grandfather’s farm from about 12-years-old. He also worked at a foundry and engineers but contracted smallpox and lost his job. In 1863 he worked his passage to Melbourne and worked at railway workshops before trying his hand at prospecting. When that failed he returned to the workshops. When he became engaged to Louisa Jane Spotswood her father wasn’t having it, at least until he improved his financial status. So he sailed for New Zealand where he tried gold digging again. He made enough to return to Melbourne and marry Louisa who had waited three years for him, before returning with him to New Zealand. His political career began by going on to the Arahura Road Board then becoming its chairman. After that it was the Westland County Council, then he became the first mayor of Kumara before being elected in Hokitika. His political career has been well documented. He was considered boisterous, loud and a bit boastful while underneath he suffered from depression and anxiety. It was his profound knowledge of Parliamentary procedure that led him to win the Premiership in 1893. In 1900 Seddon established a Royal Commission of inquiry to determine if New Zealand should become a state of the Commonwealth of Australia.which had been proposed since 1895. He was playing for time. Seddon was a staunch imperialist and also believed in a strong Pacific - but not that New Zealand should become Australian. The 10 man royal commission eventually returned with a unanimous no. Seddon then dropped the word Premier and began calling himself Prime Minister. He would be one of New Zealand’s longest serving. He remained in power until his death in 1906 - when he was returning from a trip to Australia and suffered a heart attack on board the Oswestry Grange and died at sea. Seddon is buried at the Bolton St Cemetery where a large memorial is dedicated to him (and family). Pic from Denise Jans. Kiwi Icon: Radio’s first lady
Maud Ruby Basham was known to a whole generation of New Zealanders - by her greeting - Good morning, good morning, good morning everyone - but more so by her air name - Aunt Daisy. Born in London on August 30, 1879, her parents Robert and Eliza Taylor christened her Maud - but she was always known as Daisy. Her father died when she was three and her widowed mother and she came to New Zealand in 1891, coming to New Plymouth where she went to New Plymouth High School. As well as singing lessons she took part in local concerts, and sang in the church choir, honing the voice that would become one of her trademarks. She also trained as a teacher and trained at a number of local schools. On June 4, 1904 she married Frederick Basham - a civil engineer - and they had three children. In 1922, during a visit to Wellington, Daisy accepted an invitation to sing on an experimental radio station (the first public broadcast had only been the year before). But she did not begin broadcasting until 1928. During the depression, with her husband on half pay, he encouraged her to apply for a position singing on Auckland station iYA. She wrote and sang for a programme on the lives of great composers. Then in 1930 - with the presenter of the children’s programme away - she took over and for the first time was known as Aunt Daisy. It didn’t last - she was made redundant and immediately went to a private radio station in Wellington. But after a month she was back in Auckland at 1ZR and had the responsibility of opening each day's transmission. Over the years she headed different programmes and gathered fans. She moved back to Wellington in 1937 to the headquarters of the newly stated operated ZB network, (the forerunner of Newstalk ZB). Her programme was astonishingly simple. Aunt Daisy talked for half an hour. About anything she liked. She was a hell of a talker - getting up to between 175-202 words an hour! Aunt Daisy often mentioned products (she was paid to promote them) and once she did it was not unknown for that product to promptly sell out. Her theme song was the popular Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. Along with her show were the Aunt Daisy cook books along with books on handy hints and a world tour. (Our pic is an Aunty Daisy cookbook in Deb’s collection.) Aunt Daisy was recognised as the first lady of New Zealand radio and received an MBE. She was still broadcasting until only a few days before her death on July 14, 1963. She was cremated at Karori Cemetery. The radio man
Robert Jack’s voice on the radio was the first time anyone in New Zealand had heard a local radio programme. A professor of physics at Otago University, he wanted to unite and educate communities. Jack was born on November 4, 1877, in Scotland, the son of schoolmaster Hugh Jack and wife Janet. He received a first class education then went on to study in France and Germany, specialising in magnetic fields. Then after four years at Belfast University, teaching as a lecturer in physics Jack came to New Zealand in 1914 as a professor of physics at Otago. He was to teach there for 33 years. Open public lectures were common at the time, and Jack took full advantage - speaking on many aspects of physics. Jack became fascinated by radio. Radio signals were broadcast in New Zealand - but there was no voice or music and Jack developed the technology to allow it. During a visit to Britain he researched the latest naval radio communications and talked about how the equipment with his brother Hugh - an electrical engineer, returning to New Zealand with high-voltage direct current generators and two Edison valves that would create the core of his radio transmitter. Overseas a handful of radio stations had begun and Jack and his team had put together a small transmitter. On May 21, 1921 they were able to transmit voice and music within the laboratory and on November 17, Jack and the team broadcast New Zealand’s first radio programme. The first song ever broadcast was Hello My Dearie. He continued the radio programme two nights a week - a mix of news, live music and recorded music and it was heard all over New Zealand. One of his contributors was his wife, Isabella Finlay Manson, who he had married on May 22, 1927 when she was matron of Knox College. Nearly a year after the first broadcast began regularly and the station - now called Radio Dunedin is still on the air and is the fifth oldest station in the world. Jack also experimented with television transmission and during the Second World War he did governmental research on infra-red radiation. He died on May 1, 1957 and is buried at the Anderson’s Bay cemetery. His historic radio transmitter is at the Otago Settlers Musuem. Picture from Nacho-Carretero-Molero. Wellington’s Cable Car has turned 121. The little red trams that trundle between Lambton Quay and Kelburn rise 394 feet and are considered an icon of the city.
The man responsible is James Fulton. At the end of the 19th century, Wellington was growing rapidly. Its hilly terrain meant that any land that stood still for five minutes was being built on. With new plans for residential development in Kelburn, a cable car was proposed and some of its prominent residents founded the Kelburne (that’s how it was spelled) and Karori Tramway Company. Land was bought with the intention of linking it to a new street, now called Upland Road. Permission was granted by the city council in 1898, but on the condition that it had the option to purchase the cable car at a later date. Engineer James Fulton was chosen to design the system. He selected the route and the two car system - one going up as one was coming down - and construction started in 1899. The line opened in December 1902 and people queued (just like they do now) to use it. It reached one million passengers annually by 1912. But in the 1940’s there was increased competition from buses and there was a legal dispute between the council-run buses and the privately run cable car company which ended with the council buying the cable car in 1947. As the old system began to wear out, there were complainants about it and an upgrade was started in 1978. It was completely refurbished with new lines and new cars. A number of other upgrades have since taken place to replace the electric drive and control system and upgrading the terminals. James Edward Fulton was born in Dunedin on December 11, 1854, the son of James and Catherine. He went into the Public Works Department in Wellington as a cadet. After years of engineering and survey work, he was appointed resident engineer on the Wellington to Palmerston North train line - the Waikanae to Longburn section. After going into private practice he designed the cable car, the first Kelburn viaduct and Ballance bridge in the Manawatu Gorge. He had married Charlotte Fredericka Budd in 1885. He retired in 1926 and died December 6, 1928 and is buried in the Karori Cemetery. In 1909, the only death recorded (there have been several injuries) from the cable car was for John William Wakelin who fell on to the concrete blocks from the still moving car, sustaining head injuries. He is buried in Woolston Cemetery in Christchurch. Picture from Te Papa’s collection |
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