John Wainhouse wasn’t put off by the idea of ghosts.
As a police constable in Kingsland, Auckland, he had likely heard quite a few weird things, but in 1912 he was tasked with investigating a ghost scare. Not being a paranormal investigator he took a pragmatic approach to the rumours that were swirling around the suburb. One young woman had been woken late at night by a light outside her window. On going to look outside she saw a spectacle in white that scared her so she hid in bed under the covers in terror. She later told a newspaper she hadn’t told anyone initially because she thought they would laugh at her. Shortly after two young women, Misses Yates and Foster, were scared by a figure in white as they walked home about 6pm at night. Both were shop girls not normally prone to flights of fancy. They said they had seen something that had made horrible noises and sent them fleeing to a nearby house they knew while it chased them. It might have been left as the imagination of young ladies except that the following evening several residents heard terrifying screams that sounded like a woman although no one could be found. Nevertheless the papers still thought it was someone under a sheet. But as Wainhouse began asking about the suburb he couldn’t actually find the young woman who had hidden in her bed or anyone who knew who that was. However there had been a couple of Fijian men in the area out for a stroll wearing white at the same time. As for the second sighting he found a white taxi whose driver was wearing a white coat while trying to relight his lamps in the rain. As he got them lit, suddenly making himself visible, two young women screamed and ran off. Wainhouse reported that nothing in the shape of a ghost had been found and that police had been patrolling the area without success. And after that nothing was heard or seen of the Kingsland ghost again. John Robert Wainhouse died in 1943 in Whanganui and is buried, along with his wife Eliza, in the Aramoho Cemetery. Happy Halloween and watch out for ghosts!! Pic by Tandem X Visuals.
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Percival Leonard Carol Redwood was a married wealthy sheepfarmer. There were only a few things wrong with that statement - he wasn’t wealthy, a sheepfarmer, married or indeed a man.
The bizarre story of Any Maud Bock is one of a confidence trickster who worked her schemes all over New Zealand and often for just a few pounds reward. It’s hard to know if the money was what she wanted or whether it was acting out her fantasy life. Bock was born on May 18, 1859, in Hobart, Tasmania to Mary Ann Parkinson and her husband Alfred Bock. Her childhood was spent there and in Melbourne. Her father was an artist and photographer and encouraged her to take part in amateur dramatics. Her mother, howeve,r died in a mental asylum in 1875 believing she was Lady Macbeth. She found a job as a teacher but by1885 she got into trouble for illegally acquiring goods and her father persuaded her to move to Auckland. She began working as a governess but within weeks had defrauded her employer and appeared in court. She made a tearful confession and was let off. Bock often found work, as a cook, housekeeper or companion creating a fantasy life about herself, like that she was from a well off family with a noble sounding name. Her employers initially valued her until she managed to get some money, sometimes by pawning her employers possessions, before disappearing. Once found and in court she would ask for forgiveness and be sentenced. One of her tricks was to forge letters to herself about the things she took, perfecting seven different types of handwriting to do it. Her first official appearance was in 1886 when she was charged with buying goods on credit and she got hard labour for a month which she served at Addington gaol. The next year she was back on fraud charges. Once she convinced a man to marry her, and they went off to Melbourne, only for Bock to disappear with all his possessions. Quite often she had given away what she took. While working as a matron at the Otaki Maori Boys College, she would use stolen money to buy boots for her pupils. The pattern continued for a while, until in 1908, she was living in Dunedin as Agnes Vallance when she pawned her employers furniture before hiding out when she decided on her most audacious scheme yet. She began posing as Percival Redwood, cutting her hair short, holidaying at the Albion House on the South Otago coast and began wooing the landlady’s daughter Agnes Ottaway and they got engaged. Bock even took her and her mother on a shopping trip for the wedding - using money he had tricked out of a solicitor. When creditors arrived demanding payment for various things Bock - or Percy - would string along another story. Bock managed to maintain the deception even to the point of marrying the girl on April 21, 1909. But four days later she was arrested and convicted of false pretences, forgery and making a false statement under the Marriage Act then declared a habitual criminal. The marriage was then annulled. She was released from New Plymouth gaol in 1911 and began working for an old people’s home. She married - legally - Charles Edward Christofferson in 1914 but the marriage only lasted a year. Bock managed to gain a few more convictions before making her final appearance before a court in Auckland and gaining two years probation. In all she was jailed 13 times for a total of 16 years and two months. She died on August 29, 1943 in Auckland and buried in an unmarked grave at Pukekohe Cemetery. William Vining cranked the starting handle on his little open-topped Cadillac, joined his three passengers and began the first trip from Nelson to Christchurch by car.
It was a torturous trip filled with breakdowns, fording rivers, and having to have the car towed. They started out on March 26, 1906, in a 10hp single cylinder car with rain coming down. The car laboured up hills and along trails where only centimetres were between them and a sheer drop. Progress was slow and at Havelock they invested in an umbrella - which along with wraps and waterproof coats were their only protection against the rain. Several times the car got bogged down, once in a cattle stop, often in mud. During one mud-logged stop, even using tussock under the wheels they were unable to move the car, ending up walking five miles to a homestead where men with a cart horse dragged the car out. At the Hapuka River, another horse was used to pull it but it became stuck. Several onlookers helped move boulders from the river bed to get the car to the other side. More horses had to be used at the Kowhai then Stormy Creek. Finally they arrived in Cathedral Square on March 31. But it wasn’t the end - after a few days' rest they turned around and drove back! They arrived on April 8 having gone 2000 kilometres. William Graeme (sometimes spelled Graham) Malone Vining was born in 1865 in London to barrister and solicitor James Tully Vining and his wife Emma Mayo. In 1892, he boarded a ship to New Zealand and spent weeks horribly sea sick. Eventually he landed in Nelson and opened a business. He imported and sold bicycles, believing them better than horses. He was also the organist for the Nelson Cathedral and he also sold pianos. Vining became fascinated with motorised transport and imported into New Zealand one of the first cars, a Benz. It had bicycle-like wheels. The trip between Nelson and Christchurch was in part to promote cars to the public. He had opened a garage and later established a car assembly factory putting together Cadillacs, Maxwells, Beansm Haynes, Darracs and Unics. He imported Model T Fords and Nelson’s first bus. Vining married Margaret Kebbell of Wellington in 1895, and they had two children together, a daughter, Vera, and a son, Phillip. He retired in 1927 and sold the garage (to the disappointment of his son who opened his own) Vining died on October 18, 1948 and is buried in Wakapuaka Cemetery in Nelson. Photo by Yoal Desurmont. The closure of the supermarket at Wellington’s majestic railway station is by no means the first amenity to go.
The railway station used to have tea rooms, a nursery and even a barber’s shop. It was designed as a place for travellers to rest and get what they needed before travelling on, all amongst the magnificent art deco setting. The station itself is a heritage-listed building and can’t be changed without much consultation. But it’s not the first railway station Wellington had. That was built at Pipitea Point and on earthquake-reclaimed land. The train line then ran right down Featherston Street. The first station was pulled north of huge rollers to a site on Featherston Street. There were a series of smaller stations after that until in 1929, Wellington architect William Gray Young was selected to design a grand new station. Gray Young was born in Oamaru, the son of a Scottish watchmaker and jewellery retailer Matthew Gray Young and his wife Agnes Anderson Barclay. Matthew and his family moved to Wellington in the 1890’s, and William attended Wellington College before going on to the architectural firm of Crichton and McKay. He made his mark early, winning the competition to design Knox College in Dunedin. Gray Young married Irene Deans Webster in 1913. They had three daughters and one son. He was judged unfit for military service for World War One so continued to practise. His buildings are noted for their neo-georgian and neo-classical styles. The list includes Wellington Technical College in 1919, the Wellesley Club, the Easterfield building at Victoria University, Scots College, what is now called Trekkers hotel, the home of Plunket found Sir Truby King, the old Boy’s Institute (Now Third Eye), Whanganui Collegiate, the Indonesian Embassy and the Carter Observatory. In 1929, he began work designing Wellington’s magnificent historic railway station. By then he had his own firm of Gray Young, Morton and Young. The second Young was his younger brother Jack. The new station was opened in 1937 by the Governor General.. He was paid a 4% fee based on the originally estimated cost of £470,000. Gray Young also designed Christchurch’s railway station in 1938 - although it was not built until 1960. When Wellington’s Railway Station was opened it was then New Zealand’s largest building with its impressive columns and beautiful ceiling. Inside were waiting rooms and toilets, a large dining room, a barber shop, book and fruit stalls, kitchen and a first aid room. There was a nursery on the top floor to allow parents to leave their children while they shopped or waited for their train. A possible mail room was not built to help keep the cost down. Over time, all the shops and amenities were closed down. 1500 tons of decorative Hanmer and Whangarei granite and marble were used to clad the interior and the entranceway. 2500 gallons of paint were used. The roof was clad in Marseille tiles. The station has its own roll of honour of 450 railway workers who lost their lives in World War One. Gray Young was also both the president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects and of the Wellington Rotary Club. He died on April 21, 1962 and was cremated at Karori Cemetery. Frederick Foster lurked in a quiet seat across the Auckland milk bar from the woman he wanted to be with. He had a drink in front of him and spoke to no one.
But he also had a gun with him. Foster was desperately in love with Sharon Skiffington. The pair had met in 1954 - Sharon was 19 and working as an usherette. Foster was 26. And married. But when he confessed this to Sharon - and told her a divorce was coming through - she broke it off with him. Foster had been born in England where he had married a girl called Sylvia in but they had separated and he had emigrated to Australia in 1953, then come on to New Zealand. He had also told Sharon about other girls - called Rita and Pauline. He even invented a girl called Shirley - all with the intention of making Sharon jealous. But when Sharon turned him away, Foster came up with another plan. He would fire a gun to frighten her On March 28, 1955, Sharon was at a milk bar in Auckland sitting at a table with a drink. Foster had followed her and sat at a table near the door. When she got up to leave he raised a shotgun he was carrying in a paper bag and shot her. A brave commercial traveller Walter Brown grabbed Foster by the neck and took the gun, holding him until police arrived. Sharon died in hospital shortly after. At his trial Foster revealed his mad plan to shoot the gun near Sharon - for publicity - and hoped it would rekindle her feelings for him. He denied wanting to kill her. He said he was guilty of being in love. But the Crown painted a picture of a man obsessed with sex and unscrupulous with women. It took the jury one hour and 17 minutes to find him guilty. Shortly before his execution his mother Alice flew out from England to ask for clemency but it failed. Foster was hanged on July 7, 1955. Oddly he had his appendix removed only a few days before he was executed - the wound had not even healed. Unlike a great many murderers, Foster has a headstone clearly marked - many have nothing to mark the spot where they lie. Foster is buried at Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland, not too far from where Sharon lies. In the burial register at the Mangere Lawn cemetery is an unusual name and an equally unusual occupation as one of the earliest burials.
Charles Thomas Brillianso was said to be an acrobat, but that doesn’t begin to explain his life and story. In fact Charles came from a family of performers - which started in Europe and ended here in New Zealand. His father William - called Wilhelm - was from Berlin in Germany and was also a performer. Europe had a long history of circus folk - whole families who spent their lives travelling and entertaining under a Big Top. Wilhelm and his wife Emma had Charles in Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa in 1876. By 1891 Charles and his partner Dick Hayes had their own circus and were touring New Zealand, although the seven horses they relied on for their performance had trouble coming through quarantine. They were able to rejoin the circus early in 1892. Their huge tent could hold 2000 people and the show featured globe walking, dancing ponies, plate spinning, juggling, clowns, contortionists and a trapezist from around Australia, South Africa and England. While not hugely popular in Auckland, the circus usually showed to sell out crowds around the country. The stars of the show were the horses. Charles himself was indeed an acrobat - but he was so many other things, bareback equestrian, high wire artist and tumbler. He was able to leap on to a horse while at full gallop. He performed with several circuses while in New Zealand. Charles was born in Kwazuliu-Natal in South Africa in 1876, shortly before his father died in April that same year. He married Emily Childs and had two children, Charles who died young and Ruatara, who was born in Auckland and also was a showman. In 1895 Charles suffered an accident while performing, badly injuring his leg and putting an end to his career. He was in hospital in February 1896 having contracted what the papers called inflammation of the lungs. Charles died on March 6, 1896 and is buried in an unmarked grave, one of the earliest burials at the Mangere Lawn Cemetery. Was Victor Penny really the inventor of a death ray or was he just someone who liked to reinvent himself?
In 1935, a couple of small articles about an assault on a Takapuna bus depot night attendant in June led on to an extraordinary story in which the New Zealand government might have been fooled into thinking one man could create the ultimate weapon. Victor Penny was an amateur radio enthusiast. The assault left him badly injured and Penny was taken to hospital and then unusually, he was under police guard. What was so important about this man that he needed a police guard? Then suddenly Penny vanished. What happened next was something out of a science fiction movie. Penny had said he had discovered something important during his amateur experiments - a kind of ray that could destroy an enemy - taking out whole armies and even bring down planes in flight. He claimed he had been contacted by foreign agents, threats were made against him and that an enemy state might have been responsible for the assault. In secret, he was whisked to Wellington and ended up on Somes/Matiu Island, a former quarantine site also used during World War One for holding suspected aliens. He was provided with sleeping quarters - surrounded by barbed wire and with armed guards and was allowed no visitors. His apparently long suffering wife Kathleen was later allowed to join him but had separate lodgings. But what he was working on is still a bit of a mystery. Then, in March 1936 Penny was suddenly sent home - with nothing to show for his time. And Peter Fraser - who would shortly be elected Prime Minister - made a disparaging comment in Parliament that: "Penny had been claiming for years he was the inventor of a death ray. We found him under guard and still searching for his mythical death ray at a cost to the country of £1000...a child could have seen there was nothing in it." So who was this man? Victor George Marcus Penny was born in 1897 to mechanic father George Penny and his wife Mary Ann Trim in Christchurch, Kent in England. The family came to New Zealand in 1914. Penny married his first wife Kathleen emily Penny in 1923 and is best noted for working a variety of mundane jobs, bus driver, and at the police commissioners office in Wellington. Kathleen died shortly after Penny came back from the island in 1939 and the next year he married Grace Bryce. He worked at the Post and Telegraph in Auckland and then in 1943 was living in Mount Eden working as a radio engineer. But after that the pair left for the South Island where they initially lived in Clutha at a presbyterian manse and Penny appears to be a minister. And later the pair were in Middlemarch. Penny died in 1970 and is buried in the Green Island Cemetery in Dunedin. He never did tell about anyone about his death ray experiments. Photo by Nik. One hundred years ago Wellington - and the country - was spellbound by the trial of Daniel Richard Cooper, abortionist and baby killer.
People queued for entry to the trial, some packed lunches so, if they got a seat, they would not have to leave. They goggled at the exhibits - which included the tiny skeleton of a baby - in court and held their breath when the jury returned. The headlines had been screaming for months after police became suspicious of Cooper and the women who had been living at his 19 acre property in Newlands in 1922. When Cooper - who had been running a health business from a Lambton Quay office - was arrested along with his wife Martha - they were held on a charge of illegally detaining a child. That quickly turned to murder after the discovery of a female baby of less than a month old buried in their back garden. It got worse when two more baby bodies were found, although a doctor was not able to determine sex due to decomposition. This year, for the first time, the file on Cooper has been released publically from New Zealand Archives. Cooper was born in Otepopo - now called Herbert - near Oamaru on October 18, 1881 to George James Cooper and his wife Jessie. He had worked as a builder before marrying his first wife Marion. They had two children before Marion died in the eighth month of her third pregnancy. There had been rumours about Cooper before, that he was having an affair, that he performed illegal abortions and now, that he had poisoned his first wife. He married again quickly, to Martha Elizabeth - who he had met before Marion had died. The couple moved around a bit, but in 1919 they came to Wellington. After a short stint in Island Bay they moved on to a farm in Newlands. And Daniel - who had no medical training or licence, opened a practice on Lambton Quay. He sold remedies for things like hair loss and women’s complaints - a code for performing abortions. An illegitimate pregnancy could ruin a woman and any way out was better than a child. So Daniel would arrange the procedure or he would say he could find parents for the child. Several women came to stay with him and his wife at their property. He charged them rent and a fee for adopting out the children. But it was all a scam - one called baby farming. It was already a sensitive topic in New Zealand after Minnie Dean had been convicted and hanged about 28 years before. The Crown opted to proceed on one murder charge - that of a baby girl of Mary McLeod and William Welsh. It took the jury only just over an hour to find him guilty. But his wife - facing the same charge - had claimed she knew nothing about it and was nothing more than a drudge in her own household. She was found not guilty. The trial also threw up several revelations - like that Daniel had had his mistress - Beatrice Beadle living with them. On June 16, 1923, Cooper - who had been protesting his innocence was due to go to the scaffold. Thirty minutes before he finally admitted some part in the deaths of the babies and said his wife was innocent. Shortly after 8am Cooper was hanged, the last man to be executed at the Terrace Gaol. Martha - moved back to Dunedin, went back to her maiden name and remarried. Cooper was buried in an unmarked grave in Karori Cemetery. The bodies of two of his victims were held at the New Zealand Police Museum until 2015 when the remains of several infants were finally buried at Makara Cemetery. Drawing of Cooper in court from The Truth. The women of aviation in the second world war often did not get the same accolades as fighter pilots but their job was hard, dangerous and often overlooked.
But without them, many things that needed to be done, would have had to be taken by men. One was Jane Winstone. Jane was born in Whanganui on September 1912 to chemist Arthur George Winstone and LIna Storme Clapham. She began flying at the age of 16 as a hobby becoming a foundation member of the Whanganui Aero Club, going solo at 17 and became the country’s youngest female pilot. Jane left school to work in her father’s chemist shop but continued flying, often in pageants around the country. In 1934 she and three other women pilots flew their de Havilland Gipsy Moths to meet aviatrix Jean Batten during her tour and flew with her. It was through flying she met fellow pilot Angus Carr MacKenzie. They got engaged and in 1940 he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force and became a commissioned officer. Jane was also keen to help the war efforts and offered her services to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in Britian. ATA ferried aircraft from factories or maintenance units, delivered and collected mail, signals and secret documents and transported personnel on urgent duties She was accepted but had to make her own way to Britain to have medical and flying tests. Just as Jane was leaving for England she got word that her fiance was missing on a raid over Essen. His body was never recovered. She continued on passing her tests - one of five New Zealanders among the 90 women who served with the ATA. (They were called Atta Girls) She had to learn how to fly many different aircraft. It was definitely dangerous, mostly they flew solo and radio contact was forbidden. They also had to keep watch for hazards. Jane flew Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes and even a Gloster Gladiator used in film. She often delivered them to airbases for other pilots. It was during a flight in a Spitfire on its way for maintenance on February 10, 1944 that her plane engine failed and she spun into the ground. She was 31 years old and held the rank of lieutenant. She was buried in the local cemetery - Maidenhead - in a section set aside for ATA deaths. She was one of 16 women from ATA killed during the war. A retirement villa in Whanganui is named after her. Photo by the Wanganui Chronicle. |
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