Work of Heart

I have been quiet on here for some time, as life events and health challenges have got in the way, but I have been quietly working on the family history front too.

I have just completed writing my second family and local history book, Work of Heart.  As I write, the book is in the process of being set-up and shortly I will have the final quotes and then the book will be in print and ready for distribution! This project has taken many years, and has been a ‘work of heart’ for myself to see it finally completed.

Meet Jane Norgate, later Preshaw (1839-1926); my 3 x great grandmother:  

Jane Preshaw (née Norgate) 1839 – 1926

For those of you who have followed my blog for some time, Jane was the grandmother of Henry David Evans (1886-1922) of Reefton, who married Eva Lillian Lawn (1887-1976) of Blacks Point in 1907.

Eva Evans (née Lawn) and Henry David (‘Harry’) Evans with their three eldest children, Edith, Jennifer and Henry jnr.

Jane was born in a tiny village in Norfolk, went to Norwich as a child and on to London. She travelled to Australia (alone) while still in her teens, and several years later arrived on the West Coast of New Zealand with her young daughter Alice.

But Jane, a stalwart of the Reefton community as the first Matron of the Reefton Hospital, had some secrets that she never revealed during her life, just as the men in her life had past lives that were not all that they seemed, and which are now uncovered and told in my story spanning several generations and following connected family lines.

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Work of Heart 

A Life of courage, determination and compassion

Jane Preshaw née Norgate 1839-1926 

Her family, the men in her life and her

legacy as matron for the first thirty years at Reefton Hospital.

This book builds on my earlier (much smaller) 2013 booklet called Jane Norgate: a life revealed. Since then I have made a lot of discoveries, corrected errors and completed further research, helped by many connections we have made, including my DNA cousins. I couldn’t have done this without your support!

Work of Heart follows the true story of Jane Preshaw as the central unifying character and brings together her relationships with other key individuals: 

• The life of Jane’s father Henry Norgate of Norfolk and his first family born in Norfolk and his second family born in London.
• Jane’s years in Melbourne, her marriages and relationships there and the birth of her daughter Alice Smith.  
• The life of Alice’s father Henry Smith and the Smith family from Derbyshire to the Hunter Valley NSW and then his final years in Sydney, including the lives of his illegitimate daughters born in the UK.
• Jane and Alice’s arrival in New Zealand and coming to Reefton, along with David Preshaw‘s previous life and family,
• How Jane and David Preshaw together ran the Reefton Hospital from its beginnings, its organisation and development
• Other people involved in Reefton Hospital either as nurses and doctors and how the town of Reefton grew at the same time. 
• Henry Evans, his real name and life in Brighton, Sussex, his parents and sisters and Henry’s time in New Zealand before meeting Alice Smith. 
• Following Alice and Henry Evans marriage in 1877, Henry Evans working life prospecting, gold mining and timber, as well as their farm at Burkes Creek and raising a family.
• The Evans children through into the 20th century just prior to WWII, including memories of grandchildren.
• Finally the second part of the book gives some genealogies of the Norgate, Smith, Hole and Preshaw families and some unexpected relatives: the Shardlow, Stubbins and Secretan families.

Like my 2016 book To Live a Long and Prosperous Life, on the life of Dinah Hart and the Lawn family, I have woven these stories with the social and historical contexts of the times and illustrated them with maps, diagrams and lots of photographs. 

At this point Work of Heart is looking like it will be close to 400 pages once images and the index are added and will be a single print run. As with my previous book there will also be copies in libraries, so will be available to future researchers; do let me know if you have a local library you think would be interested in a copy.

For expressions of interest please use the form found here: Contact

Make sure that you subscribe to my blog [see end of the post] in order to hear first about new posts and updates on Work of Heart or follow the page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/inkandstonewriting

Over the coming weeks I will be adding family trees and other information about the families covered in this new book.

Who was “Uncle Albert”?

In December 2017 I spotted a request from Sherri Murphy of Shantytown on the popular Facebook group West Coast South Island history. “I’m am after any information on Albert Lawn” Sherri asked “he had a Barbers shop in Reefton then Hokitika. I especially would like to know the name of his Barbers in Hoki.”  Sherri is in the process of re-creating Albert Lawn’s barber shop at Shantytown and the following information we have gathered includes excerpts from To Live a Long and Prosperous Life, West Coast Recollect (sister site to West Coast South Island history), Shantytown and Hokitika Museum  archives and descendants of Albert. Perhaps this post will jog a few more memories and bring more information to light.

Albert Harold Lawn was born on 9 June 1878, probably at Blacks Point. He was the second son of Thomas Henry and Sarah Esther (nee Hart) Lawn. Thomas and Sarah Lawn had married in Greymouth in 1876 and began married life in Blacks Point, a short distance out of Reefton; Sarah’s precious piano made the journey up the Grey river on a boat, then over the Reefton saddle to the Inangahua river, and again by boat to Black’s Point. Thomas and Sarah soon had their first child, Samuel, who was born the following year in January 1877. He was soon followed by Albert born in June 1878, followed by Norman in 1880.

By the end of 1885 the Lawns were all living in Greymouth again: Thomas and Sarah had moved back from Reefton in 1882 in time for the birth of their son Frank on the first of February, Ernest arrived two years later and Victor in 1887.

Lawn brothers, Greymouth c1891: Left to Right standing: Albert, Samuel, Norman. Sitting; Victor, Ernest, Frank.  HLR collection

Thomas and Sarah and their family returned to live in Reefton in December 1890. Esther was born in 1895 and Ida was born in 1897. The home of Sarah and Thomas, and their six boys and two girls sat up on the Terrace with a wide verandah at the front. Even though the older boys had left school it seems Sam and Albert both shifted to Reefton as well. Norman was still at school when they came to Reefton, he later attended Nelson College on a scholarship and began work in the Consolidated Goldfields Company, first assisting and then running the assay office. The older boys seemed quite at home in Reefton. . .

. . . In the years to come social and sporting events in the Inangahua Times invariably had at least one Lawn listed as a team member, player or singer contributing. Sarah Lawn continued to fit teaching piano and singing around her growing family, who all learned music as they got older. . .  Thomas and Sarah’s eldest sons Sam and Albert Lawn appeared in concerts, Albert playing the auto-harp and Sam the euphonium.

Albert Lawn, c1897

In June 1898 Sarah’s son Albert went into business on his own account when he took over a tobacco shop and hairdressing business ‘The Leading Hair-dressing Saloon’ on Broadway, Reefton where among other things, he ‘made up ladies own combings’ as well as false moustaches and wigs. His profile and a dashing photograph were published in the Cyclopedia of New Zealand (Nelson Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts) in 1906 (page 251-252) The entries in these were paid for by the contributors, so could arguably called ‘Vanity’ publications, and not always accurate. Albert’s description of his ‘Toilet Club’ has lead to much mirth in modern audiences, although the term ‘toilet’ at the time meant the same as personal grooming. 

Albert married Harriet Noble on the 13 November 1901. This event and  the extended family photograph has been covered in an earlier post, see Lawn Cousins. In 1902 Thomas Lawn died. Sarah and Thomas’s sons Albert and Norman Lawn both remained in Reefton when their mother and sisters shifted back to Greymouth.

Another photograph survives from this period probably taken mid- to late-1903. It is a four generation photograph, of Albert with his first-born daughter Dorothy (born in December 1902), his mother Sarah and grandmother, Dinah Hansen.

Albert Lawn with his daughter Dorothy, Flanked by his grandmother Dinah Hansen and mother Sarah Lawn courtesy I. Messenger

Albert and Harriet Lawn had their second of two children in 1904; family stories recall young Harold visiting his grandmother Sarah and great-grandmother Dinah in Greymouth and taking afternoon tea. The little boy asked if he could have a piece of cake that was on table, and Dinah told him she would tell him when he could have it. Again the little boy asked, and again came the answer ‘I will tell you when you can have it’. To the mortification of his parents, and the astonishment of all others present, in a fit of great daring Harold suddenly snatched the cake off the plate and threw it at Dinah, hitting her in the eye. His father mildly remarked: ‘he was always a good shot’.

Albert Lawn 1906 Cyclopedia

 LAWN, ALBERT H., Hairdresser  and Tobacconist, Broadway, Reefton.

This business  was established  by Mr. R. J. Simpson and taken  over by the present  proprietor in June, 1898.

The hairdressing saloon is handsomely equipped  with  three  up-to-date chairs, and every  necessary  comfort  has been provided at considerable expense.  Mr. Lawn subscribes to, and places in his saloon, all the West Coast papers and Canterbury  weeklies. The shop is well stocked with the leading  brands  of tobacco, pipes, cigars and cigarettes. The show window  is one of the best in the town, and is at all times tastefully dressed. A feature  of Mr. Lawn’s business is a toilet  Club, with a membership of thirty-five, including some of the principal  residents  of Reefton. There is a complete  tobacco-cutting plant  on the premises.  Mr. Lawn was born and educated in Greymouth. He served  his apprenticeship in Wellington  with  Mr. L. P. Christenson, a well-known hairdresser and tobacconist of that  city.

In 1913, Albert and Harriet moved to Hokitika, where they had a house on the corner of Hampton and Bealey Streets, and Albert opened a shop in Revell Street. One year later was the 1914 outbreak of WWI. Albert was 36 and with two children was graded C in the Reserve Roll. In September 1918 he was reported as seriously ill in the local newspaper and confined to bed for several weeks. His ill health could have passed him as unfit if he was called up, which he was in the ballot drawn in September 1918, published in the newspaper. No official army file exists for Albert, therefore it is likely that he was not actually processed for service.

Grandson Keith Stopforth described what he knew of his grandparents:

In 1913 he moved to Hokitika and opened a barbers shop that he ran with his wife – she sold the tobacco and newspapers at the front of the shop. The shop was always busy with lots of men seated on the long wooden seats down either side of the walls. Some I think were only there to talk. He had 3 or 4 chairs and 2 other barbers helping him.  There was an open fire at the end of the shop where men would pass the time of day while they waited for a haircut, a shave or their whiskers trimmed. My grandmother worked in the front of the shop, tobacco sales and cigarettes kept her busy. . .

 . . . He could play anything to fit the occasion.  He had his own band called the Black Hand Band that comprised of two pianists and eight other musicians. He established the ‘Black Hand Society‘ which was a group of friends that gathered together for social evenings. It was exclusive and the yellow badge  with the black outspread hand was keenly sort after. [an example of the tin badge in Hokitika Museum (“Beware we never fail”) is red and black] 

(Keith Stopforth, 2003 to J. Bradshaw, Shantytown.)

According to Keith, his grandfather had never been taught to play the piano – however this is most likely incorrect, given that his mother Sarah was a music teacher from before her marriage, and almost certainly taught all her children to play along with the many students she tutored throughout her life.

Writing his reminiscences of Hokitika, local man  Henry Pierson recalled that Albert’s shop on Revell Street . . . was next door to an old watchmaker called Clark. . . next to that a small lolly shop occupied by . . . Winnie Westbrook. . . Next to Winnie’s was James King Bookseller and Stationer.  Pierson continues:

“Albert Lawn, the barber and tobacconist next door to Winnies, used to give us short back and sides for threepence.  He was well known for his musical talent and his dance band, the Black Hand, was immensely popular in the 1930s. It gained quite a reputation throughout the West Coast. Because of his great sense of humour, his salon was often the centre of outrageous stories and much hilarity. Some of the town’s local characters came in only to tell a yarn or exchange some tit bit of local scandal to which Albert would respond by adding his own version of the subject.”

(pp 13-15, Pierson, H. (2004) The Crooked Mile: Revell Street as I knew it. Silverfox: Christchurch.)

Great grandson Mike Stopforth adds:  The family lived out the back.  Nana told me once that they weren’t allowed to go out to the front of the shop and they had to come and go the back way.  It was located where the old Supermarket used to be when it was just a four square.

Arguably one of Albert’s ‘proudest’ occasions came in May 1920 with the visit to New Zealand of Edward, Prince of Wales. Arriving on the HMS Renown, in Auckland in late April, he departed Lyttelton, New Zealand at the end of May, enroute for Australia and India.

Preparations for the Prince’s visit to various locations around New Zealand were met with an astonishing frenzy of patriotic excitement, with civic events, triumphal arches (involving large quantities of fern fronds), and hordes of school children and obligatory pretty young ladies positioned to catch the playboy Prince’s eye. Bunting and flags were strung everywhere, children wrote essays and holidays declared. The newly formed RSA were hopeful to have their building officially opened, and returned servicemen were lined up to be presented with medals. In Greymouth, a young man Mr. R. G. Caigou of the Public Works Department spent hours laboriously painted an illuminated address to be presented to HRH by the Mayor on behalf of the citizens (see bottom of this post for an image of the address). This young man became Albert’s brother-in-law when his sister Esther married Russell Caigou in Greymouth, in January 1921.

The visit of the Prince to the Coast was somewhat fleeting: he came by train as far as he could from Nelson, motored to Westport, then back to Reefton in a motorcade of 30 cars that included being ‘filmed for the cinema’ passing through fern arch on the Buller. (The press car ended up upside down in a ditch full of blackberries before it reached Reefton). On the 12 May the Prince went by train from Reefton to Hokitika, where he spent the night and then to Greymouth the next day before heading to Christchurch. Details of events of the tour were reported in newspapers all over New Zealand (and overseas).

“We Revere You As Our Prince” Welcome to Hokitika – Prince of Wales visit 1920. Contributed to West Coast Recollect by Tom Hartill

In Hokitika on the night of the 12 May a grand ball was held in his honour.  The Black Hand Band played and after the event the members were greeted by the Prince and shook his hand. According to Keith Stopforth the Prince was so intrigued by the name [of the band] that he enrolled as an honorary member of the Black Hand Society.

The following was originally published in the Melbourne Age:

“PROMENADE YOUR PARTNERS”

AND THE PRINCE DOES SO. A HUMOROUS PICTURE A delightfully humorous picture of the ball given at Hokitika in honour of the Prince of Wales was cabled to the Melbourne Age by one of the correspondents with the Royal party. He said: “The ball at Hokitika was an enormous popular success. After a public reception the Prince, attended by his staff, proceeded to the ball, which began at 10 o’clock. Most of the young men attending wore tweed suits. One old gentleman wandered through the happy throng wearing a long overcoat dating back to the period when “Bully” Hayes used to make Hokitika a favourite port of call when returning from his predatory expeditions among the islands. Another elderly dancer appeared in tweed trousers and a Cardigan jacket buttoned tightly around the throat. The ladies devoted more attention to dress than the Hokitika men. Many were accomplished dancers, and the Prince danced vigorously with a succession of Hokitika girls. In the official set, which opened the ball, Mrs R. J. Seddon, widow of the late democratic Imperialist, took part. The Prince danced in the set with Miss Perry, the Mayor’s daughter. A dance or two later the master of ceremonies, taking the middle of the floor, issued in a loud word of command, ‘Promenade your partners for circular waltz.’ The Prince does not care about waltzing as a general rule at balls which he attends, and he frequently exercises the Royal prerogative of cutting waltzes out of the programme, substituting one-steps or fox trots. At Hokitika, however, he promenaded his partner, according to directions, with the rest. Supper was an immense success. Rising early, a cool breeze from the snowclad mountains refreshed overnight revellers. From the hotel windows one could see Mount Cook, covered with snow apparently overlooking Hokitika, but in reality many scores of miles away.

Black Hand Band at the “Marquis of Lawn Hotel” (Lawn residence) – Collection of Hokitika Museum

Albert and Harriet Lawn in the 1920s courtesy Kath Stopforth

In later years Albert became a radio announcer and had his own children’s session once a week from Hokitika on Thursday nights. Known as Uncle Albert he was obviously very popular as he had a studio photograph that was given out to his listeners. A copy of this photo, cropped without the inscription is in the HLR collection – it wasn’t until Sherri shared this image that I realised that this was Albert Lawn in later life.

“Uncle Albert” Mike Stopforth

 

“In Weld Street , Hokitika, was the studio . . . “Uncle Albert” was the man children came to love. Uncle Albert was gifted with his hands – not just for his daily job of haircutting, but as a pianist who had learnt to play by ear. One of his proudest occasions would be when the Duke of Windsor [sic] visited Hokitika in the 1920s – Uncle Albert being the official pianist as a member of the Black Hands [sic] Orchestra. 

He was often heard on Mickey Spier’s 3ZR Greymouth radio station conducting sessions with Donald McLeod, a well known identity who possessed a phenomenal memory. Within the space of seconds Donald would answer any questions, including trick ones, relating to events and dates, he was seldom wrong. Also joining “Uncle Albert” as he was known to radio listeners was ‘Aunt Dorothy’ (Jock Robinson) a talented pianist of Hokitika.

Bill Dwan served his apprenticeship with Albert Lawn, until he left to open his own business in Weld Street. Ron Brown, another of Albert’s apprentices, opened his own shop in the Regent Theatre corner shop.

After Lawn’s barber and tobacconist shop had closed down, Don Ramsey conducted a radio and records business in it for some years.”

pg 26 Looking at the West Coast, August 1965

A staunch Labour party supporter, he represented the Blind institute on the West Coast for many years. After suffering from diabetes for some time, Albert lost his left arm to the disease.

Albert Lawn courtesy Kath Stopforth

Understandably this was devastating for him as it meant he was no-longer able to work or play the piano, although there is one account of him wearing a prosthetic limb so he could play chords on the piano. However, family reported he sunk into a deep depression, from which he never truly recovered.

Albert Harold Lawn died in Hokitika on 22 April 1952, aged 72. Harriet lived until the age of 82, until she died in 1961. They are buried together in Hokitika.

Update September 2020:

A photograph of Russell Caigou’s illuminated address presented to the Prince of Wales. Kindly supplied by P. Caigou

Pro patria mori*

*  second line from the phrase beginning  Dulce Et Decorum Est -Wilfred Owen’s gas poem.

September 15 2016 marks the 100 year anniversary of the Somme Offensive. This post details the involvement of  just one of Dinah’s grandsons and grand nephews who served in the Great War. What must it have been like as a grandmother and mother to see these young men go off to war, to feel the grief and worry of your daughters as they farewelled their boys? This is the story of one who never returned.

Benjamin on his mother Rachel’s lap in 1897 (part of a group photograph that included Sarah’s family, the older boy is  Ernest Lawn, son of Sarah and Thomas)

Ben from a group photo taken c1905

Ben and brother James at Blacks Point school

At Dinah and Sim McIvor’s marriage in 1912

Ben at brother Herbert Lawn’s wedding, 1915

Private Benjamin Webster Lawn

2418, 5ft 4½, 8st (64 kg), with ‘clear complexion, light blue eyes’ and ‘black hair’ signed up at Reefton on the fifth of February 1916; passed fit on the sixth February, sailed from Greymouth on the ninth and two days later he was in Trentham where he attested on 11 February 1916.

Ben Lawn was the second youngest son of James and Rachel. He had grown up in Black’s Point, with the sound of the great stamper battery ringing in his ears, a tease of his older sister Dinah and playmate of younger brother Jim. The three youngest children of James and Rachel played together, and went to school together. With dark curly hair Ben had the look of his mother Rachel, and he had grown tall as he reached his teens. Leaving school he headed to the inevitable job at the stamper as battery hand, working for the Consolidated Gold Mining Company. He kept fit like his brothers playing rugby and even joined his friends one Easter weekend cycling the Buller Gorge to Westport on his brother Charles’ bike.

Ben’s army record suggests he had high spirits in training, with two misdemeanours recorded, over staying leave: forfeit three days’ pay and bringing liquor into camp. The last meant he forfeited any leave and remained confined to camp before embarkation on Troopship No.35 Willochra which left Wellington on 21 May 1916.

James and Rachel Lawn family about April 1916

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Two months and six days later they arrived in Devonport, on 26 of July 1916, and two days after that he marched into Sling camp where he was attached to the British Expeditionary Force – France, 1st Infantry Battalion 2nd Company of the Canterbury Regiment. After a short, sharp, shock of drills and exercises, the young men who had arrived in high spirits had been transformed to a disciplined and focused unit, ready to face the enemy. One month after arriving in England on 28 August they were hardened up enough to be on their way to the front in France. The following day they arrived at the NZEF Depot at Etaples, near Calais where Ben joined the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment and was posted to the new 13th Company on 8 September.

The company went into the Somme, where the offensive had begun on 1 July. The British and Allies were trying to retake an area that the Germans had occupied for some time. What was once rolling farmland, woods, quarries and cellars in farms and villages disguised machine gun posts, and the ground was heavily entrenched. The Germans were in strong fortified bunkers, some double storied underground and trenches protected by vast beds of barbed wire some 40 yards (metres) deep. Bare ground was frequently mined, prolonged gun and artillery fire had blasted trees and shredded vegetation, pockmarked the fields and buildings had become an alien landscape. Air reconnaissance was used to see the enemy trench systems and to plan attacks, with various trenches and posts named as ‘alleys’, ‘lanes’ and also local roads, buildings and rivers in a confusing tangle of battleground that is hard to comprehend from the official written account: even the maps appear confusing to the novice. At points in the melee men frequently lost track of their battalion and with reinforcements and regrouping it was not until much later that they would find men were ‘missing’.

On the first day of battle in July over 60,000 British troops were killed or wounded. The offensive continued over the next two months, with little ground taken. The third ‘big push’ began on 15 September, in which the British used tanks for the first time. The rain began on the second day. On 25 and 27 September the third phase was begun with the New Zealand Division involved in attacks at Morval and Thiepval Ridge.

The official account of the Canterbury Battalion details how Ben’s regiment prepared for the attack near Longueval. At about 8 pm three companies of the 2nd Canterbury Battalion who had been detailed to be sent into battle emerged from their trenches and lined up on the road. Half an hour later they began to advance, silently creeping up until they were finally seen, 50 yards from the enemy line. Under rifle and machine-gun fire the troops rushed the German trench Goose Alley and captured it.

The mission was reasonably successful and they captured prisoners and machine guns, yet a few hours later the enemy made a ‘determined counter attack’ and the Allies were pushed back, only to then surge forward again. Such was the nature of battle in the Somme—forward and back, rush forward with bayonets, lose a trench, scramble and snare in acres of barbed wire, gain another trench. Exhausted, the company was relieved from the front line, but they were not given much rest, instead they were detailed to try and repairthe roads around Thistle Dump.

The ‘weather was wet’ was an understatement. The rain poured and the chalk ground was rotten: churned, muddy and waterlogged. Trenches were deep in water, uniforms and boots were wet through. After several days at this difficult task, on the night of 24-25 September the Brigade relieved the 3rd (Rifle) Brigade in the front line, with orders to take part in the Fourth Army’s attack the following day. This took place just after midday, and met slight opposition, and a few casualties. The line was moving forward, and the next forward push was about to be made.

For once, the rain had stopped, and as one account described, the weather was glorious, and was excellent for aviation work. First the artillery bombarded the enemy, and then a creeping barrage, with artillery fire moving forward in increments and the troops followed behind—although sometimes the troops were too enthusiastic, got too far ahead or the creeping barrage was off range and men were killed by ‘friendly fire’. The men were ordered over the top at 2.15 pm on 27 September. It was overcast and rainy: the fine weather had not lasted. The 1st Canterbury Battalion advanced behind the barrage, with the 12th and 13th (Ben’s Company) in that first wave. The official account concludes the description of this offensive:
The attacking company was held up for a short while by bombers and machine-guns; but the latter were silenced by our Lewis gunners, and all the objectives of the battalion were captured by 2.38 pm, with slight casualties.

Ben was killed in action on 27 September 1916, probably going ‘over the top’. He was aged 20 years, one of the ‘slight’ casualties. The Allies had advanced one mile on their last position. Behind them lay 50 square miles (130km2) of devastated land. By the end of the offensive the line had only advanced 5 miles (8km) into enemy held territory. Country roads ceased to exist as chalky waterlogged soil crumbled under heavy machinery; replacement artillery, troops, supplies all had to traverse the mess that had once been productive farmland. Ahead lay miles of equally soulless land. One hundred years on, the words: ‘The Somme’ still conjures unimaginable horror and loss.

When this battle ended the 2nd Canterbury Battalion counted 33 officers and 713 men killed, wounded and missing. Ben’s burial was recorded by the OCDGR E (Officer Commanding of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries), as Reference number 21836 B as having been performed by A.H. Cullen, attached to South African [Infantry?].

Those who died in No Man’s Land were often never identified: as they fell into the mud their bodies became obliterated by the on-going battle. Dog tags were perishable and in the wet, uniforms rotted. Nevertheless there are still human remains being discovered and identified in the twenty-first century. However, soldiers who, like Ben, were seen to be killed were probably buried by their comrades close to where they fell, perhaps in part of a trench, in a shell hole or a hurriedly dug grave, perhaps with one or two others, their dog tags removed and passed to an officer in command.

A telegram was prepared, addressed to Mrs R. Lawn, Black’s Point: she was noted as next of kin (mother) in his military file. Nearly two and a half weeks later Rachel and James received the dreaded black bordered telegram from the Ministry of Defence advising them of Ben’s death. The news spread quickly to his sisters and brothers, aunt and grandmother, as well as friends and neighbours—everyone in the community knew the boys who were away serving. The family reeled with disbelief that their Ben was not going to be coming home. He was just a lad.

The date of his death was what everyone turned to: what were they doing that fateful day? It was a Wednesday. Carrying on their work-day lives far away, while Ben heard the crack of rifle fire, the sudden thud as the bullet hit, the oblivion as he fell lifeless into the mud, the sounds of mortar and gunfire thundering on.

Although a grave reference is recorded on the Defence Force file, it was not until the following year that the bodies of soldiers in their temporary graves could be re-interred in appropriate cemeteries, the difficult task carried out by the British V Corps. The battle that had raged over the ground where Ben had been buried was to totally destroy the landscape and identifying features—his grave was never found. This was perhaps the hardest thing for his family to imagine: the boy from Black’s Point alone in the cold dark ground on the other side of the world. No funeral, with comforting rituals to help the grieving, no headstone for family to visit. A few lines in the newspaper under ‘Casualties’ and then: gone.

1500 New Zealanders were killed on the Somme. Most of them, 1272, remained unidentified and are buried in unmarked graves or remembered on memorial walls. Benjamin Webster Lawn is remembered on the Commonwealth War Grave Memorial at Caterpillar Valley, Longueval. White headstones lined up with military precision, enclosed in rectangular grounds, surrounding by rolling fenceless farm fields and a few trees creates a peaceful oasis in contrast to what it was like when Ben the boy from Reefton was there.

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Ben is also memorialised on his mother’s headstone in Lyttelton cemetery. Rachel Lawn nee Hart died just over a year later, the family believed, of a broken heart.

Benjamin Webster Lawn memorial on Rachel Lawn headstone, Lyttelton Cemetery

Rachel Elizabeth Lawn, Lyttelton cemetery (stone since collapsed after 2011 earthquakes)

 

(excerpts 327-29 Chapter 15 The Great War To Live a Long & Prosperous Life)

Lawn Cousins

The families of James Lawn and Thomas Lawn are almost as bewildering as the Hart and Nathan families and their repeated names. James’s father was also named James, as was his father before him making three James Lawn in different generations. Our James was often called ‘Jack’—at least when he was older—perhaps a reference to the moniker ‘Cousin Jack’ as Cornishmen were often called. James, John and Henry Lawn were double cousins to Thomas and Edmund Lawn.

After the adventures on the Otago goldfields and his return to Cornwall, James soon returned to Australia with his brother George and their cousin, Thomas Lawn. Thomas and James were double cousins: their respective fathers James and John Lawn had married sisters Jenifer (Jane) and Ann Webster.

The cousins left Liverpool on 2 January 1863, on board the record-breaking iron-hulled ss Great Britain, a great marvel of the age, another of Brunel’s successful designs. They arrived 90 days later in April 1863 in Melbourne, and went to join James’ brother John working in the Copper mines at Moonta, on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Many Cornish miners (including Webster cousins) had congregated there in the three towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo which gained the epithet of The Copper Triangle or ‘Little Cornwall’. In 1927 the Sun reporter summed up James movements in the following years:

Six months of England were enough for James and he returned to Australia and then came again to New Zealand in 1863. Two years later he went to the West coast, in the Hokitika gold rush, and spent a number of years there, and at Reefton, working in the quartz mines.

Thomas Lawn 1842-1902

Thomas Lawn was born on the 27 March 1842 in Penance , and baptised on the 14 April in Gwennap. He appears on the 1851 census in Penance with his family, including his baby brother Edmund who also eventually to make his home in Blacks Point, New Zealand.

Thomas was taller than his cousin and had light brown curly hair – later it was snowy white. When he came to Australia with his older cousin James they were not to know that eventually they would cross the Tasman and find ‘The best looking girls on the Coast’ in Greymouth: the Hart sisters, and eventually marry them, settle down and raise large families.

Sarah Hart and Thomas Lawn, 1876

Thomas Lawn, like his cousin James, became a quartz mine manager in Reefton. Like his wife Sarah Thomas was a singer and often contributed to entertainment in social gatherings. Thomas built the family home on the Terrace in Reefton not long after their marriage. The combined Lawn families were photographed on the verandah in 1901 when Thomas and Sarah’s son Albert was married to Harriet Noble.

13 November 1901, Reefton.

Back L to R standing on verandah: Mr and Mrs Noble, Mary ‘Polly’ Lawn (b 1879 – daughter of Edmund & Sarah), Eva Scoltock, Benjamin Hart, Thomas Lawn, Dinah and Charles Hansen, Jack Noble, Victor Lawn. At Right, in front of Jack and Victor: Norman Lawn, Liz (née Noble) and Bill Patterson and Rev. York.

Front: James and Rachel Lawn, Ida Hart, Emily Lawn (b 1882, Polly’s sister), Sarah Lawn with Ida, Albert and Harriet. In front of Liz and Bill Patterson: Emma Noble, Esther Lawn, Ernest Lawn, Tom and Jack Noble.

Image: HLR NB some of the names on the back of this copy in HLR are incorrectly attributed and have been corrected here.

The house still stands today.

A grandchild marries

The extended Hart and Lawn families gathered together in Reefton for an exciting occasion; the first of Dinah’s grandchildren, Albert Lawn, 23, second son of Sarah and Thomas was to marry 23 year old Harriet Noble. The wedding took place in late spring, on 13 November 1901. Harriet had been born in South Canterbury to Joseph and Sarah Noble. The dashingly handsome Albert had become a successful hairdresser and tobacconist in Reefton.

            With everyone dressed in their Sunday best, Thomas and Sarah Lawn’s family, along with James and Rachel Lawn, Dinah and Charles Hansen, Benjamin and Ida Hart, and Harriet’s family assembled on the verandah of Thomas and Sarah’s house on the Terrace, Reefton for a family portrait: the men in suits with flowers at the lapel, the women with hats trimmed with feathers and flowers, some looking like birds about to take flight. The boys wear knickerbockers, Eton suits and sailor hats, the little girls swamped in white pinafores and bonnets. Sarah bends forward to keep her youngest daughter Ida still for the photograph. Everyone else waits patiently, squinting a bit in the sun.

            It was to be the last family group photograph that included Thomas Lawn. Less than a year later he was to die in Reefton on 14 June 1902 aged 60. He and Sarah had been married for 25 years. Thomas had suffered from pulmonary phthisis for three years. Commonly known as miner’s phthisis, this was lungs diseased from years of breathing in quartz dust. Thomas’s life ended with a fatal hemorrhage. Mercifully his death was quick, unlike others who lingered days after the initial sudden loss of blood, but nevertheless traumatic for those close to him who witnessed his final collapse.

            Thomas was buried on 14 June at the Reefton Suburban Cemetery at Burkes Creek on Buller Road. Oddly, his headstone faces away from the central pathway. It consists of a cross and roses, although it lies broken; probably damaged after an earthquake. Thomas had made his will in Greymouth in May 1889, simply leaving everything in his estate to his wife Sarah.

excerpt p 286 To Live a Long & Prosperous Life

Thomas Lawn death certificate filed with probate

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Thomas Lawn and Sarah Hart, James Lawn and Rachel Hart children and their families share a combination of the Lawn and Webster, Hart and Nathan strengths and passions. From the combination of Cornish and Jewish genes come a long line of tenacious and hardworking folk. Extraordinary achievers: miners, internationally renowned geologists, doctors, teachers, singers and musicians, writers and academics, including brain surgeons, reserve bank economists, nuclear physicists, university lecturers – and one or two published authors. Chutzpah and the gift of the gab. What an inheritance.

A Point in Time – 1840

Aotearoa – New Zealand

The bird song of a volume and brilliance not heard in England arose in a continuous, fluid melody. Deep within the dense, damp bush came the soft sound of falling water—a secretive stream making its musical way through the impenetrable undergrowth.

Ferns, moss and leaf-mold gave way to flax, tussock and snow grass as the traveller climbed higher. Mountain tops gleaming with snow and ice, rock scree and shingle fans tumbled rocks into glacier gouged valleys and gorges.

Canterbury high country

 

Snow and rain fed braided rivers disgorging countless tons of stones across the broad plains. Rivers tumbled seaward with treacherous turns and undercurrents many times more powerful than English streams and their languid glide, proving to the inexperienced when they came tramping over the mountains hauling their swag and shovel that death came simply by a miss-placed foot slipping beneath the surface or over a bluff in this raw, wild new world.

Upper Waimakariri River and the Main Divide

 

Arthurs Pass

In the west, beaches roared with the relentless pulse of waves raking and rearranging great cobbles and boulders into polished pebbles. The bleached bones of dead trees piled haphazardly on black sands that flashed with bright fine gold.

Gold also fissured the quartz rocks deep within the mountains, lying in wait for men with time and money, iron machines and toxic mercury to set it free. An ‘empty’ country, rich for the pickings lay in wait for its newest inhabitants. Shotguns and ships, pick and shovel, axe and saw, shepherds crook and bullock whip, ploughshare and barbed wire. The land would be changed forever in a few short decades.

Slab Hut Creek

 

Over the deepest and wildest seas known to man, lay this group of mountainous, green islands in the South Pacific. Bound on one side by the tempestuous Tasman Sea and the misnamed Pacific Ocean on the other, New Zealand had been ‘discovered’ and named by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. Tasman mapped part of the coastline and had a brief but violent encounter with the local Maori. It was the last place in the world to be found by western civilization and the last land to be settled by Europeans.

Looking south towards the Southern Alps, Greymouth

Beached at Hokitika

[excerpt Chapter 2 pg 57 – To Live a long & Prosperous Life]