Researching family history can lead down some surprising rabbit holes. A recent piece of trawling through baptism records produced the tale of Pamela Minchin, photographic model and star of an iconic Norman Parkinson photoshoot in Harper’s Bazaar in 1939.
It all began on the Stately
The Stately was a ship commanded by Captain Ginder that carried emigrants from England to Canterbury back in the early 1850s. One such voyage took place in 1852, leaving Gravesend on 15 May, and arriving in Wellington on 11 September after a passage of 117 days. 80 passengers were on board, including Edward Corker Minchin, his wife Sarah, their three children, and Edward’s brothers Frederick and Charles. A certain Ellen Sharp was also on board, possibly in the capacity of family servant.
Fast forward to 31 May 1854, and Ellen Sharp gives birth to a son. He grows up with the name of Edward Sharp, (sometimes spelt with an “e”), but a closer look at his birth record produces some interesting information. A quick search on New Zealand Birth, Death and Marriage Historical Records gives the name of the baby (Edward Sharp), the name of the mother (Ellen), and the name of the father (Edward). But a request from DIA for a printout of the birth registration gives the father’s name as Edward Minchin. A further check of the microfiche indexes to the birth records gives Edward junior two entries, first as Edward Minchin, then as Edward Minchin Sharp.
Hmmm. Somewhere along the line there’s been some name changing. But that early evidence suggests that the father of Ellen Sharp’s illegitimate baby was Edward Corker Minchin, gentleman, married man and father of three legitimate children, and former Irish landowner who was forced by the vagaries of the Irish Potato Famine to sell up his properties and come out to New Zealand to restore his family fortunes.
So whatever happened to Baby Edward?
How Ellen Sharp maintained herself and her baby after his birth is unknown, but on 20 April 1861 she married William Dunn, aspiring cab driver, who had emigrated on the Cameo in 1859. Ellen and William had two children, Mary Ann born in 1862, and Charles William born in 1863.
Shortly before Charles’ birth, William Dunn had started up as the proprietor and driver of a hackney carriage cab service, the first in Christchurch. Competition from other drivers soon followed, but for a time William ran a successful business, expanding the number of carriages and drivers as the business grew. Unfortunately, the location of his cabstand was outside Mr Ruddenklau’s City Hotel, with its ready supply of fortifying drinks.
William steered clear of appearances in court on charges of drunkenness at first, but after being up on a charge of “furious driving” in August 1867, charges related to his consumption of alcohol began to mount up. His driver’s license and then his owner’s license was suspended, he was imprisoned briefly, he filed for bankruptcy, then was charged with assaulting his wife, Ellen. Some support came initially from his stepson Edward Sharp who was also a cab driver but tragically Edward died in December 1875 aged only 21 years.
Things did not improve, including William Dunn’s relationship with his wife. Ellen attempted to take over and run parts of the cab business which resulted in a series of newspaper advertisements taken out by the two making veiled accusations against each other. In the end it was all too much for William and he committed suicide in August 1877. Ellen ran the business for another two years, then remarried a William Bowden, recently widowed former hotel keeper and aspiring loan shark.
Three weddings, a funeral, a birth, a divorce and another wedding
Ellen’s second marriage was as successful as her first. Within a couple of years William Bowden was advertising disclaimers against being responsible for his wife’s debts, while she was suing him for maintenance. Possibly to escape the Bowden household, first Selina Bowden, (William’s daughter by his first marriage) in 1882 married George Joseph Russell, a cornet player and aspiring but ultimately failed hotel keeper. Then Ellen’s daughter Mary Ann married Edward Robert Bradley in 1886. William Bowden appears in the church register record as the father, rather than step-father of Mary Ann, which suggests he had some fondness for her.
William himself finally escaped the failed marriage by dying in June 1888.
Mary Ann’s marriage also appears to have had its ups and downs. Edward Bradley was a commercial traveller, crossing the Tasman from Christchurch to Melbourne on a regular basis. In 1892 their only child, Laurie Ellen Bradley, was born.
Edward appears to have been an unreliable husband and in November 1909 the Press reported that Mary Ann had petitioned for a divorce from Edward claiming he had deserted her over five years earlier and had not contributed towards her support for the last eighteen years. She had not heard from him since February 1899 and stated that he was “a man of unsteady habits.” It may have become a matter of some urgency for Mary Ann to tidy away all marital encumbrances as in 1910 she married Thomas Patrick Coffey, a young man about 20 years her junior. They took over the running of the Cave Rock Hotel in Sumner.
Another funeral, a wedding and a birth
Now things start to get a little complicated.
Ellen Bowden was living with her daughter Mary Ann and Thomas Coffey when she died in June 1912. She missed seeing her granddaughter Laurie Ellen Bradley marry into a very wealthy English family, the Minchins. The marriage between the two took place on 24 May 1913 in Pinner, London and was reported in the Lyttelton Times back in Christchurch.
The big question is whether Ellen had told either her daughter or granddaughter about her illegitimate son and who she claimed was the father. Mary Ann may have known something as she grew up in the same household as Edward Sharp who was 8 years older than her. And the Minchin family was still sometimes resident in Christchurch, travelling back and forth to England on several occasions, restoring their lost fortunes, so the name would have been well-known in the city.
Edward Corker Minchin and his brother Frederick established the Mt White station near Arthur’s Pass and according to the probate records held at Archives New Zealand also had substantial investments in railways in America and Bolivia. Edward’s son John Birch Minchin spent some years in Bolivia, presumably managing those Bolivian railway investments, and married a local girl, Lastenia Pozo. Bolivia was the birthplace of John’s second son, William Antony, born in 1887.
William Minchin was quite a traveller, and spent time in Christchurch where there still remained descendants of Edward Minchin and his brothers, and where presumably he first met Laurie Ellen Bradley. The Lyttelton Times reports on a social evening held in April 1908 on the occasion of William’s departure for South America, when he was presented by his local acquaintances with a diamond pin.
Whether the family secret had been passed down through the generations remains unanswered, but Ellen Sharp/Dunn/Bowden must have been laughing somewhere. It also suggests that Ellen and her daughter and granddaughter were attractive women, given their ability to attract the attention of men both inside and outside their class.
Powerful genes
Laurie Ellen (or Laura Evelyn as she called herself when she entered London society), also had mixed marital fortunes. Three years after the wedding, William Minchin brought an action for divorce against Laurie Ellen, alleging misconduct on her part with a Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps, and also a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The couple must have reconciled because by 1918 they had travelled back to visit with Laurie’s family in Christchurch where on 18 July their daughter Pamela Lauri Minchin was born. Thomas Coffey was one of the godparents.
The family continued to travel the world but were living in Surrey by the time of the 1939 Register which was a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales just after the outbreak of the Second World War. In the register Pamela Minchin is described as a “photographic model”. Which sent me Googling, but also into the British Newspaper Archives and Papers Past.
It’s all there in black and white
It turns out that Pamela was the model in an iconic black and white photograph taken by renowned British photographer Norman Parkinson on the Isle of Wight and used in the July 1939 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. This stunning photo apparently was achieved by Parkinson barking “Jump, Pamela!”.
Pamela’s beauty attracted the eye of Joseph McArthur Rank, and they married on 21 November 1939, a social event which was reported in English newspapers and The Press.
Two weeks before the wedding the Ashburton Guardian had its bit to say on the romance, so it was obviously a notable occasion. (Note that members of the extended Minchin family had farming property near Ashburton as well as Waddington).
Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22876, 24 November 1939, Page 2The Press report on the wedding on 24 November 1939 included an insight into the new bride’s life as a model. According to Pamela “Being a model is all right if you have a strong constitution and plenty of money for all the clothes and hairdressing treatments that are essential if you want to become recognised. But, believe me, a domestic life is much easier. I would not advise any girl to take up my work for a living. It can be heartbreaking. I have worn dresses that are exclusive even at Royal parties.”
That last line does not quite sit with the overall sentiment of the piece but then Pamela was only just embarking on the great marriage adventure, and the gloss had not yet worn off.
By this time Laurie and William’s marriage was heading for the rocks, and by 1947 they were divorced, and William remarried. Laurie died in January 1952.
Pamela also had an eventful time of it with divorce and at least two further marriages, to Stewart Barthelmess then William Phipps, and possibly one to an unknown partner in Palm Beach 1968. It is also unknown whether she had any children, but she had reverted to the name Rank by the time of her death in Florida in 2007.
There we have it – an example of the surprises that can be turned up through family history research. But it is also a great celebration of several generations of beautiful women making their way in the world, from Ellen raised in poverty in Ireland, then finding respectability in New Zealand, to Pamela winning wealth and fame in London (and the Isle of Wight), and finally (hopefully) living a contented old age in Florida. Or if not entirely contented, at least still enjoying the occasional flirtation.
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