QUIZ: Canterbury’s 19th century settlers

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Quiz: Canterbury's 19th century settlers

Fun facts and frivolities of the forgotten forty-niners (plus a 50 or two) from books and newspapers in the Library collection.

Augustus James Alport, or ‘Bumblefoot’ Alport on account of his club foot, ran the Canterbury Store in early Lyttelton. There was something of a shortage of venues at the time, and this resulted in a number of committees and organisations at different times holding their meetings in a room above Alport's shop. But of these events, which did Augustus James Alport NOT host?
The Reverend Thomas Jackson was appointed as Bishop designate of Lyttelton in 1850. He was very highly spoken of before arriving in New Zealand with several papers referring to him as a Dr of Divinity. He was, however, described by Charlotte Godley as “a little fussy upstanding man, whose very bow and style of greeting, tone, manner, words, all of them have the very stamp of humbug”. But what was he doing in 1852?
Captain Thomas was a particularly polarising figure in the history of the Canterbury Settlement, with a long history serving with the British military in India and the West Indies and travelling through North and South America prior to his time in New Zealand. While there were also favourable accounts given of him he certainly did himself no favours socially. Which of these quotes was NOT a description given of him by one of his contemporaries.
Among those earliest of colonists in Lyttelton was Henry Godfrey Gouland. Gouland had spent a long time in the colonial civil service in India, and it was precisely this record as a sound civil servant that led to him being selected to come over and set up as the magistrate, postmaster and customs officer in Port Cooper. But why was Gouland placed almost immediately at odds with Captain Thomas upon his arrival?
Thomas Cass, the surveyor after whom Cass Bay was named, had been in New Zealand since 1841 initially appointed as an assistant to the Commissioner and Assistant Surveyor by Lord John Russell. Cass arrived in Port Cooper in 1848 and was chief surveyor from 1851 to 1867. But what made the surveying across rough ground and country even more difficult for Thomas Cass and eventually led to his resignation?
John Marshman was a remarkable figure in the history of colonial Canterbury, not only “an unassuming man who wore a cabbage tree hat and loose clothes”, but also at one point he was General Manager for the Canterbury Railways. During this time a railway guard was charged in the Christchurch Court of having been drunk in charge of a train. John Marshman objected to this charge and had it withdrawn on what grounds?
Dr William Donald, held a large number of roles in early Canterbury. He was the medical officer for Port Cooper (Lyttelton’s earlier name), the Lyttelton Magistrate, a Representative on the Canterbury provincial Council, Chair of the Lyttelton Colonist’s association, member of Canterbury College Council and was the District Grand Master of Canterbury Freemasonry. Dr Donald was seemingly involved in everything, but what was he NOT listed as involved in, in a humorous Press article published on the 28 July 1863, Page 2.
The Scottish born John and William Deans or the Deans Brothers as they have come to be known, were some of the earliest British settlers to make their home in Canterbury arriving around 1843. While their settlement was separate and distinct from that of the Canterbury association, in what year did their independence end?
Charlotte Godley, while not actually a forty-niner, having arrived in 1850, wrote a great many letters detailing life and society in Lyttelton, occasionally veering into the territory of gossip. Which of these is a description given by Charlotte Godley of a new colonist.
The surveyor Charles Torlesse wrote a great number of letters back to his mother from the settlement. Many of these are published in The Torlesse Papers and include a great amount of detail about his time in Canterbury from 1848 to 1851. He wrote of some of the difficulties facing the early settlement, but which of these is NOT description of early Canterbury from his letters?
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