http://poriruacity.govt.nz/services/cemeteries

Friends of Porirua Cemetery, 32 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua (2026)

12/09/2026

They are connected by an incident in Porirua Asylum, both now lie in unmarked graves in Porirua Cemetery.

Thomas Emmerson Watson 1876 - 1938 William Hunter Brown Hammond 1870 - 1917

Thomas Emmerson Watson 1876 - 1938

Thomas Emmerson Watson was born in Alston, Cumberland, England on 4th July 1876 the son of Elizabeth (nee Story) and John Watson.

Thomas, a farmer’s son grew up with two older brothers William and Joseph with a younger brother Samuel.

Thomas was working as a farm labourer, possibly for his father, in 1901 but in 1911 is listed as a single man employed as an Asylum Attendant at the Lancashire Asylum. Thomas was recruited from Lancashire Asylum by the New Zealand Government as staff in the New Zealand Lunatic Asylum arriving in New Zealand 1914 / 1915.

In 1917 Thomas was selected in the Military Ballot, he indicated he was, a single man, employed as an attendant at Porirua Asylum and had been in New Zealand for two years. Thomas signed attestation forms on 15th June 1917, listed a cousin in Wanganui as his NZ contact with his mother Mrs E Watson, Cumberland as his next of kin.

Thomas entered Featherston Military Camp as 57918 Gunner Thomas Emerson Watson, 32nd NZ Field Artillery. Gunner Watson was assessed by a medical panel at Featherston Military Camp on 19th August 1917 where it was noted that due to a boyhood accident he was ‘practically blind’ in his left eye. Gunner Watson was granted LWOP on 31st August 1917 and released from the NZEF.

Thomas returned as an attendant to Porirua Hospital where on 5th September 1917 a patient William Hunter Brown Hammond he became verbally abusive towards Him. When Attendant Watson was unlocking a door between hospital wards William struck the Attendant ‘on the left side of his head.’ Thomas was blind in his left eye and would not have seen the attack. In the scuffle that followed, the patient and attendant fell to the floor with William underneath Thomas. A second attendant Cockburn came to the assistance of Thomas. At one stage William had a “grip of Attendant Cockburn’s balls”

The two attendants were able to place William in a single room where during a routine assessment he complained that Watson had kneed him the stomach. Dr Simpson of the Asylum checked him but apart from minor bruises associated with fall William displayed no symptoms of being kneed.

William Hunter Brown Hammond died on 6th September 1917. Porirua Asylum advised the Wellington Coroner who, because of the suggestion that an Attendant had caused the death, requested an autopsy by a Doctor not associated with the Asylum and a Coroner’s jury made up men from Wellington City rather than the usual Porirua area panel.

This attack, and the newspaper reporting, may have been the reason for Thomas to leave the Asylum service. Thomas is recorded as a Probationary Warden at Kaingaroa as of 23rd October 1917. As required, while on Military LWOP, he advised on 13th April 1918 that he was employed at the Kaingaroa Prison Camp, Rotorua.

The Kaingaroa Prison Camp or Kaingaroa Aforestation Camp was used to house Military Prisoners as well as Civilian first offenders and ‘hopeful-cases’ deemed low risk to escape. The prisoners were used to clear the arid volcanic ashes and plant pine trees that would eventually form the Kaingaroa Forest.

While a Prison Officer at Kaingaroa Thomas married on 10th September 1919, Lelia Louisa Jane Symons. It is possible that Lelia with her two young sons followed Thomas to Kaingaroa.

At the end of WW1 Thomas was listed in the 1919 NZ Gazette as being appointed, in the Justice Department, as a Warden at Kaingaroa, Bay of Plenty, from 1st November 1918. Thomas moved to Auckland being appointed to the Prisons Department, on 29th February 1920 as a Warden, H.M. Prisons, Auckland.

Thomas and Lelia returned to Wellington in the mid 1920’s with Thomas recorded as living in Wellington Central in 1925.

Lelia Louisa Jane Watson died on 13th September 1936 and is interred in Karori Cemetery, Church of England 2, Plot 454.

It is possible that Lelia had been caring for Thomas and could no longer care for an aging Thomas as he was admitted to Porirua Asylum on 10th June 1936 , Thomas was admitted suffering hypomania. Hypomanis is a milder form of mania, with shared symptoms, includes high energy, rapid speech, racing thoughts, and a reduced need for sleep. The main differences involve intensity, duration, and overall impact. that increases energy without causing major disruption to daily life.

The medical officer at Porirua also noted that Thomas was showing signs of arterioseleiois, hardening of the arteries, and enlargement of the heart.

Thomas. towards the end of 1936, ‘passed into a depressed state, he had been in bed for over a year’ when he died on 11th August 1938. The official cause is listed as ‘arterioseleiois and auricular tribulations’,

Thomas Emmerson Watson is interred in the Church of England section CE M 036.

Notes
See also William Hunter Brown Hammond

Photos
Thomas's grave, Porirua Cemetery: Allan Dodson, August 2026.
The unmarked grave is beside the path and inline with Whitehall
Lelia's grave, Karori Cemetery: Karori Cemetery Find a Grave

11/09/2026

They are connected by an incident in Porirua Asylum, both now lie in unmarked graves in Porirua Cemetery.
William Hunter Brown Hammond 1870 - 1917
Thomas Emmerson Watson 1876 - 1938

William Hunter Brown Hammond was born in St Andrew, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1870 the son of Helen Neilson (nee Brown) and William Hammond.

William was one of three children, he was five when his father died. He continued to live in Edinburgh with his mother, her sister and his two siblings. In the 1891 census William is listed as a 20 year old farmer, living with his mother Helen and Aunt Jane Henderson Brown, 18 Morningside Drive, Edinburgh. Both William’s mother and Aunt are listed as ‘living on private means.’

William’s mother died in 1895 but he had immigrated to New Zealand earlier, being recorded in the New Zealand 1896 electoral rolls as a farmer, Kent Road, Korito, Taranaki.

William married Mildred Elizabeth Cooper on 6th April 1896, the couple’s only child Henrietta Jane Hunter Hammond was born in Taranaki in 1897.

The family remained in Taranaki through to the early 1900’s then moved to Wellington. William is recorded a labourer living in Taranaki Street, while Mildred Elizabeth Hammond was living in Seatoun.

William was a patient in Porirua Asylum from 11th April 1914 to 6th May 1914 and was then discharged. On 30th July 1914 William was re-admitted to Porirua Asylum and committed on 5th August 1914. Described as of good physical condition but suffering a mild form of maniacal delusions of persecutions. Notes taken by Porirua Asylum when William was committed record him as “a single man who had at one time worked on the wharves. As far as I know he has no relations in the Dominion.”

Williams’s condition slowly worsened “he became more suspicious and is delusion of persecution deepened.’ He was reported to have complained about attendants using electricity on him and was known to have ‘suddenly attacked other patients.’

On 5th September 1917 while with other patients he became verbally abusive towards Attendant Thomas Emerson Watson. When Attendant Watson was unlocking a door between hospital wards William struck the Attendant ‘on the left side of his head.’ In the scuffle that followed, the patient and attendant fell to the floor with William underneath Watson. A second attendant Cockburn came to the assistance of Watson. At one stage William had a “grip of Attendant Cockburn’s balls”

The two attendants were able to place William in a single room where during a routine assessment he complained that Watson had kneed him the stomach. Dr Simpson of the Asylum checked him but apart from minor bruises associated with a fall William displayed no symptoms of being kneed.

William Hunter Brown Hammond died on 6th September 1917. Porirua Asylum advised the Wellington Coroner who, because of the suggestion that an Attendant had caused the death, requested an autopsy by a Doctor not associated with the Asylum and a Coroner’s jury made up men from Wellington City rather than the usual Porirua area panel.

The panel assembled at Porirua, on 7th September 1917, where it heard the sworn statements from the Asylum Doctors and Attendant Watson. The panel was given evidence from Dr Fyffe , that William had suffered a rupture duodenal ulcer rupture leading to his death. There were no signs of kneeing and in Dr Fyffe’s opinion the rupture could have happened at any stage.

The jury returned the verdict “died of a ruptured duodenal ulcer caused in a struggle between the deceased and Attendant Watson who had been attacked by the defendant and that there is no blame attachable to the attendant who acted purely in self-defence.’

The jury was then rushed to the last train back to Wellington as there was no accommodation for them available in Porirua.

William Hunter Brown Hammond was interred in Porirua Cemetery on 10th September 1917 in the Non Conformist Section NC F 055.

There was later a payment of six guineas (£1 1s 0d) to Dr Fyffe so conducting the autopsy, and a note that an Evening Post Reporter had also been in attendance at the autopsy at the Coroner’s Court inquest.

The NZ Truth, on 15th September 1917, took up the case under the by-line “More must be heard of the matter” querying that the jury had delivered the verdict “without retiring” and suggesting the verdict should be put aside with Watson potential facing charges in court.

On 19th September 1917 following NZ Truth and questions raised in the NZ Parliament, the Coroner Mr McCarthy provided to the Under Secretary for Justice a full outline of the process taken to call and manage the Coroner’s inquiry into William Hunter Brown Hammond's death.

The NZ Truth investigation faded as the impacts of the October Battle of Passchendaele with the large casualty lists being published.

Thomas Emerson Watson is also interred in Porirua Cemetery. The grave, unmarked is in the non-conformist section NC F 055.

Photos:
Hammond Grave, Porirua Cemetery: Allan Dodson, August 2026
Watson Grave, Porirua Cemetery, Porirua: Allan Dodson, August 2026

05/09/2026

Winifred Dagg (née Riches) 1902 - 1923
(Prepared by Tania O'Regan with the inspiration of the late Merle O'Regan)

Winifred Dagg (née Riches), who died on 8 September 1923 aged just twenty one, was far from her birthplace in Brighton, England. She was the daughter of Charles Francis Riches and Kate Louise Riches (née Self). Charles was born in Wi******er in 1870 to his mother, Mercy Annie Churchward, who had left the naval districts of Plymouth behind by the time of his birth. ¹

Mercy Churchward was born around 1842 and belonged to a family of six children raised in Stoke Damerel, Plymouth. The neighbouring towns of Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse revolved around the Royal Navy and the dockyards. The Churchward’s lived within this environment, where dockyard labourers, sailors, marines, and transient workers shaped daily life. The family’s circumstances were unstable, and several daughters were drawn into the vice districts surrounding the Octagon. ²

Mercy’s parents were imprisoned for keeping a brothel in the Octagon area. In 1862, Mercy appeared before the Stonehouse Court of Justices accused of sending a threatening letter to Captain Henry Treffry Fox, who was married at the time, accusing the said Captain Fox of fathering her sister’s child. Newspapers dismissed the allegations, describing Captain Fox’s wife, Frances Jane, as simple for believing such claims after Frances personally visited the Octagon establishment. ³ The scandal nevertheless had consequences. Frances Jane Fox filed for divorce and, after marrying Her Majesty’s consul in Corsica, became Comtesse de Stirling. She eventually settled in Santa Cruz, California, far from Stonehouse and her former husband. ⁴

Mercy’s siblings followed varied paths. Her sister Faith Winifred Churchward emigrated to New Zealand in 1881 aboard the Piako, travelling as a nursemaid for the Scott family. She married Richard Russell in Dunedin in 1885 and lived in South Dunedin and later Abbotsford. Faith Winifred died in 1909 and is buried in Southern Cemetery. ⁵ Her early migration created a pattern later echoed by Mercy’s son Charles, who would also leave England for New Zealand.

Mercy herself left Plymouth behind. On 1 April 1870 she gave birth to her son Charles in Wi******er. No father was named. ⁶ In 1885, Mercy married William Riches in Brighton. Mercy and Charles lived in Brighton until Charles married Kate Louise Self. ⁷

Charles and Kate had two daughters, Elizabeth Kate Riches (born 1900) and Winifred Riches (born 20 March 1902). Both girls were baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Aldershot. ⁸ Aldershot was dominated by army life, with cramped living conditions and frequent infectious disease.

In 1903, Charles and Kate emigrated to New Zealand aboard the Tokomaru. The voyage was long and crowded, carrying assisted immigrants and families seeking new opportunities. The Riches family arrived in Wellington on 22 December 1903 and were contracted to land at Port Chalmers. ⁹

Winifred grew up in New Zealand and married Thomas Henry John Dagg in Napier in 1922. Within a year, her health declined severely. Autopsy and coroner’s records show she suffered from advanced phthisis pulmonalis, the term used at the time for tuberculosis. ¹⁰ When admitted to Porirua Mental Hospital on 26 July 1923, she was physically frail and showing signs of confusional insanity, a condition often associated with severe infection, exhaustion, and delirium. ¹¹ Porirua Mental Hospital admitted patients whose tuberculosis had progressed to delirium or inability to care for themselves.

Winifred became bedridden for the last three weeks of her life. Pressure sores developed because she could not move. Her husband and mother visited her on 28 August. Winifred died at 10 p.m. on 8 September 1923 in the presence of Nurse Stow. The coroner found she died from phthisis pulmonalis, known today as tuberculosis. ¹²

Winifred’s older sister, Elizabeth Kate Riches, had died two years earlier in 1921, also aged twenty one. Her death certificate confirms she too died of tuberculosis. ¹³ Tuberculosis was widespread in early twentieth century New Zealand, particularly affecting young adults. Many families experienced multiple losses, and it was not uncommon for siblings to die within a few years of each other. The fact that both sisters died at the same age from the same illness suggests a shared exposure or susceptibility, possibly originating in childhood or early adulthood, before effective treatments existed. ¹⁴

Although Winifred had no children of her own, her story did not end with her. The family line continued through the siblings who followed both herself and Elizabeth Kate, and it is through their children and grandchildren that this history has been preserved. Their willingness to pass down memories, documents, and shared research has allowed Winifred, Elizabeth, Mercy, Faith, and the wider family to be remembered with clarity and dignity. This story stands because they carried it forward. ¹⁵

Winifred Dagg was buried in the Church of England section of Porirua Cemetery, in Sub Area B, Plot 10. Her grave, like many of those belonging to patients from Porirua Mental Hospital, remains unmarked. The burial register records her interment on 12 September 1923, authorised by her father, Charles Francis Riches. ¹⁶

Her obituary notice in her hometown referred to Winifred as a Riches, not Dagg, which aligns with family testimony regarding the nature of her relationship with her husband. ¹⁷

Footnotes / References
1. Wi******er Birth Register, 1870.
2. Plymouth and Devonport newspaper archives, 1860–1870.
3. Stonehouse Court of Justices, Plymouth, 1862 proceedings.
4. Santa Cruz historical notices relating to Frances Jane Fox (Comtesse de Stirling).
5. Southern Cemetery, Dunedin burial records, 1909.
6. Wi******er Birth Register, 1870.
7. Brighton Marriage Register, 1885.
8. Holy Trinity Church, Aldershot baptismal registers, 1900–1902.
9. Tokomaru Passenger List, 22 December 1903.
10. Porirua Mental Hospital coroner’s report, 1923.
11. Porirua Mental Hospital admission records, 1923.
12. Porirua Mental Hospital autopsy findings, 1923.
13. Births, Deaths and Marriages NZ: Death registration for Elizabeth Kate Riches (1921).
14. Public health reports on tuberculosis in New Zealand, 1900–1930.
15. Family oral histories and private records.
16. Porirua Cemetery burial register, 1923.
17. Local obituary notices, Brighton, 1923.

Photos
Thought to Be Winifred : Riches Family
SS Tokomaru: Riches Family
Winifred's grave, Porirua Cemetery: Allan Dodson, September 2026
Winifred's grave is in the foreground, the tree has been planted on the grave of
Matilda Clarke 1848 - 1929 CE B 09

29/08/2026

A simple headstone “ To My Dear Mother”

Catherine Jane (nee Curnow) Brown 1858 – 1903

Catherine Jane Curnow was born, on 30th April 1858, in Penance, Cornwall, England, the eldest child of Charity (nee Martins) and David Brown .

Catherine grew up in Cornwall with two younger brothers David and Thomas Gilbert Curnow and sisters Mary and Martha Maria Curnow.

Catherine’s father was a tin miner. The Cornwall mines in the middle and late 1870’s were in decline, in the first six months of 1875 10,000 Cornish miners immigrated to South Africa, Australia and the United States where their skills were in demand.

The Curnow family immigrated to the United States. Catherine’s younger brother David Curnow died, in 1881, in Nevada County, California . Nevada County is the site of the oldest, deepest and richest gold mine in California. Catherine’s, father, mother, brother Thomas Gilbert and sister Martha Maria Curnow are also buried in California.

Catherine came to Nelson , New Zealand possibly from California there are a number of Curnow families who were located in Collingwood, Nelson, another gold mining area in the 1860’s.

On 13th March 1880 Catherine married Henry John Brown . Henry. ‘Harry,’ was born in Richmond, Nelson on 9th January 1855. The couple’s first child was born in Nelson on 10th December 1880.

Catherine Jane Brown was pregnant with the couple’s second daughter, Charity Jane Brown, when Henry took part of the Colonial Invasion of Parihaka, Taranaki.

The Colonial Government assembled a force of 1500 men, Armed Constabulary and Volunteers to crush a non-violent Māori resistance movement against land confiscation. Volunteers included a contingent of 200 men from Nelson, H Battery NZ Regiment of Artillery, Nelson City Rifles, Waimea Rifles and Stoke Rifles. One of the Stoke Rifle volunteers was Private Henry Brown.

Henry’s Obituary mentions landing by surf boat before the assault on Parihaka on 5th November 1881. The campaign for the Stoke Rifles was short as they were back in Nelson late November 1881 in time for birth of Charity on 12th December 1881.

The Brown family remained in the Nelson Region with Mary Catherine, 1883, Martha Selina, 1884, and Henry John ‘Jack’ Brown born in 1885. The family moved to Hawera, Taranaki where Thomas Gilbert Brown was born in 1886. While Henry was employed by the Hawera Borough Council for 24 years and also served with the Hawera Fire Police, Catherine had another seven children .

Agatha Sophia Brown was Catherine Jane and John Henry Christian Brown’s twelfth child and was born in Hawera on 19th October 1902.

Catherine Jane Brown was admitted to Porirua Asylum on 13th November 1902, not long after the birth of Agatha. Catherine was admitted in a state of ‘great excitement’ and found to have a heart condition but otherwise in good condition.’

Catherine remained in good condition until 2nd June 1903 when she was found in an ‘exhausted condition but not apparently dangerously so.’ On 3rd June 1903 Catherine was tended by a nurse but died that morning. The inquest reordered her death, at age 44, of was reordered as valvular disease of the heart. Catherine’s husband John is recorded as living in Hawera but was ‘coming down tonight.’

Catherine was interred the same day that she died.

The Coroner’s report also noted that Catherine had been committed, ten years ago, to Mount View Asylum, Wellington.

Catherine Jane Brown is interred in the Non-Conformist Section NC I 058

The grave has a simple headstone, possibly installed in the late 1930’s by her daughter Charity Pearl (nee Brown) Parkinson. The wording in a 1937 notice In Remembrance to her father bears similar wording.

Notes
John Christian Henry Brown remarried in 1906 to Eveline Gertrude Blanchard, they had a son in 1908 Arthur Richard Brown.

John Christian Henry Brown died in Hawera in 1936.

References
Ancestry.com
Archive NZ: Coroner’s Reports
Paperspast Online
The Prow: Nelson Provincial Museum
Wikipedia : Cornish Miners
NZ BDM
Porirua Cemeteries Online

Photos
Brown grave, Porirua Cemetery: Allan Dodson March 2026.

22/08/2026

Richard Vincent 1853 – 1902

Richard Vincent was born in Wellington on 8th July 1853 the son of Amelia Emma (nee Squibb) and Nathaniel Vincent.

Richard was the youngest of eleven children although four died in infancy and interred in Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington.

Time in the Vincent household were hard in 1866 Amelia Emma Vincent was remanded at the Wellington Police Station for a medical examination by two local doctors who noted “that the unfortunate woman, who is the mother of a large family, and recommended she be kept in surveillance of her husband or sent to the Asylum at Karori.’
It appears that Nathaniel did the surveillance as a later court case, in 1875 noted “Amelia Emma Vincent was charged on information of her husband with assault and violent behaviour. She had previously been charged with being of unsound mind but the medical evidence did not sustain the charge.” Nathanial, a painter, deposed on returning home that his wife used very violent and abusive language and threats with a small axe. He then went to the police who took Amelia into custody. On returning he found all windows were broken and everything inside broken.”

Nathanial was supported by his son Robert Vincent who deposed “his mother flew at him and scratched his face and was known to throw knives and forks at him.”

The Bench was reported to have regretted that the doctors did not see it clear to commit her to a lunatic asylum, as her conduct seemed to show her mind was deranged. The court then ordered Amelia to be bound over to keep the peace for six months with a bond of £20 and two sureties, also of £20, a considerable sum for the times.

On 19th February 1880 Nathaniel was convicted under the ‘Breach of Destitute Persons Act’ and sentenced to one month hard labour. The charge was wife desertion and he was reported to have said that ‘he had done all he could for his family’ and that his wife drove him away from the house and he was afraid to home in case the woman might break his head.’ Following the four weeks imprisonment Nathaniel was ordered to pay £1 a week to support his family.

Nathaniel Vincent died on 1st April 1881, aged 56, and is interred in Bolton Street Cemetery. The grave was later moved in the 1960’s with the SH1 Motorway, there is no headstone.

It is possible that in the late 1880’s with Amelia, with her recorded issues and aged sixties may not have been able to care for her oldest son Richard Vincent. On 22nd July 1889 Richard, aged 36, and suffering from epilepsy, was committed as a patient at Mount View Asylum, Wellington .

Richard’s mother Amelia died on 5th May 1890 and was interred in Bolton Street Cemetery with her husband Nathaniel.

Richard remained a patient at Mount View through to 15th March 1901 when he was transferred to Porirua Asylum.

Richard is recorded as in moderate health but subject to epileptic fits. On 25th January 1902 Richard was placed in bed because of his fits. The Assistant Superintendent of the Asylum, Herbert Barraclough recorded in one instance he had 242 fits in thirteen hours. Richard Vincent died on 4th February 1902 and following standard procedure and inquest was held which recorded the death as epilepsy. In the notes from the Assistant Superintendent in that ‘I found he had a brother in Wellington and communicated with him, he has never ever visited him.’

Richard Vincent was interred on the Public Lawn section of Porirua Cemetery PL B 016.

The grave is located in a row in front of the Knight Brothers but is unmarked.

The five graves located near the Knights Brother have now been researched.
PL B 016 Richard Vincent
PL B 017 Banihope – Bauchope James
PL B 018 Harlow-Haslow David Fable
PL C 016 McLean Donald
PL C 018 Brady John

Notes
The Wellington Resident Magistrate at Richard’s committal was Lt Colonel John McIntosh Roberts, NZC. Lt Col Roberts before becoming a magistrate had served with the Armed Constabulary in the NZ Wars and is recorded as serving with Major Gustavus Von Tempsky. For his service in the NZ Wars he was awarded the New Zealand Cross .

References
Paperspast Online
Ancestry.com
Porirua Cemeteries Online
Archives NZ Coroner’s Reports

Photos
Vincent grave, Public Lawn: Allan Dodson, July 2026.
PCC Drawing 3/E/Z39 4 of 7 (1987) part of

15/08/2026

Donald McLean 1845 – 1903

He is interred in the Public Lawn section of Porirua Cemetery while his grave is unmarked it is located to the left of the Knight brother’s grave .

There were many causes for people to be committed to an asylum, a major cause was being ‘destitution or vagrancy’ where a homeless individual with no family support, or in Donald’s case, possibly due to suffering mild senility, confusion they were placed in an asylum as they had no savings and in the 1890’s there was no social welfare housing that they could be housed.

Little is known about Donald he is officially recorded in the Police Gazette on 5th March 1894 as being sentenced, in Wellington, to seven days imprisonment for larceny. Donald is recorded as having two previous convictions, being born in Scotland, and was 5’ 7” in height with dark complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. Described as an engineer there was an anchor tattooed on his right arm.

Donald was again before the courts on 9th April 1894 this time to vagrancy and sentenced to two months imprisonment . Donald was released in mid June 1894 but on 2nd July 1894 was committed to Mt View Asylum, Wellington. He remained in Mt View until 20th January 1898 when he was transferred to Porirua Asylum.

Described as suffering, ‘dementia following mania,’ Donald was not considered an issue by the Asylum until late 1902, when he became ‘extremely troublesome and required feeding by cup.’

Donald deteriorated and while he continued to be feed by cup with the occasional whiskey he died on 25th April 1903 and following the standard Coroner’s Court was interred the same day in the public lawn area of Porirua Cemetery.

The official cause of death is listed as pneumonia. Donald is noted as 58, an engineer, with “no recent friend in the colony.”

Donald McLean is interred in PL B 016

Notes
It is assumed that Donald had been employed on the steamships that operated to New Zealand and to and from the Colony being described as an engineer with an anchor tattoo.

References
Archives NZ: Coroners Reports
Ancestry.com: NZ Police Gazettes 1875-1945
Porirua Cemeteries Online

Photo
McLean grave: Allan Dodson August 2026.
The grave is to the left of the Knight brothers.

08/08/2026

James Bauchope c1835 – 1903

The grave is located at the bottom of the headstone for the Knight brothers in the Public Lawn of Porirua Cemetery.

The original drawing number five of seven indicated that Row B Plot 17 of the Public Lawn was allocated to Banihope. The name has later been amended on the Porirua City Online Cemetery Search to Bauchope and this matches the listing in NZ Births Deaths Marriages Register 1902/1714 (Death) and Archives NZ, Wellington Coroner’s Report 1902/174.

So who is James Bauchope the only initial clues are in the Wellington Coroner’s Report which is hand written in cursive script and needed to ‘decoded.’ The Coroner’s record from Dr Gray Hassell notes that “He had a daughter at Dannevirke and I have communicated with her from time to time the last by telegram this January (1902).”

James Bauchop was born on 7th January 1835 and was baptised on 1st February 1835 in New Monkland, Lanark, Scotland. James married Mary Barnes on 20th April 1860 in Stirling, their daughter Euphemia Bauchop was born on 12th July 1861 in Partick, Lanarkshire, Scotland .

James, Mary and Euphemia emigrated from Scotland in 1862 sailing on the Barque Edward Thornhill to Nelson, New Zealand . The Bauchop family left from 100 Orchard Street, Patrick with their passage being guaranteed by Stephen Clerk and Thomas Wayth.

The conditions of the Barque Edward Thornhill were excellent and the services of both the Ships Master and Ship Surgeon were complemented in a letters signed by passengers including J Bauchop. There were two deaths on the voyager the Ships Mate was swept overboard when a squall hit the barque and Mrs M Bauchop who died, at sea, from Erysipelas in the head.

James and daughter Euphemia moved to the Blenheim area with Euphemia, only daughter of Mr James Bauchop marrying, at Tau Marina (Taumarina), Blenheim to John Law on 15th November 1879 .

Euphemia and John moved to the North Island to farm in the Cheltenham, Manawatu-Wanganui area. The couple and their growing family moved to the Dannevirke area in the 1890’s .

James remained in the Taumarina area he is listed as a carpenter in the 1880’s but by 1887 had moved to Blenheim where he was registered as a builder.

James Bauchop, in 1890, is listed as a carpenter, in Wellington his address being the SS Takapuna. The SS Takapuna was a Union Steam Ship Company (USSC) that operated a passenger and mail service on the New Zealand Coast. It is possible this was while the ship was in port James was onboard the vessel rather than being permanent crew.

On 18th October 1893 James Bauchope was admitted to the Mount View Asylum, Wellington the committal forms being signed by Stipendiary Magistrate J C (James Cochran) Martin and two local Wellington doctors. James was moved to the Porirua Asylum on 5th December 1893. Dr Gray Hassell who was the Superintendent of Porirua Asylums noted in his report that in Porirua James showed signs of dementia and also suffered from epileptic fits. James was unfit for work around the Asylum and spent most of his time in bed.

James’ attendant George Neilson(?) in his statement to the Coroner’s Court reported that James was extremely frail and was on a special diet and that James died in his care at 3:30 on Friday 21st February 1902. The Asylum must have been anticipating the death as James’ Coroner’s Inquiry was held at 5:00 that afternoon and he was buried soon after the inquest.

James Bauchope death was certified as from chronic brain disease and epilepsy.

James Bauchope is interred in the Public Lawn, B 017.

Notes
Many thank to the family tree prepared by Peter Mexted on Ancestry.com for material on the Bauchop family enabling the link to Porirua Cemetery being made.

References
Ancestry.com Peter Mexted family
Paperspast Online
Archives NZ Coroners Reports
NZ BDM
Yesteryears.co.nz Immigration Passengers List
Pandoraresearch ANZ Immigration Passenger Lists

Photos:
Bauchop ?Bauchope grave in the foreground of the Knight brothers grave.

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