Cars
I suppose I can claim to be born into the motoring age. At least my father was always pretty keen on cars, owning his first car, a Model T Ford in 1925, and having a succession of cars, mostly Fords, up till the time of his death in 1963. The model T was bought before my time, but as I understand it from family legend he bought it in...
Lord Onslow
This is actually a story of my Uncle Murray's. He was born in 1882, so grew up during Seddon's time as a politician, and as he worked for the Post Office in Westport when Dick was MP for Westland, I guess he was familiar with many of the stories, apocryphal or otherwise, concerning him. Anyway, Lord Onslow was Governor General of New Zealand...
Frederik Christian Dale: A Brush with History
I wouldn't want to make too much of this, but Richard John Seddon has impinged on my life more than chance should have allowed. I've already told you Uncle Murray's story about King Dick's trip down the West coast with Lord Onslow, but perhaps I haven't mentioned his other story about Seddon's typically corrupt use of power to help some yobbo...
Daniel Ferris
The family legend has it that he was born in Ireland, perhaps somewhere near Belfast, and that as a rebellious teenager, he came home late one night to find the door locked. There is no mention of alcohol being involved, but his subsequent behaviour seems to suggest that it might have been. He went up the hill behind the house and dislodged a...
Samuel Barr
He's not directly related to me, but he married my great Grandmother's sister Maggie, and he lived at Boatman's and was a very active citizen there, and his path crossed with that of my ancestors and with Pam's grandmother too, so he deserves a place in the archives. Strangely the only memories of him handed down by my father concern his...
