The ROCHE and HERRIES familes of Te Aroha, New Zealand - Part 1

Several years ago I purchased these two cabinet card portraits on eBay, taken in the studio of John Robert Hanna at 134 Queen Street, Auckland, New Zealand. They were of an elderly man and woman, and were inscribed on the reverse, in what appears to be a contemporary hand, "Mrs Herries, Shaftesbury, Te Aroha, Auckland, New Zealand." This interested me, because the town of Te Aroha, nestled at the foot of the Kaimai Range on the eastern edge of the Waikato farming district, is not far from where I live. In fact, I can just see Mount Te Aroha (952 metres), with its TV mast, on the skyline from my front lawn.


My initial research centred on the Herries family. Sir William Herbert Herries (1859-1923) of the small settlement of Shaftesbury, near Te Aroha, was a farmer, race horse breeder and politician. The entry for him in the online version of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography shows that he was born in London, England into a wealthy middle-class family, went to Eton College and, because of an early interest in fossils and geology, studied for a natural science degree at Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduating in 1881, he emigrated to New Zealand and settled on a 900 acre property at Shaftesbury, where he farmed and "dedicat[ed] his leisure to what became a lifelong passion for horse-racing and bloodstock lines." In the 1890s he entered local, and then national politics, serving as a Member of Parliament in opposition from 1896 until 1921, with several years as a cabinet minister after Massey's party took power in 1912. He gained a well earned reputation as an inveterate purchaser of Maori lands.

Herries married Catherine Louise Roche of Ohineroa, a neighbour's daughter, on 4 December 1889. She died in 1912 on board ship returning home from a trip to England and they had no children. "In his latter years, unhindered by the demands of farm and family, [he] was left to pursue his addiction to politics, horse-racing and alcohol." Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900 shows that he was the eldest son and heir of a barrister Herbert Crompton Herries (1829-1870) and his wife Leonora Emma Wickham of Frimley Park, Surrey, and grandson of Major General Sir William Lewis Herries, CB, KCH, (1785-1857) of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot. His younger brother Robert Stansfield Herries, F.R.G.S. (186-1941) of St Julian's, Kent, followed his father to the bar, was a Director of Spottiswoode's, Ltd. and President of the Geologists' Association from 1906 to 1908.


The photographs of Sir William Herries included in his DNZB biography (see above) taken in the late 1890s and in 1916, respectively, don't show many similarities with the portrait by Hannah. The very full sleeves worn by the elderly woman in the Hanna portrait suggest that it was taken in the 1890s, probably between 1892 and 1897. Auckland City Libraries' Photographers Database shows that Hannah operated a studio at this address from 1885 to 1895, after which he moved to 196 Queen Street. Although card mounts are of slightly different design, it seems likely that they were both taken at around the same time, and almost certainly between 1892 and 1895.

Since they obviously weren't of Sir William Herries and his wife - they would have been in their mid- to late thirties at the time these portraits were taken - who were they? There was no evidence that Sir William's parents had ever come out to New Zealand - besides, his father died in 1870. It occurred to me that they might be of Catherine's parents, and to this end in February 2006 I posted a query on the Rootsweb New Zealand Mailing List asking for any information about the Roche family of Ohineroa. While I didn't receive anything directly relevant, one list member suggested I check the local newspapers of the period, which of course I should have done previously. I then browsed the appropriate sections of Te Aroha & Ohinemuri News & Upper Thames Advocate on Papers Past, a collection of more than one million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from the years 1840 to 1915, hosted by the National Library of New Zealand, and found the following article in the issue dated Saturday, 7 December 1889 (page 2):

"On Wednesday last Mr. W.H. Herries (who recently bought out his partner's interest in that valuable farm at Shaftesbury, until then the property of Messrs Thompson and Herries), was married to Miss Roche, daughter of Mr E.F. Roche, J.P., of Ohineroa, Shaftesbury. The wedding took place at the residence of the bride's father, Rev. F.G. Evans officiating. The event was celebrated in the quietest manner possible, as, beyond Mr Roche's family, Mis Purchas (bridesmaid), and Mr E.C. Meysey Thompson (best man), only a very few intimate friends were invited. The happy couple in the afternoon drove direct to their future home, the residence of Mr. W.H. Herries; which has been recently greatly enlarged and newly furnished in preparation for the wedding. We join with many others in wishing the newly married couple long life and much happiness and prosperity."

This didn't tell me a great deal beyond what I already knew. It was possible that the elderly couple in the photos were Catherine Roche's parents, but there was no way to be sure. In the mean time, I exchanged the two original cabinet card photographs with fellow collector of old photographs, Peter Koninsky, who had located and previously sent me several cartes de visite by Derbyshire photographers, my main area of interest. He was very grateful:

"The Brisbane CDV and the two Auckland, N.Z. cabinet cards survived the journey unscathed. Thank you!! These are my first New Zealand cards, and are appreciated as much because they offer a slight glimpse into the past in a distant and interesting location, as they are because they seem to be so scarce and difficult to obtain."

That was almost two years ago. Go to Part 2.

References

Belgrave, Michael. 'Herries, William Herbert 1859 - 1923'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 22 June 2007

Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999. Original data: Venn, J. A., comp.. Alumni Cantabrigienses. London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954.

Database of New Zealand Photographers, from Auckland City Libraries.

Te Aroha & Ohinemuri News & Upper Thames Advocate, Saturday 7 December 1889, page 2, on Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.

The 1st Derbyshire Rifles - early cabinet card by Keene

In an earlier posting about cabinet cards, I mentioned that although the format was first introduced in the mid-1860s, it did not really catch on until the mid-1870s. It is possible that this was due to its relatively higher price, compared with the carte de visite.

This cabinet card was produced by innovative Derby photographer Richard Keene in August 1874 and, as with many early examples of the format, it actually had the words "Cabinet Portrait" written on the front of the card. The early cabinet card can be identified, in the same manner as its smaller predecessor the carte de visite, by the square corners.


The inscription on the reverse of this fine portrait identifies the three men in military uniform as Officers of the 1st Corps, First Battalion of the Derbyshire Volunteers (1st Derbyshire Rifles): Lieutenant William Bemrose (1831-1908), Captain John Farmer Thirlby (c.1839-) & Lieutenant Henry Monkhouse (1837-1905). William Bemrose was a partner in the printing, publishing and stationery firm, Bemrose & Sons. John F. Thirlby was a bank clerk and secretary of the Derby Gymnasium Club. Henry Monkhouse was a chemist's assistant at the time this portrait was taken.

Early Derby Photographers (3) - W.W. Winter

William Walter Winter (1842-1924) was one of Derby's more successful photographers. He was the son of Cornelius Jansen Walter Winter (1819-1891), a Norfolk portrait and animal painter, and started off as an assistant to Frenchman Monsieur E.N. Charles (1827-1864) at 2 Midland Road, Derby. When Charles died in 1863, his widow Sarah ran the studio with Winter, then married him in 1864, after which Winter took over the studio. It continued to operate under his stewardship until his retirement in 1909. He sold the firm the following year, and the business is still operating today, from their premises at the Alexandra Room Studios, built to a design by the Derby architect Henry Isaac Stevens. W.W. Winter died in 1924.


This portrait was probably taken by Winter himself shortly before his retirement in 1907, when he was a Justice of the Peace for Derby.

Early Derby Photographers (2) - J.W. Price

Joseph Wheeldon Price (b. 1830) opened his first studio in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics) in the mid-1860s, and by 1870 was operating another branch at Babington Lane in Derby. Although the Ashby premises closed in the early to mid-1870s, Price took over another studio at 36 Victoria Street, Derby from Clement Rogers for a brief period from 1876 to 1880.


The vignetted head-and-shoulders portrait shown above is a mounted albumen print marked with his signature - very similar to the signature printed on CDV mounts - on the reverse, as well as "Photo'D from copy" in the same hand. It was probably taken in the early 1870s when he was in his early forties.

For a few years in the early 1880s, he was in partnership with a travelling photographer Benjamin Galvin (1828-1900) and quite a few examples of CDVs and cabinet cards with Price & Gavin's stamp exist. Then, in the late 1880s Price retired to Liscard on the Wirral (Cheshire), where he ran a tobacconist's shop. The Babington Lane studio was subsequently operated by Edmund & C. Hopkins (1891) and Charles Carr, Gilbert & Co. (from 1895), who remained there until at least 1903.

Early Derby Photographers (1) - Richard Keene

In the collection of portraits at the Derby Local Studies Library which I looked through recently, I was excited to find several of the photographers themselves.


This one is a portrait of one of Derby's leading photographers, Richard Keene (1825-1894), by James Brennen. It is dated on the reverse, June 1863, about four years after he had established his own portrait studio.

Although primarily a printer, bookseller, stationer and, by 1855, publisher of the Derbyshire Telegraph, he developed an interest in photography, and travelled throughout Derbyshire with friends, taking pictures of architecture, topography and landscapes. He started by selling prints of the high quality photos for which he became reknowned, but also set up and operated a successful portrait studio from at least 1859, produced private commissions for firms, estates and families, and took photos in many other counties. He was an associate of Fox Talbot, and his work reportedly included commissions by the Royal Family. In 1884 he was a founder member of the Derby Photographic Society, he was the recipient of 34 major awards, and he also became President Elect of the Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom.