WHEATLEY, Arthur Charles
Born 1884; died 22 November 1918; buried 23 November 1918; age 34
Arthur Charles was born in New Zealand in 1884, the eldest of the four children of Charlotte and Arthur WHEATLEY. He had two brothers, Alfred Horace (known as Horace) born in 1886 and Leonard born in 1895. Their sister, Sylvia Victoria was born in 1897.
Arthur junior’s school record shows him starting his schooling at Mt Cook Infants School in Tory Street on 3 February 1890 while his family was living in Brougham Street on Mt Victoria (i). In time, Arthur junior also attended Mt Cook Boys’ School in Upper Taranaki Street, Willis Street School, and Te Aro School as it was later known.
Arthur senior was ‘a well-known citizen of Wellington’ (ii). Although his son’s earliest school record described his father’s occupation as ‘gasfitter’ it would seem that by 1900 at least, he worked as a baker and pastrycook/confectioner from a two-storeyed wooden building where Lambton Quay joined Mason’s Steps (iii) (now known as Mason’s Lane between Lambton Quay and The Terrace) while his family resided in Murphy Street (iv).
After 22 years in Wellington and 2 in Petone the Wheatley parents took a 9-month trip ‘home’ in 1905 (v). Arthur junior appeared on the electoral roll 1905-06 at Hutt Road, Petone, working as a clerk. But within 3 years Arthur senior had become bankrupt (vi) and lost his land holdings in Inglewood, Aitken and Molesworth Streets, Wellington as well as in Lower Hutt. He then took to work as a land agent (vii).
In 1908 Arthur junior married Agnes Webster, known as ‘Queenie’. She had been born in Christchurch in May 1885. Their first child was born in Petone in 1909, a daughter they named Helen Rae, while a son followed after the family moved to Wadestown in 1911. This child was named Malcolm Gosby, born in 1914.
Residing at 42 Hay Street in 1915 and then at 21 Hinau Road in 1917, Arthur junior worked for the accountancy branch of the Evening Post and later the Dominion and did a short stint as assistant town clerk at New Plymouth (viii). As his daughter’s school record shows her previous school had been Leeston (in Canterbury) in June 1917, it is also possible that accounting work had attracted Arthur junior south for a period. On return to Wellington he accepted the position of head accountant for Messrs Thompson Bros Ltd who operated an auctioneering, fruit, grain and general merchant business at 10 – 20 Blair Street in Wellington (ix). Arthur junior and Agnes were registered as living in Karaka Bay, on the Miramar Peninsula on the 1914 Electoral Roll, and Agnes was still at that address in 1919.
In November 1918 Arthur was sick for 8 days fighting the influenza. Queenie and one of their children had also contracted it, and when Arthur died they were laid up in the Rona Bay Hospital. They recovered. Arthur, however, succumbed and died on 22 November 1918:
WHEATLEY.—On the 22nd November, 1918, at Day's Bay, of influenza, Arthur Charles, the beloved husband of Queenie Wheatley; aged 34 years. At rest.
Evening Post 25 November 1918
For many years (1893-1948) ferries plied between the peninsula and Days & Rona Bays (which are directly opposite Karaka Bay). Perhaps Arthur and his family had been visiting the Eastbourne/Days Bay area when they were taken ill. However, other records (x) indicate that at some point Arthur had been taken to the 67-bed St John’s Temporary Hospital in Dixon Street from 21 Hinau Road, (Hataitai) and that he died at the hospital. His brother Horace lived at 19 Hinau Road for many years. Queenie’s address on the 1919 Electoral Roll was 21 Hinau Road, and she and Arthur were also registered (on the same roll) at Karaka Bay.
Queenie paid for Arthur’s burial plot 307 I in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery on 11 February 1919. She arranged for the headstone below to be added to Arthur’s grave with an inscription ‘Arthur Chas WHEATLEY died 22 Nov 1918 at 34 years. ‘Till he come’
Queenie never remarried, spending some of her widowhood in the Wairarapa at Longbush and some also in Upper Hutt. When she died in 1962, Queenie’s cremated remains were also deposited in the Karori grave with her husband.
Arthur’s mother Charlotte died aged 75 on 9 November 1934 and was buried in Public 3 plot 352C in Karori Cemetery. Her husband died in Port Said, Egypt on 30 September 1935, aged 76. According to a report of the meeting of the Manchester Unity Oddfellows (Lodge) ‘Bro. Wheatley’s death had occurred whilst returning from England, and he had been interred at Aden.’ (xi) The headstone on their plot in Karori Cemetery reads:
In loving memory of Charlotte WHEATLEY died 9 Nov 1934 at 75 years. Also Arthur WHEATLEY beloved husband of the above died Port Said 30 Sept 1935 at 76 years. ‘Forever with the Lord’.
By then, Arthur junior’s siblings were scattered across New Zealand: Alfred was living in Dunedin, Sylvia Sherwood (xii) was in Nelson and Leonard was at 33 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn (xiii).
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: PUBLIC2
Plot: 307 I
Sources:
(i) NZSG Kiwi Collection v2, 2015
(ii) Evening Post 25 November 1918
(iii) According to a 1913 letter to the Dominion newspaper, 'Mason’s Steps' were named after Mr William Mason, who arrived in Wellington in 1842 and ran a blacksmith’s shop at the back of the site. ‘In those days… there was nothing more than a rough track through the manuka scrub.’ Then, as now, the Lane was used as a short cut between Lambton Quay and the Terrace.
(iv) New Zealand Times 1 January 1900, Evening Post 2 January 1900
(v) Evening Post 20 October 1905. ‘Home’ meant back to the mother country, the United Kingdom.
(vi) New Zealand Times 12 February 1908
(vii) Dominion 22 May 1920
(viii) Evening Post 25 November 1918
(ix) New Zealand Post Office Directory 1918, page 960
(x) List of influenza deaths in Wellington compiled in the 1980s by Professor Geoffrey Rice from death certificates.
(xi) Evening Post 28 October 1935
(xii) Sylvia married Ernest Frank SHERWOOD in 1922.
(xiii) Evening Post 1 October 1935
Born 1884; died 22 November 1918; buried 23 November 1918; age 34
Arthur Charles was born in New Zealand in 1884, the eldest of the four children of Charlotte and Arthur WHEATLEY. He had two brothers, Alfred Horace (known as Horace) born in 1886 and Leonard born in 1895. Their sister, Sylvia Victoria was born in 1897.
Arthur junior’s school record shows him starting his schooling at Mt Cook Infants School in Tory Street on 3 February 1890 while his family was living in Brougham Street on Mt Victoria (i). In time, Arthur junior also attended Mt Cook Boys’ School in Upper Taranaki Street, Willis Street School, and Te Aro School as it was later known.
Arthur senior was ‘a well-known citizen of Wellington’ (ii). Although his son’s earliest school record described his father’s occupation as ‘gasfitter’ it would seem that by 1900 at least, he worked as a baker and pastrycook/confectioner from a two-storeyed wooden building where Lambton Quay joined Mason’s Steps (iii) (now known as Mason’s Lane between Lambton Quay and The Terrace) while his family resided in Murphy Street (iv).
After 22 years in Wellington and 2 in Petone the Wheatley parents took a 9-month trip ‘home’ in 1905 (v). Arthur junior appeared on the electoral roll 1905-06 at Hutt Road, Petone, working as a clerk. But within 3 years Arthur senior had become bankrupt (vi) and lost his land holdings in Inglewood, Aitken and Molesworth Streets, Wellington as well as in Lower Hutt. He then took to work as a land agent (vii).
In 1908 Arthur junior married Agnes Webster, known as ‘Queenie’. She had been born in Christchurch in May 1885. Their first child was born in Petone in 1909, a daughter they named Helen Rae, while a son followed after the family moved to Wadestown in 1911. This child was named Malcolm Gosby, born in 1914.
Residing at 42 Hay Street in 1915 and then at 21 Hinau Road in 1917, Arthur junior worked for the accountancy branch of the Evening Post and later the Dominion and did a short stint as assistant town clerk at New Plymouth (viii). As his daughter’s school record shows her previous school had been Leeston (in Canterbury) in June 1917, it is also possible that accounting work had attracted Arthur junior south for a period. On return to Wellington he accepted the position of head accountant for Messrs Thompson Bros Ltd who operated an auctioneering, fruit, grain and general merchant business at 10 – 20 Blair Street in Wellington (ix). Arthur junior and Agnes were registered as living in Karaka Bay, on the Miramar Peninsula on the 1914 Electoral Roll, and Agnes was still at that address in 1919.
In November 1918 Arthur was sick for 8 days fighting the influenza. Queenie and one of their children had also contracted it, and when Arthur died they were laid up in the Rona Bay Hospital. They recovered. Arthur, however, succumbed and died on 22 November 1918:
WHEATLEY.—On the 22nd November, 1918, at Day's Bay, of influenza, Arthur Charles, the beloved husband of Queenie Wheatley; aged 34 years. At rest.
Evening Post 25 November 1918
For many years (1893-1948) ferries plied between the peninsula and Days & Rona Bays (which are directly opposite Karaka Bay). Perhaps Arthur and his family had been visiting the Eastbourne/Days Bay area when they were taken ill. However, other records (x) indicate that at some point Arthur had been taken to the 67-bed St John’s Temporary Hospital in Dixon Street from 21 Hinau Road, (Hataitai) and that he died at the hospital. His brother Horace lived at 19 Hinau Road for many years. Queenie’s address on the 1919 Electoral Roll was 21 Hinau Road, and she and Arthur were also registered (on the same roll) at Karaka Bay.
Queenie paid for Arthur’s burial plot 307 I in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery on 11 February 1919. She arranged for the headstone below to be added to Arthur’s grave with an inscription ‘Arthur Chas WHEATLEY died 22 Nov 1918 at 34 years. ‘Till he come’
Queenie never remarried, spending some of her widowhood in the Wairarapa at Longbush and some also in Upper Hutt. When she died in 1962, Queenie’s cremated remains were also deposited in the Karori grave with her husband.
Arthur’s mother Charlotte died aged 75 on 9 November 1934 and was buried in Public 3 plot 352C in Karori Cemetery. Her husband died in Port Said, Egypt on 30 September 1935, aged 76. According to a report of the meeting of the Manchester Unity Oddfellows (Lodge) ‘Bro. Wheatley’s death had occurred whilst returning from England, and he had been interred at Aden.’ (xi) The headstone on their plot in Karori Cemetery reads:
In loving memory of Charlotte WHEATLEY died 9 Nov 1934 at 75 years. Also Arthur WHEATLEY beloved husband of the above died Port Said 30 Sept 1935 at 76 years. ‘Forever with the Lord’.
By then, Arthur junior’s siblings were scattered across New Zealand: Alfred was living in Dunedin, Sylvia Sherwood (xii) was in Nelson and Leonard was at 33 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn (xiii).
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: PUBLIC2
Plot: 307 I
Sources:
(i) NZSG Kiwi Collection v2, 2015
(ii) Evening Post 25 November 1918
(iii) According to a 1913 letter to the Dominion newspaper, 'Mason’s Steps' were named after Mr William Mason, who arrived in Wellington in 1842 and ran a blacksmith’s shop at the back of the site. ‘In those days… there was nothing more than a rough track through the manuka scrub.’ Then, as now, the Lane was used as a short cut between Lambton Quay and the Terrace.
(iv) New Zealand Times 1 January 1900, Evening Post 2 January 1900
(v) Evening Post 20 October 1905. ‘Home’ meant back to the mother country, the United Kingdom.
(vi) New Zealand Times 12 February 1908
(vii) Dominion 22 May 1920
(viii) Evening Post 25 November 1918
(ix) New Zealand Post Office Directory 1918, page 960
(x) List of influenza deaths in Wellington compiled in the 1980s by Professor Geoffrey Rice from death certificates.
(xi) Evening Post 28 October 1935
(xii) Sylvia married Ernest Frank SHERWOOD in 1922.
(xiii) Evening Post 1 October 1935