RITTNER, Clara
Born c1886; died 3 December 1918; buried 5 December 1918; age 32
Clara Rittner, the wife of William Rittner, died of influenza and pneumonia on 3 December 1918 at 161 Thorndon Quay and was buried two days later. Her death record stated that she was 29, was born in England and had been in New Zealand for nine years. Her father was Benjamin Smith, an engineer but her mother Emma's surname was not given.
Clara was buried in Karori Cemetery in Section CH ENG2, plot 173 E. Both the headstone and death notice gave Clara’s age as 32.
In 1920 William Rittner said that Clara was born in the town of Bambury in the County of Staffordshire in England of English parents. Although she has not been positively identified in either birth or census records a Clara Smith about the right age was listed with parents Benjamin and Emma Smith in 1891 and 1901 census records, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. This Clara was born in Grimsbury, a part of Banbury.
Mr Rittner’s testimony referred to her as coming from Staffordshire, not Oxfordshire. While there is a Bambury Street in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, there is not a town or village of that name.
Shipping records show a Clara Smith, single and a domestic, left London on the Athenic on 22 July 1910 bound for New Zealand and arrived in Wellington on 10 September 1910. A Clara Smith, spinster, appeared in the 1911 electoral roll living at the Alhambra Hotel, Cuba Street. These entries are likely to relate to the Clara Smith who married William Rittner.
Clara married William Rittner in Wellington on 11 February, 1913 when she was 27. In their Intention to Marry record, Clara stated she had been in Wellington for three years and William, a waiter aged 26, stated he had been in Wellington for six years.
In the 1914 electoral roll she was listed as Clara Rittner at 136 Abel Smith Street, married. William was not listed on the rolls as he was not yet naturalised.
On 19 May 1917 the Evening Post reported that a William Rittner was convicted of riding a cycle on a foot path. He was ordered to pay costs. In August 1918 reports of gambling after hours at the Hotel Cecil appeared in the Evening Post, the Dominion and the New Zealand Times William Rittner, the night porter, gave evidence.
Clara died intestate and her Letters of Administration on FamilySearch give more useful family information. On 13 March 1920 William Robert Rittner testified that Clara had left no children, that she had not been married before and that her estate effects were under £250. He believed that she was born of English parents and was at all times during her life of British nationality except for as far as her nationality may have been altered by her marriage with him.
William said he was born in the town of Muhlbergh in Saxony of German parents and that he had never been naturalised, had lived in the Dominion of New Zealand since 1903 and lived in England during the previous three years. He had not applied earlier for Letters of Administration owing to the existence of a state of war between England and Germany.
The only assets in the estate were of a sum of money in the Post Office Savings Bank and four small articles of jewellery. The assets did not include any land or any estate or interest in land.
On 13 April 1920 William Robert Rittner was authorised to administer her estate and as the sole next of kin was entitled to her estate. William was naturalised in 1925 and as Robert William Rittner, he married Rose Ann Dienstbach in 1947.
William died on 5 December 1972 aged 88 years and was buried with Clara Section CH ENG2, plot 173 E on 7 December 1972. It was almost exactly 54 years since Clara died. Also with them in the same plot is Rose Anne Rittner, aged 102, William’s second wife, who died on 22 June 1985.
Researched and written by Margaret Hurst
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 173 E
Born c1886; died 3 December 1918; buried 5 December 1918; age 32
Clara Rittner, the wife of William Rittner, died of influenza and pneumonia on 3 December 1918 at 161 Thorndon Quay and was buried two days later. Her death record stated that she was 29, was born in England and had been in New Zealand for nine years. Her father was Benjamin Smith, an engineer but her mother Emma's surname was not given.
Clara was buried in Karori Cemetery in Section CH ENG2, plot 173 E. Both the headstone and death notice gave Clara’s age as 32.
In 1920 William Rittner said that Clara was born in the town of Bambury in the County of Staffordshire in England of English parents. Although she has not been positively identified in either birth or census records a Clara Smith about the right age was listed with parents Benjamin and Emma Smith in 1891 and 1901 census records, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. This Clara was born in Grimsbury, a part of Banbury.
Mr Rittner’s testimony referred to her as coming from Staffordshire, not Oxfordshire. While there is a Bambury Street in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, there is not a town or village of that name.
Shipping records show a Clara Smith, single and a domestic, left London on the Athenic on 22 July 1910 bound for New Zealand and arrived in Wellington on 10 September 1910. A Clara Smith, spinster, appeared in the 1911 electoral roll living at the Alhambra Hotel, Cuba Street. These entries are likely to relate to the Clara Smith who married William Rittner.
Clara married William Rittner in Wellington on 11 February, 1913 when she was 27. In their Intention to Marry record, Clara stated she had been in Wellington for three years and William, a waiter aged 26, stated he had been in Wellington for six years.
In the 1914 electoral roll she was listed as Clara Rittner at 136 Abel Smith Street, married. William was not listed on the rolls as he was not yet naturalised.
On 19 May 1917 the Evening Post reported that a William Rittner was convicted of riding a cycle on a foot path. He was ordered to pay costs. In August 1918 reports of gambling after hours at the Hotel Cecil appeared in the Evening Post, the Dominion and the New Zealand Times William Rittner, the night porter, gave evidence.
Clara died intestate and her Letters of Administration on FamilySearch give more useful family information. On 13 March 1920 William Robert Rittner testified that Clara had left no children, that she had not been married before and that her estate effects were under £250. He believed that she was born of English parents and was at all times during her life of British nationality except for as far as her nationality may have been altered by her marriage with him.
William said he was born in the town of Muhlbergh in Saxony of German parents and that he had never been naturalised, had lived in the Dominion of New Zealand since 1903 and lived in England during the previous three years. He had not applied earlier for Letters of Administration owing to the existence of a state of war between England and Germany.
The only assets in the estate were of a sum of money in the Post Office Savings Bank and four small articles of jewellery. The assets did not include any land or any estate or interest in land.
On 13 April 1920 William Robert Rittner was authorised to administer her estate and as the sole next of kin was entitled to her estate. William was naturalised in 1925 and as Robert William Rittner, he married Rose Ann Dienstbach in 1947.
William died on 5 December 1972 aged 88 years and was buried with Clara Section CH ENG2, plot 173 E on 7 December 1972. It was almost exactly 54 years since Clara died. Also with them in the same plot is Rose Anne Rittner, aged 102, William’s second wife, who died on 22 June 1985.
Researched and written by Margaret Hurst
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 173 E