STAVELEY, Frank Spencer
Born 1876; died 20 November 1918; buried 21 November 1918; age 41
Frank STAVELEY (or Stavely) was born in Blenheim (Wairau, Marlborough, New Zealand) in the third quarter of 1875. His parents were Elizabeth née DAY and Robert George Staveley (possibly from Ireland) who had married in New Zealand in 1872. Frank had one older brother, Charles George born in 1873 and a younger one, Henry Owen, born 1878. A final sibling, Alice Elizabeth, was born in 1881.
By 1896 Frank and Charles were rabbiting in Kekerengu (i). They next moved to Wellington to export rabbits, Frank describing himself on the Wellington North electoral roll in 1905-06 as a ‘rabbit dealer’, then living at 81 Willis Street.
In 1905 Frank married Hilda Mary WEIGHT who had grown up at 15 Alpha Street (close to Courtenay Place, off Cambridge Terrace) Wellington. Born in New Zealand in 1882 to Mary Jane and Edward Francis Weight, Hilda was the eldest of their eight children. The Weights also worshipped at the Roman Catholic church and contributed many members of their wider family to religious life, including two of her sisters who joined the Sisters of Compassion and worked closely with Mother Aubert, founder of the Order (ii).
By 1911 Frank and Hilda appeared on the Wairarapa electoral roll trying their hand at farming in Carrington, at the northern end of Carterton, with Frank’s younger brother Henry, while brother Charles was sheep farming at Dyerville , south of Martinborough.
The first of Frank’s four children with Hilda was born in 1907 in Carterton and named Kathleen Mary. Edward Spencer followed in 1909, and Gordon Day in 1911. By 1914 the family had relocated to Wellington to live in Minerva Street (which runs parallel to Daniell Street in Newtown) (iii). By 1917 when Oliver Francis Martin was born the family were living in Rua Street, Lyall Bay.
Frank had become a milk vendor, in partnership with Oliver Wright (iv). Together they employed delivery staff. Milk delivery had its challenges. In both 1913 and September 1915 Frank was prosecuted by the Health Department for selling milk that had been watered and was below the standard required for butter-fat content. At this time, milk came from a bulk supply that was delivered house to house and decanted into a receptacle provided by each householder according to the quantity they wanted to purchase. Frank’s defence lawyer made a case for the milk being tampered with after it was delivered to the railway station and before it reached the dairy the vendors used in Newtown and, in addition, supply farmers were known to frequently take the cream top from the milk. The magistrate reminded the vendors that it was their responsibility to collect the milk as soon as it reached the station and that the excuse of an employee adding water was a common one. Frank and his partner pleaded guilty to the milk watering charge; the insufficient solids charge was dismissed and they were fined £20 and £1/8/6 costs.
Several Wellington milk vendors died of influenza during the epidemic, Frank being one of them. Presumably they were exposed to the public as they went about their daily business and risked exposure to the infection, as well as becoming in turn a means of spreading the infection amongst their customers.
Hilda’s brother, Edward Gordon Weight, was killed at Gallipoli in August 1915.
Frank died from influenza at Rua Street, Lyall Bay on 20 November 1918. He was buried in the Catholic section of Karori Cemetery the next day. His children were then 12, nine, and seven, and one. Memorial notices were inserted by Hilda and their children in 1919, 1921, and 1922 and in the latter two years, Frank’s brothers, sister, sister-in-law, and aunt also inserted notices remembering what he had meant to them. The one in 1921 said:
Let us always bear in mind
That loved ones from a start
Are only here but for a time,
And the best of friends must
part.
Frank had died intestate, so Hilda’s father Edward, and brother Oliver, another milk vendor, provided sureties to help her sort out Frank’s affairs and the court appointed Hilda administrix of his estate.
The year after her father died, Frank’s daughter Kathleen left St Joseph’s Catholic School, perhaps to lessen the strain on the resources of her widowed mother. As a young girl, Kathleen regularly visited the Home of Compassion to help look after the children there. In 1929 she followed in the footsteps of her two aunts entering religious life as a Sister of Compassion and became Sister Columba (v).
Hilda remained living in their house at 17 Rua Street, Lyall Bay for a time but moved by 1928 with Kathleen to Te Anau Road, Hataitai (vi). Hilda never remarried and died in 1935 after a stint in the care of the Home of Compassion (vii). She is buried with Frank, and their youngest son Oliver joined them in the plot when he died in 1971.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: ROM CATH
Plot: 12 W
Sources:
(i) 1896 Wairau electoral roll. Settlement 56 km north of Kaikōura and 73 km south of Blenheim.
(ii) https://wp-compassion.dotnous.com/sisters-stories/sister-columba-staveley/ The Weight family and that of Hilda’s aunt, the McManaways, contributed 43 religious to the work of the church in New Zealand.
(iii) According to F L Irvine-Smith in The Streets of My City A H and A W Reed, Wellington, 1949, p54 Minerva Street was named after the ship ‘Minerva’ that brought Edward Gibbon Wakefield to Lyttelton in 1853.
(iv) Evening Post 3 September 1915 p8. Wright may be a newspaper error as Hilda had a milk vendor brother, Oliver James Weight, born 1889 – source Frank’s 1919 probate via Family Search.
(v) https://wp-compassion.dotnous.com/sisters-stories/sister-columba-staveley/
(vi) 1928 electoral roll
(vii) Death notice in Evening Post 7 January 1935 p1
Born 1876; died 20 November 1918; buried 21 November 1918; age 41
Frank STAVELEY (or Stavely) was born in Blenheim (Wairau, Marlborough, New Zealand) in the third quarter of 1875. His parents were Elizabeth née DAY and Robert George Staveley (possibly from Ireland) who had married in New Zealand in 1872. Frank had one older brother, Charles George born in 1873 and a younger one, Henry Owen, born 1878. A final sibling, Alice Elizabeth, was born in 1881.
By 1896 Frank and Charles were rabbiting in Kekerengu (i). They next moved to Wellington to export rabbits, Frank describing himself on the Wellington North electoral roll in 1905-06 as a ‘rabbit dealer’, then living at 81 Willis Street.
In 1905 Frank married Hilda Mary WEIGHT who had grown up at 15 Alpha Street (close to Courtenay Place, off Cambridge Terrace) Wellington. Born in New Zealand in 1882 to Mary Jane and Edward Francis Weight, Hilda was the eldest of their eight children. The Weights also worshipped at the Roman Catholic church and contributed many members of their wider family to religious life, including two of her sisters who joined the Sisters of Compassion and worked closely with Mother Aubert, founder of the Order (ii).
By 1911 Frank and Hilda appeared on the Wairarapa electoral roll trying their hand at farming in Carrington, at the northern end of Carterton, with Frank’s younger brother Henry, while brother Charles was sheep farming at Dyerville , south of Martinborough.
The first of Frank’s four children with Hilda was born in 1907 in Carterton and named Kathleen Mary. Edward Spencer followed in 1909, and Gordon Day in 1911. By 1914 the family had relocated to Wellington to live in Minerva Street (which runs parallel to Daniell Street in Newtown) (iii). By 1917 when Oliver Francis Martin was born the family were living in Rua Street, Lyall Bay.
Frank had become a milk vendor, in partnership with Oliver Wright (iv). Together they employed delivery staff. Milk delivery had its challenges. In both 1913 and September 1915 Frank was prosecuted by the Health Department for selling milk that had been watered and was below the standard required for butter-fat content. At this time, milk came from a bulk supply that was delivered house to house and decanted into a receptacle provided by each householder according to the quantity they wanted to purchase. Frank’s defence lawyer made a case for the milk being tampered with after it was delivered to the railway station and before it reached the dairy the vendors used in Newtown and, in addition, supply farmers were known to frequently take the cream top from the milk. The magistrate reminded the vendors that it was their responsibility to collect the milk as soon as it reached the station and that the excuse of an employee adding water was a common one. Frank and his partner pleaded guilty to the milk watering charge; the insufficient solids charge was dismissed and they were fined £20 and £1/8/6 costs.
Several Wellington milk vendors died of influenza during the epidemic, Frank being one of them. Presumably they were exposed to the public as they went about their daily business and risked exposure to the infection, as well as becoming in turn a means of spreading the infection amongst their customers.
Hilda’s brother, Edward Gordon Weight, was killed at Gallipoli in August 1915.
Frank died from influenza at Rua Street, Lyall Bay on 20 November 1918. He was buried in the Catholic section of Karori Cemetery the next day. His children were then 12, nine, and seven, and one. Memorial notices were inserted by Hilda and their children in 1919, 1921, and 1922 and in the latter two years, Frank’s brothers, sister, sister-in-law, and aunt also inserted notices remembering what he had meant to them. The one in 1921 said:
Let us always bear in mind
That loved ones from a start
Are only here but for a time,
And the best of friends must
part.
Frank had died intestate, so Hilda’s father Edward, and brother Oliver, another milk vendor, provided sureties to help her sort out Frank’s affairs and the court appointed Hilda administrix of his estate.
The year after her father died, Frank’s daughter Kathleen left St Joseph’s Catholic School, perhaps to lessen the strain on the resources of her widowed mother. As a young girl, Kathleen regularly visited the Home of Compassion to help look after the children there. In 1929 she followed in the footsteps of her two aunts entering religious life as a Sister of Compassion and became Sister Columba (v).
Hilda remained living in their house at 17 Rua Street, Lyall Bay for a time but moved by 1928 with Kathleen to Te Anau Road, Hataitai (vi). Hilda never remarried and died in 1935 after a stint in the care of the Home of Compassion (vii). She is buried with Frank, and their youngest son Oliver joined them in the plot when he died in 1971.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: ROM CATH
Plot: 12 W
Sources:
(i) 1896 Wairau electoral roll. Settlement 56 km north of Kaikōura and 73 km south of Blenheim.
(ii) https://wp-compassion.dotnous.com/sisters-stories/sister-columba-staveley/ The Weight family and that of Hilda’s aunt, the McManaways, contributed 43 religious to the work of the church in New Zealand.
(iii) According to F L Irvine-Smith in The Streets of My City A H and A W Reed, Wellington, 1949, p54 Minerva Street was named after the ship ‘Minerva’ that brought Edward Gibbon Wakefield to Lyttelton in 1853.
(iv) Evening Post 3 September 1915 p8. Wright may be a newspaper error as Hilda had a milk vendor brother, Oliver James Weight, born 1889 – source Frank’s 1919 probate via Family Search.
(v) https://wp-compassion.dotnous.com/sisters-stories/sister-columba-staveley/
(vi) 1928 electoral roll
(vii) Death notice in Evening Post 7 January 1935 p1