JACKSON, George Samuel
Born c 1881; died 2 December 1918, aged 37; buried 3 December 1918; age 37
George JACKSON had lived in New Zealand for 6 years when he contracted influenza. He was an Australian, born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1881 to Thomas Bernard (born 1858 in Richmond, Melbourne) and Annie Jackson née RUMNEY (born 1856 in Topsham, Exeter, Devon, in England). When Thomas was 3 years old his parents took him to the UK, and according to the 1861 England Census they lived in New Weston Street, Bermondsey, and Thomas snr., who was born in Ireland, had found work as a shopman to a surgical instrument maker.
By 1871, father and son were living together in Finsbury, London, and Thomas snr. had become a ‘surgical mechanician’ Sometime during the later 1870s Thomas jnr. returned to his birthplace in Victoria and began work in a mechanical trade.
On 13 February 1884 Thomas jnr. married Annie Rumney in Fitzroy, Melbourne. They had already had their first child, George, in 1881. Thomas worked as an engine driver to support his wife, son and four daughters who arrived over the course of his marriage to Annie.
When he left school George trained in the printing trade. He married young, in 1901, when he was only 19 years old, to Violet Mary RAY. Their eldest child was born late that year and named Alma Ray. Clarrie (Clarence George, born 1909 in Melbourne) followed as did ‘Neal and Togo’ (children’s names from Evening Post 1 December 1919). Only the youngest, named ‘Bessie Annie’ on her birth record (but perhaps known to her family as Togo) – was born in New Zealand, in 1916.
At some point, probably around 1912, the family migrated across the Tasman. By the time the New Zealand Electoral Roll for 1914 was published the family were living in Main Road, Ngaio, and George was working as a printer. They had also lived in South Wellington, where the children attended school in Newtown, before transferring to Ngaio School. They family must have liked living in Ngaio as they moved to 35 Daniell Street (now known as Kenya Street according to Fanny Irvine-Smith in The Streets of my City).
George Jackson belonged to Lodge number 16 of the Loyal Orange Order, the strongly Protestant fraternity named for William III, Prince of Orange, commemorating his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. This membership suggests that George retained something of the loyalty his family felt for its Irish connections with what we now know as Northern Ireland.
In 1918 George was working as a printer’s machinist. When he got sick with influenza, George was taken to the 23-bed temporary hospital set up in Moore’s Hall in Johnsonville. He died there on 2 December 1918 and was buried the next day in the Church of England 2 section of Karori Cemetery. His children were aged 16 (Alma), 9 (Clarrie), 6 (Neal) and 2 years old (Bessie Annie/Togo) at the time.
Violet notified his death in the Evening Post on 4 December 1918:
JACKSON —On the 2nd December, 1918, at Johnsonville Temporary Hospital, George Samuel, dearly beloved husband of Violet Jackson, Ngaio; aged 37 years. Deeply regretted.
A memorial notice was inserted by his children in the Evening Post on 1 December 1919:
JACKSON.—In loving memory of our darling Dad, George Samuel Jackson, who died of influenza on the 2nd December, 1918. Tho' one year has passed our hearts have not ceased to ache for you. Inserted by his loving children, Alma, Clarrie, Neal, and Togo.
Alma inserted her own notice in the Nelson Evening Mail on 2 December 1920:
In Memoriam.
JACKSON. – In loving memory of the best dad, George Samuel Jackson.
“Till we meet again.”
(Inserted by A.R.J.)
The Public Trust administered George Jackson’s estate which was prudently augmented by a life policy and a Lodge benefit undoubtedly useful to Violet in continuing to raise their children. In addition, according to the records of the Wilson funeral home, the Lodge met George’s funeral expenses.
However, this payment did not extend to meeting the cost of purchasing George’s burial plot and many years later (in 1970/71) his remains were disinterred and moved, and the plot was purchased by another family.
Not long after George died his widow Violet moved to 82 Victoria Street, Petone, and her younger children finished their schooling in Petone. Violet lived in Petone for the rest of her life, and when she died aged 58 in 1939, she was buried in Taita Cemetery, Lower Hutt.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 168 E
Born c 1881; died 2 December 1918, aged 37; buried 3 December 1918; age 37
George JACKSON had lived in New Zealand for 6 years when he contracted influenza. He was an Australian, born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1881 to Thomas Bernard (born 1858 in Richmond, Melbourne) and Annie Jackson née RUMNEY (born 1856 in Topsham, Exeter, Devon, in England). When Thomas was 3 years old his parents took him to the UK, and according to the 1861 England Census they lived in New Weston Street, Bermondsey, and Thomas snr., who was born in Ireland, had found work as a shopman to a surgical instrument maker.
By 1871, father and son were living together in Finsbury, London, and Thomas snr. had become a ‘surgical mechanician’ Sometime during the later 1870s Thomas jnr. returned to his birthplace in Victoria and began work in a mechanical trade.
On 13 February 1884 Thomas jnr. married Annie Rumney in Fitzroy, Melbourne. They had already had their first child, George, in 1881. Thomas worked as an engine driver to support his wife, son and four daughters who arrived over the course of his marriage to Annie.
When he left school George trained in the printing trade. He married young, in 1901, when he was only 19 years old, to Violet Mary RAY. Their eldest child was born late that year and named Alma Ray. Clarrie (Clarence George, born 1909 in Melbourne) followed as did ‘Neal and Togo’ (children’s names from Evening Post 1 December 1919). Only the youngest, named ‘Bessie Annie’ on her birth record (but perhaps known to her family as Togo) – was born in New Zealand, in 1916.
At some point, probably around 1912, the family migrated across the Tasman. By the time the New Zealand Electoral Roll for 1914 was published the family were living in Main Road, Ngaio, and George was working as a printer. They had also lived in South Wellington, where the children attended school in Newtown, before transferring to Ngaio School. They family must have liked living in Ngaio as they moved to 35 Daniell Street (now known as Kenya Street according to Fanny Irvine-Smith in The Streets of my City).
George Jackson belonged to Lodge number 16 of the Loyal Orange Order, the strongly Protestant fraternity named for William III, Prince of Orange, commemorating his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. This membership suggests that George retained something of the loyalty his family felt for its Irish connections with what we now know as Northern Ireland.
In 1918 George was working as a printer’s machinist. When he got sick with influenza, George was taken to the 23-bed temporary hospital set up in Moore’s Hall in Johnsonville. He died there on 2 December 1918 and was buried the next day in the Church of England 2 section of Karori Cemetery. His children were aged 16 (Alma), 9 (Clarrie), 6 (Neal) and 2 years old (Bessie Annie/Togo) at the time.
Violet notified his death in the Evening Post on 4 December 1918:
JACKSON —On the 2nd December, 1918, at Johnsonville Temporary Hospital, George Samuel, dearly beloved husband of Violet Jackson, Ngaio; aged 37 years. Deeply regretted.
A memorial notice was inserted by his children in the Evening Post on 1 December 1919:
JACKSON.—In loving memory of our darling Dad, George Samuel Jackson, who died of influenza on the 2nd December, 1918. Tho' one year has passed our hearts have not ceased to ache for you. Inserted by his loving children, Alma, Clarrie, Neal, and Togo.
Alma inserted her own notice in the Nelson Evening Mail on 2 December 1920:
In Memoriam.
JACKSON. – In loving memory of the best dad, George Samuel Jackson.
“Till we meet again.”
(Inserted by A.R.J.)
The Public Trust administered George Jackson’s estate which was prudently augmented by a life policy and a Lodge benefit undoubtedly useful to Violet in continuing to raise their children. In addition, according to the records of the Wilson funeral home, the Lodge met George’s funeral expenses.
However, this payment did not extend to meeting the cost of purchasing George’s burial plot and many years later (in 1970/71) his remains were disinterred and moved, and the plot was purchased by another family.
Not long after George died his widow Violet moved to 82 Victoria Street, Petone, and her younger children finished their schooling in Petone. Violet lived in Petone for the rest of her life, and when she died aged 58 in 1939, she was buried in Taita Cemetery, Lower Hutt.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 168 E