DOWDALL, John
Born c. 1862; died on 13 November 1918; buried 15 November 1918; age 56
John Dowdall, a waterside worker, and his wife Rose are listed in the electoral rolls for Wellington Central in both 1911 and 1914, living at 18 Binham Street, Te Aro, one of the small lanes that threaded through Te Aro Flat and, many years later, was incorporated into what is now Victoria Street. This area was renowned for poor quality housing, overcrowding and lack of sanitation.
John had been born in Ireland in 1863 and the couple married in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1900. Three years later, with their first child – a daughter – they migrated to New Zealand. They then had three further children, two sons and a second daughter.
In 1908 John, or Jack as he was usually known, was one of three spokesmen for a group of unemployed workers in Wellington. He and his co-leaders took a delegation to the Prime Minister and emerged from that meeting to address the waiting crowd outside Parliament Buildings. There, he announced ‘the Prime Minister’s promise of employment on Government works for all willing unemployed.’ (Otago Witness, 5 August 1908). It was work of this kind that led to Jack being known familiarly as ‘Comrade’ Dowdall.
In the 1911 and 1914 Electoral Rolls John’s occupation was labourer, and he did find some work on the wharves. He was a key figure in the court action arising from an alleged strike of wharf labourers on the steamer Wanaka in 1910. It was agreed by all parties that the 49 men had stopped unloading the steamer, but the key issue for the court was whether this had been decided by a conspiracy. The Court was not persuaded, meaning that the case was non-suited and did not proceed.
John was apparently a colourful man of strong views and firm beliefs. On a Sunday evening in 1911, he chaired a debate on spiritualism at His Majesty’s Theatre (on the site of today’s St James Theatre). The hall was reported to be ‘fairly full’ and the audience lively. While attempting to control the level of interjections, one of which suggested that he too was a spiritualist, Jack proclaimed ‘I am a Christian and a Socialist’. (Dominion, 25 September 1911’) But it was the ‘Comrade’ nickname that stuck and was used in newspaper headlines several times from at least 1910.
When John became sick with influenza he was taken to the Wellington Fever Hospital where he died of pneumonia and influenza on 13 November. According to the death certificate information he was by then living at 19 Tringham Street, Karori. However, as Rose continued to reside at 19 Binham Street, Te Aro until at least 1928, it seems that John’s address had been misheard when the details were provided.
John was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 15 November. A brief notice in the Dominion of that date noted his address as 5 Binham Street, that he was 56 years of age, and that he was a well-known Labour enthusiast.
In the In Memoriam notice appearing in The Evening Post on 13 November 1919, Rose and the family Dowdall quoted Tennyson:
Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is stilled.
Rosa remarried in 1923, to Frank SLEEMAN.
Researched and written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 34 E
Born c. 1862; died on 13 November 1918; buried 15 November 1918; age 56
John Dowdall, a waterside worker, and his wife Rose are listed in the electoral rolls for Wellington Central in both 1911 and 1914, living at 18 Binham Street, Te Aro, one of the small lanes that threaded through Te Aro Flat and, many years later, was incorporated into what is now Victoria Street. This area was renowned for poor quality housing, overcrowding and lack of sanitation.
John had been born in Ireland in 1863 and the couple married in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1900. Three years later, with their first child – a daughter – they migrated to New Zealand. They then had three further children, two sons and a second daughter.
In 1908 John, or Jack as he was usually known, was one of three spokesmen for a group of unemployed workers in Wellington. He and his co-leaders took a delegation to the Prime Minister and emerged from that meeting to address the waiting crowd outside Parliament Buildings. There, he announced ‘the Prime Minister’s promise of employment on Government works for all willing unemployed.’ (Otago Witness, 5 August 1908). It was work of this kind that led to Jack being known familiarly as ‘Comrade’ Dowdall.
In the 1911 and 1914 Electoral Rolls John’s occupation was labourer, and he did find some work on the wharves. He was a key figure in the court action arising from an alleged strike of wharf labourers on the steamer Wanaka in 1910. It was agreed by all parties that the 49 men had stopped unloading the steamer, but the key issue for the court was whether this had been decided by a conspiracy. The Court was not persuaded, meaning that the case was non-suited and did not proceed.
John was apparently a colourful man of strong views and firm beliefs. On a Sunday evening in 1911, he chaired a debate on spiritualism at His Majesty’s Theatre (on the site of today’s St James Theatre). The hall was reported to be ‘fairly full’ and the audience lively. While attempting to control the level of interjections, one of which suggested that he too was a spiritualist, Jack proclaimed ‘I am a Christian and a Socialist’. (Dominion, 25 September 1911’) But it was the ‘Comrade’ nickname that stuck and was used in newspaper headlines several times from at least 1910.
When John became sick with influenza he was taken to the Wellington Fever Hospital where he died of pneumonia and influenza on 13 November. According to the death certificate information he was by then living at 19 Tringham Street, Karori. However, as Rose continued to reside at 19 Binham Street, Te Aro until at least 1928, it seems that John’s address had been misheard when the details were provided.
John was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 15 November. A brief notice in the Dominion of that date noted his address as 5 Binham Street, that he was 56 years of age, and that he was a well-known Labour enthusiast.
In the In Memoriam notice appearing in The Evening Post on 13 November 1919, Rose and the family Dowdall quoted Tennyson:
Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is stilled.
Rosa remarried in 1923, to Frank SLEEMAN.
Researched and written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 34 E