BRADLEY, Pipiana née HAIRA
Born 1893; Rotorua, died 17 November 1918; buried 18 November 1918; age 26
Buried one day after her death in Wellington from influenza in 1918, Pipiana BRADLEY (known as Pipi) was denied a customary Māori tāngihāngā because of strict rules minimising public gatherings to try to slow the spread of the epidemic sweeping New Zealand.
For the next 74 years, her family did not know where she lay. Her grave, unmarked in Kārōri Cemetery, was neglected and overgrown, until 1992. Then, after being found by her granddaughter, her body was disinterred and taken to her Rotorua mārae.
About 200 people attended a full tāngihāngā there, after which Pipi’s remains were reburied with that of her sister, Whakarato.
She had raised Pipi’s only surviving child, Louie, as her own.
The search was stirred by Louie who, for most of her life, had had very little information about when her mother died or where she was buried. All she knew was that she died in the nationwide influenza epidemic in 1918 and was buried somewhere in Kārōri.
In 1992 Louie’s own daughter, Ani WAAKA, was living in Kārōri and set out to find her grandmother. A search of all the burial records at the Kārōri Cemetery for 1918 revealed the entry, and subsequently Pipi’s grave. Seventy-four years had passed, to the month.
Ani’s mother Louie and her father Kuru decided Pipi’s remains should be returned to Rotorua. Gaining official permission, they were disinterred in November 1992 and taken to Rotorua where she lay in her whāre tūpūna on her own mārae, Te Pākira, Whākārēwārēwā, for a night so that the tāngihāngā that she never had at the time of her death could take place.
Because she was one of 13 children, around 200 people, many of them descendants of her siblings, were at the mārae to welcome her home and to grieve her passing. Her remains were re-buried the following day in the Lawn Cemetery, Rotorua.
Pipi Bradley was the 11th of 13 children of HAIRA Himiona of Ngāti Raukāwā and Wiripine Whakarato of Tūhourangi. The family grew up in Rotorua.
In 1902 Pipi HAIRA was one of 42 first-day pupils at the Whākārēwārēwā School in Rotorua when it opened on 18 March (i).
Born 1893; Rotorua, died 17 November 1918; buried 18 November 1918; age 26
Buried one day after her death in Wellington from influenza in 1918, Pipiana BRADLEY (known as Pipi) was denied a customary Māori tāngihāngā because of strict rules minimising public gatherings to try to slow the spread of the epidemic sweeping New Zealand.
For the next 74 years, her family did not know where she lay. Her grave, unmarked in Kārōri Cemetery, was neglected and overgrown, until 1992. Then, after being found by her granddaughter, her body was disinterred and taken to her Rotorua mārae.
About 200 people attended a full tāngihāngā there, after which Pipi’s remains were reburied with that of her sister, Whakarato.
She had raised Pipi’s only surviving child, Louie, as her own.
The search was stirred by Louie who, for most of her life, had had very little information about when her mother died or where she was buried. All she knew was that she died in the nationwide influenza epidemic in 1918 and was buried somewhere in Kārōri.
In 1992 Louie’s own daughter, Ani WAAKA, was living in Kārōri and set out to find her grandmother. A search of all the burial records at the Kārōri Cemetery for 1918 revealed the entry, and subsequently Pipi’s grave. Seventy-four years had passed, to the month.
Ani’s mother Louie and her father Kuru decided Pipi’s remains should be returned to Rotorua. Gaining official permission, they were disinterred in November 1992 and taken to Rotorua where she lay in her whāre tūpūna on her own mārae, Te Pākira, Whākārēwārēwā, for a night so that the tāngihāngā that she never had at the time of her death could take place.
Because she was one of 13 children, around 200 people, many of them descendants of her siblings, were at the mārae to welcome her home and to grieve her passing. Her remains were re-buried the following day in the Lawn Cemetery, Rotorua.
Pipi Bradley was the 11th of 13 children of HAIRA Himiona of Ngāti Raukāwā and Wiripine Whakarato of Tūhourangi. The family grew up in Rotorua.
In 1902 Pipi HAIRA was one of 42 first-day pupils at the Whākārēwārēwā School in Rotorua when it opened on 18 March (i).
Pipiana Bradley née Haira
It is not known how or when Pipi met her husband, George William (known as Dick) BRADLEY. He was born in Ashhurst, near Palmerston North, on 30 June 1893 and became a self-employed mechanic at the Hinemōa Garage in Rotorua, which was later known as the Rotorua Motor Company. Two of his older sisters, Mary Jane and Rachael, married two VERRALL brothers: Mary Jane to Charles Frederick in 1905 (they later divorced) and Rachael to Henry Joseph in 1906.
Pipi and Dick got married in Rotorua on 30 May 1918, at which time their older daughter Rāngitāmoe Māria (known as Louie) Bradley was 2 years old, having been born in Rotorua on 17 February 1916. A younger child, Nellie, was born on 24 November 1917 (ii). Another child, believed to be Eunice, was also born, but only Louie survived.
Pipi’s husband Dick was the youngest of six children of William Bradley, who was born in Dunedin on 27 January 1860, and Alexandria (Lexie) Jane WILL, who was born on 17 January 1864 in Glasgow, Scotland and believed to be of the GUNN clan.
(Dick’s parents married on 11 July 1884 and lived at Flag Swamp, Waikouaiti in the house of John JONES. They later divorced, and William remarried, to Mary Ann JONES in 1917. William died in Gisborne in 1935 and was buried in the Mōtu cemetery. Mary Ann predeceased him, dying in 1917 aged 37, and was also buried in the Mōtu cemetery. Lexie died in Rotorua in 1941 and was buried in the Lawn Cemetery, Rotorua.)
Pipi and Dick got married in Rotorua on 30 May 1918, at which time their older daughter Rāngitāmoe Māria (known as Louie) Bradley was 2 years old, having been born in Rotorua on 17 February 1916. A younger child, Nellie, was born on 24 November 1917 (ii). Another child, believed to be Eunice, was also born, but only Louie survived.
Pipi’s husband Dick was the youngest of six children of William Bradley, who was born in Dunedin on 27 January 1860, and Alexandria (Lexie) Jane WILL, who was born on 17 January 1864 in Glasgow, Scotland and believed to be of the GUNN clan.
(Dick’s parents married on 11 July 1884 and lived at Flag Swamp, Waikouaiti in the house of John JONES. They later divorced, and William remarried, to Mary Ann JONES in 1917. William died in Gisborne in 1935 and was buried in the Mōtu cemetery. Mary Ann predeceased him, dying in 1917 aged 37, and was also buried in the Mōtu cemetery. Lexie died in Rotorua in 1941 and was buried in the Lawn Cemetery, Rotorua.)
George William (Dick) Bradley
Dick’s paternal grandparents were William BRADLEY, an Irish pawnbroker who was born in 1810, and Margaret BURNS, who was born in 1831 in Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland of the CAMPBELL clan. They lived at 26 Dalrymple Street, Greenock West, Renfrew, Scotland. All that is known of Dick’s maternal grandparents is that they were Lewis WILL, a farmer and Jane DAVISON.
Dick enlisted in May 1918 at Rotorua and was sent to Trentham Military Camp for training. Between May and November 1918 Pipi and Louie either visited or were living somewhere in Wellington in order to spend time with him. Pipi became ill with influenza in November 1918 and was taken to the Temporary Hospital, Normal School, Thorndon, where she died on November 17. Dick's military personnel file is silent on the subject of his whereabouts at the time Pipi died, but from November 22 he was granted leave without pay, having undertaken his military service within New Zealand since enlistment. There is no record of who looked after Louie while her mother was ill or immediately after her death.
It is also not known who took care of Pipi’s burial in the Roman Catholic section (plot 92) of Kārōri Cemetery the following day, but the funeral records of E Morris Jnr show that Public Health contributed £7 to her burial.
No tāngihāngā was held – express public health guidance during the epidemic prevented tāngihāngā or wakes, in a bid to minimise influenza being spread. Although Māori communities were hit hard by influenza, the inability to hold tāngihāngā was very difficult for them.
Dick enlisted in May 1918 at Rotorua and was sent to Trentham Military Camp for training. Between May and November 1918 Pipi and Louie either visited or were living somewhere in Wellington in order to spend time with him. Pipi became ill with influenza in November 1918 and was taken to the Temporary Hospital, Normal School, Thorndon, where she died on November 17. Dick's military personnel file is silent on the subject of his whereabouts at the time Pipi died, but from November 22 he was granted leave without pay, having undertaken his military service within New Zealand since enlistment. There is no record of who looked after Louie while her mother was ill or immediately after her death.
It is also not known who took care of Pipi’s burial in the Roman Catholic section (plot 92) of Kārōri Cemetery the following day, but the funeral records of E Morris Jnr show that Public Health contributed £7 to her burial.
No tāngihāngā was held – express public health guidance during the epidemic prevented tāngihāngā or wakes, in a bid to minimise influenza being spread. Although Māori communities were hit hard by influenza, the inability to hold tāngihāngā was very difficult for them.
Original burial location of Pipiana Bradley in Roman Catholic section (plot 92)
of Karori Cemetery, overgrown by toitoi and harakeke, photo taken in 1992
of Karori Cemetery, overgrown by toitoi and harakeke, photo taken in 1992
After Pipi’s relatives in Rotorua found out that she had died and was already buried in Wellington, they travelled to Wellington and took her daughter, Louie, back to Rotorua. There she was raised by Pipi’s sister, Whakarato, and her family in Whākārēwārēwā Village. In later years, Louie spent time in the care of her paternal grandmother, Lexie, to whom she was very close. She also spent time living with her father after he remarried and her half-brothers.
Louie Bradley, daughter of Pipi and Dick Bradley, with her paternal grandmother, Lexie
Louie Bradley, daughter of Pipi and Dick Bradley
Her father remarried in March 1920 to Myrtle Isabel GRAY with whom he had three sons – twins Lawrie and Raeburn, and Selwyn. (Myrtle died in Auckland on 14 March 1954 aged 58 years and was buried in the Waikumete Cemetery.) Dick married for a third time in 1955. It is possible, although family sources are unable to confirm, that his third wife was either Catherine Mary COLEMAN or Catherine Mary PEARS. They had no issue. Dick died in Auckland aged 78 years on 30 January 1973 and was cremated at Purewa Cemetery.
Pipi and Dick’s daughter Louie married Haare HURIHANGANUI in 1931 in Rotorua and they had two children William Charles and Pixie, who died in infancy. Louie and Haare later parted, and Haare died. Louie married Te Kuru o te Marama WAAKA with whom she had 10 children, the eldest of whom died in infancy. They brought up their family in Rotorua.
Louie died in Rotorua on 10 April 1996 aged 80. Kuru died in Rotorua on 8 June 1997 aged 82 and is buried with Louie in the Lawn Cemetery there.
Researched and written by Ani Waaka with the assistance of Rachel Brown
(i) Although a native school, use of te Reo Māori by students was actively discouraged and punished.
(ii) Information taken from attestation of George Bradley in May 1918 (WWI Service No. 81959) held on his army file with Archives New Zealand. It is not known when Nellie or Eunice died; Louie is believed to be the only surviving child of her parents.
Pipi and Dick’s daughter Louie married Haare HURIHANGANUI in 1931 in Rotorua and they had two children William Charles and Pixie, who died in infancy. Louie and Haare later parted, and Haare died. Louie married Te Kuru o te Marama WAAKA with whom she had 10 children, the eldest of whom died in infancy. They brought up their family in Rotorua.
Louie died in Rotorua on 10 April 1996 aged 80. Kuru died in Rotorua on 8 June 1997 aged 82 and is buried with Louie in the Lawn Cemetery there.
Researched and written by Ani Waaka with the assistance of Rachel Brown
(i) Although a native school, use of te Reo Māori by students was actively discouraged and punished.
(ii) Information taken from attestation of George Bradley in May 1918 (WWI Service No. 81959) held on his army file with Archives New Zealand. It is not known when Nellie or Eunice died; Louie is believed to be the only surviving child of her parents.