FREDERICKSON, Richard Martinuz
Born 5 April 1886; died 16 November 1918; buried 18 November 1918; age 32
Richard FREDERICKSON was born in Arrowtown, where his father Neil, a migrant from Sweden, was working as a labourer. Richard, with two brothers and a sister, was the youngest of four children. He was part of his mother’s second family. In 1868 Emily GODFREY had married James CROAD in Otago when she was 19. Emily and James had two daughters and three sons between 1869 and 1878 but she was left a widow in November the following year when her husband James died aged 45. She married Neil Frederickson in March 1880 in Invercargill but the couple then moved between Southland and central Otago until after Richard’s birth.
Shortly after Richard’s birth, his father Neil disappeared from the scene and from the public record. The Police Gazette of 20 May 1891 included a notice seeking information on his whereabouts for service of a summons for deserting his wife and family (9 children!) in Gore. He was said to be talking of travelling to New South Wales. Subsequently Richard’s mother Emily settled in Timaru and remained there for the rest of her life.
In 1910, Richard moved to Wellington and in 1911 was recorded on the electoral roll for Wellington Central. He was living in Cuba Street and working as a labourer. He was then 25. In the following year, he married 21-year old Gladys Martha JAMES. Gladys’s father, William Ivor James, had been a carter at the time of her birth but he died when she was five, and her mother did not re-marry until several years later.
Richard and Gladys began living in 57 Nairn St, Te Aro, where they had some children. The number is uncertain. A newspaper report at the time of Richard’s death said that he left four children, ‘the eldest of whom [was] six years of age’ (Otago Daily Times, 27 November 1918); Richard’s death certificate records that he had a female child of four and two boys, of five and two; and BDM records for births show just two, Doris Emily, born in 1913 and Louis Richmond, born in 1914. These two children had names drawn from Richard’s family: Doris’s second name was a nod to Richard’s mother Emily, while his son would have recalled one of his brothers, Richmond Louis who died in 1905 while serving with the South African constabulary.
In October 1915 Richard enlisted to serve with the army, although there is no evidence that he was called up and he continued working as a labourer for the Wellington Harbour Board. At the time he took ill, he had been assigned to work in the tolls office [i] on Queen’s wharf. He contracted influenza and was taken to the Sydney Street Temporary Hospital where he died on 16 November, five and six days respectively before Nightcaps victims Marie Croad and her husband Ernest Croad who was Richard’s half-brother.
One year on, a public notice in the Timaru Herald, inserted by Richard’s mother to remember all three members of her family, said:
Days of sadness still come o’er me’
Hidden secret tears still flow,
For memory keeps the loved ones near me,
Though they died one year ago.
Richard, who was 32 when he died, was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 18 November.
When he died, Richard was intestate. His widow Gladys remained living in Nairn Street with their two small children for some months after his death, but she moved to Christchurch in 1919 in time to be enrolled as a voter on the supplementary roll for the Avon electorate. In 1922 she married again, her new husband being Andrew Jacobson DOWSE and by 1928 she was back in Wellington under her new married name living at 98 Austin Street, on the slopes of Mt Victoria. In 1938 she and Andrew, a picture framer, were living in Elizabeth Street, Mt Victoria. Gladys died in 1942 and was buried in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery. When Andrew died in 1959 he was buried in the Soldiers section.
Researched and written by Beverley Hamlin and Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 62 E
[i] One of his colleagues, William Fisher, died of influenza two days before Richard.
Born 5 April 1886; died 16 November 1918; buried 18 November 1918; age 32
Richard FREDERICKSON was born in Arrowtown, where his father Neil, a migrant from Sweden, was working as a labourer. Richard, with two brothers and a sister, was the youngest of four children. He was part of his mother’s second family. In 1868 Emily GODFREY had married James CROAD in Otago when she was 19. Emily and James had two daughters and three sons between 1869 and 1878 but she was left a widow in November the following year when her husband James died aged 45. She married Neil Frederickson in March 1880 in Invercargill but the couple then moved between Southland and central Otago until after Richard’s birth.
Shortly after Richard’s birth, his father Neil disappeared from the scene and from the public record. The Police Gazette of 20 May 1891 included a notice seeking information on his whereabouts for service of a summons for deserting his wife and family (9 children!) in Gore. He was said to be talking of travelling to New South Wales. Subsequently Richard’s mother Emily settled in Timaru and remained there for the rest of her life.
In 1910, Richard moved to Wellington and in 1911 was recorded on the electoral roll for Wellington Central. He was living in Cuba Street and working as a labourer. He was then 25. In the following year, he married 21-year old Gladys Martha JAMES. Gladys’s father, William Ivor James, had been a carter at the time of her birth but he died when she was five, and her mother did not re-marry until several years later.
Richard and Gladys began living in 57 Nairn St, Te Aro, where they had some children. The number is uncertain. A newspaper report at the time of Richard’s death said that he left four children, ‘the eldest of whom [was] six years of age’ (Otago Daily Times, 27 November 1918); Richard’s death certificate records that he had a female child of four and two boys, of five and two; and BDM records for births show just two, Doris Emily, born in 1913 and Louis Richmond, born in 1914. These two children had names drawn from Richard’s family: Doris’s second name was a nod to Richard’s mother Emily, while his son would have recalled one of his brothers, Richmond Louis who died in 1905 while serving with the South African constabulary.
In October 1915 Richard enlisted to serve with the army, although there is no evidence that he was called up and he continued working as a labourer for the Wellington Harbour Board. At the time he took ill, he had been assigned to work in the tolls office [i] on Queen’s wharf. He contracted influenza and was taken to the Sydney Street Temporary Hospital where he died on 16 November, five and six days respectively before Nightcaps victims Marie Croad and her husband Ernest Croad who was Richard’s half-brother.
One year on, a public notice in the Timaru Herald, inserted by Richard’s mother to remember all three members of her family, said:
Days of sadness still come o’er me’
Hidden secret tears still flow,
For memory keeps the loved ones near me,
Though they died one year ago.
Richard, who was 32 when he died, was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 18 November.
When he died, Richard was intestate. His widow Gladys remained living in Nairn Street with their two small children for some months after his death, but she moved to Christchurch in 1919 in time to be enrolled as a voter on the supplementary roll for the Avon electorate. In 1922 she married again, her new husband being Andrew Jacobson DOWSE and by 1928 she was back in Wellington under her new married name living at 98 Austin Street, on the slopes of Mt Victoria. In 1938 she and Andrew, a picture framer, were living in Elizabeth Street, Mt Victoria. Gladys died in 1942 and was buried in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery. When Andrew died in 1959 he was buried in the Soldiers section.
Researched and written by Beverley Hamlin and Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 62 E
[i] One of his colleagues, William Fisher, died of influenza two days before Richard.