HEAP, Sadie
Born 1874; died 10 November 1918; buried 13 November 1918; age 44
Sadie Heap was one of the first to die when the influenza epidemic reached Wellington. The first death attributed to it was on 1 November 1918 and Sadie died just nine days later.
Sadie, formally known as Sarah, was the ninth of the 14 children of Mary and Charles Millward. Charles was a clerk. The family lived at various addresses in Newtown and Te Aro when Sadie was growing up and she attended several different schools – Mt Cook Girls, Te Aro, and Buckle Street – depending on which was closest to home at the time.
In 1897, aged 23, Sadie married Harry Benjamin Heap, a recent arrival from Auckland. Following the pattern of Sadie’s family, the couple lived in various locations – Queen Street, Frankville Terrace and Russell Terrace among them – before settling for several years at 46 Daniel Street in Newtown. During his early years in the capital Benjamin worked as a carpenter, then as a saddler, before going back to carpentry. That was the occupation he recorded when he enlisted for army service in 1916.
Meanwhile, Sadie was increasingly busy raising a family. She had two daughters and four sons, from 1898 through to 1912. She must have been proud moment when her older daughter, Rose, won a junior national scholarship in 1916 giving her a free place to continue her education at secondary school.
Sadie caught the flu and died early during the 1918 epidemic. In a funeral notice in the Evening Post on 11 November 1918, Armistice Day, Harry’s friends were invited to attend the funeral of his beloved wife two days later. Sadie was buried in the Church of England section in Karori Cemetery. The headstone on her grave carried the inscription:
In the midst of life we are in death
Harry and the children continued to insert memorial notices in the newspaper on the anniversary of her death each year until 1924, when Harry married a second wife, Jessie Oughton.
Researched and written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot 26 E
Born 1874; died 10 November 1918; buried 13 November 1918; age 44
Sadie Heap was one of the first to die when the influenza epidemic reached Wellington. The first death attributed to it was on 1 November 1918 and Sadie died just nine days later.
Sadie, formally known as Sarah, was the ninth of the 14 children of Mary and Charles Millward. Charles was a clerk. The family lived at various addresses in Newtown and Te Aro when Sadie was growing up and she attended several different schools – Mt Cook Girls, Te Aro, and Buckle Street – depending on which was closest to home at the time.
In 1897, aged 23, Sadie married Harry Benjamin Heap, a recent arrival from Auckland. Following the pattern of Sadie’s family, the couple lived in various locations – Queen Street, Frankville Terrace and Russell Terrace among them – before settling for several years at 46 Daniel Street in Newtown. During his early years in the capital Benjamin worked as a carpenter, then as a saddler, before going back to carpentry. That was the occupation he recorded when he enlisted for army service in 1916.
Meanwhile, Sadie was increasingly busy raising a family. She had two daughters and four sons, from 1898 through to 1912. She must have been proud moment when her older daughter, Rose, won a junior national scholarship in 1916 giving her a free place to continue her education at secondary school.
Sadie caught the flu and died early during the 1918 epidemic. In a funeral notice in the Evening Post on 11 November 1918, Armistice Day, Harry’s friends were invited to attend the funeral of his beloved wife two days later. Sadie was buried in the Church of England section in Karori Cemetery. The headstone on her grave carried the inscription:
In the midst of life we are in death
Harry and the children continued to insert memorial notices in the newspaper on the anniversary of her death each year until 1924, when Harry married a second wife, Jessie Oughton.
Researched and written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot 26 E