Telford Family of Ellinbank
Telford family in New Zealand
The migration of the Telford family to the antipodes began with John Telford, ex-banker of Stirling joining the expedition sponsored by "The New Zealand Company" to establish a settlement at Port Nicholson, later to be known as Wellington at the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island, leaving Britain in 1839 in the "Bengal Merchant."
But the move to New Zealand would not have happened at that time without the vision and political influence of Edward Gibbon Wakefield ( 1796-1862). Below are extracts from the biography of Edward Gibbon Wakefield at www.teara.gov.nz/en/biographies :
According to "New Zealand History online", www.nzhistory.net.nz , Wakefield was a clever theorist of mercurial character who masterminded the large-scale settlement of New Zealand and played a significant role in the settlement of South Australia and Canada. He developed his theories of colonisation while serving a term in Newgate prison for abducting and marrying a teenage heiress at Gretna Green (15 year-old Ellen Turner, daughter of wealthy businessman William Turner), apparently in order to further his political ambitions.
Having fled the country after the ceremony, Wakefield was apprehended at Calais. His trial in 1827 caused a public sensation and he and brother William were each sentenced to 3 years jail.
At left is the report in the Caledonian Mercury ( published in Edinburgh) of November 4, 1839, of the gathering on the Bengal Merchant prior to its departure for New Zealand. Note John Telford Esq. is listed among the cabin passengers. Also mentioned is Alexander Marjoribanks - he kept a diary which is reproduced at www.yesteryears.co.nz Extracts have been copied (below).
At about the same time as the Bengal Merchant was leaving Glasgow with the Scottish contingent, 3 similar vessels were departing from Gravesend, London as part of the New Zealand Company expedition. The Bengal merchant arrived at Petone / Port Nicholson, New Zealand after a journey of 113 days on February 20 1840, the last of the 4 ships. According to the book Widow of Thorndon Quay, "the skies were blue and the harbour like a Blue Italian lake and the Maoris who came out in their canoes to greet them were friendly”.
However not all was cause for celebration as a punt laden with a substantial portion of John Telford's goods which he had brought with him to sell, was thrown around violently by the wind and much of John's goods lost overboard. Nevertheless he had enough merchandise left to open one of Wellington's first stores which he kept going for the next 16 years.
When in April 1840, the settlement's first newspaper, The New Zealand and Wellington Spectator appeared, John Telford's store was largely advertised on the front page. Like other well-known settlers doing the same sort of thing he had an astonishing assortment of goods.
While it is apparent that he commenced trading almost as soon as he landed, it took a few months for his large purpose built store to be completed at Petone; its opening was celebrated with a ball and supper as reported in the June 30, 1842 edition of the newspaper.
According to “Widow of Thorndon Quay”, he later opened a store closer in to centre of Wellington township but it burned down in 1856 ( or maybe earlier), prompting him to give up commerce.
Much of this information (and photographs) is taken directly from the book "Widow of Thorndon Quay" by Celia Manson (nee Drummond) - a copy of which was given to the writer by my third cousin Diana O'Brien, niece of the author.
John like many others had faith in the future of Petone. even the frequent flooding of the Heretaunga River did not deter him. Most of the other colonists moved to Thorndon on Lambton harbour after August 1840, later named Wellington.
The Widow of Thorndon Quay is essentially the story of Sally Dougherty and her family. John Telford became friendly with her after both of them had been widowed. He persuaded her to open a boarding house in the heart of Wellington - in Ghuznee Street. The fates of the Telfords and the Doughertys were to become linked ... Sally's daughter Sarah and John's son Tom fell in love and married in 1860.
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John Telford had duly received the government post he had hoped for. For some years he acted as clerk to the Treasurer ( the Hon. Henry Petre) at a salary which, starting at 90 pounds, was raised to 150 pounds per year. For a period he lived with Governor George Grey as his private secretary. He also went on an annual book-keeping walk "up-country" - several hundred miles on foot to Napier.
John died on August 4,1873, at the residence of Mrs. Cobhams, Willis Street, where he had lived as a boarder for some years, just short of his 81st birthday. John Telford was buried in the Bolton St cemetery with a simple gravestone which is now looking a little forlorn among other pioneers' gravestones that were moved when a motorway was built over part of the cemetery.
On the foreshore at Petone Beach there is a memorial - Iona Cross and inscription commemorating the first service of worship held there on 23rd February 1840, It was led by Rev James Macfarlane, minister of the Church of Scotland who had arrived 3 days previous on the Bengal Merchant along with John Telford and some 250 other Scots. In part it states “To the Glory of God and in commemoration of this historic event which marked the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand”.
The memorial was erected in 1940 and the photographs below were taken in 2014 by the writer.
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In Jan. 1844 Rev J. MacFarlane officiated at the opening of the new “Scotch Kirk” on Beach Rd ( now Lambton Quay ) following a fund-raising effort initiated at a meeting in September 1842 (at which J. Telford was present). The painting below of the Scots Kirk is by artist Samuel Brees who arrived from England in February 1842 as principal surveyor and chief engineer of the New Zealand Company. The original painting is with the Alexander Turnbull library, Wellington.
This congregation was the forerunner of the current St Andrews Presbyterian church on The Terrace.
Nearby on the corner of Willis and Dixon Streets is St Johns which began life as a splinter “Free Presbyterian” congregation but is
now part of the Presbyterian church of New Zealand. Thomas Wright Telford and Sarah Dougherty ( pictured below) were married in the Willis St church on 13th February 1861.
Immediately following their marriage, Sarah and Thomas set off on the challenging horseback ride to cross the Rimutaka Range to the Wairarapa and on to Thomas’s sheep property of “Blairlogie” 25 miles east of Masterton. The ranges are pictured below and rise to over 900 metres.
In 1865 they sold Blairlogie and bought a property at Tinui and closer to Masterton, then finally sold up and moved into Carterton.
Thomas died in 1887 aged 56 and Sarah in 1915. Both are buried at Carterton.
Below is record from online New Zealand Historical births of the children of Thomas and Sarah and of Thomas’s younger brother Jack who married Sarah Cunningham in 1889 at the age of 56. Jack also became a sheep farmer after a period of labouring, eventually retiring to Wellington and investing in property.
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The offspring of Thomas and Sarah were prolific in growing their families. In particular, daughter Cecil ( Agnes Cecilia Mary) married Bobby Drummond in 1901 and they had 9 children. One of those was Celia, author of Widow of Thorndon Quay writing as Celia Manson. Several of the descendants of Cecil and Bobby Drummond have collated a great deal of information on the extended family which includes 29 grandchildren and almost 80 great grandchildren. The grandchildren includes Elspeth Preddey in Wellington and Diana O'Brien in Tauranga.
Photos from left: Thomas Wright Telford, Sarah Doughterty, her mother Sally and John Telford, ex-banker.
Peter Wright Telford and William Telford
The other 2 brothers to make the voyage from Scotland to Wellington were William, the eldest and Peter Wright Telford, the youngest surviving - with 10 years between them.
Picture below shows Wellington in 2014.
William settled in Australia at Beechworth, Victoria in about 1852 but it is assumed that he travelled via New Zealand where he would have met up with his father.
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Peter also came initially to New Zealand and lived out his retirement in Melbourne but in between he moved around between the 2 countries with a number of visits back to Scotland.
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For more on Peter W Telford and William Telford click below: