By Roselyn Fauth
1 to 9 Strathallan Street was once the Miles Archer and Co. stores, tramway tunnel and siding. It was purchased by John Mee (1837–1916) and then purchased by D. C. Turnbull and Co. as stores, tunnel, siding and offices. The painted “Miles Archer” strip is on the south elevation. John Mee's name once appeared here when he took over the Miles Archer business in 1895. John Mee, the merchant who helped South Canterbury’s wool, grain and coal move between farm, store, railway siding, harbour and market.
Next time you are at Strathallan Street, look up and notice the brick wall of D.C. Turnbull & Co. On the facade is some old signage for Miles Archer and Co.
I have been learning about this building, and it was when I saw earlier photos of the same facade, that I noticed John Mee used to have his name painted up on this wall too. Today's blog follows the name on the wall that has gone, John Mee.
A while back, Dave Jack let me photograph each page of his Cyclopedia of New Zealand, I was sure I had seen John's name in there, and so I went back to my folder of snaps and sure enough, there he was.
While you cannot see Mee on the wall now, his story is interesting, briding the ownership of the Miles Archer and Co firm with D.C. Turnbull...
Mee has a role in our early Timaru colony stories: the harbour, the railway, wool, grain, coal, old merchants, old companies and that busy strip of town where goods once moved back and forth fro, the road, rail and sea.
Mee's missing name isn't a romantic history, or a dramatic shipwreck kind. But learning about who he was helps us connect to the everyday workings of a port town.
Paperspast was my next source to hunt through and I found an advert placed in 1897, where he told farmers they could come to him. “Consign Grain and Wool to my Siding Timaru.”
While the Stafford Street is lined predominantly with retailers, the old stores on Strathallan Street more working buildings, made for bulk, storage and movement.
Wool came in. Grain came in. Coal came in. Produce moved between farms, carts, rail, stores, ships and markets. It is easy to look at brick and think that's just another “old building”. But these are important because they connect us to part of a system.
The Timaru District Council heritage record identifies the site as the former Miles Archer and Co. stores, tramway tunnel and siding, later D. C. Turnbull and Co. stores, tunnel, siding and offices. It says Miles Archer had occupied the site from the mid 1860s, and that John Mee ran the business for many years before taking it over in 1895 after Miles Archer and Co. went into liquidation.
So the Mee name in that photograph marked a chapter in the life of the building.
Traction engine with four wagons loaded with wool bales outside Miles & Co Limited, Timaru. Several men are standing along the front of the engine and wagons, while the driver sits on the engine. Another horse and cart, with a sign that reads "John Mee Coal Merchant" and also loaded with wool bales, appears at the rear of the wagons. A house also appears on the hill in the background. Handwritten note on reverse in pencil reads "J B Hamilton, Thomas Baker is second from right - standing by the big wheel. The tunnel under the Timaru 1895-1915. South Canterbury Museum 1828
Miles Archer is the name we can still see today, some might call it a ghost sign... Mee is the name that disappeared.
Both belong to the story of Timaru’s awkward shoreline. And I think to understand why this mattered, I had to step back from the brick wall and look East towards the sea.
In the 1850s and 1860s, early European Timaru was not really a port town how we see it now. Ships used to anchor offshore. Cargo and passengers had to be ferried on smaller vessels between ships and land through surf.
Timaru’s first landing service opened at the bottom of Strathallan Street in 1858. It was hard, physical, risky work. Every sack, crate, barrel, bale and passenger had to somehow cross the awkward little stretch of between sea and shore.
Over time, the town argued and pushed for better harbour works. The problem was simple enough to understand but a bit harder to solve.
That is one of our early chapters of Timaru’s colonial story: surfboats, landing services, harbour meetings, breakwaters, engineers, politics and public pressure.
John Mee sits in the next layer of that story. He was not the man solving the surf problem. His work was further inland, part of the system that made the harbour useful once goods reached town.
Someone still had to receive the wool, store the grain, handle the coal, arrange shipping, sort insurance, advance money, sell seed, supply sacks and keep produce moving.
That was Mee’s world.
Miles Archer & Co building - Views of Timaru and District by Adolf Fischer South Canterbury Museum 3868
So who was John Mee?
John Mee was remembered in the Timaru Herald obituary as the well-known merchant of Strathallan Street. When he died in June 1916, the paper said that “another link with the early days of Timaru” had been broken.
He had arrived in New Zealand in 1863 with his brother George. Soon after, he joined Miles and Co. in Christchurch and was sent to represent the firm in Timaru. Later, he bought out the firm’s extensive wool, grain and seed business and carried it on himself earning his right to place his name on the brick wall in white paint.
Later, D. C. Turnbull and Co. became part of the site’s long story too.
Unknown Timaru c1880s Hocken Digital Collection
In 1897, John Mee advertised brick-built, rat-proof grain stores in Strathallan Street. He offered storage at low rates, immediate delivery, advances if required, wool dumping and shipping. He sold coal, cornsacks and binding twine. He was a cash buyer of grain, ryegrass, cocksfoot and clover seed.
Mee had what farmers needed. Somewhere to send the grain. Someone to handle the wool, and a place close to rail and harbour.
A merchant who could deal with storage, shipping, coal and the bits and pieces that kept a farming season moving.
That private railway siding gave great access, enabling goods to move between paddock and ship.
A South Canterbury Museum photograph gives another glimpse of that world. It shows a traction engine with wagons loaded with wool bales outside Miles and Co. Limited in Strathallan Street after 1895. Behind it is a horse and cart, also loaded with wool bales. On the cart is a sign: “John Mee Coal Merchant.”
Page 3 Advertisements Column 3 Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2359, 2 April 1897, Page 3 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18970402.2.28.3
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18970311.2.33.3
Mee was also a coal merchant.
Coal was part of everyday life. It heated homes, powered industry, supplied threshing machines and sat behind all sorts of work that kept farms and towns going. In one advertisement, Mee announced that he had finished landing the Lake Erie’s cargo of best Newcastle coal and was ready to supply threshing machines, householders and consumers from his Strathallan Street yards.
The Cyclopedia clue that started this hunt, but I have to treat the Cyclopedia carefully.
It is useful, but not innocent. Many entries were supplied by the people or businesses being profiled, and some were paid for. So when the Cyclopedia tells us John Mee was successful, respected and active, I read that as a helpful clue rather than the final word... still, it gives us something important: a photograph showing the Mee name on the building, and a description of a business that was large, practical and well connected.
The family behind the name
John Mee had a household, a wife, children, grief and a family story that runs back through Timaru Cemetery.
His wife was Susanna Nevill Digby Mee. She was born in 1839 at Lexden, near Colchester in Essex, England, and died in Timaru in November 1886, aged 46. She is buried in Timaru Cemetery, Block General, Row 15, Plot 24. Her father was John Digby. Her mother's Mother's maiden name was Nevill.
Her death notice in the Timaru Herald reads, DEATH NOTICE | Timaru Herald - 15 Nov 1886. MEE.—On Sunday, 14th inst., at LeCren Street, Susanna, the beloved wife of John Mee, aged 46.
Her headstone reads:
Sacred to the memory of Susanna
Wife of John Mee
Died 14th Nov 1886
Aged 46
An arm mightier than all others
God’s arm enfolds her
A love tenderer than a mother’s
God’s love now holds her
Vex not her weeping
Safe in that faithful keeping
Hush she is sleeping
John Mee was later added to the same memorial. He died on 17 June 1916, aged 79.
That means John carried on the Strathallan Street business for nearly thirty years after Susanna’s death.
His obituary says his wife had died some years earlier, and that he left a grown-up family of sons and daughters. It names his eldest son as Mr J. P. D. Mee, of Levels.
That little line sent the hunt back to the cemetery list.
There is a John Percival Digby Mee in Timaru Cemetery, who died in 1938 aged 68. That is almost certainly the J. P. D. Mee of Levels named in the obituary, though I would still want to verify the full chain through birth, death and marriage records.
The Digby name appears again with Robert Digby Mee, who died in 1872 and is also buried at Timaru Cemetery. That repeated name feels like a family breadcrumb, especially because Susanna carried the Digby name herself.
Some of the daughters may be harder to follow because they likely disappear from the Mee surname when they marry. That is always one of the little traps in cemetery lists. The sons stay easier to spot. The daughters often need a longer hunt.
But even with the gaps, the family story changes the feel of the wall.
Mee was not only a business. It was a family name. A widower’s name. A father’s name. A name that moved between Strathallan Street, Le Cren Street, Levels and Timaru Cemetery.
John Mee OBITUARY Timaru Herald 19 June 1916 Page 3 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19160619.2.9
When John Mee died in 1916, the Timaru Herald called him “another link with the early days of Timaru”. His obituary described him as the well-known merchant of Strathallan Street, the man who had first represented Miles and Co. in Timaru before later buying out its wool, grain and seed business. That one notice helped explain why his name once belonged on the wall. Mee was not a passing tenant. He was part of the working life of the place. He was 79 years of age.
Born 4 Jan 1836. Norwood, London Borough of Croydon, Greater London, England
Died 1916 (aged 79–80) Timaru, Timaru District, Canterbury, New Zealand
Timeline
1837: John Mee was born, based on his age at death in 1916.
1839: Susanna Nevill Digby was born at Lexden, near Colchester, Essex, England.
1858: Timaru’s first landing service opened at the bottom of Strathallan Street.
1863: John Mee arrived in New Zealand with his brother George, according to his 1916 obituary. Soon after, he joined Miles and Co. in Christchurch.
Mid 1860s: Miles Archer occupied the Strathallan Street site, later associated with the wool, grain, coal and produce trade.
c.1870: John Percival Digby Mee, later J. P. D. Mee of Levels, was born in Timaru.
1872: Robert Digby Mee died and was buried at Timaru Cemetery.
1878: Work began on Timaru’s southern breakwater.
1880 to 1881: The Strathallan Street grain and wool store, tramway tunnel and siding were constructed or developed as part of the Miles Archer business site.
14 November 1886: Susanna Nevill Digby Mee died in Timaru, aged 46. She was buried at Timaru Cemetery, Block General, Row 15, Plot 24.
1895: John Mee took over the Miles Archer business after Miles Archer and Co. went into liquidation.
25 May 1895: John Mee advertised as a wool, grain and produce broker, with his office “as before” at Miles and Co.’s Buildings, Strathallan Street.
1897: John Mee advertised brick-built, rat-proof grain stores, wool dumping and shipping, coal, cornsacks, binding twine, seed buying and the instruction to “Consign Grain and Wool to my Siding Timaru”.
1897: Mee also advertised Newcastle coal from the Lake Erie, supplying threshing machines, householders and consumers from his Strathallan Street yards.
1901: D. C. Turnbull and Co. purchased the former Miles Archer stores and built new offices on the Strathallan Street site.
17 June 1916: John Mee died, aged 79. He was buried with Susanna in Timaru Cemetery.
5 January 1938: John Percival Digby Mee, likely the J. P. D. Mee of Levels named in John Mee’s obituary, died and was buried at Timaru Cemetery.
Sources and full links
MEE, JOHN, Grain, Wool, Tallow, Coal, and General Produce Merchant. Offices and stores, Strathallan Street, Timaru. This extensive business, so well known in South Canterbury, is conducted on a prominent site adjacent to the railway station and harbour. The premises, consisting of brick stores and offices, extend over an area of three and a-quarter acres, a private railway siding alongside the stores affording facilities for shipping direct into vessels at the wharves. Besides the wool and grain business, a very large trade is done in coal. Mr. Mee imports direct from Newcastle, and has heavy shipments from Westport and other localities in the Colony. He is the Timaru agent for the Springfield Coal and Potteries Company, and represents the Victoria Marine Insurance Company, Liverpool and London and Globe Fire Insurance Company, and acts as agent for Little’s sheep dip. Mr. John Mee ranks almost as an old identity, having arrived in New Zealand in 1863 with his brother, Mr. George Mee, the well-known chemist of Wellington. Soon after his arrival, he joined the old firm of Miles and Co., of Christchurch, and was shortly afterwards appointed to represent them in Timaru, where he resided for over thirty years. On the company (Miles and Co.) going into liquidation, Mr. Mee took over their extensive stores with the wool, grain, and seed business, which he has since carried on upon his own account with marked success. He is well and favourably known to all farmers and business people of South Canterbury district, in which he has so long resided. Mr. Mee is an ardent supporter of all athletic pursuits, and though he is now over sixty years, he is still very active, and, in his leisure hours, dispels the cares of business with tennis, cycling, bowls, and boating.
Timaru District Council heritage assessment: Former Miles Archer and Co. stores, tramway tunnel and siding; D. C. Turnbull and Co. stores, tunnel, siding and offices
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/673866/Historic-Heritage-Assessment-Report-HHI43-former-Miles-Archer-and-Co.-stores%2C-tramway-tunnel-and-siding-DC-Turnbull-and-Co.-stores%2C-tramway-tunnel-and-siding-and-offices-Category-A.pdf
Heritage New Zealand: D. C. Turnbull & Co. Limited Buildings, List No. 2055
https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/2055/Listing
Heritage New Zealand: Brick Tunnel and Railway Siding, List No. 7307
https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/7307/Brick%20Tunnel%20and%20Railway%20Siding
Te Ara: Timaru and its port
https://teara.govt.nz/en/south-canterbury-region/page-6
NZ History: Timaru Landing Service Building
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/timaru-landing-service-building
Blue Plaques: Landing Service Building
https://www.blueplaques.nz/landing-service-building
Papers Past: John Mee obituary, Timaru Herald, 19 June 1916
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19160619.2.9
Papers Past: John Mee advertisement, Timaru Herald, 25 May 1895
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18950525.2.30.3
Papers Past: John Mee grain storage advertisement, Timaru Herald, 2 April 1897
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18970402.2.28.3
Papers Past: John Mee coal advertisement, Timaru Herald, 11 March 1897
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18970311.2.33.3
Papers Past: Meikleburn Estate advertisement connected with John Mee, Timaru Herald, 5 April 1897
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD18970405.2.37.4
South Canterbury Museum via eHive: Traction engine with wool bales outside Miles and Co. Limited, with John Mee Coal Merchant sign
https://ehive.com/collections/3359/objects/94929/traction-engine-with-four-wagons-loaded-with-wool-bales-outside-miles-co-limited-timaru
Find a Grave: Susanna Nevill Digby Mee memorial
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/226963901/susanna_nevill-mee
Find a Grave: John Digby Percival Mee memorial
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166558470/john_digby_percival-mee
Timaru District Council cemetery search
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/community/community-and-culture/cemeteries/cemetery-search
Google Books: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Volume 3
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cyclopedia_of_New_Zealand.html?id=Hy1SAQAAMAAJ
Ancestry collection note: New Zealand, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1897 to 1906
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/63015/
Page 1012 THE CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW ZEALAND.