In early 1874, twenty seven year old John Mann was a carpenter living in the small village of Everdon, Northamptonshire, with his wife Ellen and their five children.
Like so many other British families of the time they joined the Government Assisted Immigration Scheme and headed off to London to board a ship bound for New Zealand.
John had secured an engagement with an architect in Timaru named Francis Wilson, who was reported to have practically rebuilt Timaru’s central business district after the great 1868 fire.
The family, including Henry aged 7, William aged 6, Elizabeth aged 4, Ellen aged 2, and Jabez aged 3 months, boarded the Peeress on 29 March 1874. By all accounts it was a perilous and harrowing journey lasting 118 days. Unfortunately young Jabez did not survive the trip. No date is recorded for his death, just the word “Dead” beside his name on the passenger list. I assume he was buried at sea.
They finally reached Timaru on 27 July 1874. It is unknown if the promised job with Francis Wilson became a reality, or where the family lived in that first year, but eight months after arrival their youngest daughter Ellen passed away. Not a lot of information was recorded on her death certificate, only that she died on 24 February 1875, residence “near Timaru”, aged 3 years. The cause of death was dysentery and ulceration of the intestine. In the 1870s dysentery was described as an intestinal infection commonly known as the “bloody flux”. It was a widespread and dreaded disease, particularly in crowded areas like military camps and urban slums, due to poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies.
Ellen was buried in Row 0 on 27 February 1875.
On 20 May, less than three months after Ellen’s death, the family welcomed a new son named Joseph. In August 1875 the family moved into a cottage at Peeress Town. They were able to live there rent free for four months on the understanding that John would fix it up by putting in a door and windows. A year later John was taken to court for not paying rent from the agreed date. He was meant to have paid 2 shillings per week but had not done so. When the family left Peeress Town is unknown, and they may have stayed on for a few more years. In December 1876 John and Ellen had another daughter, followed eighteen months later in June 1878 by another daughter.
On 17 August 1878 Joseph, who was aged 3, died. He had been sick for a while but the last time he saw a doctor was a month before he passed. His cause of death was phthisis, bronchitis and exhaustion. In the 1870s phthisis was a medical term for tuberculosis (or the white plague), a disease characterised by wasting, coughing and often fatal weight loss.
Joseph was buried in Row 0 on 19 August 1878.
Early the next year, on 13 February 1879, Elizabeth who was now aged 9 passed away. Her cause of death was listed as diphtheria.
There had been a diphtheria outbreak in Temuka a month before, the Timaru Herald reporting on 18 January:
“PUBLIC HEALTH. At Temuka a large number of children ill with diphtheria and deaths from that cause have been numerous of late. On Thursday three deaths occurred and unfortunately many more of the children are not expected to recover. It is to be hoped the Health Officer will do all in his power to check the spread of this disease.”
Timaru had fared better, with the Herald reporting on 20 February 1879:
“DIPHTHERIA. So far as we have been able to ascertain only one case of diphtheria has occurred in the borough this season, and in that one instance the local Board of Health took such stringent measures to prevent the spread we believe it will lead to its complete eradication.”
Who knows what those stringent measures were? But what is known is that Elizabeth’s death was not registered for nearly six weeks, and her body was not buried for another five months.
Elizabeth was buried in Row 0 on 14 July 1879.
Researched and written by Carmen Hayman 2025.