COLOURFUL LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1938, Page 9

COLOURFUL LIFE.

GISBORNE COUPLE. MARRIED 65 YEARS. INTERESTING EXPERIENCES. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) GISBOKNE, this day. Married life full of colour and incident has been that of Mr. and Mrs. J. Monk, who to-morrow celebrate the 65th anniversary of their wedding, which was celebrated in the old church opposite Waterloo Station. This happily married couple have resided in Gisborne 31 years, and both are in splendid health. Mr. Monk was born in London in 18.">2, and was apprenticed to the building trade, visiting Chicago shortly after the fire of 1872. He was married next year to Mrs. Monk, whose father was chief bookbinder to Queen Victoria. In 1870 the Monks went to South Africa, remaining there till the. outbreak of the war with the Zulus, the couple leaving for Australia in ISB3. They remained in Australia till Mr. Monk lost all in the slump in 1891. The couple returned to South Africa wflien feelings between the Dutch and British were becoming strained, and Mr. Monk, who resided at Johannesburg, was associated with the preparations for the famous Jamison raid, the Monks' premises being used as an arsenal. The Monk family were evacuated from their home as British refugees following the raid, but returned to Johannesburg, remaining there for a year, when they left for Nauport. Cape Colony, where they resided until after the JJoer War. After the war the family returned to England. They left the Old Country in 1907, and set up as storekeepers in the back country of Poverty Bay, where soon they prospered. They are now living in retirement in Gisborne. Mr. and Mrs. Monk have seven children in various parts of the world. The eldest son, Mr. John William Monk, is in business in San Francisco, Messrs. Alfred and H. E. Monk are'in Gisborne, and the youngest son, Mr. Sidney, is an engineer in Kenya Colony. The daughters, Mesdames T. Broad and D. McCarthy, reside in Johannesburg, and Mrs. A. Thompson in Capetown. When seen to-day by a "Star" representative the couple were both in high spirits, and were busily engaged at reading letters, cables and telegrams of congratulations from all over the world.