ANNIVERSARY OF CANTERBURY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21656, 14 December 1935, Page 18

ANNIVERSARY OF CANTERBURY

Arrival of First Four Ships : PROVINCE 85 YEARS OLD . • I I ; Quiet celebrations will be held in the • city during the week-end to mark the ■ eighty-fifth anniversary of the founding ; of the Canterbury settlement. Eighty- | five years ago on Monday the Charlotte- ! Jane, the first of the historic First Four ■ Ships, dropped anchor in the Lyttelton . harbour and put ashore the first of the ; 717 Canterbury pilgrims, who, as “a ; slice of English society cut from top to ’ bottom,” had come to New Zealand un- • der the supervision of the Canterbury Association to found Edward Gibbon • Wakefield’s ideal colony. To-day only 1 eight of these pilgrims remain, but ! mainly through the efforts of the Can- : terbury Pilgrims’ arid Early Settlers’ • Association their contributions, and ■ those of the 709 other pilgrims to the ; foundation of the province are still re- [ cognised and remembered. I Anniversary day in Canterbury many f years ago used to be one of the most : important and popular holidays of the ■ year, but much to the regret of the • pilgrims’ association, and owing largely to the proximity of the date to Christi mas, it has been abandoned as a pub- ! lie holiday and will be recognised this year only by the City Council, the banks, the Government _ departments, ■ and very few other institutions. The [ pilgrims’ association itself will hold a ; garden party at “Fitzroy,” the home of ; Mr R. E. McDougall, in Papanui road. ! Special services will be held at the Cathedral, the Holy Trinity Church, 1 Lyttelton, and some other churches tomorrow. Wakefield’s Plan i The great plan for the establishment , of the model settlement in Canterbury : arose from a conference between John Robert Godley and Edward Gibbon ' Wakefield, men whose* names are now deeply engraved in the history of the , province, among the Malvern Hills in England, in 1847. There Wakefield laid before Godley his scheme for the founding of an English church settlement which would fulfil his concep- : tion of the ideal colony, and Godley ’ took it upon himself to induce the New Zealand Company to dispose of ! a sufficient amount of land in Can- | terbury to allow the plan to be pursued. The Canterbury Association was ; formed in 1849, and in September of the 1 next year—the date was September 7. 1850-—the first three of the four fam- ' ous ships left England. ‘ On board those four ships—the Char- : lotte Jane, the Randolph, the Sir ■ George Seymour, and the Cressy—- ■ there assembled a band of Englishmen I and English women such as had prob- : ably never before nor since been gathi ered together. ‘There were clergymen, : gentlemen who had bought large areas . of land in the new settlement, labi outers who were to solve the labour ! problem which had hindered the de- « velopment of so many other colonis- ! ing schemes, and their wjyes and families. Eight Remaining Pilgrims 1 Of these 717 people, specially chosen r as suitable and desirable people to i found a new English society in the ; antipodes, people whose high ideals, , courage, and remarkable industry laid . a foundation such as few other provinces have enjoyed, there are to-day ! only eight remaining, all of whom still cling to memories of Canterbury as a land of swamp and tussock. There are also still living five early settlers, | known as the “antediluvians," who *were here even before the arrival of ,/ the First Four Ships. The list of Canterbury pilgrims still living is as follows; — Charlotte Jane: Mr A. L. Barker, Wainui, Winchester, South Canterbury. Randolph: Mrs E. D. Howell (nee Elizabeth Waghorn), patron of the Canterbury Pilgrims’ and Early Settlers’ Association, Lincoln. Mr Eli Smart, Ormond street, Woodville. Mr Randolph Harper, Bealey avenue, St. Albans. Sir George Seymour: Mrs Louise A. Clothier (n6e Louise Denton), Southland. The Rev. F. G. Brittan, 11 Chaptei street, St. Albans. The Rev. F. R. Inwood, 21 Cracroft terrace, Cashmere. Cressy: Mr Richard Evans, Otorohanga, Bay of Islands. "Antediluvians” The following Is a list of the remaining settlers who were in Canterbury before the arrival of the First Four Ships, according to the records of the Canterbury Pilgrims’ and Early Settlers’ Association:—

Mrs George Breitmeyer (n£e Elizabeth Brown), Price’s Valley, Little River. Born Akaroa, 1842. Mr William Gilbert, 15 Garrick street, Shirley. Born Peraki, 1843. Mrs Annie Taylor (nee Annie Manson), Barbadoes street, Christchurch. Born Head of Bay, Lyttelton, 1846. Mr Robert Gilbert, 15 Garrick street, Shirley. Born Opukutahl (Tikau Bay), 1846. Mr A. R. Pavitt, 121 Tennyson street, Beckenham. Arrived Akaroa in the Monarch. March 2, 1850.