MUCH OF OLD LYTTELTON WAS SWEPT AWAY BY BIG FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18946, 17 December 1929, Page 15 (Supplement)

MUCH OF OLD LYTTELTON WAS SWEPT AWAY BY BIG FIRE.

CANTERBURY STREET, IN DAYS BEFORE 1870, WAS A BUSY THOROUGHFARE

Old Lyttelton, landing place of the Canterbury Pilgrims, has practically disappeared. The following article on the old town is of interest, for the writer tells of the early residents and describes the early buildings.

(Written for the “ Star ” by

A. Selwyn Bruce).

The portion of Canterbury Street, between London Street and Norwich Quay, as portrayed in the two pictures which form the subject of these notes, was wiped out of existence during the disastrous fire that in 1870 swept from the Queen’s Hotel, in London Street, to the stables of the Mitre Hotel, in Canterbury Street. It is, therefore, unrecognisable to anyone outside the remaining few settlers who were living in the Port prior to 1869. From interviews with several early Lyttelton colonists, I found that considerable difficulty was experienced in recalling the names of the occupants of the various premises. However, the exchanging of notes on incidents connected with the locality has led to reliable data being secured from lifelong settlers in Lyttelton, whom I deem it an honour to have been privileged to meet —simple in their mode of life and supremely happy in recalling incidents long since forgotten. Shops Were Homes.

In the picture of the west side of Canterbury Street, the butcher’s shop of Armitage is shown at the corner of London Street, the imposing-looking building adjoining it being Mr Armitage’s residence. The shops in the early days were also the homes of those occupying them in almost every instance, but Armitage’s home was detached from his shop. On the section next to Armitage’s, a cottage had been erected by Thomas Gee, the storekeeper, for his son, T. M. Gee, who had decided to come out from London as soon as arrangements could be completed. Communication was, of course, somewhat disjointed, and, the house being furnished, and no definite news of Mr Gee having been received, the cottage was rented by Mr Reid. There was a flight of steps up from the gate to the house, and these

steps were the cause of the tragic death of Dr M’Cheyne. A Tragic Death. doctor had been called to Mrs Keid. V\ hen leaving and negotiating the steps leading to the street, he slipped and fell headlong, receiving injuries from which he died several days later. Mr T. M. Gee, well known in later years as the master of the Christchurch Grammar, and Commercial School in the premises previously occupied by John Coker in Manchester Street, succeeded Mr Reid as occupier of this house, and later on Mr H. N. Nalder became its owner, residing here for many years. Mr Nalder’s sister became the wife I^ r J. T. Rouse, of London Street, a well-known and popular medico of Lyttelton. The . two-storey premises next to Nalder’s were the shop and residence of John Milnes, the bootmaker. The pretentious shop adjoining Milnes’s was the general store of William Pratt, who had come from Nelson to open up business in connection with the establishment of the Canterbury settlement. Pratt, of course, everyone remembers as the proprietor of Dunstable House, which had been established by David Clarkson in 1854. A Surprising Discovery. When Pratt left Lyttelton to settle in Christchurch his premises were taken over by Thomas Gee, for whose business extensive alterations were necessary. During these alterations the shop was unoccupied, and in order to expedite matters, Mr Gee and his son Walter (afterwards well known as the pioneer maker of Venetian and other patent blinds in Christchurch) went in the early morning to push on with the work. Imagine their astonishment on finding under one of the counters in the shop the body af a man who, during the previous night, had been fished out of the harbour. This was quickly removed, and in the interests of the incoming tenant's wife and daughters, the incident was kept a close secret

until the family had moved away to Christchurch. Mr T. M. Gee took the business over from his father and lived here for several years. Below Gee’s shop was the ironmongery store of S. Gundry, whose daughter married Mr E. C. Latter. Next to Gundry, Mrs Coe had a drapery shop before moving over to her new premises near the present Chancery Lane in Gloucester Street, Christchurch. Next to Mrs Coe’s was the livery stables of Bruce and Coe, who ran the coach between Lyttelton and Christchurch by way of Sumner, and also had a packhorse connection by way of the Bridle Path. Adjoining Bruce and Coe’s were the stables of the Mitre Hotel—the point at which the great fire was conquered, the Mitre Hotel itself escaping serious damage. The East Side.

In the picture of the east side of Canterbury Street can be seen the old Railway Hotel, kept at various times by Palmer, Schmidt, Gilmour and Perhaps some of my readers ■Will recall the murder which took place in this old hotel. A man threw Wl * e down the stairway, and was subsequently tried for murder before Judge Gresson. After a protracted hearing, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, the death sentence being afterwards altered to 25 years’ hard labour. The gable-roofed building next to the Railway Hotel was occupied by John Smith Willcox, the cabinetmaker. The adjoining shop, with verandah, was the drapery store of Mr Chillingsworth and was afterwards in the occupation of James Young, the bootmaker. Young lost his life in the wreck of the Taracua. The fancy goods and toy shop of Mrs Collins was also just about here, while Ebert, the baker, occupied the preten-tious-looking building with the two upstairs windows, and these premises were afterwards occupied by Sheppard, the grocer. A garden occupied the adjoining vacant section, and the large premises with the single window in the gable roof were the chemist’s shop and residence of Bayfield—a site which has been continuously occupied as a pharmacy. Its present occupant, Mr WhiteParsons, has lived there for many years. In Bayfield’s time the next section was his garden, and the last shop facing Canterbury Street was first occupied by Heslop, the draper, and in later years by Hildyard, the bootmaker. Thomas Gee also occupied this shop and lived here before moving Pratt’s store, on the opposite side of the street. Between Heslop’s and the Robin Hood Hotel, on the corner of Norwich Quay, Calloway, the tailor, had his premises.

It is fortunate that these pictures are still in existence, depicting this once busy Lyttelton thoroughfare, as otherwise the record would have been permanently lost. The Maori Pah was on the waterfront, a little west of the Mitre Hotel, while the first settlers’ hospital, of which Mrs Ritchie was the matron, occupied a site beyond the Maori Pah.