William James Girling

  General Notes:

Little is known about William's early life in London, except that he described himself as a cockney (born within the sound of bow bell, apparently,by tradition, the bells of the church of St mary-le-Bow), paid one penny per week for the privilege of an education and was apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner.
He treasured his employer's certificate that he was "thoroughly qualified to build any spiral staircase".

Literature appears to have been of importance to him, for he became an avid reader of Shakespeare, also Darwin's theory of evolution etc, as well as political and economic reviews of the time.

Will and Charlotte lived at 6 Lucas st Commercial road London before emigrating to NewZealand, they arrived at Wellington on 31/10/1883 aboard the "Westland" which sailed from England on 11/08/1883, they had been nominated to come to NewZealand by Charlot's sister,maria and her husband,Thomas.J.Exeter, and settled in Napier where their only child, William James was born.
The Westland having left Plymouth on 11/08/1883, arriving in Wellington 31/10/1883 and Quarantined on Somes island in Wellingtonb harbour.
This would make a voyage of 81 days, still far quicker than most.
The ship carried the equivelent of 223 adults (children were counted as half an adult).
These were English: 20 male, 52 female.
Scottish: 20 male, 8 female
Irish: 36 male, 117 female
Prussian: 2 male
German: 2 male, 2 female.
Passengers are on the list as bound for either Wellington, Nelson, Taranaki or Hawkesbay.
There are a number of references to the Westland in the Evening post, these confirm that the ship did in fact arrive on 31/10/1883, it had stuck bad weather, lost three crew overboard and sustained some damage.
One child died from enteritis during the voyage.
There was a case of smallpox two days out from Plymouth, the family was isolated in a deck house and the outbreak was contained.
The ship was flying a yellow (infectious disease) flag and was ordered into quarantine on arrival for disinfection, the passengers were released on 06/11.
The Westland left Wellington for london on 02/02/1884.
Evidence is mounting that the Girlings travelled from Wellington to Napier on the Manapouri, which arrived at Napier with 80 passengers including 56 steerage on 12/11/1883 and was tendered by the Boujon.
The Hawkesbay Herald 12 & 13th of November of the arrival of the Manapouri, the latter issue specificly states that she was tendered by the Boujon and that the steerage passengers were immigrants.
The Bickerstaff family also travelled on the Westland, they arrived in Napier on the Boujun, a purpose built coaster which was used as a tender at Napier for ships which were too big to enter the inner habour.


Work took the young family to many parts of the North island,including Coramandel, until they settled in New Plymouth on a small holding at Ratanui, about two miles (about3.2Km) from the town.

After Charlotte's death in June 1910, William moved to Auckland where he lived with his mother and sister, until Susan died in 1925. He was then persuaded (presumably by family and friends) to move to mount Roskill,where the climate was apparently better for his asthmatic condition.

Visits between family living in Taranaki and Auckland were infrequent, apparently due to the cost of travelling by sea, which was the usual form of travel at the time.

  Occupation:

• Carpenter. Worked in various place in the North Island of N.Z. Including Napier,Coramandal and Taranaki.
The picture to the right is the "Westland",the ship which brought William and Charlotte to N.Z.

• Joiner. Dresser built by W.J.Girling early 1900's

William married Charlotte Reedman, daughter of Richard Codling Reedman and Sara Dawson, on 4 Aug 1879 in Stepney London England. (Charlotte Reedman was born in 1860 in Saint George In The East, Stepney, London, England, died on 29 Jun 1910 in New Plymouth New Zealand and was buried on 2 Jul 1910 in Tehuni Cemetary Newplymouth New Zealand.) The cause of her death was Heart failure.