|
Joseph Bowring was my husband
Graham's great grandfather. Joseph was baptised on 24 April 1859 in Pendleton,
Lancashire He was the son of William and Margaret (nee Williams) Bowring. Joseph Snr was widowed in 1919. His wife Eliza was a victim of the flu epidemic. In
1921 he journeyed out to New Zealand via Australia with his sons Joseph and
John.. Later that year, his daughter Ada and her son Noel also arrived in New
Zealand. It is not known why he decided to go to New Zealand but the place did
not agree with him and he was home again by 1924 as seen by a
letter he wrote to his daughter Dorothy was now settled in New
Zealand. Joe Jnr returned to England soon after his father and it was here that
he met his wife
Lottie Olney. They married in Nottingham on 25 June 1927.
Their first child Elsie was born in Llanfair Talhairan in North Wales in 1928.
Joe and Lottie were living in a cottage owned by his grandmother Margaret
Williams' family. The following year their daughter Josephine was born followed
a year later by their son Frederick John. Work was hard to come by as this was
the years of the Depression and after the birth of Frederick (known as John)
they made the decision to emigrate to New Zealand. Things were no better in New
Zealand. They were also in the throes of the Depression. Joseph ended up being
employed on a Public Works Scheme in the Bell Block, New Plymouth miles from
anywhere. Unemployed men were sent to camps in isolated areas and usually lived
in incredibly primitive conditions. Their huts had no floors and were often in
areas where they was heavy rain and the came became a sea of mud. There was
usually no ablution facilities or washing and drying areas for mud encrusted
clothes. The relief work was on road construction or drainage works but there
was no heavy machinery, only shovels and wheelbarrows. The men were paid on a
piece work system and as most of them were unused to heavy manual work they
often earned very little, sometimes as little as five shillings a week. Whilst
Joe was working in the Bell Block his wife Lottie was living in a bach at
Waitara Beach, with their three small children and another one on the way.
Following the birth of Joseph in 1932 she and the children moved nearer to where
her husband Joe was working, living in a tent by the Mokau River. They lived
like this for several months, but then with winter approaching they travelled
north with nothing but a load of furniture to Waiuku where Joe's sister Dorothy
was living. The family eventually moved to the North Shore where they lived on a
farm in Glenfield before settling finally in their home in Birkenhead. Joe died
on 16 August 1961 aged 69.
Madge Radford, Dorothy Bowring with Madge's adopted daughter Nora
outside 38 Washerway Road, Sale |
|
Children of
Joseph and Eliza (nee Eades) Bowring:
Eliza
Margaret (Madge) born 1883
Ada born 14 December 1886 d. 14 March 1975
Florence b. 1888
Joseph b. 28 April 1892 d. 16 August 1961
Minnie b. 25 May 1894 d. 26 March 1975
John b. 1896 d. 6 February 1942
Dorothy b. 23 September 1898 d. 22 June 1965
Elsie b. 1901 d. c1972
Joe Bowring (Snr) and Joe Bowring (Jnr)
 |
|
Eliza Margaret (Madge)Bowring
Ada Bowring with son Noel c1924
Elsie Bowring
Minnie Bowring
Dorothy Bowring |
