I'll start off this blog today with a fund fact I learned... graveyards are burials by churches, cemeteries are burals by government. It's a fun fact, but it also helps us unravel the history of how we laid our past people to rest in Timaru in the 1850s onward.
Originally Timaru had two cemetery reserved marked out by the town surveyors. The reserves were established in 1859, a month before the Strathallan arrived. One was the current cemetery location at the south end of town. it was originally on the town belt with the Timaru Botanic Gardens on the other side of the road. This cemetery was designated for the Anglicans. The second reserve was further North.
While hunting for the grave of Ann, I've been on all kinds of side quests, including trying to understand the history and the evolution of the Timaru Cemetery. On the block of Wai-iti Road & Selwyn Street corner to the Beverley Estate — divided into Wesleyan, Presbyterian, and Catholic sections by the Levels Roads Board. This is where the Aigantighe Art Gallery is today. I asked the council, and they confirmed this was never used for burials. By 1881, the northern cemetery site was proposed for sale by the Timaru Cemetery Commissioners. From this point, the Southern Timaru Cemetery became undenominational.
Two cemetery reserves that were once in the towns survey. Left the reserve on the corner of Wai-iti Road and Selwyn Streets, and Right, the Cemetery reserve opposite the Timaru Botanic Gardens
Section of a Survey Map 1874 showing St Mary's on the corner of Church and Sophia Street. 1880 St Mary’s Church (Anglican) 328 Church Street & Sophia St
The first recorded burial was Morris Clayson Cory, a Deal boatman who drowned off Timaru on October 6, 1860. His wife Elizabeth died in 1913, aged 85 and rests in the same plot. Cory's colleague also a Deal Boatman who drowned at the same sea rescue event was burried beside him. For some reason Cory recieved a headstone, and Bowbyes did not.
The segreation of demoninations interest me, because it may help me work out, if Ann was buried in 1860, where that could be. One clue, she was born in Ireland. I learned a little history on the Church of England the Anglican church. This was a big eye opener and it helped me understand some of the reasons for tension between the Irish and the English. Basically there was some fighting going on by two families in the tudor period over who would rise to the thrown. The rightful aire was more than murky it involved power struggles, inheritance rights, and weak royal leadership., but the 30 year The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) were a dynastic battle between the House of York (white rose) and House of Lancaster (red rose). This fued was eventually settled with a marrage unting the two families to consolidate the Tudor dynasty. Henry VII (Lancaster) married Elizabeth of York, uniting the houses and symbolically creating the Tudor Rose. The marrage was simbolised by the English Rose, and icon that included both the rose of York and the Rose of Lancaster. If you visit St Mary's Church in Timaru you can see these in the stunning woodwork. The Tudor rose has become a strong emblem of unity and often appears in royal or Anglican church settings.
Timaru town. NZ Heritage Maps Platform, accessed 20/09/2025, https://maps.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1138
How did the Tudor Rose end up as a Church symbol... well that is a tricky bit to write about as I am sure lots of people will look at it with their own lens, but here is my take on it. King Henry VIII who was the product of the York and Lancaster marrage, married under the Pope of Rome. At this stage the general religion in the English monarchy was Roman Catholic. For what ever reason, the King had had enough and wanted a divorce. But this is not allowed under the Pope. One solution would have been to suck it up, and make the marrage work. Instead he decided he would leave the church and create his own church to allow divorce. He created the Anglican Church of England. The word comes from "Anglia", the medieval Latin name for England. His new church was a blend of Catholic traditions like acraments and church hierachy, and protestant reforms, services in the local language and less focus on the papal authority. The Anglican Communion is a worldwide family of churches (like the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia) that share similar beliefs and worship styles.
I wondered when I read this, would I feel like I had to choose wheree to place my alegence? To the King or to your God?
Most subjects didn’t see it as a binary choice. The monarch was head of the Church, so loyalty to the king was seen as religious duty (especially after the Act of Supremacy, 1534). My understanding is that many Catholics (especially in Ireland) did feel this tension deeply, and this then led to centuries of political and religious unrest.
Section of a map by John Code in Timaru 1875 - Shows Timaru's Foreshore. NZ Heritage Maps Platform, accessed 20/09/2025, https://maps.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/404
Because of the 1559 – Act of Uniformity (under Queen Elizabeth I), everyone had to attend Anglican worship on Sundays and holy days, or face a fine. I guess the goal was to establish religious unity under the Church of England after years of Protestant–Catholic conflict. People who refused (known as recusants, especially Roman Catholics) could be fined 12 pence per missed Sunday. Wealthy recusants sometimes faced larger fines or imprisonment.
This changed in 1689 with a new Toleration Act (under William and Mary). This allowed freedom of worship for non-Anglican Protestants (like Baptists and Presbyterians). Catholics and atheists were still excluded. Attendance at Anglican services was no longer strictly enforced, but only Anglicans could hold public office or attend university (until the 19th century).
The Anglican Church was introduced to New Zealand in 1814 by Reverend Samuel Marsden, a Church of England chaplain who is said to have conducted the first Christian service in the Bay of Islands. Supported by the Church Missionary Society, Anglican missionaries such as Henry Williams and William Colenso played a pivotal role in translating religious texts into te reo Māori and establishing early literacy among Māori communities. Although the Church of England was never officially declared the state religion in New Zealand, it held significant cultural and social influence during the colonial period, particularly after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. By 1857, the Anglican Church in New Zealand became self-governing, adopting its own constitution and General Synod, while remaining in communion with the Church of England. Unlike in England, there were no laws requiring attendance at Anglican services in New Zealand; religious freedom was respected from the early days of colonial governance. In 1992, the church restructured itself as the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, adopting a three-tikanga model that recognizes and shares authority between Māori, Pākehā, and Pasefika cultural streams. Today, the Anglican Church remains a prominent denomination in New Zealand, known for its contributions to education, social services, and bicultural leadership.
So that is why Anglicanism is no longer legally enforced; freedom of religion is fully recognized in countries like the UK and New Zealand. Back to the King thing though, while Anglicanism is no longer a state religion in New Zealand, the Church of England remains the established church in England (e.g. the monarch is still its Supreme Governor). In practice, however, freedom of religion is fully upheld in both the UK and NZ.
Timaru's St Mary's Church details - Photography Roselyn Fauth
I can imagine the up roar at the time, for those who for generations followed religion their traditional way. And all would have been fine I guess if everyone could follow what felt right to them, but here was the bit I found shocking... to make the new church a success, the King made his church law. If you imaging a ranking of immortals like God, the King positioned himself as highest mortal in the rank. And he made Sunday visits to the Church of England the legal requirement. No wonder there was push back, and now I have a bit of a better understanding why even 50 years ago, people struggled when their children married someone from the oposing family religion.
Maybe this also explains when it came to cemeteries why people felt strongly about who performed the burial service and where people where laid to rest. Anglican rites and the burial of a Roman Catholic were still in conflict from the forces of a King centuries earlier.
Over time Timaru's cemetery became undenominational, and people of all or no denominations could be buried there. How ever when you walk around the older part particularly, you can see the cemetery still had clear areas for particular religions. The jews for example are over on the South West corner. The Roman Catholics seems to be in the middle of the Southern boundary.
The denominational divisions of Timaru’s early cemetery planning give a little insight into where Ann Williams may have been buried in 1860. As an Irish-born woman, is it possible she was raised Catholic, which could have placed her outside the Anglican burial ground originally reserved for members of the Church of England? Keeping in mind that it was reported in the news that Timaru cemetery planning divided was by faith—Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Catholic, reflecting broader tensions between Protestant English and Catholic Irish identities. These divisions, rooted in centuries of religious and political conflict, suggest that Ann’s final resting place may lie within the section allocated for Catholic burials, if not yet absorbed into the later undenominational grounds.
I love the history of our monarchy, and I do see the value in a constant figure head. I dont see our royals as a link to the heavens though, so it is a relief that I'm not bound to an opinion by law, and am free to review the past and interpret it with my own lens.
So I guess, for many Irish immigrants, like Ann, the Anglican Church could have represented not just a faith but the symbol of British authority. This could have been viewed as an institution tied to the system that had historically suppressed Irish Catholic identity. In mid 1800s New Zealand, these dynamics travelled with settlers. Even in a new land, they were not starting totally fresh. Some probably throught they could make their new home feel like the old home. The denominational segregation in cemeteries and churches reflects these older world divisions. Thinking about where someone like Ann might have been buried might give more insight into how Irish identity, faith, and colonial structures overlap. I haven't got a written account from Ann herself to cite. So I have to try and imagine what her story could be. By trying to be in her shoes on the george St shore 165 years ago, I need to look not only at where we come from, but at how those layered identities continue to shape our understanding of belonging and memory today. I would love to know why Ann left Ireland and boldly sailed to Australia. Maybe she was a hopeful migrant seeking work, land, religious freedom, love, family and a sense of belonging... driven by hardship at home and opportunity abroad.
Ireland sent both convicts and orphans to Australia, largely under British rule. My understanding is that thousands of Irish men and women were transported as convicts, often for petty crimes or political resistance, as a way for Britain to relieve overcrowded prisons and assert control. During the Great Famine (1845–1852), the Irish also sent young girls from workhouses to Australia under the Earl Grey Orphan Scheme, aiming to ease poverty at home while supplying domestic labour to the colonies. These orphans, though often met with hardship and prejudice, became part of the fabric of Australia’s early settler society. Ann was 35 when she died in Timaru 1860. She arrived here around 4 years earlier, so she was about 30 when she met Sam in Ballarat Australia and they had their first child Rebecca. I wonder if I can find records that show when she arrived in Australia, if she was solo, or with family to give an insight into what could have motivated her.
Photos from inside St Mary's Church - Roselyn Fauth 2022.
A huge amount of people suddenly went to Ballarat, Australia in the 1850s when gold was discoverd. The Victorian Gold Rush attracted thousands of migrants seeking gold to escape poverty and a new life. Prospectors wanted more economic independence but when they arrived they faced harsh conditions. Ballarat grew rapidly into a major settlement, and its goldfields became some of the richest in the world. It was also the site of the Eureka Stockade in 1854, a miner-led protest that became a key moment in Australia’s democratic history.
Maybe the demands of frontier life impacted social class and relgious influence and gave some more fluid distinctions? Was cooperation necessary for survival and progress? Maybe to some extenct, but I can see examples in Timaru's early European chapter that Religion, particularly the divide between Protestants and Irish Catholics, did shape communities, schools, and burial practices.
Honestly, hunting for Ann, has given me so much insight into myself and our past. And I am learning to balance historical awareness, personal reflection, and find some civic maturity to work towards a better understanding on where traditions come from, how they’ve changed, and how I personally value the right to engage with them critically yet respectfully. I think I always knew this, but didn't really thinkg about it, or try to atriculate it, personal freedom, historical memory, and cultural identity. In searching for Ann, I am finding more than just history, but a deeper sense of myself, and the awarenss that I have freedom to engage with tradition on my own terms.
Archdeacon Harper's letters from September 1857 mention encountering an old whaler (Williams) living in a hut with his family near the sea coast. “I spent a pleasant hour with Sam, listening to many colourful yarns of the old days”. Williams shared whaling stories with Harper during this visit; his wife provided directions for Harper's journey to Waimate. The building is pictured in the centre is a landing service building (either the Timaru Landing and Shipping Company or the George Street Landing Service), while Rhodes' original cottage is to the left. South Canterbury Museum 2000/210.095. On the Left is the Rhodes Cottage on what is now George Street. Center is a plan from the New Zealand railways that shows the footprint of the house where Ann and Sam raised their family before they built the Timaru Hotel. Right: The cottage looking worse for wear. Section from Hocken Snapshop hocken.recollect.co.nz/24023
Illustration by Roselyn Fauth
St Mary's Church, Timaru, Eastern Elevation 1908 by Fergusson Ltd. In Website Hocken Snapshop. hocken.recollect.co.nz/24185
St Mary's Church, Timaru, New Zealand, 1912, Timaru, by Muir & Moodie studio. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (PS.002215)
"We have now made a successful start in regard to our parish buildings. The vicarage is complete, a well designed structure in brick; close by it a spacious School Church, with room for five hundred, to be used as a Church until the completion of the nave of St. Mary's. Liberal subscriptions have come in, and a design for the new church accepted, but not without much opposition. I was anxious to take advantage of the general enthusiasm shown by Church people, and to get their consent to a plan of the best possible style and material, and of sufficient size to provide for an increasing population, which need not be completed at once. In Westland I came across a young English architect, W. G. Armson, who built some wooden churches for me, now in Christchurch, where he has established a good business. The Vestry agreed to my proposal to employ him and, after some time, during which I had many consultations with him, he completed a very fine design in Early English style, of which the Nave, with accommodation for seven hundred, would suffice for some time to come. In Timaru we have, close at hand, quarries of a purple grey dolerite, excellent for the main fabric, very hard, but taking a fine finish when hammered, and, at Oamaru, within fifty miles, a granular limestone, of creamy colour, easily worked, for the interior." - Archdeacon Harper December 10th, 1881 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_from_New_Zealand,_1857-1911/Letter_14
The ten nave columns are of Aberdeen pink granite and along with the corbels, and bosses were carved by the Godfrey Bros, of Dunedin whose work is also in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Dunedin.
The red granite used for the 19 inches in diameter columns is from quarries around Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The monolithic columns were carved from a single piece of granite. They feature Oamaru stone capitals with blue stone mouled bases. These were paid for (gifted) by Mrs Luxmoore, in memory of her late husband. Granite was a used for headstones and the Sofia St, Benvenue monument.
Peterhead has been used across the world for famous buildings and statues. The granite in this area was formed over 400 million years ago from molten rock molten magma cooled slowly allowing the large crystals to grow. These hard crystals give the granite its strength. The coastal fringe between Boddam and Cruden Bay. Aberdeen Peterhead granite from Stirling Hill and local quarries can be also be found at architect George Alexander Troup'sDunedin Railway Station (1906) used for the stone for the pillars on the Anzac Avenue facade.
in the original fountains of Trafalgar Square, the pedestal for Duke of Wellington's Statue at Buckingham Palace, The Foreign Office and the British Museum and the pillars of Blackfriars and Southwark Bridges in London. The skills of the workers who produced the monumental stone were also exported round the world. Men went to Australia to dress the stonework for Sydney Harbour Bridge, to Cape Town, South Africa and Vermont, USA. Many granite workers from this area settled in these distant places. - boddam.org.uk/stirlinghill
Timaru Herald, 28 August 1895, Page 2: Mr S. McBride (ell-known builder and monumental mason) has shown us a new shape of tombstone, a massive rustic cross, with twining ivy and a heavy base, in red Peterhead granite, a specimen of which he has just imported. He has also received some American marble slabs, nicely finished. The duty on such things is 25 per cent. It ought to be 250. The Timaru stone is more suitable for funeral purposes than any granite or marble, and something ought to be done to check the waste of New Zealand products sent Home every year in exchange for tombstones. New Zealanders ought to be patriotic enough to prefer the local stone for their last ornament, and to encourage local industry instead of the steam machinery of other countries.
Another fun fact... the recipe for Timaru's famous May's Pies (boiled pastry mutton pie) comes from Peterhead! Alex May came from Scotland and set up the business in 1914, his father was a baker.
The smaller mottled wall columns in the chancel and transept are of New South Wales marble.
Architect William Barnett Armson 1834–1883 The originals were at the office Collins Hunt and Loveridge at the time the book was written Armson founded the firm in 1870 and died aged 50 in 1883. Collins and Harman redesigned the tower in a square design during the next stage of the building work. It was finally finished in 1909.
William Barnett Armson (1834–1883): co-founder of the long-lived Christchurch firm Armson, Collins and Harman, made one of his final marks on Timaru with the design of St Mary’s Anglican Church. Built from local basalt and Oamaru stone, and capped with Welsh slate, the church reflects the English Gothic Revival style with its pointed arches, vertical emphasis, and tranquil interior. Though Armson died before its 1886 completion, his vision was faithfully realised by his partners. The church remains a symbol of spiritual aspiration and architectural excellence, and a key feature of Timaru’s streetscape.
From a recent Webb's auction: Timaru, 21 September 1927.
St Mary’s Anglican Church, Timaru: A Gothic Revival Legacy
St Mary’s Anglican Church stands at the corner of Church and Sophia Streets. Designed by the respected Christchurch architect William Barnett Armson, it remains one of the finest examples of English Gothic Revival architecture in New Zealand. Built in the late nineteenth century, the church represents both the ambitions of a growing colonial town and the enduring role of faith in the region’s development.
Construction began in 1880 under the guidance of Archdeacon Henry Harper, who led the parish for more than three decades. Armson’s design was inspired by traditional English churches and drew on his earlier work on St Luke’s in Oamaru. For St Mary’s, he specified locally quarried basalt, Oamaru stone detailing, and a Welsh slate roof. These materials gave the building both a strong presence and a sense of craftsmanship. The layout included steep gables, pointed arches, buttresses, and stained-glass windows that filled the interior with soft, coloured light.
Armson died in 1883, just a few years after the foundation stone was laid. However, his firm Armson, Collins and Harman continued the project with care and fidelity to the original design. The main nave was completed in 1886. The tower, vestries and chancel followed in 1909 under the supervision of local architect Walter Panton. The result is a unified and harmonious building that has remained largely intact ever since.
St Mary’s is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I historic place. Its key features include the ashlar basalt façade, the tall bell tower with lancet windows, and a finely crafted timber interior with carved pews and trusses. It is not only one of the last and most significant works of Armson’s career but also one of the most enduring examples of nineteenth-century stone church architecture in the country.
Today, St Mary’s continues to serve its community as a place of worship and reflection. It has hosted countless baptisms, weddings, funerals and public gatherings. Its architectural integrity and spiritual atmosphere make it a treasured part of Timaru’s built landscape and a symbol of continuity across generations.
Few tips when trying to use old records to find graves...
Tthe row numbers and graves at Timaru's Cemetery were renumbered in a different order to the original Sexton's book (and the numbering used from the NZ SG headstone transcriptions). So to be careful when trying to match up records.
I was given a heads up that there was an infant section that had probably been overplanted with a ring of rose bushes, I haven't found anything to cite to validate this.
Before the Library was built Eliot Whatley created an artwork showing the view from Lynwood House in 1874. This was the town house of George and Elizabeth Rhodes on Corner of George and Latter Streets in Timaru. George Rhodes and his brothers profited from the growth of Timaru by selling their sections of land in the town center. They also contributed to community life: St Mary's Church (Anglican) at Timaru was built between 1860 and 1861 on land given by them, and George was one of the first wardens. George was also a justice of the peace and a member of local committees and institutions. George's life was productive but brief. He died of typhoid fever at Purau on 18 June 1864 at the young age of 47. In Timaru, street names such as George Street and Elizabeth Street honor the Rhodes family still. The Levels was sold but, determined not to leave the region she had such happy memories of, Elizabeth and her five young children lived in their town home "Linwood House" which stood behind the present Council chambers. In 1867 Elizabeth married Arthur Perry, a charming young barrister from Tasmania who had commenced a law practice in Timaru. They remained at Linwood until 1873 when they purchased Beverley from Henry Le Cren. A large house on 8 hectares of land at the junction of Wai-iti Rd and the Great North Road, now Highway 1. It was to become a garden of note in the district.
Dr Edward Butler (1834-1870) also lived at Lynwood House. He is mentioned in a Strathallan diary as having lived in a one roomed house. His dispensary burnt down in the 1868 fire. He is burred at Timaru cemetery with his son beside him who was born 1864 but only lived 3 months.
Timaru Herald - 7 October 1899 Latter Street presents several sorts of busy-ness just now. The Corporation men are cutting down the hip of the street itself. Mr Broadhead is building a good sized cottage on the former site of the Linwood stable yard, just at the rear of the Trinity Church; and Mr Pringle is pulling down the old Linwood house; one of the earliest of pretentious wooden houses in Timaru.
The hunt for Ann, actually started out as a hunt for whaling history... now I am learning about the early European pioneering days of Timaru, record taking, relgion and leadership.
- Lyttelton Times, Volume XIV, Issue 840, 28 November 1860, Page 4.
Register of Deaths, Saint Mary's Church Timaru Parish records of deaths. Ann appears to be listed as number 12, November 18, 1860, 36 years. Photography by Roselyn Cloake with permission of the South Canterbury Museum 2025. William is recorded above. In 1860 Morris Corey and Robert Boubius became the first individuals to be buried in the Timaru Cemetery following a drowning incident off the coast of Timaru. They were part of a group of six experienced boatmen who had emigrated from England to Lyttelton in 1859 and were employed by Le Cren and Cain to work on their landing service at Timaru. The group included John Wilds, Morris Corey, Robert Boubius, Henry Clayson, William John Roberts and John J. Bowles. Boat handling was a perilous occupation and Henry Clayson also drowned shortly after arriving. He was replaced by Phillip Foster, another boatman from Deal.
Hunting through records and cemeteries, so far the location of Ann's grave is a mystery.
Left: View of the Timaru Cemetery. Yellow circle is Sams grave. Right: The 87-year-old chapel at the Timaru Cemetery designed by Maurice de Harven Duval. The chapel had not been used for burial services for over 50 years, with the last conducted by Archdeacon H. W. Harper who retired in 1911. In recent years it had been used to store the cemetery's small tractor and other equipment. Structural damage, borer infestation, and weak mortar made most of the building unsalvageable, aside from the iron roof. A proposal after the First World War to renovate the chapel failed due to lack of interest, and a 1935 plan to convert it into a crematorium was rejected. There are no plans to build a new chapel at the site. - Timaru Herald, 20 Apr 1968. Timaru Cemetery Chapel Demolished (20 Apr 1968). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 10/05/2025, aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/2037
Arial Photo by Whites Aviation - National Library PA Group 00080 WA 71959 F
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Cemetery - 1953 - Map of Timaru - Electronic reproduction of Land Information New Zealand original University of Auckland 2013
1868 Photograph of the foot of George Street, Timaru, circa 1868. It was built in 1851 by George Rhodes and his employees. It was the only habitation between Lake Ellesmere and the Waitaki River at the time. The cottage was a simple structure with battened sides, a clay-plastered exterior, and a thatched tussock roof, located near present-day George Street. In 1857, Archdeacon Harper visited Timaru during his journey from Christchurch to Moeraki and was warmly received by Samuel Williams, his wife, and son. A commemorative plaque was placed on the site in 1955. Harper's letters from September 1857 mention encountering an old whaler (Williams) living in a hut with his family near the sea coast. Williams shared whaling stories with Harper during this visit; his wife provided directions for Harper's journey to Waimate. The building is pictured in the centre is a landing service building (either the Timaru Landing and Shipping Company or the George Street Landing Service), while Rhodes' original cottage is to the left. South Canterbury Museum 2000/210.095
The cased and coloured ambrotype pictured here. ... shows Rebecca and William Williams, the children of one of our earliest settlers Samuel and Ann Williams. Rebecca Hobbs born 1854 Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, and died 1856 buried in Linwood Cemetery, Christchurhc. It would have been a relatively rare and expensive item for a working man like Sam. His story, which also mentions his son William Williams, born 1856 in Timaru, was the first European child born in Timaru and used a gin crate as his crib. - Courtesy of the South Canterbury Museum 3438.