The first house at Beverley was a small cottage built by Henry L. Le Cren in 1857. The Beverley was built by Henry Le Cren in the 1860s and purchased by Mr and Mrs Arthur Perry in 1873. On the rise of Beverley Hill a lavish home once stood. Ringed by pines the property was big.
6 February 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a treaty first signed. George Rhodes arrived in New Zealand in 1843 and farmed in Akaroa. Samuel Williams had a stint of whaling in Timaru and worked on the farm and suggested the area would be suitable as a sheep station. In 1849 George Rhodes visited the area and in 1851 moved 500 sheep and some cattle from Akaroa to Timaru. In 1853 the brothers obtained a licence to occupy. the brothers took a look further south and purchased 75,000 acres between Opihi and the Pareora Rivers. They named this new run ‘The Levels’, after one of their father’s properties back in England. The first 126 acres of ‘The Levels’ is now known as the Central Business Centre of Timaru! Elizabeth rode down the coast in 1854 and took companion a girl McQueen 16 years old George and Elizabeths son, George William Wood Rhodes was born August 18, 1855 and died 9 August 1859.
By 1857 the Timaru settlement had a store and three small houses, including the Rhodes cottage on the beach (which later become a public house run by Samuel and Ann Williams in 1861 as the Timaru Hotel. His son William Williams was born here September 22, 1856 and died in Greymouth July 10, 1936 (79)). Elizabeth Rhodes married George in 1854, and lived here at the age of 19, she was the second European woman to make South Canterbiury her home and the first to arrive overland. Mrs Hornbrook, now residing on Seadown, being the first. William and Margaret Hornbrook welcomed their first child and the the first European child of South Canterbury William Richard Hornbrook, on November 17, 1854. He was the first European child born in South Canterbury and was delivered at Arowhenua Homestead.
This cottage was a wattle and daug, tussock thatched cottage on the beach, next to the Landing Services Building that you see today. They moved to the Levels ana thatched totara slab cottage chich still stands today. In 1859 she has three children William, Robert and Arthur, but Willie aged 3 dies. She runs the house, makes lsippers
Beilfeild Woollcombe arrived 1857 with his wife Francess Ann as the governments representitive, he owned the Ashbury at Ashbury Park 87 acres to the north of Timaru overlooking the Waimataitai Lagoon. His home was the third house to be built in Timaru. He was known as Daddy Woolcombe and died 1891.
And Captain Cain had a cottage on the beach. Henry Le Cren sent Captain Henry Cain to establish a small store and landing service at the foot of George Street. He sailed from Lyttelton to Timaru aboard the Royal Bride and settled in Timaru in 1857. In 1858 managed the first landing service. Married Jane Espie in Melbourne in 1860. She joined Capt. Cain in May 1862. The Timaru Landing Service and Shipping Co., was started at the foot of George St. in 1867 or 1868 by Frederic LeCren with Henry Cain as secretary and treasurer. It did not do well and the plant, buildings and lease were sold to Cain at auction in 1870 for 975 pounds. In 1868 Cain had purchased the ship Susan Jane in the US. Capt. Cain owned stores in Cain's Terrace, Timaru, was a former mayor of the town from 1870-1873 and saw the establishment of the Timaru-Washdyke railway and harbour pilot. He died at his home, Woodlands (between Cain and Harper sts.), Timaru on 28 January 1886 at the age of seventy after being murdered, poisoned by Thomas Hall. Hall married Kate Emily Espie, a stepdaughter of the reputedly wealthy Captain Henry Cain, in Timaru on 26 May 1885. Cain disapproved and refused to go to the wedding. Capt. Cain's obituary appears in the Timaru Herald 2/2/1886. There is a probate for Henry Cain, filed 5 Feb. 1886. Copy at the NZ Archives Christchurch. Capt. Cain was buried in the Timaru Cemetery on the 30th Jan. 1886. His wife Jane died on 26 July 1878.
Le Cren moved to Timaru in 1858. In 1859 Le Cren and Cain hired 6 boatmen from Deal Kent, the same year the first immigrant ship to sail direct from the UK to Timaru arrived boosting the towns popultation by 110 people. When he and Captain Cain had got the landing service working effectively, Margaret Le Cren came down with their first three children. St Mary's Church (Anglican) at Timaru was built by 1861, in time for the fourth child and future offspring, and for many years the Le Crens were members and benefactors of that church. They had a homestead called Beverley. It was built on bare hill overlooking the ships. Helped by the efforts put into the landing service, Timaru grew so rapidly in the early 1860s that, by 1864, wool was shipped directly from Timaru to London. The firm of H. J. Le Cren and Company was engaged in that trade. It also acted as an agency, borrowing from financiers and lending to farmers. In the year known for the "Panic of 1866" for the financial downturn, Henry sold the goodwill of his business to Miles and Company. In the same year the government took over the landing service. Around 1873 he sold the Beverley homestead, moved his completed family to London. In 1878, Henry's wife died and the City of Glasgow Bank famously known for its spectacular collapse in October 1878, ruining all but 254 of its 1,200 shareholders. Henry withdrew from business and returned to Timaru about 1880, where he had bought another house that he renamed “Craighead” after a castle owned by his brother-in-law in Scotland. He died on 20 May 1895. He was described in an obituary as "a shrewd but upright and able businessman…in his grasp of financial questions he had few if any equals'. Well educated himself, he paid great attention to the education of his children, one of whom emulated his father by laying the foundations of another Canterbury stock firm."
You may have heard the Rhodes family name. They were the early Pioneers who with the help of a very small community kick started early Timaru. The Rhodes moved from the George Street Cottage to a cottage/homestead at Levels which was built around 1856 with continued additions being made till it was completed by Nov 1862. It was two storey, weather boards lined with cob, named Plains House after the old home in the Levels district of Yorkshire.
In the Barbados Street Cemetery in Chirstchurch you will find John Sidebottom’s grave is unmarked. Even in the Anglican burial book his name is noted in pencil rather than pen. Sidebottom died at 32 in 1859. In 1855 he had been overseer on the Rhodes brothers’ Levels station north of Timaru, and, along with two Maori shepherds, had tracked the sheepstealer, James Mackenzie, to the hitherto unknown Mackenzie Country.
In 1864, George returns to Purau to help out with Sheep Dipping season and spends a few days up to his waist in the freezing dip, sleeves rolled up and working to his limit. Tragically, George catches a chill from the dip and passes away at the young age of 47. To say the family was crushed is a serious understatement. He is buried in the finest and largest graves in Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery..
When George died in 1864 Elizabeth re married to Arthur Perry, she moved to a 30 bedroom home known famously as the Beverly. This house had a wonderful garden, a pond and a creek that ran to Caroline Bay. About this time George Knowles, descended from a long line of Devonshire gardeners and himself a gardener, came to Timaru. He soon became head gardener at Beverley, which position he held until 1898 when Beverley was sold after the death of Mr Perry. Mr and Mrs Knowles, known to the five Perry children as Mr and Mrs Poddles, lived in a cob cottage on the property at the back of the home of Mr Arthur Jones, Beverley Road. In this cottage the seven Knowles children were born.
Elizabeth and Arthur had one daughter called Nellie. She married her cousin, George Rhodes, of Christchurch.
A diphtheria outbreak caused the pond to be looked upon with suspicion and it was drained by order of the Borough Council.
In the sunny paddock beyond Beverley Hill grazed Jack, the black horse with the white face that brought to Timaru Mrs Perry, the first white woman to cross the Canterbury Plains. Then the 19-year-old bride of George Rhodes, she came to The Levels, first sheep station in South Canterbury, the boundaries of which stretched from the Opihi to the Pareora and from the sea to the snowy ranges. When Jack died at a great age he was buried in his paddock at the corner of Wai-iti Road and Beverley Hill.
Gone are almost all the trees and shrubs that once graced Beverley's 12 acres of garden and orchard. The Wellingtonia gigantica tree, grown by Mrs Perry from a seed given her by her first husband, George Rhodes, has escaped destruction. This is probably now the tallest tree in Timaru. Entrance to this 30-roomed home was from the Great North Road, the original Beverley gates, now the gates to Mr D. C. Turnbull's house, are still there.
After the death of Mrs Perry, her husband, himself ill, sought increasing solace in the quiet of his garden. Every morning he would wander down the rose walk to have at talk with Mr Knowles. He loved to show people round the garden and he would go out on to the road to invite people to come and have a look round.
Save for the half-dozen rooms occupied by himself and a housekeeper, the rest of the house, filled with massive mahogany and walnut furniture, rich carpets and elegant silver was shut up. Still the keen fisherman, but without the energy to go to the rivers, he would on moonlight nights hire a launch and go fishing just outside the harbour. There in quietness he would dream of the golden days of Beverley - when 100 guests sat down to dinner; when half a mile of carriages stood at the gates; when the house was filled with life and laughter. Across the silvered waters he would look up at his many-gabled home. But Beverley was in darkness.30 Aug 2011
The house was used for returned servicemen and eventually pulled down where the RSA complex was built. There are not too many hints today that this grand home was once here other than Timaru's tallest tree. The tree was a gift from George so with its sentimental value she shifted the three year old tree by wheel barrow to the Beverley Garden. A case of champagne was bet over it's survial.
Join the history hunt
Visit the Bay Hill Look to the west, can you see Timaru’s tallest tree, the 34m high Wellingtonia Gigantica? The tree has a lovely connection to Timaru’s past. George and Elizabeth Rhodes were one of Timaru’s early European settlers. When George died, Elizabeth remarried Arthur Perry and moved to Beverley Estate. This tree was shifted there in 1873 by wheel barrow, and a case of Champagne was bet over its survival. Rumour has it Edmund Hillary climbed it as a young man when he stayed with neighbours.
Blog about the Beverly: earlycanterbury/beverley
Elizabeth Rhodes (Wood) Birthdate: 1835 Death: July 10, 1890 (54-55) in Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand
Immediate Family: Daughter of John Wood.
Wife of George Rhodes, Sr. and Arthur Perry
Mother of George William Wood Rhodes; Robert Heaton Rhodes; Ada Arrowenua Godby; George Hampton Rhodes; Ernest Timaru Rhodes; and Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes OBE
Learn about Captain Cain: sites.rootsweb.com/cain and here wikipedia.org/HenryCain
Learn about the Hornbrook family here: stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/first-european-child
Elizabeth Perry's Family
Elizabeth Wood, daughter of John Wood, of Hodstock, co. Nottingham, England married firstly George Rhodes at Lyttelton, Canterbury, New Zealand, 31 May 1854 by the Rev. B. W. Dudley, the son of William Rhodes and Theodosia Maria Heaton. (1)(he died 18 June 1864 at Purau, Canterbury, New Zealand), and had issue:
1. George William Wood Rhodes born 18 August 1855 - died 9 August 1859, headstone Timaru Cemetery
2. Robert Heaton Rhodes born 27 May 1857, married 16 April 1890 at Pihautea, Jessy Bidwill (born 7 November 1866, died 22 May 1937) daughter of Charles Robert Bidwill and Catherine Orbell, died 18 August 1918, and had issue:
· Airini Elizabeth Rhodes born 8 November 1896 Dunedin, bapt at St Mary's Church, Esk Valley.
3. Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes born 20 March 1859 married 10 February 1892 at
St Augustine's Church, Waimate by Bishop Harper to Rose Moorhouse, daughter of James William Moorhouse and Anne Emily Channon (a sister of Mrs Michael Studholme), died 26 December 1922 aged 63, buried Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch, and had issue:
· Arthur Tahu Gravenor Rhodes(refer 1893/11613)
· Rose Mairehau Rhodes (refer 1894/500) died 4 May 1991 aged 97 years, buried Bromley Cemetery
4. Ada Arrowenua Rhodes of 55 Manchester Street, Manchester Square, London, born 21 January 1860 at Purau, Canterbury married 10 August 1881 at Timaru by Archdeacon Harper assisted by Rev. George Foster, Michael John Godby (born 29 September 1850, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, died 14 December 1923, Marylebone, London, England
son of the Rev C. H. Godby, D.C.L. died 2 July 1888 at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England), she died 25 May 1942 and had issue:
· Michael Harry Godby
· Edith Ada Aorangi Godby born 9 June 1884, Timaru (refer 1884/15669)
· Ethel Hinemoa Godby born 20 October 1887, Timaru (refer 1887/12184), married William Gordon Shorrock, Holy Trinity Church, Eastbourne (marriages Dec 1908, Eastbourne 2b 144 )
· Joan Rhodes Godby
· Robert George R. Godby
5. George Hampton Rhodes of Claremont, South Canterbury born 13 February 1862 at Levels, South Canterbury, New Zealand, educated at Christ's College, Christchurch and Jesus College, Cambridge. Married 22 September 1887 at Christ Church Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand by the Most Rev. Primate, assisted by the Rev., Canon Stanford and the Rev. L.C. Brady, to Alice Henrietta (Effie) Thierens, (born 7 November 1862, died 5 January 1938 at "Palmside" Culverden aged 75 years) youngest daughter of John Cornelius Thierens, of Demarara, Guyana and later Otaio and Caroline Avice Spurway and the grand-daughter of the late Rev. John Spurway, M.A., Rector of Pitt Portion, Tiverton, Devonshire and her uncle was Thomas Teschemaker, she later lived at "Elmwood" and then "Oakford," Christchurch). Died 9 May 1914 at his residence St Albans, Christchurch, and had issue:
. John Heaton Rhodes solicitor of Christchurch, born 20 September 1888 London, England, died 3 August 1960, "Oakford", Christchurch.
. Lieutenant Eric George Rhodes R.N., 15 April 1890 Christchurch (refer 1890/7586), died 15 August 1945 Ottawa, Canada aged 55, buried Timaru Cemetery.
. Hilda Avice Rhodes, born 7 September 1892 Claremont, South Canterbury refer 1892/14200), died 31 May 1922, London.
6. Ernest Timaru Rhodes born 26 September 1863, Purau. Educated at Christ's College and Jesus College, Cambridge, married 16 January 1886 at All Saint's Church, Dunedin by the Rev. F. Fitchell, Mildred Julia Hackworth, second daughter of James Hackworth, Dunedin, New Zealand. (She married secondly on 20 January 1896 at St Mary's Church, Timaru by the Ven. Archdeacon Harper, Charles Ernest Thomas son of Henry Sullivan Thomas of Tiverton, Devonshire, England.) He died 11 January 1894 at his residence Hadlow, South Canterbury, New Zealand and had issue:
. Timaru Robert Rhodes born 30 August 1887 at Hadlow (refer 1888/3875)
. Ethel Mildred Rhodes born 15 September 1889 at Oamaru (refer 1889/14272)
. Arthur Ernest Timaru Rhodes born 8 April 1892 at Hadlow (refer 1892/7946)
. Moana Helen Timaru Rhodes (refer 1894/10883)
Captain A.E.T. Rhodes and Miss Holdsworth
The engagement is announced of Captain A.E.T. Rhodes, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, second son of the late E.T. Rhodes and Mrs C.E. Thomas, of Timaru, NZ, and Dorothea Nell, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Charles Holdsworth, Dunedin, NZ.
She married secondly 12 February 1867 at St Mary’s Church, Timaru by the Rev. George Foster, Arthur Perry (born 11 February 1840, died 21 April 1898, buried Timaru Cemetery), Elizabeth Perry died 10 July 1890 at "Beverley", Timaru, buried Timaru Cemetery, and had issue:
7. Arthur Cecil Perry born 29 July 1868, died about 1942 (refer 1942/27029) aged 75 years.
Birth - July 29 (1868), at Timaru, the wife of Arthur Perry, Esq., of a son.
8. Ellen Laura Amy Perry born 26 December 1869, Timaru, married 26 November 1890 at St. Mary's Church, Timaru, by Bishop Harper, assisted by Ven. Archdeacon Harper, George Edward Rhodes, OBE, (born 1866 Christchurch the second son of Robert Heaton Rhodes and Sophia Rhodes nee Latter, of "Elmwood", Christchurch and brother of Sir Heaton Rhodes, educated at Christ's College, Christchurch and Oxford University, died 8 March 1936 at his residence, "Beverley" Clyde Road, Christchurch, buried Riccarton Churchyard. She died about 1931 aged 61 years (refer 1931/10372), and had issue:
· Shona Heaton Rhodes born at Meadowbank 7 April 1902 (refer 1902/6637), married Benjamin Hinds Howell (he died 29 August 1984 aged 87 years) died 18 August 1999 aged 97, buried Timaru Cemetery.
9. Frank Churchill Perry born 15 February 1871, Timaru, married 25 October 1899 Maud Airini Tiakitai Donnelly the daughter of Airini Karauria and George Prior Donnelly, died 24 December 1906 aged 35 years, (refer 1906/6563). She died about 1944 aged 65 years (refer 1944/24855) and had issue, one son and two daughters:
· Derek Churchill Prior Perry
· Nellie Airini Elizabeth Perry
· Morri Francis Churchill Perry
10. Walter Dymock Perry born 21 March 1872, married 12 January 1898 at St Mary's Church, Irwell, by the Rev H. E. Ensor or at "Meadowbank" Christchurch the residence of Mrs George Rhodes, sister of the bridegroom to Augusta Marie Castellain the eldest daughter of Alfred Castellain of 59 Pulteney Street, Bath, England. Died 25 March 1922, Woking, England aged 50, and had issue:
· Rose Marie Perry (refer 1899/14116)
· Robert Sidney Wood Perry (refer 1916/31024)
Dr. Walter Dymock Perry, late Captain R.A.M.C. (T.C.), died at Woking on March 25th, aged 50. He took the M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. London in 1895, after which he went to New Zealand, where he was in practice at Timaru, but immediately before the war was practicing at Earl's Court. He took a temporary commission as lieutenant in the R.A.M.C. on January 21st, 1915 and was promoted to captain after a year's service.
British Medical Journal 8 April, 1922 page 584
11. Percy Lyttelton Perry born 11 December 1874 at Beverley, Timaru, died 11 August 1934 aged 59 years (Headstone Timaru Cemetery) (refer 1934/8350)
(1) Elizabeth Ogilvie in "Purau" - Caxton Press, 1970 says "In 1854 George Rhodes married Elizabeth Wood, daughter of family friends in England. She had journeyed to New Zealand as governess with a family - and was en route to to Melbourne where two of her brothers lived." A sister named Mary Jane Wood stayed at "Purau" in 1863.
1858 Timaru Merchant Henry Le Cren Builds Beverley. When he and Captain Cain had got the landing service working effectively, Margaret Le Cren came down with their first three children. Helped by the efforts put into the landing service, Timaru grew so rapidly in the early 1860s that, by 1864, wool was shipped directly from Timaru to London. The firm of H. J. Le Cren and Company was engaged in that trade. It also acted as an agency, borrowing from financiers and lending to farmers. member of the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works and the Timaru Municipal Council. He also pursued land interests as a partner in Simon's Pass, Peel Forest and Otaio stations. It was not until 1873 or 1874 that he sold Beverley homestead, moved his family to London. In 1878 Henry's wife died returned to Timaru about 1880, where he had bought another house that he renamed Craighead. He died on 20 May 1895. - teara.govt.nz/le-cren
1873 Elizabeth And Arthur Perry Beverley from Henry Le Cren. Elizabeth was widowed when George Rhodes died in 1864. Three years later she married Arthur Perry, who came from Tasmania. She moved a young tree to the Beverley where a case of champaign was bet on it's survival. Today the tree is the tallest in Timaru. Beverley was for many years considered the showplace of Timaru. Built in the 1860s, the 30-room house was set in 12 acres of grounds.
1864-1898George Knowles was the head gardener for the Beverly Estate. Mr and Mrs Knowles, known to the five Perry children as Mr and Mrs Poddles, lived in a cob cottage on the property at the back of the home of Mr Arthur Jones, Beverley Road. The gardens were known throughout the Dominion. A feature of the gardens was a long driveway arched over by magnificent macrocarpa. In the grounds were also four glasshouses in which grew orchids, begonia, pineapples, bananas, lemons and oranges. Down the valley, on the bed of which was built Beverley Road, ran Beverley Creek. It had its source at the top of Selwyn Street and flowed into a pond of about an acre in extent, at the foot of Beverley Road. Weeping willows, backed by stately English trees, dipped their green fronds into the still waters. On the edge of the pond were iris and clumps of marsh flowers. Bright-plumaged ducks, swimming peacefully in this sanctuary, added colour to the brilliant flowers that grew on the grassy banks. The music of the splashing and laughing children seeking out the tiny fish that teemed in the pond can still be heard in memory by those Timaruvians who recall outings to Perry's pond.
1898 Mr Perry died. Mr Knowles bought a portion of his late employer's grounds, and started the Beverley Nursery. His eldest son, Mr George Knowles, was Curator of the Timaru Domain
1898 the Beverley homestead was sold to the Turnbull Bros. and the land subdivided - rootsweb.com/beverley The boundaries of Beverley were ringed by pines and ran from the Great North Road [SH1] up Wai-iti road to Grant's property (now the Aigantighe Art Gallery), opposite Le Cren Street; across the gully to Hart Street; then down the brow of the hill at the back of Trafalgar Street to meet the Great North Road boundary there.
1951 Beverley House used as a veterans home post World War Two
1974 the Beverley House is demolished