Biographical information provided for by Christa Hopkinson for the He Tohu exhibition:
Annie Teychenne was born around 1863. She married Jean Benjamin Teychenne and the couple had 2 children: Mary Emily born in 1885 and Annie Winifred born in 1888. In 1881, Annie possibly opened the Empire Hotel, the first temperance hotel in Napier. On opening night there was music and dancing until the early hours of the morning. The accommodation included thirty single bedrooms, private apartment suites for families, and meals served at any hour. The family moved to the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn around the same time that Annie Winifred was accepted into Victoria University in the early 1900s. Annie passed away on 29 September 1946 in Rotorua at age 83.
Further biographical information contributed by Clare Cramond
Annie Teychenne was born Annie Robinson around 1863. In 1884, she married Jean Benjamin Teychenne and they lived in Napier. In 1881, a Mrs Teychenne, perhaps Annie’s mother-in-law, opened the Temperance Hotel in Napier. The accommodation included thirty single bedrooms, private apartment suites for families, and meals served at any hour. In 1883, it was taken over by Mr Gregory.
Annie and Jean had two daughters Mary Emily born in 1885 and Annie Winifred born in 1888. Godfrey Lever Teychenne was born around 1895. Annie was registered on the 1893 Electoral Roll, giving her address as Roslyn Road, Napier and her occupation as domestic duties. Her husband was a draper.
The family moved to the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn in the mid 1900s, the same time that Annie Winifred achieved a scholarship to Victoria College, University of New Zealand. Mary Emily was a musician and teacher.
Lever attended school at Clyde Quay and served in both World Wars. Annie’s husband died in 1922 at Karori Wellington, and her son later settled in Rotorua, which is where Annie passed away on 29 September 1946, aged 83. In her will she left her estate to the Anglican Church in Wellington to be used towards the new Anglican Cathedral building fund.
Sources
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Hawke’s Bay Herald Volume XXI, Issue 5917, 10 March 1881 Page 4
Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Hawke’s Bay Herald Volume XXXIX, Issue 12692, 27 February 1904 Page 2
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Hastings Standard, Volume X, Issue 5428, 14 February 1907 Page 3
1907 Wises NZPO Directory, Page 540, Napier
1910 Wises NZPO Directory, Page 1002, Wellington.
Military Personnel File https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en-NZ/web/arena/search#/entity/aims-archive/R24064016
'New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998,' database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9V-VKR8 : 9 March 2021), Annie Teychenne, 1946; citing , Hamilton Probates - Second Sequence, 1910-1953, record number 6904, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 007482906.