Biography contributed by Ian Bichan
My great grandmother Eleanor Louisa Gladwin (nee Smith) was born on 29 July 1850 in London City UK and baptised on 18 December, 1853 at St John the Baptist, Hoxton, Middlesex, UK. Her parents were George Smith (Solicitors Clerk) and Isabella Roadway. She had 11 siblings.
She travelled to New Zealand, leaving London on 8 March 1874 on the ship Buckinghamshire. Her future husband Thomas James Gladwin (c. 1848 – 1910) also travelled on the same ship but there is no family knowledge as to whether they knew each other prior to boarding. The ship arrived in Port Chalmers on 29 May 1874.
She married Thomas James Gladwin (Railway Platelayer) on 15 August 1874 in Dunedin NZ. They lived in Washdyke, South Canterbury and had 12 children, 5 females and 7 males.
She died on 6th July 1933 in Waitaki, NZ, aged 82 after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage and is buried with her husband in Timaru Cemetery, Timaru.
Sources
UK census data
Timaru Cemeteries Database
Marriage Certificate
Death Certificate
Ancestry.com
London Old Parish Records
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions