Ellen Borrie

Biography contributed by Colyn Storer (nee Morley)

Ellen Borrie’s birth was registered as Eleanor Beck in the December Quarter of 1839 in St Leonards Sussex. She was the fourth child of Henry Beck and Charlotte Collins (nee Carey). Her father was a draper and their address was given as Marina, Saint Mary Magdalen, Hastings in both the 1841 and 1851 censuses. Her first name was recorded as Ellenora and variants.

On 28 October 1857 Henry and Charlotte and their eight surviving children – James Albert, Thirza (signed Petition), William Henry, Ellenora, Sarah Jane, Walter, Jabez and Frank Theodore – sailed from London on the Palmyra for New Zealand and arrived at Port Chalmers on 27 February 1858.

They settled in Dunedin where Ellenora married John Borrie on 11 June 1862. John was born in Perthshire Scotland in 1836 emigrated to Otago with his family on the Maori, arriving in April 1857.  He worked as a draper for sometime then joined the Customs Department and moved to Invercargill in the late 1870s as the Collector of Customs, where he died in 1894. 

They were committed Christians and John helped found Knox Church in Dunedin and became Elder Session Clerk before they moved to Invercargill and worshipped at the First Church. They had five surviving children, James, Janet, Margaret, William and Frederick.

After John’s death Ellenora moved to Dunedin to live until 1909 and later to Christchurch where she continued her commitment to Knox Presbyterian church in Dunedin and St Andrews Christchurch, especially with the work of the Presbyterian Orphanages and Barnardo’s homes.   

She was living with her son Dr Frederick Borrie at 236 Hereford St Christchurch when she died on 25 September 1925. After a private funeral she was buried with her late husband at Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. The administration of her estate was finalised on 27 April 1926 in Christchurch.

Her relations who signed the Petition were:

• Her sister Mrs J Bell (Thirza) and her daughter Kate Ellen, both signing sheet 160
• Hannah Logan, second wife of Henry Beck, and their daughter Alison Carey
• Eliza Musgrove Growden, wife of Jabez Beck, and their daughter Eliza Beck (aged 14, also known as Ethel)
• Eliza Jane Marten, second wife of Albert James Beck, and his daughters from his marriage to Jane Hall Murray: Jeannie Lyall and Mary Jane
• Jeannie and Mary Beck's cousin, Elizabeth Beck of Sawyers Bay and her daughter Mary Counsell.

Ellen Borrie