Biography contributed by Wendy Anderson
Ellen Elizabeth FELLINGHAM was born 8 October 1858, Islington, London, the eldest child of Robert FELLINGHAM, general labourer, and Elizabeth Margaret STANNARD, both formerly of Suffolk.
At the age of 15, Ellen left England for New Zealand as assisted immigrants, on the ship “Winchester” with her parents and siblings, Augustus Henry and Florrie Rosina, arriving in Napier on 27 July 1874.
Ellen married Robert Alexander Jones, a Londoner and bullock-driver, on 18 November 1874 at Smithfield, part of the Rissington Estate. Robert and Ellen had six children: Adelaide Elizabeth 1877-1878; Robert Alexander Pearson 1879-1950; Thomas Griffiths William 1880-1956; Sydney George Henry John 1882-1883; William John 1885-1953; and Ethel May 1887-1965 (the writer’s great-grandmother). The family lived at Taradale, Cricklewood Station and Chaucer Road, Napier, Robert’s occupation being stated in electoral rolls as a labourer or bullock-driver.
Hard times hit when on 26 January 1889 Robert died of pulmonary phthisis. A fundraiser was held by The Federal Minstrels and a large attendance was reported. In February 1889, Ellen and her children moved to Canterbury to live with her parents. She applied to the Courts in September of that year to have sons, Robert, aged 10 and William, 4, sent to Burnham Industrial School as neither herself nor her father could afford to keep them. Thomas (or Griff as he was known) went to live with his grandfather and Ellen went into service at Lyttelton taking Ethel with her.
Life improved for Ellen when she met and married John HEMPSTALK, a widower and shipwright of Lyttelton, in 1890. Robert and William came back to the family from Burnham and three more children were born: Robert Stannard 1891-1964; Helen Gertrude 1894-1895; and John Clarence 1895-1969.
John Hempstalk died 29 August 1909, aged 64 and Ellen on 26 December 1932. Both are buried in the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery.
Sources
Department of Internal Affairs: Births, Deaths & Marriages
Ancestry.com
Findmypast.com
Christchurch Cemeteries Online
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