Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Frances PHILLIPS was born in 1864, one of ten children of Isaac and Ann Phillips who had immigrated from Lincolnshire, England and arrived in Auckland 1861 via Melbourne. Isaac and his brothers’ families lived and farmed around the Dome Valley area near Warkworth. called Phillipsville, and later to be known as Streamlands.
On 26 October 1886 at the home of Isaac Phillips, Mahurangi, Frances married William James WILSON. His father Nathaniel Wilson and extended family were involved with the manufacture of cement at Warkworth. A successful business known as Wilson Portland Cement. He was engineer at the works, and later the manager.
They lived in Warkworth from the time of the marriage until William James moved to Whangarei in connection with the Portland Cement Works. Seven children were born:
- Frances Leon Ione (1887–1977)
- Roland Lorenzo (1889–1971)
- Conrad Ralph (1891–1968)
- Gladys Grace (1893–1979)
- Eric Alan (1896–1951)
- Twins Ivy (1897–1946) and Myrtle (1897–1987)
On several occasions William was sent abroad by the company to study the latest developments in the cement industry. In 1917 he resigned from the company and practised in Auckland as a consulting engineer. About 1927 he left for Western Australia to take charge of a cement plant there. Latterly he had been a consulting cement engineer in Sydney and Melbourne. William James died of pneumonia on 29 Jul 1929 at Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia, formerly of Wilson’s Portland Cement, NZ, and was buried there.
Frances continued to live in Devonport, where three of her married daughters lived, until her death, aged 77y in 1941. Her obituary stated, 'Mrs Wilson was loved by all who knew her – a good wife and mother, interested in all good work she will be much missed.' She was buried in O’Neill’s Point Cemetery, Auckland.
Neither Frances, nor William appear to have made a will.
Daughter-in-law of 378 Florence WILSON
Daughter of 379 Ann PHILLIPS
Sister of 378 Mary Jane PHILLIPS
Sources
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 16
PAPERS PAST Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 18 June 1941, Page 4
NZ Historical BDM