Jane Yates

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Jane Whitfield was born in about 1836 in Longford, Shropshire the daughter of Richard Whitfield, an agricultural labourer and Jane Withington.

Before her marriage Jane worked as a house servant for a farmer and later as a 'still room maid' for the Right Honourable Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

In January 1863, in Longford, Jane married Charles Yates, a stone mason. The couple had seven children, six of whom were with them when they boarded the Atrato, one of the first steamers to make the voyage to NZ. They left port on 10 February 1874 but the voyage was not to last long. On 18 March the ship returned to port with a broken piston. The passengers re-embarked on 6 April and had a slow journey until they arrived at the head of the Otago Harbour on 9 June. The journey had lasted 63 days and there were 33 deaths on the passage, most of them young children. There was measles on-board the ship so it was put in quarantine until 20 June when the passengers were able to disembark. Charles and Jane had another daughter in 1879 but, unfortunately, she died in 1880.

In 1893 Jane, Charles and 3 of their children were living at Helena Street. Charles died in 1900 and Jane on 29 July 1929. They are buried together in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Sources

Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org