Biographical information supplied by Bernadette Siebert.
Nora (Honora) Howe, was born about 1848 in Ireland, twin and youngest daughter of Daniel Howe and Mary nee Coghlan. Daniel before June 1863, when Mary arrived in Melbourne, Australia, with four children, including Nora, on board Royal Dane. In January 1870, Nora married John Patterson Emilius Francis, in Richmond, East Melbourne.
John was born in 1846 London, and sometime after 1846 and before 1854, John’s parents, John and Elizabeth travelled to Cape Town, and then on to Australia, settling in Melbourne. John was educated at the Church of England Grammar School, and graduated from Melbourne University, with an M.A. degree, and became a school master.
John and Nora had one daughter in Melbourne;
- Norah Lillius (1871 –
They moved to Geelong where John had been appointed Vice-Principal, Mathematics, at Geelong College. And three more children were born:
- Sydney Emilius Patterson (1873 -1917)
- Algernon John Howe (1875 -1961)
- Violet Elizabeth Annie (1877 -1968)
John resigned from Geelong College at the end of 1878, and his position as second master at Wellington College in New Zealand was confirmed in April 1879. Leaving the family in Australia, he went ahead to Wellington, arriving from Melbourne in May 1879, on board the steam ship ‘Rotorua’, so that he could start the second term. Nora and their four children arrived in Wellington in January 1880, on board the steam ship ‘Rotomahana’. While there, John, who was a first class cricketer, played for Wellington during the 1880-81 season.
In 1882, John became headmaster at Wanganui Boys’ High School and another son was born;
- Arthur Reginald Howe (1882 -1957)
The family moved to Auckland, where John took up a position as a master at Auckland College and Grammar School in 1883, which he held until 1890. John and Nora had more children;
- Ellen Ivy (1884 -1969)
- Ernest Robert Howe (1886 -1960)
- Harold Cyril Howe (1889 -1965)
John had to stop teaching because of ill-health and he died in April 1891 from heart problems, aged 44. He was buried in the Purewa Cemetery. An affidavit was made by Nora, that no will could be found, but she would pay his debts and his estate was worth 1300 pounds. She was left to support eight children between 2 and 20 years.
Nora remained in Ponsonby after John’s death, Their eldest son Sydney died of wounds in Belgium, serving as a lance-corporal in WW1.
During this time in Auckland, the family lived at 63 Wood Street, Ponsonby, on the living in Church Street (now called Cowan Street) around 1906, and in Sheehan Street, where she died in May 1918 and was buried with her husband in the Purewa Cemetery. She left a probate that left all her property, worth 2000 pounds, to be sold and divided equally among the surviving children who had attained the age of 21 or married. At the time of her death, her son-in-law David Gallagher, one of the executors had been killed in action in 1917, and the other executor, son Arthur was in England.
Sources
- Findagrave
- Archway probate John and Nora
- PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8534, 7 April 1891, Page 5
- PAPERS PAST Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 157, 3 July 1917, Page 6
- Historical BDMs
- Births, Deaths, Marriages, Victoria