Samuel Saltzman, OBE 1881-22/6/1963.

The 1990s were a wild time...it was the time I ran for Mayor of Dunedin.  Although not done entirely seriously, it was a real education for me.  It was also a whole lot of fun.  In an era when Winston Peters ran on a platform of "a vote for me is a vote to kick National out of power" - then helped them form a government, and when Jenny Shipley proclaimed herself the first NZ female Prime Minister - and declined to ask the people for a mandate to rule, I could claim to be the only honest politician in the country.  But enough about me...

At the campaign launch a woman approached me and said that, if I promised to raise a memorial to Samuel Saltzman, I would have her vote.  I was more than happy to make that promise.  But who was Samuel Saltzman?

Samuel was a tailor.  He was a Polish Jew, born in Kurow (not the one in the Waitaki Valley) in 1881, and apprenticed to a tailor at the age of thirteen.  It was a hard life in small-town Poland and Samuel decided to make the move to Warsaw, about 250km away.  Things weren't much better in the city and he and a friend decided to try their luck in Britain.  Arriving in London almost broke they followed a man carrying half-finished clothes through the streets to a tailoring business.  Their hunch paid off and they were employed by the tailor for whose business the clothes were bound.

Conditions were still hard for Samuel but he was able to save a little money and head to the New World.  He arrived in Canada and made his way to the US, working and travelling south until he found himself in New York.  There he specialised in ladies' tailoring.  Finding that work had become seasonal, he began to use his off-season time in travelling.  Eventually he found himself in California and from there, having read a newspaper story extolling the virtues of the colony of New Zealand, he sailed for Wellington.  His skills saw him employed within a couple of hours of landing.

He eventually went into business for himself as a ladies' tailor first in Christchurch and then Greymouth.  His 1910 advertisement in the Greymouth Evening Star stated that: "As a practical LADIES TAILOR and CUTTER (he) has opened a Ladies' Tailoring establishment in Greymouth, and being in close touch with the latest PARISIAN FASHIONS, and carrying stocks of the newest designs of Cloths, Worsteds and Serges in all shades will be in a position to supply garments of elegance and taste and of the choicest fabric, and bearing that touch of refinement which so much conduces to grace and attractiveness. S. SALTZMAN makes a close study of each client, and with his long experience as a SPECIALIST, is able to suggest just the shade of fabric required and to impart that delicacy in CUTTING which produces a garment of artistic beauty."

In February 1917 Samuel closed up and moved to Dunedin, setting up shop in George Street.  He prospered and began writing cheques for worthy causes, both local and not so local.  Here is a list of them:

October, 1935.  1000 pounds for the Grey Hospital Board for a TB block.  "During his residence in Greymouth, he says that he received all the hospitality and support one desired from citizens and he considered it a duty and a privilege to be able to express his appreciation of such support in some tangible way."

October, 1935.  1000 pounds to the Dunedin Hospital Board for instruments to be used in the eye, ear and throat theatre.

March, 1936.  1000 pounds to the Dunedin Methodist Central Mission for the children's health camp at Company Bay.

May, 1936.  1500 pounds to the Waitaki Hospital Board for an open air children's ward - eight beds, a playroom and solarium.

May, 1936.  3000 pounds to the Waipiata TB Sanatorium for the erection of an administration block.  "...Mr Saltzman is making the money available at once. Mr Saltzman is a most public-spirited citizen, for other institutions have recently received substantial gifts from him.”

Waipiata Sanatorium.

October, 1936.  6500 pounds to the St Johns Ambulance, to build their headquarters at the base of York Place.

May, 1937.  3000 pounds to the South Otago Hospital Board for a TB block.

November 1937.  275 pounds to the Dunedin Hospital for further equipment at the eye, ear, nose and throat theatre.

April, 1939.  7 pounds, 7 shillings to the NZ Scottish Regiment (Otago Unit) equipment fund.

June, 1939.  10 pounds, 10 shillings to the Sir Truby King Memorial Fund.

November, 1939.  25 pounds to the Dunedin Centennial Appeal.

March, 1940.  1200 pounds to the Dunedin Jewish Congregation for the purchase of a residence for the minister.

March, 1940.  1000 pounds to the War Expenses Fund.  (Interest-free loan for the duration plus 12 months.

March, 1940.  500 pounds to the Otago Provincial Patriotic Council for soldiers' welfare.   "As a citizen of the British Empire I deem it my duty to help at least in a monetary way those young and valiant men who arc willing to sacrifice their lives for their country's cause.  I therefore enclose a cheque for £500 for the patriotic fund which may be disposed of in whatever direction you may consider necessary. I may also say that, should any occasion arise when my help is required, I shall deem it my duty to assist in whatever way possible." - S Saltzman, letter to the Council.

November 1940.  100 pounds to the London Relief Fund

As well as his more official donations, Samuel aided many of Dunedin's poor during the Great Depression of the 1930s with donations of blankets, food and coal.  He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1939 ("For benefactions to humanitarian institutions in the Dominion of New Zealand.") and in an interview of that year for the Otago Daily Times said: "When I sat at my easy chair beside the fire in the winter time in those years, I could not enjoy my own fire. I had to do something so that others could share that comfort.”

Samuel retired from business in 1946 and lived in the Leviathan Hotel until his death, hit by a car outside the Otago Medical School in Great King Street, Dunedin, in 1963.  He died of shock and concussion at the age of 82.

“I have only served in the way it has been possible for me to help.  While money may satisfy the physical needs and the individual comforts it will not give happiness unless it is judiciously applied. It seems to be part of a great immutable law that help given to others invariably brings happiness to the giver.” - Samuel Saltzman.

St John Ambulance Building, Dunedin.

PS:  According to his obituary, the friend with whom Samuel Saltzman sailed to London also went on the the United States and became a millionaire film-maker in California. Born in Poland as Schmuel Gelbfisz, later calling himself Samuel Goldfish and then Goldwyn.

8/1610 Lance Corporal Robert Rae, 5/1/1885-16/2/1918.

Robert Rae was 32 when he died of his wounds at the Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Poperinghe, Belgium

He'd been interested in "military matters" from a young age in School Cadets and was an early volunteer for the Army.  He left New Zealand on February 14, was wounded in the back and head at Gallipoli on August 8, 1915 and returned to the family home in Mornington, Dunedin to recover.  He rejoined the Army as part of the 10th Reinforcements in March, 1916.

It would have hurt a lot when he sustained the injury - my guess is from a trench mortar round - which badly broke his thigh - a compound fracture.  It would have hurt a lot, lying in the trench waiting for the stretcher bearers.  It would have hurt a lot, lying on the stretcher being bounced past fellow soldiers whose faces wore a combination of sympathy, relief it wasn't them and fear that they might be next.  NZ soldier turned politician (and excellent writer) John A Lee's description of his being taken to a nearby hospital after having his hand shattered - and being frequently dropped as his bearers sought shelter from falling shells - was so vivid I could barely read it.  It would have seemed to be an eternity of pain until Robert reached the Clearing Station and received his first shot of morphine.  It is possible that the relief of morphine was the last thing he experienced.

2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, 

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  Photo: Allan Steel

                                   

The Princes Lubecki of Poland

There is a Polish Prince buried in Dunedin's Southern Cemetery.  In fact, there are two.  (There's a Russian Princess at Anderson's Bay, too - but that's another story.)

Prince Alois Konstantin Lubecki was a descendant of Prince Rurik, a Norseman or Viking whose family ruled what became the Kingdom of Russia from the 9th to the 17th century.  Prince Alois descended from a branch of the family which had settled in Lithuania and, after the union with Poland, effectively became a Pole.

The Lubeckis held large estates in the east of Poland and Alois put everything at risk when he supported the attempt by many Poles to establish some kind of independent state in the 1830 November Uprising.  Poland had been divided up between its three large neighbours - Austria, Prussia and Russia - by the end of the 18th century, and had briefly known a kind of independence under Napoleon.  Russian Poland had a constitution - but that was little more than a document and Russia's rule was becoming more and more dictatorial.

Alois was a General in the Polish National Army and, with the collapse of the uprising, left his homeland for Dresden in Saxony.  After a period of serious illness, he moved to France and then to England.  There he met and married Laura Duffus in 1836 and, possibly inspired by his brother in law Reverend John Duffus, sailed with him to Sydney, Australia, arriving in October 1838 and settling in Parramatta.  Their first child, Jean Konstantin, was born soon after arrival but their fortunes did not prosper and Alois was unable to find work.

The Lubeckis opened a school for young ladies in 1840 at Gough House in Parramatta.  The young ladies were taught the basics and, for an extra fee, could be taught pianoforte, singing, drawing, French or dancing.

The school flourished and so did the Lubecki family - Alois Duffus Lubecki was born in 1841.  But at the end of that year there was a depression and the school was broke by March, 1842.  Alois suffered a nervous breakdown and the family moved to Sydney.

Two daughters were born in Sydney and the family shortly moved to Melbourne where Alois worked as a confectioner while Laura taught.  Alois Junior joined the Victorian Civil Service as a trainee telegraph operator in 1862.  In June, 1863 the family sailed for New Zealand and settled in a house on the corner of George and Union Streets in Dunedin.  Alois senior died the next year after several years of bad health and his son Jean inherited the title of Prince.  Jean died the next year and was buried next to his father and so the title went to Alois junior.

Alois and Jean in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  Photo: Allan Steel.  The headstone has recently (2021) been restored.

Madame Lubecki, as she continued to be known, opened another school for young ladies in Dunedin and followed that profession until 1895 when she moved to Nelson.  She died, aged 86, in 1901.  "Princess Lubecki (wrote the papers) of late had not, by reason of her age, been able to lead an active life, but in earlier years it was her pleasure and wont to be engaged in good works, and her goodness of heart and charity were such that to hear ill spoken of anyone was to her painful."

Eden Bank House, demolished 1966.  Hocken Library photo.

Alois Junior became Officer-in-charge of the Dunedin telegraph office in 1865 and worked at his post for thirty years.  He was instrumental in the arranging of the first telephone call in New Zealand - between Dunedin and Milton on February 2nd, 1878.  Alois' superior, who gave the order for the call was named Charles Lemon and Dunedin's telephone poles were inevitably called "Lemon trees" by its citizens.

Dunedin Telegraph Office - photo from "Transpress NZ"

Alois' later life was described by a friend, Judge Sir Frederick Chapman, after Alois' death in 1926:

"One of my first acquaintances when I arrived in Dunedin in August 1872, was Mr. Lubecki. He was then chief official in the Telegraph Office, where he commenced and ended his official career. I had taken a keen interest in Polish affairs ever since the rebellion of 1863, when I was at school, an interest which I have never lost. Since then I have written many articles on Polish affairs, but I am bound to say that few read them. I never met anybody in New Zealand, save Mr. Lubecki, with whom I could discuss such matters. Between us the fate of Poland in the past was a matter which we frequently discussed, without however, a glimpse of daylight to the future.

"Having retired from the Government service, Mr. A.D. Lubecki paid a visit to Poland. He told me that he enquired whether it was possible to recover any of his father's property. The answer was 'No'. The property of a Polish insurgent which was forfeited by the Imperial Government has never been restored. In less material matters he received much attention. At the Consulate in London, whither he went to have his passport signed, he was treated as a Russian noble.

"At Warsaw, Mr. Lubecki on one occasion received a visit from a Russian noble who had called by order of the Czar, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, to tell him that a command had come from his Imperial Majesty to General Gourko, Governor of Poland, to make an official call on the New Zealander and to intimate the Emperor's cousin who resided in Warsaw, would also call on 'Your Highness'. The modest civil servant from the nether world tried to disclaim this form of address. 'Your Highness cannot disclaim your title when in His Imperial Majesty's Dominions.' was the reply. After that 'His Highness' had to accustom himself to the honour. The Russian Governor, by the Emperor's orders, placed a carriage at his disposal and every sort of attention was used to reconcile him to the situation. He visited many of the great Polish families penetrating even into Austrian Poland, and was everywhere warmly received and duly accorded his rank as a Polish noble. The Herald's College at Warsaw presented him with an official pedigree, showing his descent from the great Ruric. Many years afterwards he revisited Poland, travelling far out to the east where one of his cousins held a great estate. He lived to see his father's native country restored to freedom and independence."  -New Zealand Herald.

Alois Duffus Lubecki died at Helensville on July 25th, 1926.  With him died the line of the Princes Lubecki of New Zealand.

The Lubecki grave at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson.

48855 Private Charles Cecil Halstead, 6/6/1894-10/2/1918.

Charles Halstead was a brought up in Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, and was a farm worker at Fairlie, just up the road, when he was enlisted in the Canterbury Infantry Regiment.  He appealed his call-up on February 6th, 1917, stating that the farm could not run without him but his appeal was dismissed.

He left New Zealand in June, 1917, and joined the 1st Battalion, CIR, on December 19th at Howe Camp near Rouen in France.

His record states that Charles was killed in action.  But the Canterbury Infantry Regiment's Official History doesn't show them as being in action on that day.  The closest reference before Charles' death is that on the night of the 8/9th of February the 1st Battalion relieved units of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in the Polygon Wood area of the Paesschendaele sector.

Pleasant Point cemetery.

IN MEMORIAM

HALSTEAD — In loving memory of our dear son, Charles Cecil Halstead, who was killed in action in France, February 10th, 1918. 

One less at home. 

The charmed circle broken — a dear face 

Missed day by day from its accustomed place. 

But cleansed, and sacred, and perfected by grace. 

One more in heaven, One less on earth. 

Its pain, its sorrow and toil to share, 

One less the pilgrim's daily cross to hear, 

One more the crown of ransomed saints to wear, 

At home in heaven. 

— Inserted by his loving parents and sister.  -Timaru Herald, 10/2/1919.

15272 Corporal William Williamson, 7/7/1889-10/2/1918.

THE CALL TO ARMS

RATANUI SOLDIERS FAREWELLED. 

A farewell concert was tendered to Private William Williamson (now Corporal), of the 15th Reinforcements, on July 20. Although the weather was anything but favourable, a large number assembled in the school to bid him farewell and God-speed. A musical programme having been gone through, Mr E. Davis presented the departing soldier, on behalf of those present, with a wristlet watch, suitably inscribed. Private Williamson in a few appropriate remarks thanked all present for their kindness to him. After supper had been partaken of the floor was cleared for dancing, which was kept up for a few hours." - Clutha Leader, July 18, 1916.

Williamson left New Zealand for Europe in November, 1916, enrolled in the Otago Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, D Company.

The Official History of the Otago Infantry Regiment describes the 1st and 2nd Battalions as returning to the front on February 8th, 1918, at Polygon Wood.  They were engaged in strengthening their defences for the next few days, especially putting up barbed wire.  On the 12th, enemy artillery gave them some attention.  On the 10th, William was killed.  He was 28.

Waitati Cemetery, photo by Allan Steel

WILLIAMSON.— In loving memory of 15272 — Corporal William Williamson, who was killed in action in Belgium on February 10, 1918. 

His King and Country called him, 

That call was not in vain, 

On Britain's roll of honour 

You'll find our hero's name. 

- Inserted by his loving father and mother, sisters and brothers.  -Otago Witness, 12/2/1919 and ODT, 10/2/1919.

FOR THE EMPIRE'S CAUSE

WILLIAMSON — In loving memory of Corporal William Williamson,15th Reinforcements, killed 10th February, 1918, at Ypres, the dearly beloved second son of William and Mary Williamson, Waitati (late of Ratanui, Catlins). 

We miss you most who loved you best.

 — Inserted by his loving father and mother.  

WILLIAMSON — In loving memory of our dear brother, Corporal Wm. Williamson, who was killed in Belgium on February 10, 1918. 

In a distant land he lies 

At rest in a soldier's grave; 

His battles fought, his name enrolled 

On the scroll of the deathless brave.

— Inserted by his loving sisters and brothers, Ratanui. -Otago Witness, 17/2/1920.

FOR THE EMPIRE’S CAUSE.

IN MEMORIAM. WILLIAMSON. — In loving memory of Corporal William Williamson (15272), beloved second son of William and Mary Williamson, who was killed in action in Belgium on February 10, 1918. 

A light is from our household gone,

A voice we loved is stilled;

A place is vacant in our home,

Which never can be filled.

— Inserted by his loving father, mother, sisters, and brothers.  -Otago Daily Times, 10/2/1921.

FOR THE EMPIRE'S CAUSE.

IN MEMORIAM. 

WILLIAMSON — In loving memory of Corporal William Williamson, (15th Reinforcements), who was killed in Belgium on February 10, 1918, beloved second son of William and Mary Williamson, Waitati. 

Four years have passed, our hearts still sore, 

As time rolls on we miss him more. 

His welcome smile, his loving face; 

No one can ever fill his place. 

— Ilnserted by his loving parents, brothers, and sisters. -Otago Daily Times, 10/2/1922.

FOR THE EMPIRE’S CAUSE. 

IN MEMORIAM. 

WILLIAMSON — In loving memory of 15272 Corporal William Williamson, who was killed near Ypres on February 10, 1918. 

Oh! for the touch of a vanished hand, 

And the sound of a voice that is still.  -Otago Daily Times, 11/2/1925.

61174 Private John Stewart Anderson, 2/4/1891-9/2/1918.

John Anderson grew up on Duke Street, North Dunedin.  He was a leather merchant when he enlisted and, for some reason, was enlisted in the Auckland Infantry Regiment.  He shipped out in November of 1917 and on February 7th, 1918 he was reported as "died from sickness."  His records state that the cause of death was cerebro-spinal meningitis.  He died at Tidworth Hospital near the large Army training centre on Salisbury Plain, England.

He was 26.  His estate was worth 997 pounds.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  Photo:  Allan Steel

55101 Rifleman Victor Hannah Colin McDonald Thurston, 2/5/1897-5/2/1918.

Victor Thurston grew up on Lees Street in Oamaru as a foster child, the youngest child of eight from Gore and became an ironmoulder, working for the company of J G Finch in Oamaru.  He was called up for the army in February of 1917 and reached Britain, joining the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

This is all that the Official History of the NZ Rifle Brigade has to say about the day that Victor died:  "On February 4th, in retaliation for the enemy's bombardment on the 2nd, our artillery carried out a heavy and prolonged shelling of the enemy's sector on our front. The Germans responded with a steady bombardment of our lines with "sneezing-gas" throughout the 5th, and supplemented this with a series of "shell-storms" on the 7th."

"Sneezing gas" seems to be a compound called diphenylchloroarsine, known to the Germans as "mask breaker" in the belief that it could penetrate most gas masks and force their removal.  This would make the wearer vulnerable to whatever other gas was being sent over to them or other gasses in a mix with the "sneezing gas."  As a morbid aside, it was regarded as more useful to injure than to kill a soldier in this way - a dead soldier was buried.  A wounded soldier had to be carried behind the lines with a useful effect on manpower and morale.

So there he is, Victor Thurston.  At twenty years old, another "killed in action," in an action which was not worth the reporting.  As dead as any hero or coward.  Another waste of a young life who should have survived to work, play, love and live.

Instead he lies in the Polygon Wood Cemetery at Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

The Calderwood family grave, Oamaru Old Cemetery