John Lovell, 1840-4/2/1856.

I know nothing about John Lovell except for what I have found in the Southern Cemetery and the Otago Witness - and also an online archive of the text of "Reminiscences of the early settlement of Dunedin and south Otago: dealing in the main with Clutha and neighbouring districts: compiled frominformation supplied to the Clutha Pioneers' Association by early settlers, and matter taken from other sources."

It is also our melancholy duty to record a fatal accident which occurred at the Clutha in the early part of this week, by which a youth of 17 years of age, the Son of J. Lovell, Esq., of Sawyers' Bay, lost his life. The deceased, although warned of the danger, attempted to cross the Clutha by swimming his horse, a totally unnecessary proceeding, as he might have been ferried over. The river was much swollen by the late heavy rains, and deceased was washed from his horse; the latter reached the opposite bank much exhausted, but its rider it is presumed was drowned. The body has not been discovered, and in all probability has been carried out to sea.  -Otago Witness, 9/2/1856. 

In 1855 the only settler at Kaitangata was John Lovell who, for a while previous, had his sheep grazing on Lovell's Flat, so named after him.  As his was the only house between Tokomairiro and Iwikatea (Balclutha), Lovell was put to a good deal of expense and inconvenience by visitors, who often consumed all his provisions.  On shifting to Kaitangata, he built his house near the Maori kaik, which was at the junction of the Kaitangata Creek with the Matau, on its eastern bank, where there was some native bush.

On the 4th of February, 1856, he had the misfortune to lose his only son, John, by drowning in the Clutha River.  This young man attempted to cross the river by swimming his horse.  He had failed to make the ferrynman hear, so, as he had previously crossed by swimming, he evidently determined to do so again.  The river was in flood, and he was washed off his horse and drowned.  The body was afterwards recovered and buried on the point above the division of the waters; but some years afterwards the remains were transferred to the Northern cemetery.  "Reminiscences..." published 1912.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

William James Urch, 1841-7/5/1868.

News of the Week

William J. Urch, who for some years had been in the employment of Messrs Whittingham Brothers, was found dead in his bed at his lodgings, the Spanish Restaurant, on Saturday morning last. He had gone to bed at half-past seven o'clock on the previous evening, but had not undressed. An inquest on the body was held on Monday, at the Imperial Hotel, Princes street, The evidence of witnesses who had known the deceased was, that lately he had been much addicted to drink. Dr Alexander detailed the result of a post mortem examination of the body, and stated that he believed the cause of death to have been chronic disease, produced by the habitual and excessive use of alcohol, and exhaustion consequent of want of nourishment. A verdict in accordance with the medical testimony was returned.  -Otago Witness, 16/5/1868.

LEGAL NOTICE. 

ORDER OF JUDGE. 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND, OTAGO and SOUTHLAND DISTRICT. 

In the matter of William James Urch, of Dunedin, in the Province of Otago, clerk, deceased intestate. UPON reading the affidavits of George U Whittingham and Alfred Chetham-Strode, I do order that Alfred Chetham-Strode, Esquire, a Curator of the Estates of Deceased Persons, shall be Administrator of all and singular the goods, chattels, and credits, of William James Urch, deceased; and that this Order be published in the Otago Daily Times newspaper, as The Intestate Estates Act, 1865, directs. 

Dated at Dunedin, this 29th day of September, 1868. (Signed) H. S. CHAPMAN.  -Otago Daily Times, 5/10/1868.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

Sarah Codling, 1815-2/11/1868.

DEATHS.

On the 2nd November, by accidental drowning, Sarah, the beloved wife of Mr Charles Codling, of the Deep Stream Hotel, aged 53 years.  -Otago Daily Times, 5/11/1868.

FUNERAL NOTICES. 

THE friends of Mr Charles Codling, of the Deep Stream Hotel, are respectfully invited to follow the remains of his late wife to the place of interment. The Funeral is appointed to leave the Plough Inn, Caversham Road, This Day, FRIDAY, 6th lnst, at 2 p.m. 

Walter G. Geddes, Undertaker, Octagon.  -Otago Daily Times, 6/11/1868.

Many of our readers who have been accustomed to travel between the Dunstan and Dunedin by way of the Rock and Pillar Ranges, will be sorry to learn that Mrs. Codling, of the Deep Stream Hotel, was accidentally drowned a few days since. It appears that she slipped into the Deep Stream while endeavoring to rescue some poultry which was in danger of being swept away by the current. There was no possibility of saving the unfortunate lady.   -Dunstan Times, 13/11/1868.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

13845 Lieutenant Eric Claude Spedding, 3/12/1895-7/10/1916.

Lieutenant Eric Claude Spedding, of whose death from wounds advice was received on Saturday, was the youngest son of the late Mr D. M. Spedding, and was a member of the staff of the Bank of New Zealand in Dunedin when he was called up for active service. He might reasonably have withheld the offer of his services at the time he made it, for not long before he had undergone a serious operation; but he was eager to get away to the front and, as he left New Zealand with the Fourteenth Reinforcements, he must have been sent there very shortly after his arrival in England. He was educated at the Arthur Street School and at the Otago Boys' High School, and he took a leading place, in the athletic life of the latter institution, being a member of the first fifteen and, of the first eleven, of which latter he was captain in 1914, and being also the athletic champion of the school in 1914. After leaving school he joined the Carisbrook Cricket Club, and played for the junior representatives against Southland.   -Otago Daily Tmes, 16/10/1916.

Auckland Weekly News, 1916.

Eric Spedding was with the 4th Company, 2nd Battalion, of the Otago Infantry Regiment when it attacked German positions on October 1st in the Battle of the Somme.  The Regiemnt's Official History describes the attack and its consequence: "As the last Otago company went forward two companies of Wellington Battalion moved up Goose Alley and then forward in two waves in rear of and in support to Otago. Advancing to the crest of the ridge after changing direction, 4th and 8th Companies were seriously depleted in strength under the blasts of machine gun fire which swept their ranks. Every officer was a casualty, and non-commissioned officers and men were heavily hit. But with unfailing determination they pressed on, successfully reaching their objective and passing some distance beyond it."

Etaples Military Cemetery, France.

Eric Spedding was wounded with multiple gunshot wounds on October 1st, 1916, presumably one of those hit by "blasts of machine gun fire."  It took him six long days to die from the septicemia produced by those wounds.  It would have seemed an eternity to the young Dunedin bank clerk.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

Hester Hall Culling, 1845-9/12/1863

BIRTH.

On the 11th ult., at North Taieri, the wife of Mr Joseph Culling, of a daughter.

DIED

On the 9th inst., at North Taieri, Hester Hall, the beloved wife of Joseph Culling. Friends will please accept this invitation.  -Otago Daily Times, 10/12/1863.

Such a small scrap in a newspaper, and such a volume of love and mourning behind it.

Hester married her husband Joseph in 1862 and died one month after the birth of their child, who was called Hester Hall, after her mother.  It is not difficult to assume that Hester senior died from complications following the birth of her daughter.  She was eighteen years old.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

William Arthur Pitts, 1905-11/6/1946.

I approach this story with some caution.  The William Arthur Pitts buried in Dunedin may not be the one who left a tail or two of dud cheques around New Zealand and, it seems, also Australia.  But Nwe zealand is not a big country - and a smaller one then - and the odds against there being two men with the same name and born around the same year are large.  If I have got it wrong I would be grateful for further information and happy to apologise.

AFTER FIVE YEARS

ACCUSED MAN SURRENDERS 

BACK FROM AUSTRALIA 

DESIRE TO MAKE FRESH START 

After an absence of five years in Australia, William Arthur Pitts returned to Christchurch five weeks ago and surrendered himself to the police to answer charges of obtaining money by false pretences in November, 1929. The total amount was £36 19s 7., and accused admitted the two charges before Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court last Tuesday. He said he wished to get the charges cleared up so that he could make a fresh start.

Pitts, whose age is 31 and who is described as a labourer, admitted charges of obtaining in November, 1929, at Kirwee, about £ls from Edward Alfred Gillman by means of a valueless cheque and of obtaining petrol valued at 10s 5d and £2l 19s 7d in money from Samuel Stephens by presenting a valueless cheque. Chief-Detective W. H. Dunlop stated that accused had returned from Australia and volunteered information about himself and the charges against him.

Edward Alfred Gillman, licensee of the Kirwee Hotel, said that accused had called at his hotel on November 6, 1929, and said that his name was James and that he was travelling for the Ceylon Tea Company, Dunedin. He had a drink or two, and then witness cashed his cheque, which was returned marked "no account" from the bank. Witness had not seen accused since.

Samuel Stephens, a storekeeper at Waddington, said that accused .called on him and represented that he was travelling for the Ceylon Tea Company, Dunedin. Witness supplied him with five gallons of petrol, for which he cashed a cheque for £22 10s, taking 10s 5d for the petrol. The cheque was returned marked "no account" from the bank.

Constable C. D. Burns said that on December 29 last accused surrendered himself to the police to answer charges of issuing valueless cheques. He had arrived back in New Zealand from Australia that morning. He had left for Australia two days after committing the offences. In his statement accused described and admitted the offences. At the time they were committed he was a salesman and was unemployed. Accused had one previous conviction for false pretences. Apparently he had had "a pretty hectic time" in Australia. 

Accused pleaded guilty to both charges and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail was allowed.  -NZ Herald, 1/2/1935.

SUPREME COURT

Divorce Proceedings

PITTS v. PITTS. 

Mary Phyllis Columbia Pitts petitioned for a divorce from William Arthur Pitts on the ground of desertion. 

Mr M. Hanan appeared for the petitioner, and Mr B. S. Irwin for the respondent on the question of custody of the children. 

The petitioner said that she was married in Dunedin, in 1924. There were four children of the marriage, but one had died. In 1929 the respondent had gone to Invercargill and had later sent her a telegram to meet him at the Dunedin railway station as he was going through to Christchurch. He told her he would have a home for her in about two weeks' time. She then lost track of her husband for some considerable time, but found subsequently that he had gone to Australia. In 1931 she had applied for a maintenance order against her husband, and an order had been made in her favour for £2 per week. She had received nothing from her husband prior to the issue of the maintenance order. All that she had received under the order was 25s. Her husband had returned to New Zealand somewhere about the first week in January of this year.

Corroborative evidence was given, and his Honor granted a decree nisi, to be moved absolute after the expiration of three months. The petitioner was given the custody of the youngest child.

Mr Irwin said that the two boys were living with the respondent's mother, and were being well looked after.  -Otago Daily Times, 16/5/35.

POLICE COURT

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28. (Before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.) 

FALSE PRETENCES ALLEGED. 

William Arthur Pitts alias Robert William Malcolm, was charged that, on May 28, at Hamilton, with intent to defraud, he obtained from Albert George Carter the sum of £2 10s 6d in money by the issue of a valueless cheque for £3 10s, drawn on the National Bank of New Zealand, Auckland, and similarly that he obtained from Nelson Culpan at Auckland the sum of £3 10s in money by the issue of a valueless cheque drawn on the Bank of New South Wales, Auckland. Mr V. Murdoch appeared for the accused, who pleaded not guilty. Detective-sergeant Hall asked for a remand till Wednesday next, His Worship granting the application. Mr Murdoch’s application for suppression of the name until the facts were gone into was refused, but bail was allowed in the accused’s own recognisance of £50 and one surety of £50 on the first charge, and on his own recognisance on the second charge.    -Evening Star, 28/7/1937.

"BIRD OF PASSAGE"

MAN SENT TO GAOL

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

DUNEDIN, This Day.

Three months' imprisonment with hard labour was the sentence imposed on William Arthur Pitts, alias Robert William Malcolm, aged 32, in the Magistrate's Court for issuing valueless cheques at Auckland and Hamilton. The accused, who was a motor salesman at Auckland, cashed two cheques with the licensees of hotels at Auckland and Hamilton in May, later coming south. The police stated that he was a bird of passage with a formidable list of convictions in New Zealand and Australia. He was only released from prison in March, it was stated.  -Evening Post, 4/8/1937.

LIVED BY HIS WITS

TRAIL OF VALUELESS CHEQUES 

SALESMAN’S CAREER OF CRIME 

(By Telegraph.—Press Association) AUCKLAND, Tuesday. Starting in Little River, Canterbury on March 28, William Arthur Pitts (32), salesman, travelled north, leaving a trail of valueless cheques at Prebbleton, Christchurch, Wellington and New Plymouth. In the Police Court to-day he pleaded guilty to obtaining goods and £23 in money by means of five non-negotiable cheques. 

“The best I can say of this man is that he is a real parasite who has lived by his wits and who takes people down by fraud,” said Detective-Sergeant McHugh. “He was first known to the police in 1927 and later he left for Australia, where he was convicted. Since his return to New Zealand he has been convicted nine times for false pretences and once for theft. He has been leniently treated but apparently has not tried to redeem himself.” 

"You cannot be allowed to go aboul the country carrying on this business,” said Mr C. R. Orr Walker. S.M., convicting Pitts on all charges and ordering reformative detention not exceeding 18 months.  -Waikato Times, 1/6/1938.

William Pitts' occupation was recorded as a brewery hand when he enlisted in the army during the Second World War.  He served in the Army Service Corps.  Available records show that he was killed in action, which seems strange srring that he died in 1946.

Deaths

PITTS — On June 11, 1946, at Dunedin, 3707 Sergeant William Arthur Pitts (2nd N.Z.E.F.), dearly-beloved husband of Isabel Annie Pitts, Dame street, Waikouaiti. — The Funeral will leave our Chapel, 78 St. Andrew street, on Wednesday, the 12th inst., at the conclusion of the service commencing at 2 p.m., for the Southern Cemetery. — Hope and Kinaston, funeral directors.  -Evening Star, 11/6/1946.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.

6/1396 Private Charles Edward Scott 8/12/1890-25/4/1915

Charles Scott may have died on Anzac Day.  Again, he may not have.  His death was only made official after a Court of Enquiry held when the campaign had ended and the Army had become settled enough to begin to enquire after those men posted as missing and not found alive, dead or reported prisoners. The uncertainty around Charles' death is reflected in the discrepancy between his death notice in newspapers and the date on the family gravestone.

Biographical Sketches

Private Charles Edward Scott, 2nd (South Canterbury) Regiment (reported missing), is 25 years of age, and is the fourth son of Mr T. W. Scott, Broughton street, Kensington. He was born in Dunedin, and was educated at the Forbury School. He was a cabinet maker by trade, having served his time with Mr H. M. McLauchlan. Latterly he shifted to Winchester, where he joined the Second Reinforcements. He has another brother (Mr T. W. Scott, of Wellington) in the artillery section at the front.  -Otago Witness, 23/6/1915.

DEATHS.

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.

SCOTT. — On 26th April, 1915, killed in action at the Dardanelles, Private Charles Edward Scott, 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, fourth beloved son of Mr and Mrs T. W. Scott, 6 Broughton street. Kensington, in. his 26th year. Deeply mourned. He did his duty. -Evening Star, 26/1/1916.

Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.  DCC photo.