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Memories of Endeavour Street

Terence Broad

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More about the Endeavour Street carrots to complement George Truman’s memories in the 2011 issue of the Journal:

“The Nelson Resident Magistrate lived in the first house on the right and to steal a carrot from his garden was quite a dare.”

The Resident Magistrate was my grandfather Tom Maunsell, who lived at 25 Endeavour Street for many years. He and his wife, purchased the house circa 1923. Tom died in 1954 and his wife, Effie, died in 1975. The Maunsell children were Terence 1909, Patricia 1912 and June 1918.

The house was sold to Bryan Smythe and family in

1975. Later on, Bryan sold to Robin and Jenny Jack and family.

The house address was Van Dieman Street for many years, with access up a driveway from the corner with Trafalgar Street, near Fairfield.

Neighbours beyond the top of that drive were the Marsh family, whose access was also from Van Dieman Street. Cecil and Gwen Marsh’s children were Margaret

1913, Yolande 1915, David 1917 and Elizabeth 1926. The Marsh house was destroyed by fire in 1952, and a new smaller one was built for the family.

“We spent many enjoyable weekend days with our grandmother, Effie, doing chores in return for home baking.”

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Behind Marsh and next to Maunsell was the Bolton family, on Endeavour Street. Tony and Heather Bolton’s children were Pru 1944, Penny 1948 and Kirsty 1950. The Bolton’s house had been built for Elliott Fleming, the City Electrical Engineer, and was designed by Heathcote Helmore.

Tom Maunsell was born at Carterton in 1880, attended Wanganui Collegiate and was articled in Wellington to Findlay Dalziell and Co. He commenced his own practice in Carterton in 1903 and married Effie Maginnity, the eldest daughter of A. T. Maginnity, in 1907.

Maginnity had commenced his law practice in Nelson circa 1890, and the family shifted from Collingwood to live at 27 Brougham Street, opposite Melrose. The Maginnity house was demolished before it fell down circa 1975. Scobie and Elizabeth MacKenzie had built their house on a rear portion of the original town acre.

Tom Maunsell was appointed Magistrate to Westport in July 1919. When the Nelson Magistrate, J. S. Evans, died in 1934, Tom was transferred to Nelson, and in due course his jurisdiction covered Westport, Nelson and Blenheim.

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He was also Coroner, Chairman of the Nelson, West Coast and Marlborough Licensing Committees and took great interest in the Nelson Justices of the Peace Association. He wrote Licensing Law in New Zealand, Butterworth, 1928 and The New Zealand Justice of the Peace and Police Court Practice, Butterworth, 1935.

He was Chancellor of the Nelson Diocese of the Church of England from

1925 until his death in 1954, a role his father-in-law had fulfilled previously. His brother-in-law, A. C. Maginnity was also a solicitor in the family law firm until his untimely death in 1921.

Tom Maunsell retired in 1949 after 30 years on the bench.

My brother Tim and I boarded at College House, the other half of Fell House, from 1958/59 to 1963/64. We spent many enjoyable weekend days with our grandmother, Effie, doing chores in return for home baking. On Sundays we would often join her at the Maginnity home with her two sisters, Fanny and Mabel, for an extensive and semi-formal Sunday lunch.

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NOTE

The Storm of 1859 was the first event recorded by humans from a truly global perspective, not to be repeated until the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 turned the sunsets red and crimson the world- over. Newspapers such as the New York Times were active in run- ning extensive stories about the 1859 solar storm, and collecting reports from other countries. The great geomagnetic storm of 1859 was really composed of two closely spaced massive worldwide auroral events. The first event began on August 28 and the second began on September 2. It is the storm on September 2 that resulted from the Carrington-Hodgson white light flare that occurred on the sun on September 1.