Samuel Middlebrook 1784-1846

 

 

 

Samuel Middlebrook was born in Morley Yorkshire on 16 October 1784-the same year the Methodist Church was chartered in England, and the year that the last person in England was burned at the stake, and the Industrial Revolution was in its infancy. Times were changing and Samuel was to be part of that change.
He  married Hannah Nicholson on 19th December 1893 and had 5 children.
At the time of the birth of his first daughter Mary Ann in 1809 Samuel is listed as a clothier - a profession that runs deep in the Middlebrook history.
By the birth of his second child Elizabeth, he was a butcher, like his father Thomas before him, and a trade that was to become extremely important to the Middlebrook family for the next hundred years or more.
At the baptism at Batley All Saints, of each of his other children, Fanny, John and Thomas he is listed as a Butcher, however by 1828 he is listed in the Pigots Commercial Directory as a Publican- residing at the Black Bull Inn Liversedge Yorkshire.
Clearly a man of conviction, Samuel  was a “Chartist” and was a founding member of the Liversedge “Radical Association”
As noted in the Leeds Times August 4 1838 “ At a meeting held at the house of Samuel Middlebrook, Black Bull Inn Liversedge, a Radical Association was formed for the purpose of securing the political rights of Englishmen, and to promote the adoption by Parliament of the 5 great Radical principals, namely, Universal Suffrage, Vote by ballot, Annual Parliaments, no property qualifications for Members of Parliament, and equal representation.
The 1841 census has Samuel living at the Black Bull Inn with his son John and daughter Fanny.
He died in 1846 and it appears that at some point after that  John took over running the Black Bull until he and his family of 7 children emigrated to New Zealand to begin a new life. 

The Middlebrook Family Reunion

 

We have, for the last year or so been hoping to hold some kind of family reunion of descendants of John and Ellen Middlebrook and their family, who arrived in New Zealand aboard the Shalimar in December 1862.
Things have been a little slow on the Reunion organising front over the Christmas period but we are ready now to start with the initial organisation .
We have a possible venue in Auckland and we are hoping for a Sunday in mid to late January ( 2015).
What we really need is an indication, however vague, of numbers . We are thinking that we could be looking at as many as 200 as we’ve recently made quite a few contacts who are interested in attending.
We are aware of several in Australia who are interested in attending as well as from all over the North Island
So in order to keep everyone in the loop, we need to start some kind of database of people who are interested.
This wont be by any means a commitment  but we would like to know some  names and numbers of people who  might attend.
So if you are descended from John and Ellen  ( nee Farrer) Middlebrook or connected to the family and  you are interested in even a small way in attending the reunion or being kept up to date with our progress in organising please drop me a line at middlebrookreunion@gmail.com to be added to the database.
You can sign up receive updates by newsletter of the Reunion organisation progress at the top left of this blog.
If you are willing to help in the organisation of the reunion please email us at middlebrookreunion@gmail.com

Just as a reminder here are the names of the original family and their spouses

John Middlebrook ( late of Millbridge Yorkshire) and his wife Ellen ( nee Farrer – originally from Pontefract Yorkshire)
Children
Jane Thompson Middlebrook – married JamesJohn Mcra and then Hector McRae
Benjamin Middlebrook- ( Moved to Australia)  - married Alice Lane
Elizabeth Middlebrook – Married George Douglas Hardy- family lived in Avondale
John Middlebrook  - married Mary Ann Tucker – They lived in Western Springs, Ponsonby and then were well known residents of Te Awamutu
Samuel Middlebrook – married Mary Jane Rea – resident of Katikati and Waihi
James Thompson Middlebrook – Married Elizabeth Edgar and then Julia Bartle Sullivan- resided Opua and Auckland.
( there were 2 other children – Ellen who died before the family emigrated to NZ and Henry who died aged 17 in Auckland)

This photo shows Jane Thompson McRae with her  mother Ellen Middlebrook and Sister Elizabeth Hardy . The child is unidentified at this time but is possibly Ellen Hardy.

John and Samuel Middlebrook at Korakanui approximately 1933

John Middlebrook and Jane McRae

 

I have a separate blog devoted just to Middlebrook Family and Reunion posts – You can find this blog at http://middlebrookreunion.blogspot.com

You can sign up for email newsletter updates regarding the reunion at the top left corner of this blog and the Middlebrook Reunion Blog

The Middlebrook-Frost Wedding

 

John Thompson Middlebrook was a son of John Middlebrook ( jr). ( Very good looking chap I think!)
It was great to receive a copy of this photo from John McBain, JT Middlebrook’s grandson, to go along with the article I had saved from Papers Past which described the wedding.

A pretty wedding was celebrated at St Johns Church, Te Awamutu, on Boxing Day, when John Thompson Middlebrook, eldest son, of Mr J. Middlebrook, of Te Awamutu, and late of Ponsonby, was married to Miss Susie Frost, of Te Rahu, late of Manchester, England. The bride, who was given away by her father, looked charming in a white silk dress trimmed with lace insertion, pleated ribbon, chiffon, and a panel front. She also wore the orthodox veil and orange blossoms,
and carried a lovely shower bouquet. The bridesmaids were Miss Adelaide Frost and Miss Edith Middlebrook, sisters of the bride and bridegroom respectively, both attired in white silk trimmed with Valenciennes lace and insertion, with panel fronts. They carried gold brooches, the gift of the bridegroom. The bride also was presented with a beautiful gold brooch.
The bridegroom was attended by Mr Sam Middlebrook, as best man and Mr Robert Frost as groomsman- brothers of the bride and bridegroom. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. J.W.Clark, and Mrs Aheir presided at the organ and played the Wedding March. After the ceremony, the guests drove to the residence of the bride’s parents, where the wedding breakfast was served. Mr and Mrs Middlebrook left by mid-day express on their honeymoon. The bride’s travelling dress was a pretty navy blue costume and hat to correspond.

Trouble at the Mill

 

 

 

This is my GG Grandfather  Samuel Middlebrook  who very nearly perished in an industrial accident.
Journalling
ACCIDENT AT KATIKATI SAW-MILL.
(Own Correspondent)
Bay Of Plenty Times
8 July 1903 Page 2
Messrs Bond Bros, started their saw-mill on Wednesday last, and I regret to state that Mr Samuel Middlebrook met with a most dangerous and painful accident on Thursday. He was engaged as stoker to the engine, and one of the journals having become heated he knelt down to feel it, when a key on a short shaft caught his shirt and carried him round 5 he was discovered, apparently dead, on the floor, covered with blood, and all his clothes stripped off, even to his socks. Though life was believed to be extinct, an urgent message was sent to Dr Slater, of Waihi, who arrived at the mill two hours after receipt of the message. He put in seven stitches in the side of his leg and had him removed on a stretcher to his own home, carried by ten men in relays. He did not recover consciousness for some hours, and has no recollection whatever of anything that occurred after examining the journal of the shaft. The patient is I am happy to state, progressing most favourably, and sleeps soundly all night and through the greater portion of the day. This painful accident only bears out the anticipations I have persistently expressed in your valuable columns, that such must inevitably occur when our local saw mill and other industrial works get into full swing, and we have this example on the second day after the start it is hard to know whose turn will be the next, and yet our settlers appear callous and listless in starting their Medical Club, not following the example of Te Puke, Whakatane and Opotiki, though the idea first originated in Katikati. Mr Middlebrook is much respected here, he is married to a daughter of Mr Stewart Rea, a member of the No 1 Party, and has a large grown up family. He had been for some years engaged in gold mining, in the pursuit of which occupation he met with considerable success.

John Middlebrook–Butcher

 

 

Heres the continuing story of John Middlebrook as told by his Great Grandson John McBain ( with a few additions by myself)

 

By the turn of the 20th Century, John Middlebrook had a large and still growing family and had sold a successful butchery business in Ponsonby. He had travelled quite extensively within the North Island and had decided to move his family and business to Te Awamutu.
Bear in mind that Butchery back then, was without refrigeration! Meat needed to be killed fresh every day, so you needed a farm close at hand to graze stock prior to slaughter, an abattoir, as well as the shop premises, and of course you needed to attend stock sales very regularly in order to keep the meat supply coming in.
So it was a big operation, but obviously a successful one. When they first moved to Te Awamutu, the family lived above the shop, though some of the girls were married, and John Thompson stayed in Auckland doing his apprenticeship.
The railway link to Te Awamutu was quite an early one, which helped establish the town and surrounding area. John became an identity in the town and later served on council and all manner of other things. (He served on the Borough Council and the Cemetery and Domain Boards, was Vice President of the Municipal Band and a Director on the Waipa Post Board). John T. (my grandfather ) joined the business within a few years, He picked up the Maori language very well and in such a town in those times it brought a lot of custom.
I was told that Rewi Maniopoto was a customer in the very early days. The Maori customers used to bring official documents into the shop for my grandfather to interpret. (Interestingly John’s brother Samuel is also known for being fluent in the Maori language and also translated documents for local Maori, who “paid” him with various artifacts which are about to become the subject of a museum exhibition )
As I mentioned earlier John was always referred to as Honest John in Te Awamutu. Sale days in Te Awamutu were on a Thursday and most of the farmers would come into town to see their stock sold off, or to buy , or just because that was when they traditionally came in to shop. It was established that the stock auction would not start until John Middlebrook had arrived . Mind you, logically he was a vital customer, without his bidding true values were unlikely to be reached I am told also that he was seldom late.
With the advent of electricity things were about to change drastically in the butchery business and so John Middlebrook expanded his business once again.
As you will have noticed in the photo of the new shop he is absent , he still did try to help from time to time but arthritis made it very painful to do the simple things like wrapping meat. Of course he no longer needed to anyway, but he enjoyed the customer contact. Of course the new shop was built because electricity now made refrigeration possible and it opened up a new era for butcheries. It was impossible to alter the old shop to accommodate the new chiller and refrigerated display areas

JOHN MIDDLEBROOK–The early years

His Story, as told by his Great Grandson with additions by me

 

I have to thank John McBain for his wonderful telling of this story, which he has written for me and emailed me in instalments.  I decided that really there was no better way to tell the story of John Middlebrook than by using the words of his Great Grandson.

I have added a few facts that I discovered in my research which are in italics throughout the story. – This is the first instalment – the years before the family moved to Te Awamutu

JOHN MIDDLEBROOK – his story, as told by his Great Grandson John McBain ( with a few additions by Lauren Bavin

 

The Early Years

My knowledge of him , starts with his arrival on the the Shalimar in 1862 , his age on the shipping list at the time was given as 8 years, which I am sure you know. Auckland in 1862 was quite small , I have seen the perimeters of the town at that time and beyond Karangahape Road the housing ended , beyond there it was farmland with just the usual farmhouse here and there. Places like Onehunga, Otahuhu and Howick were separate villages.
We were told that he was an adventurer and we know that within his new country he travelled a bit. He visited the Pink and White Terraces, so he saw something that we missed out on. His father John, died in 1866 when he was just 12 years old. ( Although we know the Middlebrooks initially owned land in Northand and Whangarei, we do know that John’s father had opened a butchers shop in Victoria St West in Auckland not long before his death, but our first knowledge of Johns early employment comes from an article written at the time of his Golden Wedding Anniversary which says s a youth Mr. Middlebrook tried his prentice hand at printing, working for some time on the old "Southern Cross" (now incorporated in the "New Zealand Herald"and afterwards taking up the trade of a butcher)
We were told that he was an adventurer and we know that within his new country he travelled a bit. He visited the Pink and White Terraces, so he saw something that we missed out on. He married Mary Anne Tucker when they were both aged only 18 years. At some stage he commenced an apprenticeship with Mr. Hellaby as a butcher. Later Hellaby’s became something of an empire in the Butchery Business, with an abattoir and branch shops all around the Auckland area, but this was the early beginnings. I think things went reasonably well initially and when John and Maryanne were married they bought a small piece of land at Western Springs, obviously there was a dwelling and they had a cow and some hens. ( But in the 1880’s N. Z. had a “Depression”, which I understand was even more severe in our new country than the so called Great Depression (1928—33).
They were desperate times and everyone struggled to survive , in the end Mr. Hellaby approached John and said that sadly he could no longer afford the wages and that he would need to let John go. So he was paid off ! Surprisingly though John returned to work on the Monday as usual! Mr. Hellaby said to John “I paid you off!” But John responded that he would work without pay, that he had a cow and some hens and they had a roof over their heads. He suggested that maybe Mr. Hellaby could spare them a little meat from time to time and if and when business picked up, maybe then he could be re-instated.So they survived and later John was able to put some money together and leave the Hellaby business to buy a shop of his own in St Mary’s Bay Road in Auckland (Ponsonby)
(By this time John and Mary Anne had begun a family of their own- by 1883 they had 4 daughters and a son. Sadly while living at Western Springs, in 1883, John and Mary Anne lost their fourth daughter ,Ellen who died, aged 2 and a half. She was buried - probably with her maternal grandfather, at Symonds Street Cemetery)
John established a very good business and it flourished. My grandfather John T. recalled having to deliver meat in the mornings before school to various places (St. Mary’s Convent for one) a chore that he probably didn’t enjoy too much. Bear in mind that Butchery back then, was without refrigeration! Meat needed to be killed fresh every day, so you needed a farm close at hand to* graze stock prior to slaughter , an abattoir, as well as the shop premises , and of course you needed to attend stock sales very regularly in order to keep the meat supply coming in. So it was a big operation, but obviously a successful one. By the turn of the century Mr. Hellaby was establishing his empire and he approached his ex-employee and made a handsome offer to purchase John’s business. It probably wasn’t accepted initially, but naturally it would get John thinking and perhaps exploring the possibilities. Around 1901-2 he decided to purchase the business in Te Awamutu and the move was made down there in 1902.

BAND OF BROTHERS

 

 

I finally got time to do another layout.

Lately Ive been receiving some info on my Dad’s Mothers side of the family from my “Lowe” cousins in the UK and this prompted me to do this layout . ( including a wonderful photograph of 3 sister in laws – Susan and Beatrice Lowe, and Elizabeth Ollerenshaw all dressed in their husbands uniforms – this is definitely going to be the subject of its own layout!.

 

Obviously I need to research much deeper into each of the brothers military service but I felt this was a good introductory layout for a series about their involvement in WW1

Before World War One all the Lowe Brothers - sons of George Samuel and Mary Jane  Lowe, served in the Territorial Army, playing in the band. All 4 went on to serve during the war which had tragic results for the family .
Henry joined the  Sherwood Foresters and enlisted as a stretcher bearer in the 5th Battalion, along with his brother in law Arthur Ollerenshaw.  He was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme,  being shot by a sniper whilst carrying a wounded officer from the battlefield ( this event being witnessed by Arthur.
John joined the Derbyshire Yeomanry as a Bugler and a Drummer,  and served at Gallipoli with his younger brother Herbert.
Samuel joined the machine Gun Corps and was one of 170,500 officers and men who served in this Unit. Of this group 62,049 were killed wounded or missing.
Herbert, the youngest brother was a Private in the Derbyshire Yeomanry with his brother John. Sadly he was killed on August 21st 1915, aged just 21,  in the battle for Gallipoli