The Merchant Ventures
Credits and copyright information, Date of publication First Published 2017 Printed By..... A catalogue of this book is available from... Researched and compiled by Alexander M. J. Pearce
Dedicated to my father John Campbell Pearce
The Merchant Ventures An illustrated biography of a colonial merchant Publishers logo
Contents Introduction - ii Armorial Lineage - 2 School Boy - 5 Adventurer - 9 Imagining Wellington Pearce & Company - 17 Militia - 32 Boards & Committee’s - 41 Politics & Infrastructure - 69 Justice The House - 69 Mercantile Maneuvers - 83 A Harbour Town - 89 Tragedy - 91 The show must go on - 100 Amalgamation - 115
A Victorian Affair The Club - 133 Cricket & Rugby - 139 Rowing - 149 Horses - 152 Culture - 157 Home Life - 162 Mere Oblivion The Descendents - 170 Departure - 189 Family Tree - 203 Births, Deaths, Marriages - 205 References - 209 Picture Index - 213 Acknowledgements - 217 The complete Pearce Family Tree Tree Genealogy Online access to Pearce Family tree via Ancestry.com
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Left: Edward and Henrietta Diana Pearce A.C. Collection During my childhood it was impressed upon me that the coat of arms guarding our entrance hall and the “Brampton” name on the home had special significance. In tracing our heritage back to the 18th century Gloucester-born recipient of this honour, Nathaniel Pearce, I came across the photo of a stately gentleman in military uniform accompanied by a tiara-adorned wife. Who was this oldest son of landed gentry who had forsaken the green pastures of the south of Scotland for the rough life of 19th century New Zealand? A few years later as I travelled through the even more rustic colony of Belize where Edward had begun his foreign mercantile experience, it was easy to conclude that Edward must have yearned for adventure and new beginnings. - Roger Pearce INTRODUCTION іi
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ARMORIAL LINEAGE Quesitam Ex Meritus “What is sought out of merit will happen” Left: above - Concrete relief bearing the family crest outside on the church of Chapel Brampton. Photo kindly supplied by Anthony J. Pearce. Left: below - Edward Pearce gave his son G. F. Pearce (1865-1952) this signet ring bearing the family crest and is now in the hands of his grandson Phillip G.H. Pearce. The Pearce family Coat of Arms can be traced back to the early 1700s, where Nathaniel Pearce (1683-1760), a London goldsmith who had a banking business in Lombard Street, received his Armorial bearings. The “Jacobites’ plot” had been revealed, causing alarm as supporters of King James VII schemed to seize the Tower of London, the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange. Nathaniel Pearce was honoured for his part in raising and sponsoring a ‘Regiment of Foot’, who camped in Hyde Park as a precaution. (Hyde Park is one of the largest parks of the Royal Parks of London.) Unfortunately, Nathaniel Pearce’s banking business did not survive the “South Sea Bubble” investment disaster which undermined the confidence of the business and financial world in September 1720. In 1725 Nathaniel moved into Brampton Hall in Northamptonshire. This Manor house, a large stone building with a lodge standing at the entrance gates which was to be the home of the family for approximately one hundred years. It saw three generations that were called Nathaniel, each of them occupied mostly with land and farming. Nathaniel Pearce was followed by Nathaniel II (1719-1765); his sister Elizabeth married the Rector, the Reverend Thomas May. Nathaniel Pearce III) (1763-1827) is recorded as living in the Hall in 1809 and occupying three farms at that time. 2
Nathanial III was a keen and progressive farmer who was eager to improve the quality of his cattle. In the churchyard is an imposing table-tomb containing many members of the Pearce family, including the widow of Nathaniel II (died 1798), his sister Elizabeth (died 1806) and her three children as well as his son Nathaniel III (died 1827). 1 The second son of Nathaniel III, Matthew Pearce was born on 10th August 1801 and was christened in the Parish of Northampton Castle Hill Independent, Northampton. He was one of only two sons in a family of eight, his brother Nathaniel IV, died at the age of 15, which meant the only male line of descent in this generation is through Matthew Pearce. His father Nathaniel III sold Brampton Hall in 1826, at which time it appears the family were no longer living there. Where the family moved to is not known, but Nathaniel died at Wellingborough, 22nd December 1827, (the stone Manor house at Brampton was pulled down in the 1970s). Not long after leaving Brampton, Matthew married Euphemia Rankin on 9th July 1829, in Barony, Lanark, Scotland. Matthew is known to have become a merchant, but his field is unknown. Euphemia's father, Andrew, was also a merchant in Glasgow. Right: above - Matthew and Euphemia Pearce. below - Family photo in front of the house known as ‘Lagarie’, located in Rhu, near Helensburgh North West of Glasgow, for the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Edward’s parents Matthew and Euphemia in 1879. Left: photo taken of Brampton Hall where Nathaniel the 3rd is recorded to have lived in 1809-circa? 3
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Matthew and Euphemia had a large family, to say the least. Christening and birth records for the first 11 children, up to and including Alexander, as being in Barony, Lanark, Scotland. However, there are additional entries for John (5th child), and Euphemia (6th child) as being at Row, Dumbarton, Scotland. Both Dumbarton and Lanark were parishes around Glasgow. There are no records for the births of the last four children. By now Matthew was a retired merchant. It seems that he returned to Brampton, appearing on the census in 1881 as living at Hatherly Road Brampton, Cheltenham, Gloucester, England. Edward, the central character of our story, was born 22nd February 1833 in Barony, Lanark, in Glasgow, Scotland. The 3rd child among 15, he was in fact a twin to his sister Mary. Home life for Edward certainly would have been busy, with 14 siblings to keep the home full of activity. The family would appear to have had some wealth behind them too, with five servants residing in the Brampton residence; one cook, one butler and three house maids. SCHOOLBOY 5
Above: Painting by Ross about 1827 of twins Janet and Euphemia Rankin. Euphemia was to marry Matthew Pearce. The Rankin’s were an ancient family descended from one Sir John de Rankin, a Flemish Knight who settled in Fife in the 13th Century. Photo kindly supplied by E.M.W. Pearce. Left: The arms granted were Argent four Lozenges in azure, each charged with a crescent or, on a carton gules a covered cup between two round buckles or Crest, a unicorn sable, armed and gorged with a collar or charged with three round buckles sable, supporting a lozenge or thereon a crescent azure. 6
Above: Matthew can be seen on the list of the General and Acting Committee for the Glasgow Collegiate School that Edward would attend. See sketch of school above. Left: Edwards youngest sister Christina, photo taken in 1865. Christina died in 1928, some six years after Edward and her name appears on Edwards headstone. 7
Euphemia ought to have appreciated the extra assistance, as Matthew was preoccupied with his merchant business and local social affairs, such as the general committee of Glasgow Collegiate School at Garnethill, where Edward was to be educated. The school was a small church hall more or less, the school motto “Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat”, “Let him who has earned it bear the reward”, remarkably akin to the Pearce motto. During the middle of the 19th century students had the option of picking and choosing their own subjects. The curriculum of study was designed to prepare young gentlemen respectively for mercantile life, the universities, or for the civil or the military services. 2 Matthew died on 12th March 1883 in “Brampton” Hatherley Road, Cheltenham, Gloucester. Euphemia would die two years after him in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. A medallion is all that remains of Edward’s schoolboy days, on the back it reads “Edvaidus Pearce”. 8
Whether it was his reason to simply make his fortune, or for exploration and adventure, the aspiring young Scot set sail for Central America, his destination British Honduras. Despite a long history of colonial occupation, British Honduras remained an independent settlement during the days of the logwood and mahogany industries in the 1850s. Soon after his arrival Edward was immediately employed by a company which traded in timber. Regardless of his lack of experience, he became accustomed to the work, and progressed quickly. An entrepreneur by the name of John Carmichael took control of the company during Edward’s tenure, and it wasn’t long before his new employer noticed his keen involvement in the company. Edward met Henrietta Diana Cox, second daughter of the Honourable Austin William Cox and his wife Mary Cox, in the beautiful seaside settlement of British Honduras. Mr Cox, English-born, had settled in British Honduras and became one of the puisne judges (a junior judge). It was here that Henrietta was born, spent her childhood, and was educated. Whether she ever visited Britain with her parents during her youth is unknown. Edward rose steadily in the service of the timber company, and on 20th July 1858, he was married to Henrietta at St Mary’s Church in Belize, by the Rev. Matthew Newport. Having success with the timber trade and being newly married, it would seem as though things were working out nicely for Edward. But a spanner was to be thrown in the works. John Carmichael was adjudged bankrupt and his company was liquidated. Edward was to lose his job, but not without an excellent letter of recommendation. 3 ADVENTURER 9
Belize, 14th July, 1859 Edward Pearce, Esq. Dear Sir, When about to leave us after the many years that you have been connected with us and with our predecessors here, we feel ourselves called upon to state that your services to us have been of such description and your conduct has ever been of that unexceptionable character that fully entitled you to expect at our hands the highest regard that a House in business such as ours could give, and to the highest position in the establishment we on our part fully hoped you would have attained, until the unfortunate circumstances arose which have rendered necessary the liquidation of our affairs. But the gradual rise in your emoluments from your original engagement with us until they have at the present moment reached a sum comparatively large must be to you a proof of the appreciation in which your services have been held by us. Dire necessity alone causes us to deprive ourselves of them and to part with you and in doing so we feel that we are severing ourselves from a gentleman of the highest honour and most correct principles, from a man of business and a trustworthy servant. Such being our sentiments you will readily believe in the unfeigned regret with which we must bid you farewell. That happiness and success may attend you and yours is the sincere wish of Dear Sir, Yours very truly, per pro Carmichael Vidal & Co. Anto Mathé 10
With no financial means in Belize the newlyweds returned to Britain in late 1859. London would be their home for over a year, where they would welcome their first child, Nathaniel, into the world. Still living securely on the money earned in Belize, Edward knew that new employment would need to be found quickly. It is not known how Edward came to work for Matheson and Co; however by September 1860 the Scot had proven himself to be a prospective representative for the company and was given the power of attorney on the firm’s behalf. Matheson and Co.’s firm, which was based in London, had strong interests in colonial trading. It was Wellington, New Zealand, which became the focus of the firm’s concern. Matheson & Co. were receiving wool from a merchant in New Zealand by the name of Wm. Bowler Son & Co. for which the firm were advancing large sums of money. In 1859 the shipments of wool fell far short of the advances received by Bowler, so it was decided that an agent and representative of the company should be hired as an attorney to make the long voyage to New Zealand to investigate. Edward was to be their man. As the young couple were acclimatising not only to being in England but also to new parenthood, they soon faced the task of packing their belongings again and journeying with an infant child on a three and a half month voyage to a remote country in the South Pacific. It also became clear that Henrietta was now pregnant again! Both Edward and Henrietta were experienced in long sea voyages, but to travel to a little fledgling colony on the other side of the world in a sailboat would have surely been an experience. Their vessel, the Wild Duck, was a 735 ton fully-rigged wooden ship, chartered by Shaw Savill Co. One can imagine spending three months at sea with a new born, combined with pregnancy causing morning sickness and no modern conveniences, would surely have been a test of Henrietta's constitution. Right page: The sailing ship Wild Duck in Port Chalmers graving dock. 11
Stepping off the boat in Wellington, New Zealand in 1861 must have been perplexing, with only a small number of stores and houses lined along the shore line of the harbour. With a population of fewer than 6000 people, this burgeoning settlement was still in the process of reestablishing itself after a major earthquake five years earlier in 1855. The earthquake, though destroying the town, had reshaped the land, draining the swamp of Te Aro Flat and raising passable land around the Harbour to Petone. The Queen’s Wharf and the Panama Street reclamation were only just begun, and infrastructure on a whole was still at grass roots level. Wasting no time, Edward began his investigation into Wm. Bowler Son and Co. William Bowler, a colonists’ clerk for New Zealand Co. and later a shipping manager for the Canterbury Association, had arrived in New Zealand in 1852 and founded the merchant firm Wm. Bowler Son and Company in Wellington. These businesses were conducted on very similar lines to a rival firm, Levin & Co., who were general merchants, stock and station agents, and shippers of produce – particularly wool. 12
Above: Henrietta Diana and Edward Pearce Below: Row of businesses along Lambton Quay, Wellington, north of the Crown and Anchor Hotel. The waterfront is on the left. 13
Above: Pencil and watercolour sketch by William Howard Holmes of early Lambton Quay Wellington, circa 1860’s. Below: An early photo of Lambton Quay showing the South Sea Hotel, 1870’s. 14
Bowler’s cavalier attitude in bookkeeping had in fact placed his business in a rather vulnerable position. Edward recounts his role with regards to the firm’s position via a court testimonial, “On my arrival, I was aware of the state of accounts between the Plaintiffs and Matheson & Co. I came to New Zealand in a twofold position, if I found Messrs. Bowler Son & Co. were in a sufficiently prosperous condition that I should become partner; and if not, that I should act as Matheson and Co.’s Agent.” 4 As it happened Bowler could not meet his debts and could not make any more business decisions without going through Edward. After taking stock of the situation Edward was to find that Bowlers business was indeed salvageable so he presided over the import and exports to Matheson and Co. From Brooklyn looking across Te Aro and the harbour to the Hutt Valley. Illustration by Barraud, Charles Decimus , 1861. 15
Only one year had passed since Edward first landed in Wellington but in that short time he had proven himself to be a confident contender in trade and a major contributor to mercantile growth in Wellington. As Edward was very busy with business, Henrietta must have also been especially occupied at home with the arrival of her second child, Florence Pearce, on 20th July 1861. Arthur Edward Pearce followed not too long afterwards, being born on December 17th in 1862. With his keen aptitude for commerce, and with the financial backing of Matheson and Co., Edward was to buy out Bowler’s company, including The Liverpool and London Insurance Co., and Lea and Perrin’s Sauce Company in September 1862. The insurance agency was later to become a very important part of Edward’s pursuits. News travelled fast of the new merchant in town. The decision to move to New Zealand though risky appeared to be advantageous. Edward had secured a home for himself and his growing family in a city that had embraced them, a city growing in haste with the momentum of merchants and fortune seekers such as him. 5 Taken in 1867/8, looking down on Willis Street showing Bond Street on the left to the intersection of Manners and Boulcott Street on the right. 16
Pearce & Co.’s general merchant and mortgage agent offices and warehouse were situated on the corner of Willis Street, between the Empire Hotel and Chews Lane. The building itself had a wooden frontage, iron on the north side, brick for the rear and south end. At the back of the building was a jetty known as Pearce’s wharf (also known as Lyttelton Wharf) jutting out into the sea (now Victoria Street). It wasn’t long after the takeover from Bowler that the columns in local papers were advertising Edward’s produce. Pearce and Co., along with rival merchant Levin & Co., catered to the establishing colonial farming communities, which meant wool and flax commonly filled the warehouse for export. Though, if one were to enter Edward’s warehouse they would also find a wonderfully diverse range of imported goods, from Worcestershire sauce, Jeau Marie Fariusa’s eau de Cologne and pianos to shovels, coal and coffee; one could obtain virtually all the needs that the early settler might desire. Edward offered for sale town drays (horse drawn carts), spring carts, “Pagnell” carts, wheels, shafts, spokes, naves (wheel hubs), axles, springs and many other coach-building materials. It appeared that Edward was importing liquor right from the beginning of his takeover from Bowler, but it wasn’t till 1869 that Pearce & Co. became a registered wine and spirit merchant. IMAGINING WELLINGTON Pearce & Company Right page: Edward Pearce’s Store, in the right foreground, was located down Chews Lane off Willis Street. 17
Edward’s warehouse contained a splendid cache. Among the early items that Edward imported was Highland Whisky, Martell’s brandy dark and pale, Demerara rum and Port wine. As the year progressed so did the choices. By 1871 Edward had brought in Champagne, Australian wines and whiskies; which included Kinahan’s L.L., Stewart’s and Bulloch & Camlachie. Jamaican rum, ale, stout, tobacco and Havana shaped Manila cigars were among many of the other exotic items. Goods were brought ashore onto Pearce’s Wharf by punts from the coastal barques which sailed the coasts. One of the main shipping firms that chartered from England to New Zealand was Shaw Savill & Company from London, which had been the agency for Bowler and Co. Sadly for Edward the shipping firm, which perhaps had been having qualms about Bowler, transferred their agency to Levin & Co., just as Edward was taking over the firm. Losing the contract of one of the few major lines from England to New Zealand must have come as a disappointment.
Despite this hindrance, Edward set about establishing himself in the mercantile trade. Nathaniel Levin, who founded Levin & Co., had arrived in the colony in 1841. Beginning with a drapery and haberdashery shop on Lambton Quay, his business had prospered significantly by the time of Edward’s arrival. The company had a bonded store in Cornhill Street, and a store in Grey Street, where the firm also had a separate insurance department. “Although uninvolved in the city’s social life, Levin had developed an extremely high profile in the business community by 1860.” 6 It is interesting to note how extensively coastal trade was carried on from the port of Wellington. The position of the port had necessarily caused its merchants to turn their attention to the purchase of such goods as those that may occasionally glut any of the neighbouring provinces. This, the merchants of all communities do, more or less – it is part of their business - but in Wellington, it appears that it attained to a much larger proportion than in other Provinces. Queens Wharf, Lambton Quay, Wellington, showing several sailing ships docked at wharf and Oriental Bay in distance. Photo take between 1866 and 1880’s 19
Page 4 Advertisements Column 5, Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1860, 25 April 1863. 20
Wellington was now the capital of the colony, the transfer from Auckland having been made in 1863, and development had taken place in ocean transport. Provision had been made for steamers large enough to carry a regular mail service between New Zealand and Great Britain. The Panama boats were running by this time mail being railed across the isthmus – and there was steam communication with other ports of the colony. A mail service was also operating between Australia and New Zealand and also around the New Zealand coast. Wellington was rapidly becoming a shipping centre of great importance. 7 The first big coastal company was the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company Ltd., formed at Wellington in 1862 by a group led by coal merchant and first mayor of Wellington Joe Dransfield. How the aspiring Edward came to be on the Board of Directors of this firm is unknown but it would appear an astute position for the maturing merchant to extend his influence. ‘The firm (NZNCo.) bought the steamer Stormbird with the large profits derived from the charter of the Wonga Wonga by the Government for the conveyance of troops. Photo from album presented to Edward Pearce from the Harbour Board. 21
The company also bought the Ahuriri, Rangatira, Wellington, The Queen, and Ladybird. It had six steamers by 1864, but, even with public subsidies, the inefficiency of the early engines and the small size of the economy meant that it struggled to survive. The Queen was wrecked on Cook’s Rock in the Strait in 1867, and with the Taranaki being wrecked in Tory Channel on August 19th 1868 the directors and shareholders made the decision to discontinue operations. Edward and the rest of the directors really wished for the Company to be successful, and would have liked to have seen it carried on. No doubt it would have been exceedingly painful for them to feel obliged to recommend a winding-down. The directors and proprietors were men slightly advanced for the times they lived in. Nevertheless a second attempt to form a new company was made.’ 8 In April 1870, while the old New Zealand Steam Navigation Company was in the process of liquidation, a new committee was created with the intention of carrying on the business as the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company (NZSSCo.), with the following appointed as Provisional Directors:- Messrs W.B. Rhodes, E. Pearce, J.E. Nathan, L. Levy, I. Plimmer, J. Dransfield, and P. Laing. 22
Keeping Wellington as the central port for steamships continued to be an upward battle particularly because Auckland and Dunedin had similar interests. Through most of the 1870s there was work available on ships of the NZSS Co., but as trade slowed and ships were laid up, the situation changed and the company petered out by the 1880s. Over time, Edward collected and invested in a fleet of his own ships which made the often perilous coastal voyages. Schooners laden with goods from the warehouse carrying essential items that owners of large sheep stations would require; from shearing machinery and wool packs, to sugar, flour and coffee, were loaded from Pearce’s Wharf. The schooners would then journey north and south distributing the imports and picking up wool, flax and livestock from isolated spots around the coast of New Zealand. Among the boats Edward owned he also financed the Joanna and the Jeanie Duncan which were subsequently sold by Mr G.H. Vennell on behalf of Edward at auction. Schooners were often hauled alongside Pearce’s Wharf for viewing for public sale. By the 1870’s Edward had established a shipping line past the perilous ‘White Rocks’, east of the South Wairarapa Coast to Hawkes Bay. The Aspasia, a schooner of 44 tons, usually serviced this line, often anchoring on the famously moody coast to complete the difficult task of picking up bales of wool. The Aspasia had won the province of Canterbury’s Savill’s Cup at the Lyttelton Regattas of 1871 and 1872 and was sorely missed when the vessel was purchased for £875 for Edward Pearce via Messrs Matheson’s agency. 9 Later on the Aspasia was one of many vessels that left Wellington and never returned, after tragically becoming wrecked at Motanau with a cargo of timber after sailing from Foxton. The boat was insured by the Liverpool, London and Globe office for £400. 10 Right: Above - Wellington waterfront. Right: Below- Looking west along Plimmers Wharf towards the intersection of Customhouse Quay and Hunter street, Wellington, showing the premises of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company Limited at the left. Photograph taken by W.T.L. Travers, ca 1870-1871. 23
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Left: Above- Unloading stores from the supply ship the Aspasia for Pahaoa Station. A letter from John Cameron, owner of Pahaoa Station to Levin and Co, reads “I now got a load of woll for the Aspasia, you can send her down as soon as you like. Send me the following goods: 1/2 tonne of flour, one chest tee. weight sugar. 5 cwt Suggar & 1000 bricks, 2 woll packs 100 lbs tobacco, 2 box soop”. Photo’s courtesy of the Wairarapa Archives Above: Loading wool from the beach at Pahaoa. From letters written by John Cameron to Edward Pearce in 1875, he refers to the schooner ‘The Aspasia’ anchoring off to receive his wool at 1 pound per bale. John Cameron refers to this cost being rather high. 26
Boats owned by Edward Pearce Above: The Marmion and the Sir Henry along side Joseph Sparrow’s Ironworks in Dunedin 1975-1899. Right: AboveAbove: The brigantine Emulous was wrecked twice at Oamaru in 1874 – in May and again in October. Right: Below- Queen of the South, photo taken at Foxton. 27
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One of the many and varied spirits that were imported by Levin & Co., a very special Walnut Brown Sherry. This bottle is still in the hands of my father John Pearce. Right: Customhouse Street Wharf area, Wellington, circa 1868, with the harbour and Queens wharf in the background. 29
By the mid 1870s Edward was purchasing Kauri from wood cutting teams working in Kaipara. Kauri logs were removed by bullock, mostly from the Auckland province and then shipped down to Wellington and off loaded at Pearce’s Wharf to be processed to specifications given by Matheson & Co. Several orders of timber were sent to Shanghai via Matheson & Co. to be used to build war ships for the Chinese. One of the vessels owned by Edward importing the timber was the brigantine Ottawa. Laden with 152,000 feet of Kauri the vessel was tragically wrecked when it struck rocks and was lost off Poukoke, Stony River, near New Plymouth on 22nd September 1873. The magnetic attraction of the iron sand on the coast was the apparent cause of the disaster, causing the compass to read incorrectly. The crew fortunately found their way safely to shore; the Kauri timber, however, was lost at sea and the vessel unsalvageable. The timber was insured under an open policy of the National Bank of New Zealand. The boat was insured by the Victorian Insurance Company for £650 and the South British Insurance Company, also for £650.11 It would seem that working within the insurance practice was a wise decision for Edward to be involved in. 30
His schooner Aurora made herself famous after a collision with the steamer Wellington in Queen Charlotte Sound, 22nd May 1878. Emulous was another brigantine in Edward’s fleet. The vessel was stranded and became a total wreck at Oamaru on 11th of November 1874; it had stranded there previously on 3rd May 1874 but was refloated. Edward owned two more schooners; Melanie 1873-6, which was wrecked at Kaipara on 15th January 1876, and Marmion which went missing in 1899. He also owned 32 shares of a total of 64 shares in the steam ship Queen of the South. Levin & Co. owned the rest of the shares and the ship worked for the firm. It was bought primarily to pick up flax from Foxton. Pearce’s Wharf was eventually overtaken in the reclamation of Queens Wharf, remnants of the wharf were found in 1902 while foundations for a new building were being positioned. 12 The Wellington port was developing quickly and business was booming early in the decade. It was evident that if his merchant firm were to be successful, Edward was going to have to be surrounded by others who already had invested interests in Wellington’s future. Pearce & Co. prospered for 27 years on Willis Street, and one could imagine that the firm alone would have consumed most of his time, but it would appear that he was utterly ubiquitous, with involvement in innumerable pursuits. The merchant company became his perfect platform for entering public life, helping him become an important player in the establishment of a city that was still in its early years. 31
Edward’s involvement in the volunteer artillery is somewhat surprising as no record can be found that he had any previous interest in the military. It is possible that it was one of the subjects he took all those years before at Glasgow College. He appears in the New Zealand Gazette serving with the 1st Battalion of the Wellington Militia with the rank of Lieutenant, 9th June 1863. War, due to Maori discontent over land agreements, had broken out, giving cause for militia to spring up around the country, not only in Auckland and Taranaki, but also Wellington. The “D” Battery took part in weekly and monthly exercises which ranged between marching around the “Town”, short-sword exercises and artillery training. Sham fights were held in which companies of the Wellington Militia practised defending against invasion in opposition to each other in the low hills around the city. Militia By January of 1866 Edward was gazetted as Captain of the Wellington militia after the resignation of Captain Schultze.13 Over a short time Edward had fostered the volunteer movement by every means possible. Through his strenuous efforts to advance the Battery’s welfare, he had gained the warmest esteem and respect of the volunteers in the district. The 18th December 1869 saw Edward Pearce transfer as Captain in the Wellington Militia to Captain in the Wellington Volunteer Artillery. This position became vacant after the resignation of Captain Buckley. 14 32
In 1870 Captain Pearce kindly placed his large store shed at the disposal of the militia company for drill practice - a real boon to the company anxious to become proficient in their drill. In what may be called the “middle period” of the battery’s history, its rifle shooting team occupied a very high position among the rifle shooters of the time, its record of victories over other teams being remarkably good. In big-gun shooting the battery always held a leading position in competing against other provinces. Volunteers also regularly competed with civilian rifle clubs. These events were usually held in conjunction with a social function, such as when teams from Canterbury Engineers and the ‘Cust Morris Tube Club’, followed up their match with supper at the ‘Zetland Hotel’. Such contests helped establish good relations among those members of the community who shared an interest in rifle shooting. The prominent role of volunteers in this popular sport secured the movement a sizable amount of favourable attention.15 Edward, a huge supporter of the competition, became a sponsor of the event, presenting a silver cup and annual prizes such as carriage clocks and sterling coins. Fortunately, his battery was never called to action. It was certainly better that the troops do nothing at all, than that they should have been employed in exasperating the Maori into further resistance. In 1876, with the announcement of his retirement from command of the Wellington Artillery Volunteers, Captain Pearce was presented by Lieutenant Mc’Tavish with a very handsome silver-mounted ‘sabretache’. Island Bay Easter camp, 1884. 33
This well known photograph of Edward Pearce appears many times in references to this period of Wellingtons history. 34
Left: Edward wearing his formal regalia, 1875. Below: A New Zealand Militia officers' cap belonging to Major George Vance Shannon who immigrated to New Zealand in 1865. Shannon, along with Edward, became a director of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. In 1882 the company signed a contract with the government to construct a railway line between Wellington and Longburn, near Palmerston North, completed in 1886. Several directors of the company – Shannon, Plimmer, Levin and Linton – were commemorated in the names of the new 'railway towns' established along the line. The cap is from the period Shannon spent with the New Zealand Militia in Wellington, where he helped raise the Wellington Rifles. 35
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Below: A mock battle featuring cavalry and gunpowder staged during the Island Bay Easter Camp of 1884. Crowds watch from surrounding embankments and rows of tents fill the field beyond the `battleground'. Taken by unidentified photographer. Right page: Pierce Mott Cazneau was the sole operator at Wrigglesworth and Binns, Willis Street, Wellington for six years from about 1877 to 1883. Commenced business as Cazneau and Connolly, Lambton Quay, Wellington about January 1883. The partnership was dissolved on 27 June 1885. ‘The camera by which Messrs. Cazneau and Conolly's [sic] photograph of the Wellington volunteer officers was taken, for presentation to Colonel Pearce, and was one of the largest in the colony, being capable of taking a picture 22 inches by 20 inches. It was recently imported by the firm.’ Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1883. 37
Top: Lieut. Walden, City Rifles. Lieut Tayton, Wn. Guards. Lieut. Hislop, W..N.A.V. Lieut. Wallace, W.N.A.V Lieut. Monaghan, M.R.V. Capt. Loveday, Wn. Guards Lieut. Jackson, P.N.A.V Second Row: Lieut. Davis, K’wara R.V. Capt. Johnston, W.N.A.V. Surgeon Diver, W.N.A.V. Lieut. Brown, M.R.V Capt. Shannon, W.R.V. Lieut. Buick, P.N.A.V. Capt. Fitzherbert, P.N.A.V Lieut. Ancell, W.R.V. Lieut. Steele, W.R.V Third Row: Lieut. White, M.R.V. Lieut. Lyon, D. Batt: N.Z.A.V Capt. McCredie, D. Batt: N.Z.A.V. Capt. Managhan, M. R.V. Lieut. Col. Pearce, N.Z. Regt. A.V. Capt Crowe, City Rifles Capt. Cameron, K’wara R.V. Officers of the Wellington Volunteer District, May, 1883 38
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Above: This photo depicts Edward in his military uniform with a ceremonial sword. One wonders what happened to all his many items of his military attire. Left: As depicted this photo album was presented to Lieutenant Colonel Pearce by his Commissioned Officers of the Wellington District. Sadly the names signed by the officers have faded. 40
In the 1860s, with the early stage of settlement, the responsibility of development was in the hands of those who had initiative and an eager sense of enterprise. Early settlers quickly discovered that the New Zealand environment would require from them ingenuity and resourcefulness to achieve personal progress. With an educated background and successful experience in the workings of trade in British Honduras, Edward soon found his previous knowledge in business was to be invaluable. In 1863 when the population had slowly increased to about 6000, the town was divided into three wards and a Town Board elected. The fortnightly meeting of the Wellington Town Board was held in the Board Room, Lambton Quay. It was in 1864 that Edward was not only elected Chairman of the Board, despite having only been in Wellington three years, but also welcomed his and Henrietta’s fourth child Helen. The role of the Town Board included useful work such as city maintenance and the hiring of contractors for surveying and engineering. As there was no other faction appointed to the task of the city’s upkeep, the Town Board were left to their own devices in which to organise the city’s infrastructure. Boards and Committee’s Te Aro Wellington, taken c.1869, shows the corner of Willis and Manners Streets and the surrounding area. The Rhodes, Hickson, Hunter and Fitzherbert wharves can be seen on the left of the image. 41