Amelia Barton

Biography contributed by Heather Maloney

Amelia was the eldest child of Henry Pratt and Amelia (nee Bracey), born 16 November 1840 and baptised at St Peter’s & St Paul’s, Mitcham, Surrey.

She had a brother and two sisters and the family came to New Zealand when Amelia was 17, on board the Maori, landing at Lyttelton on 14 July 1858. Amelia would probably have stayed at home, helping with farmyard and household chores until her marriage less than a year after they arrived.

She married Henry Albert Barton at St Andrew’s, Christchurch on 3 June 1859 – Henry was a carpenter aged 22 and Amelia’s father gave his consent to the marriage as she was underage.

Henry and Amelia must have travelled back to England between the births of their children as Amelia Ann Barton was born 10 March 1860 in Christchurch, New Zealand and Henry William Barton was born 10 February 1869 in Limehouse, London.

They arrived back in New Zealand on the Blairgowie in May 1875 but not long after Henry deserted the family and returned to England. Amelia and the children fell on hard times and after several court appearances in Timaru, her son was sent to the Industrial School at Burnham. She was prosecuted and jailed for running a brothel, using her daughter as a prostitute and for selling illegal grog.

Many more court cases followed, mostly charged with vagrancy, both in Timaru and Dunedin where she used an alias Jones. Court records described her as '5ft 1 in, fresh complexion, black hair, grey eyes, medium nose, mouth and chin.'

Amelia appeared on the 1892 and 1893 petitions and the 1893 and 1896 electoral rolls in Dunedin but died in Geraldine on 23 January 1897 and is buried in the Geraldine cemetery. The informant was her brother, Henry R.S. Pratt.