Harriet Havill

Briography contributed by Clare Cramond (great-great niece)

Harriet Havill was born on 31 December 1872 to George and Julia Taylor. Harriet had four half-brothers and a half-sister Mary Anne Finucane, from her mother’s first marriage. Both sisters are signatories to the 1893 Petition.

Harriet lived in Wairoa where her father was the publican of the Ferry Hotel, North Clyde, during the 1880s, then the Ferry Hotel, Western Spit in Napier. Harriet’s mother died suddenly in 1890 and her father remarried within six months but died two months later without leaving a will and the estate went to his widow.

In 1891, Harriet’s sister Mary Anne married Albert Havill from Hokitika and in February 1982 Harriet married Albert’s brother, Edward Charles Havill. Their son George Edward was born in Woodville and by 1893 the brothers had established their butchery business there. In 1894, daughter Myrtle Julia was born and by 1895, the butchery was sold and both families shifted to Manawatu.

Harriet and Edward spent the rest of their lives in Palmerston North and were noted in the newspapers with a recurring theme around alcohol. In 1899, Myrtle’s school record has her living at the Travellers’ Rest Hotel under the guardianship of her uncle. Harriet sought a separation order from Edward in 1908. Myrtle, 14 years, corroborated her mother’s evidence. In 1912, Edward was charged with obtaining liquor while prohibited and two years later Harriet was charged with accompanying a woman on a prohibition order to the hotel for 'one last drink'.

Son George married in 1914 and was living in Gisborne with his young family when he was called up to serve in the Great War. Tragically, he died from influenza before he could enlist and his wife who nursed him, died shortly after. 

A street brawl featuring both Edward, Harriet, and some of their neighbours in Ferguson Street was in the papers in 1921. Two years later, daughter Myrtle married and shifted to Woodville and eventually to Australia.

Later the couple lived in Princess Street. Harriet died on 5 February 1946 and was buried at Terrace End Cemetery. Edward died two years later and is buried in the same plot as Harriet, but not mentioned on her headstone.

Sources

Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18841201.2.11 Daily Telegraph, Issue 4169, 1 December 1884, Page 3

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18880501.2.11 Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 8041, 1 May 1888, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18900818.2.9 Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8749, 18 August 1890, Page 2

New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95LY-N4Q?cc=1865481&wc=4BCL-W96%3A1045247901%2C1045279601 : 15 October 2015), Napier Court > Probate records 1870-1898 P567, P571, P551-P577 > image 112 of 315; Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WOODEX18931229.2.10 Woodville Examiner, Volume XI, Issue 2137, 29 December 1893, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WOODEX18950624.2.9 Woodville Examiner, Volume XIII, Issue 2383, 24 June 1895, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19081214.2.15 Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8750, 14 December 1908, Page 4

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19120311.2.59 Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9221, 11 March 1912, Page 5

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19140713.2.47 Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9846, 13 July 1914, Page 6

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19210712.2.54 Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1866, 12 July 1921, Page 6

"New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2VCC-JX8 : 9 March 2021), Harriett Havill, 1946; citing , Palmerston North probate files [second sequence], 1922-1994, record number 0033/46, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 007068177.

Palmerston North City Council https://www.pncc.govt.nz/services/cemetery-and-cremation-search/warrant/?id=22778