Biography contributed by Clare Cramond
Jessie’s father David McHardie was Scottish, and her mother Ann Masters was English. They migrated to New Zealand in 1841 with their families. They married in 1850 in Lower Hutt. Jessie (Janet, Jeanet) was born in August 1860 and had five older brothers and sisters and two younger. Her mother died of typhoid when Jessie was six-years-old.
In 1881 at Bulls, Jessie married Reverend Samuel Lawry (1854-1933) a Methodist minister originally from Cornwall, England. So began her married life in parishes around New Zealand. In 1882 in Hokitika, daughter Heppie Lavinia was born, followed by Herbert Percival in 1883. Walter David was born in Thames two years later, then Gertrude Elaine in Drury. Samuel Hessell was born in Te Aroha West in 1889, but that same year Heppie and Walter died. Raymond Alexander Reid was born in Ashburton in 1891, the same year Samuel died.
Jessie signed the Petition in Ashburton, and was on the 1893 Electoral Roll. She had links to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Christchurch Prohibition League which are mentioned in newspaper condolences after her death in 1920.
By 1894 the family had moved north. Wilford Melville was born in Auckland in 1894 and Jessie Vera in Onehunga. Then the family moved to Palmerston North, and around 1906 shifted to Canterbury, firstly to Kaiapoi then Christchurch.
The Lawrys were living at 499 Manchester Street by 1914. Their youngest son Wilford, an architect, enlisted in WWI, fought overseas and returned home. Son Raymond, a law graduate who later worked in Kenya, also fought in the Great War and was awarded the OBE. Herbert Percival studied law and became a magistrate.
Jessie McHardie Lawry died at home in August 1920 and her death was in newspapers across the country and her service reported in detail. The officiating minister said '…he knew of none who had better stood the hard test required of a minister’s wife. Mrs Lawry had realised that her first duty next to God was to her husband and family …'
Jessie’s husband died in 1933 and in his will he left Jessie’s gold watch and chain, a locket containing her mother’s portrait and furniture to their daughters. Jessie (Janet) and Samuel are memorialised on their gravestone at Sydenham Cemetery.
Sources
Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
W. A. Chambers. 'Lawry, Samuel', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1993. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2l4/lawry-samuel (accessed 24 November 2023)
"New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1865-1957", Database. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ The Ellesmere Guardian Sept 4, 1920. News of The Day
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Star (Christchurch) Issue 20043, 3 September 1920, Page 7
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ Lyttleton Times, Volume CXVIII< Issue 18505, 4 September, 1920, Page 3
Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en-NZ/web/arena/search#/entity/aims-archive/R10918244
Findagrave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166064178/janet-lawry
New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9V-K3KT : 9 March 2021), Samuel Lawry, 1933; citing , Christchurch Probate Files, 1855-2003, record number CH16922/1933, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 100161628.
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions