8 children? PECK
NZGSjun2025
There is considerable conjecture amongst direct and
extended family members as to the names of Charles?
parents and his date and place of birth. Based on my own
extensive research, I believe he was born to Hannah
STENT, a solo mother of Farnham, Surrey, England.4 Other
researchers have recorded Bognor Regis,5 Fittleworth,
Pulborough and Devon in Devonshire.6 Furthermore, author
Evelyn PRITCHARD, who wrote The 1841 Emigrants from
Ham to New Zealand in 2003, was unable to discover any
specific details of Charles? early life, where he came from,
or when he arrived in Ham.7
Prior to leaving England, Charles had worked on the Ham
House Estate, Richmond, Surrey, then owned and occupied
by the TOLLEMACHE family.8 Algernon Tollemache was one
of several family members to own shares in the New
Zealand Land Company (NZLC). On 29 July 1839 Algernon
attended a land sale in London where he purchased 30 land
orders for lots comprising one town acre and 100 rural
acres, land purchased from Maori that later proved illdefined.
Algernon subsequently arranged for seven
servants9 employed on the estate to immigrate to New
Zealand,10 one of whom was Charles, and his fare, and
those of his work colleagues, were fully paid for by the
Tollemaches.
Needing income, Charles acquired a horse and cart and
became self-employed, working as a carrier transporting
goods within the Wellington township.
Within eight years of his arrival, he had plucked up the
courage to seek the hand of Sarah in marriage. They were
married on 5 March 184916 in the original St Paul?s Church,
built in 1844 and located on land directly behind what is
today the Beehive building.
Together, Charles and Sarah raised a family of eight
children ? five sons (Charles b.1849,17 James b.1853,
Henry b.1855, Thomas b.1858 and Robert William b.1861)
and three daughters (Isabella b.1851, Fanny or Frances
b.1857 and Harriet Jane b.1868) who, with the exception of
Harriet, were all born in the Hutt/Lower Hutt.18 Charles
(1849-1931), the eldest, was my great-grandfather. He
married Emma LYNDS19 (née JACKSON) at Napier on 28
June 1904. Their daughter Annie, who was reportedly born
on the Sandon Block. Charles Stent had person sources.
4 He was a Farm Labourer in 1841.
5 He immigrated to ENG to NZ on the Lord William Bentinck arriving NZ 19/5/1841 on 5 January 1841.
5