Henry Hamilton Knowles was born in 1833 in Ilminster, SOM, ENG.
1,2 He and
Emma Jane Gundry were married on 26 October 1859 in Temporary Church, Lyttleton, NZ.
3 He died on 21 September 1915, at age ~82, in Palmerston North age 82.
2 Disembarked at Wellington 27 oct 1841
In 1860 the ?Daily Southern Cross? reported that ?Mr. Henry Hamilton Knowles, was appointed to be Manager and Accountant of the Savings Bank, Nelson? and their first four sons, Walter, Charles, Herbert and Arthur were born in Nelson between 1860 and 1866.
Hamilton was with the Union Bank in Lyttleton when their next five children were born between 1868 and 1877. Emma went on to have a total of eleven children and was fortunate in that all her babies survived to adulthood. Tracking them down was easier than is often the case, as all were given two Christian names while three had ?Hamilton? as their middle name. Francis 1868-1941 had ?Speke? as his middle name ? a tribute to John Hanning SPEKE 1828-64, the explorer who discovered the source of the Nile and was related to Hamilton?s mother by marriage.
Then, from 1879-1886, Hamilton appears as the Head Teacher at the Kaikoura Town School. While the 1877 Education Act had made education free, national, secular and compulsory, there were staffing shortages and I have found no evidence that he had any form of teacher training. However, at that time Inspectors were empowered to issue Certificates of Competency and his name appears in 1880 on the List of Teacher & Civil Service Examinations with a rank of ?E2?. There was a reference in the 1958 Kaikoura Centenary book ?Our School Grows Up? that ?Mrs Knowles must either teach full time or resign.? As her youngest two children were born in Kaikoura in 1879 and 1882, it is amazing that she had any spare time to spend helping in the classroom. A mention of their son Charles may also indicate that he assisted his parents. Certainly the monitorial system of teaching was much in favour in 19th Century England.
Henry Walter KNOWLES b 19.09.1860 d 07.06.1936 osp
Charles Hamilton KNOWLES b 03.07.1862 d 23.06.1943
Herbert William KNOWLES b 18.06.1864 d 13.04.1950
Arthur Warrington KNOWLES b 09.08.1866 d 13.05.1943
Francis Speke KNOWLES b 25.07.1868 d 15.05.1941
Edith Marion KNOWLES b 19.04.1871 d 28.08.1950
Emma Constance KNOWLES b 30.06.1872 d 11.04.1960
Ernest Edward KNOWLES b 01.08.1875 d 20.02.1902 osp
Ethel Louisa KNOWLES b 19.09.1877 d 20.04.1944
John Hamilton KNOWLES b 26.11.1879 d 07.12.1948
Nina Mary Hamilton KNOWLES b 17.07.1882 d 06.04.1951 osp
JEGR. Henry Hamilton Knowles had person sources.
4 He immigrated to ENG to NZ on the Oriental arriving NZ 22/10/1841 on 22 June 1841.
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