Hugh
Tonneycliffe Falla
This is included because of the Tonneycliffe
link with
the Workman family.
Sarah
Falla
is
Ellen
Workman's sister, both were born TONNEYCLIFFE's.
Supplied
by
Christine
Allan-Johns
but originally from Don Le Page.
Falla family taken in 1905
Back row: Elsie, Jane, Kate and Jack
Middle
row:
Sarah,
Daniel
(father) , Gladys, Sarah (mother) and Annie.
Front
row:
Hugh,
Flo,
Eddie and Ted
Linking
the
Antipodes
by Hugh Tonneycliffe Falla
In the
year 1857 in the town of Carrick-on-Shannon in Ireland a
daughter was born to a warder in the British jail. Two years earlier a
son was
born to a sea captain residing in the Channel Island of Guernsey. The
meeting
of these two people some eighteen to twenty years later forms a basis
of what
will prove an interesting story, covering over a century in time and
embracing
two and a part generations.
Sarah, one of the seven children of the warder was under the age of
eighteen
when the father finished his long term as a keeper of the jail. Already
some of
the older members of the family had left for the much talked of colony
of New
Zealand. Immigrants for that colony were being sought and stories of
great
opportunities in that far off country were being received from the
Motherland
to join the hardy pioneers who had already gone there. Hugh Toneycliffe
and his
wife had strong Protestant beliefs, so that it was small wonder that he
wished
to leave a country controlled by a faith contrary to his own. The Irish
at that
time had little confidence in the British people and what they termed
`absentee
land owners'.
Memories of the dreadful potato famine were still fresh in the minds of
many. Tom
and Ellen, two of the older children had already emigrated to New
Zealand and
commencing with the drapery firm of Black & Beattie in
Christchurch, and
then pedalling drapery about the country. Tom was later destined to be
a
partner in the firm of Toneycliffe & Carey where the State Theatre
now
stands. Later on he took over the firm of Petties Ltd in Gisborne which
in
later years was bought by the Farmers Trading Co. of Auckland in whose
hands it
stands today. Ellen settled in Blenheim after marrying Robert
Workman [should be John not Robert] whom I understand came
from the
whaling stock and whose father ran away with a Maori Princess from
Kapiti
Island and eluding capture was able to marry her. These Blenheim
episodes
provide thrilling tales of adventure in themselves, but we must return
to Hugh
Toneycliffe and the family who emigrated on the sailing ship “Waikato”
in the
year 1875.
Captain Dan Falla, a native of Guernsey, the second largest island of
the
Channel Islands group was master of the sailing ship “Don Colino”, of
some six
or seven hundred tons register, making regular voyages to the South
American
ports in Terra del Fuego, to Punta Arenas and the various ports up the
coast of
South America, and also to Buenos Aires and Montevideo in Uruguay,
Porto
Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and many other small ports.
I am not sure of the nature of the trading but it must have been quite
lucrative at that time and from the information I received during my
research,
smuggling formed no small part in the profits of the trading. During
those days
it was most rife. Dan Falla junior, the captain's son, lost his mother
while a
small baby. At the age of twelve he went to sea, first with his father
and then
in the other ships gaining his able seaman's certificate at a very
early age in
a ship of 612 tons register, trading between Punta Arenas and the
homeland in
1873. The name of the sailing ship on the certificate is difficult to
decipher.
Dan used to tell his children amusing stories of his adventures in
those early
days. One humorous story he used to tell with relish was how he
outwitted his
captain and father on one early voyage. On this occasion he was
enjoying a
slice of bread heavily plastered with butter and jam, the two together
not
being allowed. He was sighted in the galley by his father looking down
on of
the ventilators from the deck. His father came racing down the steps to
catch
him red handed and arrived to find no sign of bread, butter and jam
anywhere
and returned to the deck mystified. A little later wily Dan returned to
the
galley and retrieved the piece of bread butter and jam that was firmly
stuck to
the underside of the top of the table, where he had just time to hide
it before
the arrival of his father when seen with it. He also bore a scar on his
chin.
This was received when in a South American port by the father of a girl
about
his own age. They were kissing and cuddling when the girl said in
broken
English “Quick, run Dan, here comes daddy”. Dan did run quickly but not
quick
enough to avoid a stab from a knife wielded by the infuriated father
and no
doubt was thankful to escape with nothing worse.
When captain Dan Falla retired from sea he erected a brick kiln on a
large
triangular block of land in the parish of St Martins in Guernsey. The
back road
from the Grande Rue to Moulin de Camps and the front road from the
Grande Rue
to join the Moulin de Camps and known as Les Camps Rue. This was very
close to
the historic old mill in St Martins. After being at sea for some years
Dan
stayed in Guernsey to work with his father and there learned his trade
at
brick-making. I might cite one amusing story that young Dan used to
relate of
that period. One day he was proudly showing off a gold sovereign he had
in his
possession when he heard his father approaching and of course he was
supposed
to be making bricks, so he quickly poked the sovereign into the soft
clay of a
brick he was making and noting the brick piled some more on it. A
sovereign in
those days meant a lot of money to a young lad. When dad had gone he
pulled out
the brick to retrieve it. To his horror it was not there so brick after
brick
was pulled apart but the sovereign was not found and maybe today is in
one of
the baked bricks used to build one of the Guernsey houses; but poor Dan
never
quite forgot the loss of his golden sovereign.
The lure of the sea returned to young Dan and in 1875 he took a job as
sailor
on the sailing ship `Waikato' bound for the new colony of New Zealand.
You will
remember that this was the same ship as that on which Hugh Toneycliffe,
his
wife and family were emigrating to New Zealand. Dan was a fine looking
young
man and young Sarah Toneycliffe a pretty Irish lass. I don't know at
what stage
on the voyage they first met; but the trip took one hundred days from
land to
land so there was ample time for them to get acquainted. The voyage on
a small
emigrant ship in those days was not what we would call today a luxury
cruise.
Nearly fifteen weeks on a ship with nothing to see day after day but
sea and
sky, the food very indifferent and the hatches battened down every time
the sea
became rough, it was not to be wondered that the prevailing wish was to
sight
land again. At Timaru the passengers from the sailing ship `Waikato'
were
landed on the beach and housed in immigrant barracks until arrangements
could
be made for work and homes to live in.
Dan and Sarah lost no opportunities of meeting together but this was no
easy
matter in those late Victorian days when Sarah's parents kept their
strict
watch on their eighteen year old daughter. Dan visited their home at
every
opportunity and they used to tell us of their hasty goodnight kisses
outside
the door as Dan made his departure. As their friendship grew and their
mutual
love developed Dan asked Sarah if she would marry him. He sought the
parent's
permission to court their daughter and she agreed to marry him provided
he gave
up any intentions of returning to the life of a sailor. Meantime Dan
had
returned to his trade of brick making in Timaru and it was not long
before he
was able to take Sarah as his bride and in course of time they were
blessed
with one daughter then another. [Ed. Jane Ellen Falla, their first
daughter was
born at Kowhai near Kaikoura. Sarah possibly went up to stay with her
sister
Ellen there, as it was before they moved there.]
About this time an opportunity came for Dan to work at his trade in the
little
town of Temuka about twelve miles north of Timaru. Sarah and Dan and
their two
children Jane and Kate set up a new home in Temuka and even today over
ninety
years later there are many old buildings remaining built of the hand
made
bricks which Dan was recognized as adept at making. The clay was
puddled by a
crude arrangement turned by an old horse going round and round in a
circle. It
is surprising the great numbers of hand made bricks that were daily
turned out
by one man using even these crude methods in those days.
anotherWhile residing in Temuka the young couple had their first major
setback.
There were three small rivers near Temuka and during heavy flood the
Opihi and
Temuka rivers overflowed their banks and the third added to the water
volume
flooding them out. Sarah had barely time to get a few clothes while Dan
caught
his horse and saddled it. With the water rising rapidly, Sarah was put
on the
horse with the baby while Dan took the other child on his shoulder and
they
made their way for higher ground and a neighbour some distance away. In
those
early days the hardy pioneers and colonists had no such things as
child
allowances, unemployment benefits, social security payments nor flood
and
earthquake insurances to rely upon. Sarah and Dan lost all their
possessions in
this disastrous flood and even their means of livelihood had gone when
the
brick yard and kiln were flooded. There was nothing left for them to do
but to
leave the township and make a fresh start, so they went back to Timaru
where
Sarah's mother and father were living and also some of her brothers and
sisters.
The next move was to the little township of Kaikoura about two hundred
miles
north where Sarah's eldest sister Ellen Workman was living. There Dan
commenced
working with a building contractor, his part of the work being the
making of
bricks. He arranged with his employer to purchase a section of his land
to
erect a house and a portion of his wages each week was kept back till
the land
became his own. Then a portion of his wages was used in paying for the
lumber
for the erection of the house. In due course they were very proud
of the little house they had built, but there was a big
proportion
of wages due to Dan for the long hours of work put in from daylight to
dark.
Rumours became rife that the financial position of Dan's employer was
not as
healthy as it should be; so Sarah kept urging Dan to get the title
deeds of the
land on which they had built their house and to which they were now
entitled in
their own rights. Sarah's intuition proved to be correct and Dan had
good cause
to regret that he had not acted on it earlier, because it was not long
before
his employer had to file in bankruptcy and the young couple had to lose
once
again not only their home but all the wages of long hours of toil
besides the
balance of wages due.
Meantime a son had been born, assisted into the world by a dear old
Maori
midwife named Biddy Hammond. He too was named Daniel John, so now we
have three
Dans - Captain Dan the grandfather, Dan the son, and Dan the grandson.
The
youngest Dan in later years chose to be called by his second name and
as we
will have need to refer to him later we will now call him by the name
he went
by and make further references to him as Jack.
We can now understand the predicament of the young couple with three
young
children, their home no longer belonging to them and their means of
livelihood
gone due to the bankruptcy of their employer. Dan secured another
position on
the sheep and cattle station of Kekerengu, a few miles south and inland
from
Kaikoura. I am not sure whether the owner of Kekerengu was named
Captain Cain
but I did hear them speak of the time when Captain Cain imported a
small number
of rabbits and only two survived. These two however multiplied so
rapidly that
some years later he was almost faced with ruin and used to say he
wished they
had all died. This wish was echoed by many other run-holders in later
years
when the rabbits became such a pest over the whole country. Life and
conditions
in this isolated part of the country were not conducive for bring up a
family
fast approaching an age when their education had to be considered, so
the
decision was made to return to the growing town of Timaru in South
Canterbury
where they remained for some years.
By the year 1888 Sarah and Dan had three more daughters added to their
family
of three, so now with six children the way was hard going especially as
the
colony was encountering difficult times, and the growing pains severe
with so
much money necessary for development. About this time Dan's stepmother
in
Guernsey who was very fond of him expressed a wish to see her stepson
whom she
had cared for during his early childhood and who was the only mother he
ever
knew. Dan left his wife and family of six to visit his stepmother just
before
she died. He was away about six months and arrived back in New Zealand
before
the Christmas of that year. The difficulties and hardships being
encountered at
that time can hardly be realized or visualized by the present
generation. The
wages were small and the settlers had to be prepared to adapt
themselves to all
kinds of work and conditions. In 1892 another daughter named Florence
was added
to the family. The names of the eight children starting with the oldest
were:
Jane, Kate, Dan, Sarah, Elsie, Annie, Edith, Florence. Really hard
times were
now being experienced in New Zealand during the nineties by strikes and
labour
unrest.
Meanwhile there had been changes taking place on Captain Dan's property
in
Guernsey. Complaints were being made that the smoke from the brick kiln
was
having a detrimental effect on the trees surrounding Lord de Saumarez's
manor
almost opposite and as the `gentry' in the island in those days had
much power,
so Captain Dan had to close down his brick yard and remove his brick
kiln. He
thereupon built some greenhouses on the property and a row of cottages
along
the road frontage, but was forced to limit the height of the cottages ,
the
reason being that if built too high they would lessen the amount of
wind
available for the windmill at the back.
The street was then known as Les Camps Terrace, by which name it is
still known
to this day. In New Zealand Sarah and Dan were not finding economic and
living
conditions at all easy and Captain Dan once again a widower was needing
a
housekeeper to look after him as well as someone to work the
glasshouses for
him. He also wished to see his son's wife Sarah whom he had not yet
met, so he
decided to ask the whole family to come over to Guernsey to live with
him. He
afterwards grew very fond of his Irish daughter-in-law. Imagine if you
can the
hardiness or hardihood of Sarah who in 1895 with eight children, the
youngest
three years old and over six months pregnant for the ninth, setting out
for the
long seven weeks voyage to England round the Cape Horn. They left New
Zealand
in the S.S. ”Ruapehu” during the coldest winter the colony had ever
experienced. While travelling Sarah became very ill and coupled with
this was
the anxiety whether she would reach England before her child was born.
Little
Florence used to say, “Oh my feet, my feet, they are so cold. When will
we get
to our other grandfather and a fire to warm my feet.?” Poor Sarah had
to lie in
her bunk and hear her plaintive cries and see the other children so
neglected
for the want of a mother's care and attention. Eventually the family
arrived in
Southampton and then in Guernsey on August 29 th just in time, for ten
days
after arrival a second son Hugh was born. The family now consisted of
seven
daughters and two sons with almost fifteen years separating the two
sons.
The fact that Dan's family were nearly all daughters had a certain
bearing on
the decision to return to Guernsey because just prior to their decision
to
leave New Zealand the government had brought out a scheme of giving
blocks of
land in the wild bush parts of the country with a view to bringing it
under
cultivation for farming. Sarah's sister Mary and her husband Robert
Hamilton
with a family of boys took up this offer and went to the Kawhatau a
district
near Mangaweka for this purpose. Dan and Sarah did not think this was
the kind
of life for a family of girls. The Hamilton family did a lot of
pioneering work
felling the bush and bringing the land under cultivation. First in the
Kawhatau
district and later in the King Country near Raurimu and in the Waioeka
Gorge
north of Gisborne, also near Rotorua and Opotiki and in North Auckland.
Some of
the grandsons are still carrying out the same work today in those
districts and
in the Huntly district, doing no small share with the development of
the wild
country.
Soon after young Hugh was born Sarah received word of her sister Mary's
death
which was a severe blow to her. When however she learned more
particulars and
how her body had to be conveyed on a stretcher by six men over wild
rugged bush
tracks from the Kawhatau to Mangaweka for burial, she realized more
fully they
had made the right decision not to settle there which was over fifteen
miles
from the nearest township and where her sister had to be taken
for
the last sad rites.
It is interesting to note at this point the arrangements that were made
by the
shipping company in New Zealand when they learned of the large young
family
that was travelling on the `Ruapehu'. They arranged for them to have a
very
large cabin with a smaller one adjoining it. In this larger portion
Sarah slept
with the seven girls while Jack occupied the adjoining one with his
father. A
good deal of structural alteration was necessary to arrange this
convenience but it meant that Sarah was able to be in constant contact
with the
whole family to direct the care of the younger ones by the elder and to
receive
attention herself from the elder ones. These arrangements were most
helpful and
perhaps saved the life of the very ill pregnant mother. On their
arrival in
Guernsey Jack, formerly known as Dan, was fifteen years old and
assisted his
father in the management of the glasshouses. Three of the girls were of
school
age and were sent to the British school in the town. There was a parish
school
in St Martins but at that time a good deal of French was being taught
at the
parish schools and as Sarah was anxious for the children to have a good
knowledge of English she elected to send them to the town school even
though it
was a good distance away for the children and the fee was one franc
weekly.
This does not sound much at the present day standards but ten pence a
week
which was the value of the franc at that time represented a large
amount to be
paid for schooling. The baby Hugh thrived but when he was two years old
Florence too had to go to the town school In Vauvert.
Up to this point the son Hugh, now a man past his three score years and
ten has
relied on the foregoing events from what he heard so often repeated by
his
parents and since verified by the older brother and sisters. My
earliest
recollections are of my old grandfather Captain Dan and then my
possession of a
little wheelbarrow which I was proud to use thinking I was helping my
brother
Jack in the greenhouses. I remember one day in particular, when my
brother was
whitewashing the wall of a three quarter span glasshouse. He was
unaware that
his little brother was beside him with a small pot of ground in the
barrow at
his feet. He flicked the whitewash brush and I received it in the eyes.
Jack
was terribly alarmed and agitated as he hastily put my face under a
nearby tap
while I screamed and gouged my eyes with my knuckles. The doctor
arrived to attend
to me but it was several days before they knew whether the sight would
be
permanently lost in one eye. One day in my grandfather's room I picked
up the
inlaid snuffbox with which I used to play and they then knew that my
sight was
returning much to the relief of everyone. When I was two years old
another
sister arrived, she was named Gladys. In speaking of early
recollections I
heard so much of the family's voyage round Cape Horn that I felt I had
made the
trip myself. Of course I had but not to remember anything because I had
not yet
left my mother's body.
When I became old enough I was sent to the infants school at St Martins
only a
short distance from my home while my sisters continued taking their
long walks
each day to the British Vauvert school in the town. I can still
remember the
little French rhymes and jingles that I was taught at that school in
the primer
classes. In later years when I learned more French I was able to
recognize the
words I learned parrot fashion. While we were in Guernsey the Boer war
broke
out and the various days of celebrations stand out in my memory.
Prominent
among them were Kronji's surrender, the relief of Mafeking and the
relief of
Ladysmith. My father's half brother, my uncle Charlie went to the South
African
war and was an officer in the Imperial Light Horse regiment and later
wounded
and invalided home. I still have some of his souvenirs such as
cartridges with
dum-dum bullets and such like but I have not many memories
of those
early days in Guernsey though I learned much more about it and the
Islands
history during subsequent visits.
Early in the year 1900 my parents gave me another brother, so now the
family of
eleven was made up of eight girls and three boys. New Zealand was again
experiencing better times and my parents began to express concern for
the
future of the family in the limitations in the small Island of
Guernsey. The
Island's economy was built mainly on the export of early tomatoes and
flowers
to England and granite from the quarries for building. Added to this
was the
considerable income received from the tourist trade because though
small in
size the Island could certainly boast of concentrated natural beauty
and a
climate milder than that of England.
By the year 1901 my eldest sister Jane was married to a Guernsey man
and with
their little family of a boy and a girl they decided to set out for New
Zealand. My brother Jack had fallen in love with a Guernsey lass about
two
years his junior. In September of that year my parents had booked their
passage
to return once again to the colony of great promise. We all boarded the
S.S.
`Waiwera' to make another start in New Zealand. Now counting the sister
already
there, a family of father, mother, eleven children and two
grandchildren and a
son-in-law were returning to help the population in a now prospering
colony.
The baby Ted was two months old when we set out for New Zealand and I
had just
celebrated my sixth birthday. A sister two years younger than me was
named
Gladys, my sister Flo was just over nine so the mother still had her
hands full
in caring for and training the family. The return voyage was fairly
uneventful
and my memories were of a brief call at Tenerife, mountainous seas in
the bay
of Biscay, then of some soldiers embarking at Capetown returning to New
Zealand, more storms after leaving Capetown for Hobart and later a
sailor
falling overboard and being rescued. One of my sisters had her
fourteenth
birthday while aboard and the chief steward put on a real party spread
for the
girls, but as no boys were invited I had to peep from behind a large
Union Jack
flag with my mouth watering as I watched them all eating the cakes and
good
things provided, so different from the routine food served on the
voyage at
meals.
Our port of arrival was Lyttelton and the family remained for a
short
time in Christchurch where I attended school for a while before going
to
Timaru. The school holidays were then on, and following that I spent
some weeks
in hospital after undergoing an operation. This long break, the voyage
out and
subsequent events set me back somewhat in my schooling, but I went into
standard one at the age of seven and finished at the top of my class by
many
marks.