ALEXANDER FINDLATER - Unknown ship - Approx 1870
Alexander FINDLATER was born in the 4th quarter 1846 in Marlybone, London, England. He was the son of Alexander FINDLATER and Elisabeth HOLLAND.
He is shown as still living with his parents and siblings in Victoria Road, St. Pancras, London in the 1851 and 1861 census' but he is not shown on the 1871 census. I haven't yet pinpointed the actual date and ship of his travel out to New Zealand but it was probably between 1866 & 1873.
Alexander FINDLATER had one child with an unknown lady before he met & married Mary Ann HARRINGTON in 1877.
This first child was born in 1874 and died in 1954, and was also called Alexander. Probably named after his grandfather. Alexander jnr went on to marry Susan NIGHTINGALE. Susan was born in 1876 and was the daughter of William NIGHTINGALE and Georgina TAYLOR. Susan died in 1955. This couple had four children (Adelaide b:1902, Edmund b:1904, Georgina Alice b: & d:1908 and Thomas Charles b:1910).
Mary Ann HARRINGTON arrived in New Zealand in January 1875 aboard the Margaret Galbraith with her mother, Mary Ann HOPKINS, and five out her seven siblings. I assume that her father, George HARRINGTON had arrived on an earlier ship, possibly with his two eldest sons.
Alexander & Mary Ann went on to have nine children;
- Elizabeth Howard (born 1878 :died unknown date) The last record of this lady is in the 1900 electoral roll for Wanganui.
- Hannah Amelia (born 1879 :died unknown date) The last record of this lady is in the 1911 electoral roll in Christchurch.
- James Archibald (born 1880 :died 13th October 1881 aged 12 months).
- May Ethel (born 1884 :died 1978 ). May Ethel married George William LEADER in 1906 and had at least three children (May Winifred b:1906, John Vernon b:1908 and Eileen Ethel b:1910).
- Mary Ann (born 1886 :died 1967 aged 82). Mary Ann married William John BLACKIE in 1903 and this couple went on to have at least eight children.
- Walter Ernest (born 1889 :died 28th August 1970). Walter Ernest married Ruth Evelyn APPLEBY in 1924.
- John Stanley (born 1892 :died 1977). John Stanley married Aileen Alberta DRAKE in 1918.
- Norah Vera (born 1894 :died 1981). Norah Vera married William Daniel BACON also in 1918.
- Sydney Harrington (born 1896 :died 1931). Sydney Harrington married Mary Jane McKAY in 1924. He died by electrocution whilst mending his wife's iron.
The marriage between Alexander and Mary Ann was extremely tumultuous. Alexander was a habitual drunkard who used to beat his wife. A report in the Otago Daily Times dated 5th Sept 1896 stated that this was the 18th time that he had been in front of the magistrate for being drunk and disorderly and there are a number of further appearances mentioned in the papers after that without specifying the total to-date.
Mary Ann regularly left him but kept coming back and having more children. Not that Mary Ann was absolutely faultless as at least one report states that she had tried to kill her neighbour's animals with poisoned meat. Alexander jnr seems to have been the one who tried to keep the family together.
In 1905 Mary Ann eventualy sought, and was granted, a separation order along with maintenance for the children. After that they lived apart.
Alexander died on 23rd September 1925 and is buried in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. For some reason he is buried with another FINDLATER family who have no relation to him. Mary Ann died on 31st March 1943 and her ashes are scattered in Andersons Bay cemetery also in Dunedin.
