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My Bould family is very much a Staffordshire family and in England today the Bould name is concentrated in this county. Many of the early records spell the name 'Bold' but spelling was phonetical before about the mid nineteenth century. There is a very old De Bold family based at Bold Hall in Lancashire which may have originated from the Norman invasion of 1066, with records from the twelfth century. Many were knighted. This family dispersed about the fifteenth century, and my Boulds may descend from them. The earliest record of my Boulds discovered so far is of one William Bould who married Priscilla Hicken at Penkridge, Staffordshire, on 16 June 1647. Priscilla had been christened at Penkridge on 12 April 1626. Thomas, the eldest of William and Priscilla's 12 children, was christened at Marston, Staffordshire, on 21 November 1649. Thomas' son Edward, the eldest of two brothers, was christened at Stone on 16 April 1668, and married Mary Cooper at the adjoining parish of Trentham on 1 April 1695. Mary had been christened at Trentham on 13 November 1669. Richard, apparently the only child of this marriage, was christened 19 March 1701 at Trentham, and married Martha Cook at Ipstones on 23 February 1734. Martha had been christened at Alton on 13 Nov 1707, the daughter of William and Mary Cook. Thomas, the third child of five, was christened 11 July 1742 at Ipstones, marrying Ann Tunnicliffe at Cheadle on 23 September 1765. Ann had been christened at Cheadle on 25 July 1742, the daughter of Michael and Mary Tunnicliffe. Thomas and Ann Bould had eleven children - Samuel 1764, Thomas 1765, William 1769, Michael 1771, John 1775, Mary 1777, Robert 1779, Ann 1781, Martha 1784, another Thomas 1793, and finally another Thomas 1794, all born in Cheadle. The fifth child, John, was christened 12 march 1775 and married Ann Cope at Alton on 23 January 1798. The parish register entry confirmed that John was from Cheadle, and that Ann was from Norton being christened there on 7 August 1774. They moved across the county border to Derbyshire and had the following family: Thomas 1798 in Thorpe, Derbyshire John 1801 in Thorpe, Derbyshire William 1802 in Thorpe, Derbyshire George 1804 in Mappleton, Derbyshire Joseph 1806 in Mappleton, Derbyshire
before returning to Staffordshire and having the following children:
Robert 1807 in Bagnall, Staffordshire Samuel 1809 in Bagnall, Staffordshire
The various Bould families, apart from Robert, remained in a fairly small area of Staffordshire encompassing the villages of Bagnall, Tunstall, Wolstanton, Hanley, & Burslem for many years. Robert Bould, my great great grandfather, was born in Bagnall on 29th December 1807 and christened there on 19th June 1808. He became a cordwainer (a boot and shoemaker) and married Ann Slater on 18th November 1833 in Macclesfield, a town in the neighbouring county of Cheshire. As Ann and her two brothers were born in Macclesfield the couple followed the custom of marrying in the wife's parish. Their first child (and my forebear) was Thomas. Although his date and place of birth is still a mystery it was probably around 1833/4 in Cheshire. The next child was Mary Ann, born 4 January 1838 at Rathbone Street, Tunstall, Staffordshire. The last English born child was George, who came into this world on 25th April 1840 at Market Street, also in Tunstall, Staffordshire.
Times were tough and Robert and Ann decided to try their luck in one of the colonies. They chose New Zealand and on 13th November 1840 while they were living in Burslem, Staffordshire, applied successfully through the New Zealand Company's agent, Joseph Phipson, to emigrate. Things moved rather quickly and the family embarked on the Lord William Bentinck (444 tons) and cast off 5th January 1841 from Gravesend, 22 miles down the Thames from London. Tragedy struck on 7th February when little George, only 9 months old, died and was buried at sea. The voyage took four and a half months and on 19th May the family landed at Wellington, or more precisely, the Petone foreshore. They first lived at Tinakori Road, Robert later buying the Town Acre from Jerningham Wakefield for £75, and working as a bootmaker. In 1843 Robert registered on the Burgess Roll to elect aldermen for the Borough of Wellington, paying the sum of two shillings and sixpence for the privilege. In January 1854 Robert sold his Town Acre to Major Coote for £200, making a tidy profit. A few months earlier the family had taken up Daisy Hill Farm in Johnsonville, a few miles North of Wellington. The farm comprised 105 acres freehold and 145 acres leased from the Maori owners. Robert was lucky with the freehold purchase, Ohariu Section 96, a back section which runs between present day Elliot Street and Broderick Road with its eastern boundary along Bannister Avenue. In August 1853 he contracted with the Union Bank of Australia to buy the land for £100, its 1840 price, because the previous owner, the well-known Dr Evans, had defaulted on his mortgage payments to the Bank. The leasehold part of the farm adjoined Ohariu 96 with a frontage along the Porirua Road, now Fraser Avenue and the main road. Robert's lease with the Maoris was apparently rather a "she'll be right" arrangement. Though never legally executed, the arrangement was sufficiently binding for the family to be able, after Robert's death in 1875, to renew the lease. At this time, they paid £87 for the first 7 years, then £108 for the next 7, and £123 for the last 7 years.
The Bould house is probably the oldest standing in Johnsonville, but we do not know exactly when it was built. Was it there to welcome the family in the 1850s or, as seems more likely, did a loan from the Wellington Building Society in 1860 lead to its construction. Copies of the Wellington Provincial Gazette of the 1860s still line the ceiling of one of the upstairs bedrooms, and architect Charles Fearnley confirms that "from its general appearance 1860 could well be about the date it was built". Fearnley describes the house as:
Today, Daisy Hill
Farmhouse has the address of 15 Truscott Avenue, and has an
Historic Places Trust B classification which means the building
merits permanent preservation because of its historical and
architectural significance. The interior is dry and the
weatherboarding is in sound condition, and although the chimneys
have been removed, it is obvious where the main one, at least,
was situated. The stairs are still hidden behind a door in the
kitchen, and one bedroom upstairs is still without electricity.
Robert continued to invest in the property, a further £800 was borrowed in 1872, but in 1875 he joined many
another pioneer of the Porirua Road in the churchyard of St
John's, Johnsonville. Ann joined him in 1884. My great grandfather Thomas Bould married Georgiana Saunders in 1864, their family being: Albert William Robert (1865 -
1933) who married three times and was a butcher at Takapau, Another interesting Wellington site |
