November already?

I love Google. Just love the strange twists that come about ... went to the local library searching for a book written by Mr Titchener. Found a reference that all his collections (and they are vast) had been donated to the Devonport Museum.http://devonportmuseum.org.nz/ Mr Titchener has now moved to Aussie seeking a warmer retirement I think. Anyway, his collection has been sitting while, as alterations have been made to the Devonport Museum and  Celia Walker the curator there (despite all the crazyness a building site causes) started looking for me. And came back with an additional name which I didn't have before. Henry Edgecombe from 1885. So again, I googled his name to see what I would find, and there was an online article by David Verran which led me to another name John Stogg from Feb 1889. So my total number of jockeys and riders has reached a total of  149.

David Verran is planning a book on the Alison brothers and will include the Takapuna Race course and why such a dangerous race track was used for so long.Can't wait for it.

Which in a strange way brings me back to George Albert Baker, the last jockey killed at Takapuna RC. I was trying to confirm some info on his mum, and found a gentleman called Mr David Maxwell had loaded some info into familysearch.org in July of this year. Figuring he might reply I posted off an email with a querry as to the possibility of my Kate Maxwell being his Katherine Maxwell. (With FamilySearch, you can't tell where someone is from, it could be NZ or it could be Timbucktoo) Back came his reply, he was in NZ and yes these two people were in fact the same person. After a bit of emailing, I sent him all the stuff I had on Albies family. David had passed this onto his mother who was just delighted to finally have some information about her eldest sister. Other than remembering Katherine and her husband were both horse crazy, she had no idea what had happened to them. How cool is that!

Dunno who you are, or why you're reading my blogg, but thanks, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. If you've never tried Genealogy, give it a go. You might be surprised how addictive it can be. As for me personally, I've been doing a bit of my own family these last few weeks and discovered, they were a bunch of lively crooks. Some days the stone is NOT worth turning over.

Hamilton East Cemetery part 2

Thomas (Tommy) Glover is a name I found when I did a blanket search of the word 'Jockey' on Archives NZ website. I ended up with 300 names of people who identified themselves as a 'Jockey' when their probate records were presented at court. Of those 300 names I looked at some that were clearly too old to have been riding, but proudly stated their occupation as 'Jockey' to their last days. Others looked like they were from a military background, but unless they were in WWI or WWII they were moved to the side, and the 20 or so I was left with, I started looking at the year they died, and the age they were. Thomas Glover fit the criteria of being someone in a riding career at the time of his death.

There were two names I was looking for at the cemetery, and after successfully finding S. J. Green, I hoped that I would have similar luck with Thomas (Tommy) Glover so off I went with my notes in hand to see if I could find Tommy Glover I determined the area of the cemetery he was most likely to be in, and again I was bummed out at the amount of headstones I was going to have to look at.

3 rows to my car!!!

You sometimes need to follow your gut instinct and ignore that rational part of you that says start at point A and work you way to Z. So what do I do - I ignored my gut instinct and listened to the rational part - after I had walked along three rows of headstones in section AA2 I was getting a bit brain numb from looking for any part of Thomas (Tommy) Glover's name that might be visible on an old headstone. I was looking at some headstones and they were from the 40's and they were barely discernable, and I was looking for someone from 1924! I was also trying to avoid the holes in the ground that looked a bit like gopher holes. (tried hard not to think of someone trying to escape ... after all it was only 1pm on a overcast day ... not zombie hour or anything) I kept looking up at the rows and rows I still had to do ... so insane.

In row 3 I came across a huge plot that said the name Hungerford, and it was very tastefully decorated and you could see why the road leading to the cemetery was named after them. Between you and me I think they were pretty rich. I was reciting the  Hungerford  names and glanced at the next humongus headstone and just about tripped over. There was Thomas (Tommy) Glover's awesome looking memorial. Those  Hungerfords might have had money, but Tommy Glover's resting place had been a symbol of great love.

 It must stand about 10 foot tall. But the top was broken off and I reckon it could have been even taller. Someone looked after his headstone and it looks like the lichen on it has only been there a short while as it is only on one side of the headstone (see picture above) the front picture left shows hardly any lichen at all. The headstone has a cement base with the name GLOVER on it then there are 4 tiers to the top. Without knowing what was on the top of the monument I can't say if it was 5 tiers or not. The pix to the left is looking across Tommy Glovers plot to the Hungerfords plot. About where the little yellow flowers are, is the edge of Tommy's plot. The front of the headstone has the words in polished granite and the background is sandblasted (think they had sandblasting back then) The words stand out so well. The ground cover from the Hungerfords plot has crept across to Tommy's grave, but in the past it's clear that the top of the plot had little white stones across it. There is a cement edge to the whole plot, and on top of that is an inner ring of black polished granite to match the headstone. (I'm back down that way in November so I'm going to take my gardening tools and a bag of white stone chips and of course my trusty sugar soap - and give it a good clean up so that it might stand proudly as it was intended - for a few more years yet)

After the blanket search of probate names, I went to Archives NZ in south Auckland about a year ago and Tommy's probate papers were ones I got to have a look at. I actually got a lot of information about his family from the probate records.  Tommy's parents weren't married, but at the time of his death his mother had married Victor William Priest,in May of 1913.  I believe he was a vet. Tommy's father Frank was not in the picture it didn't say if he was dead or had just left the family. However his mother wrote in the probate records that she was his mother and that she had been born in Tamworth, England. His father Frank Glover had no details at all in the records. BDM records show that there were 5 siblings, WiTaka born 1902, (Thomas born 19 May 1904), Elizabeth born 1906, Francis Joseph born 1908, Lucy born 1910 and Charlotte born 1911.  I wondered if one of his siblings had tended his grave, but having now passed too maybe there was no one to maintain it.

I don't know yet how Thomas Glover died, as it doesn't appear to be during a race. Still more to find out - regardless of whether he died in a race, or off track, he was still a Jockey and belongs to the collection of riders who passed away 'during' his career.

3rd Jan 2013 - Newspaper reports of the day say Tommy had died after an illness. But digging reveals he'd not recovered from an earlier fall.  Didn't say where or when the fall occurred and what those injuries might have been.

30 Dec 2012 - Received a lovely email from a lady on the Gold Coast, Australia who is the wife of the grandson of Joseph Francis Glover (born 1908). She told me that there was a photo of Tommy winning the Auckland Cup in 1920 which hung in 'Joe' Glover's hall way. She thought it might have gone to the Auckland Racing Club.  Love it when you get a new avenue to search down. 

Hamilton East Cemetery part 1

I had an appointment in Hamilton East today so I decided to leave Orewa early and maybe get a bit of research done while I was down that way. (yes, I took my camera with me this time) hence the awesome pix of headstones.
I have some amazing luck when I visit cemeteries. I know you might laugh, but you can seriously waste a lot of time looking for burial plots in a cemetery ... especially an unfamiliar cemetery. I normally double check to make sure anyone I'm out looking for actually has a headstone.  If there is no headstone you need to go to a city council and get a map of the cemetery which shows the plots. Smart people normally ask if the plots either side have a headstone and if so, what are the names of the people buried there. Every bit of info helps.

I rocked up to the Hamilton East Cemetery, it's off Cobham Drive in Hamilton East. You follow a roadway called Hereford Crescent till you come to a white picket fence, the gates are normally open so you can drive right up. On the outside wall of the public conveniences there is a map of the cemetery, this was my first stop, (not to use the loo, to check the map) I double checked where I was going to and off I went in the direction of the lawn cemetery. I didn't realise at first that Stanley John Green was buried in the lawn cemetery.

The inscription on the plaque

I parked and walked between some headstones to a line of trees and then stepped down to the lawn cemetery part. There are about 5 rows between the line of trees and the curb where the road comes round.  I headed to the curb and when I got there I was looking left and right and thinking to myself there are at least 100 plaques per row. (slightly exaggerated but it felt like it) I was standing there and just decided to go right. I must have taken about four paces and I stopped and could not believe my eyes, there was Stanley John Green's memorial plaque. Under a beautiful old tree. as you can see, it was a bit covered over and some spots of nature had landed on it's surface so I cleaned it up so I could read it. The polished granite looks a bit motley, but it's actually the reflection of the tree branches over head.

I don't have much info on Stanley John Green as I haven't done much research on the middle collection of riders.  I did know he was from Australia as I couldn't find his birth on BDM in NZ. I sat for a little while and thought how had it would be to lose a child and have them buried in another country and not be able to bring them home. I was thinking to myself that it's possible that Stanley John Green served in WWII with the Australian forces, then came over here? but it's also possible that he was too slight to be accepted and just came over here because there were too many riders in Aussie?  Much to discover. Still I'm a little way off researching him because he died in 1948 and I'm still ambling through the late 1890's. I wonder what he looked like and hope I find an image of him.

George Albert Baker strikes again

Was loading more information about George Albert Baker's family into a genealogy program on familysearch, and noticed a lady with a similar name to George's mother. I did a bit of tracking and experienced a very cool ending. I try to confirm anything I find by at least 2 sources. Sometimes it's not possible but I try.
     George's mothers name was giving me a run around. She is listed on the headstone as Kate Winifred, so I went looking for Kate Winifred Baker in the NZ Births/Deaths/Marriages (BDM) I used George's dads name to find the marriage information, which helped me find her maiden name of Maxwell. I then took a stab in the dark and hoped she'd been born in NZ and I came across a Catherine Winifred Maxwell. This info looked interesting, as Kate could be short for Catherine. I'm busy building up a family tree for this person, and thinking I was doing really well, but when I went to load this info into familysearh a notice came up for a duplicate person. I was thinking I would ignore it, but decided to email the guy who had put the info into the system in July 2012 and hold off till I heard back from him.
     I received a very nice email back telling me that my information and his was the same person.
It turned out that Kate Baker, was the eldest daughter of Patrick Maxwell. Daniel the guy who emailed me had no information at all on her as his line was from one of the younger children in the family. He recalled that  his mum had met Kate and her husband and they were both horse crazy. The family didn't know what had become of them, and as they had lost touch, it meant they had hit a brick wall.
In my reply I attached all the information I had on the Baker family and sent it off to him. Daniels reply was to say his mum (who was still alive) would be over the moon to read what I'd found and I had enabled them to fill in a large chunk of missing family.
     It's the coolest feeling to connect the dots for people. And not long after I blogged about my trip to Morrinsville to find George, I received a post from a lady who's grandmother used to work on the farm for JP Baker (Jack) she would go there as a kid for holidays. She was also helpful.  I can't help smile when things like this happen. Sheesh I'm smiling just because I'm thinking about it now.


An image of JP Baker receiving the 1965 NZ Trotting Cup.
Lofty Shaw, JP Baker, Gary Dillon & driver Peter Wolfenden.

Garry Dillon was raced on lease by E B S Grey and J H Shaw from his Southland breeder Mrs E M Kirk. In a post race interview his trainer, J P Baker of Morrinsville, related how the flight that Garry Dillon was booked to come down on was cancelled and the horse had to endure a trying 600 mile (960k) float trip which saw him arrive the Friday before the Cup. 

www.addington.co.nz
Credit: Colin Steele

Gotta read 'Harry - the ride of my life'

Spent the day reading The Noel Harris Story - harry the ride of my life.
What an awesomely put together book. Wally O'Hearn did a fab job on writing this with Noel. Love the way Noel's sense of humor and his directness comes through. Please ... Please ... Please ...  go buy this book and read it.

The Harris family were no strangers to tragedy as they had a rider death in their family. Jock Harris, Noels dad lost his brother Des (Dodo) Harris in an accident at Marton RC on New Years Day 1952 when Des was only 18 years old.

I was interested to see the other names of riders Noel mentions as losing their lives at the time they were riders.  I have a couple of new names to follow up. The guys who are riders who die off the course are often forgotten as their names aren't attached to a racecourse and can easily slip into oblivion. I'll update you when I discover more. Des Tucker & Mark Heaney were the names mentioned in the book. I also have a Murray Alexander (Pedro) who died in a car accident in 1958 found his name in a newspaper article.

If you do know of anyone else that should be on my list, give me a bell and I'll look them up. Rather waste some time researching than let someone remain unidentified.

George Albert Baker # 78

Returning from holiday in Rotorua in June 2012  I headed to Morrinsville looking for George Albert Baker who was killed in 1934 at the age of 19. I had to stop at the Morrinsville council office as the map they have of the cemetery was too large to email to me when I was at Matamata District Council. (Matamata DC has the responsibility of a number of cemeteries)  I guess the town grew around the cemetery as it is very close to the centre of town. But judging by the size of the trees it’s quite old.  I literally knew where to go the minute I parked on the road and looked up the drive.

George Albert Baker was 19 years old when he died. He was riding a horse called Kelly, in the Calliope Handicap at Takapuna Racecourse on the 27th of January in 1934.  Some reported that Kelly rolled against the running rail causing George’s injuries, others claim George and the mount merely touched the rail but that George got tangled and then went down.  What isn’t in debate is that on the bend just before the straight he hit the wooden running rail. George (Albie) Baker received a broken leg, concussion and internal injuries.  He died at the Auckland Hospital at 5.30 pm. His mum was on her way from Motumaoho (near Morrinsville) but didn't make it to Auckland before Albie died.  

The Stewards of the day immediately called an inquiry, but the broadest inquiry was undertaken by the Coroner Wyvern Wilson.  (Interestingly the Stewards came to the conclusion that the girth had broken causing the saddle to move up and this was what had caused Albie to be thrown through the railing. Nothing about the course being an issue. Makes you wonder if the course was the issue would they have cancelled the rest of the meetings races? and totally off the track, the local undertaker was very involved with the
TJC - that is a bit creepy).  The Coroner had a bit of difficulty getting corroborating evidence and at one point called an adjournment for more evidence to be provided. Before making his final decision on February 10th 1934, the coroner concluded that horses when put under pressure, naturally gallop straight forward, not in a circle? He then advises that the Takapuna course was too circular for inexperienced horses to maintain their balance and keep up a high speed . (Kelly was a two-year-old competing in it’s first race. However he did say the rider was skilled and the horse well trained.  The cause of death was listed as accidental.

No one wants to be the cause of someone’s death but it appears there were a few people covering their own backsides and trying to ensure they didn’t get the blame.  Albie was the 7th rider to die on the Takapuna course. He was also the last. Each and every time there was a fatality at the racecourse it was put down to jockey error. There were a couple of times that the course was clearly the issue, but it was the 7th coroner who pushed to have the course looked at, and within a year of George’s death the racecourse closed.  7 men died and the course was faulty. (Just trying to think what to write instead using lots of swear words) It just made me so mad!!  The following year the Takapuna JC held their meeting at Ellerslie, and as fate would have it, another young man died at that meeting.  The Takapuna JC had offered to fix their course and wanted to upgrade the stands etc, but this was declined and eventually their members joined up with the Ellerslie members.

Today the old TJC ground is the Takapuna Golf Course.  It’s a beautiful serene place. (I’ve seen only one aerial shot of the Takapuna Racecourse taken by the crew of a RNZAF plane out of Whenuapai. Which showed the actual racecourse in it’s day.   And yup it was most definitely very circular). When you pay your respects and sit looking at these young mens headstones you just wonder why it had to happen.  How flippin expendable were these riders and horses?

Albies father George Albert Baker was a farmer at Motumaoho, where he lived till he retired. Both he and his wife are buried beside Albie. Records list Albie as being born in New Zealand but he doesn’t show up in the Birth records in NZ. Maybe there is a spelling mistake, but I’ve tried all possibilities. Even so I believe he was born about 1915. It appears that because of his love of horses and his small stature, Albie decided to become a professional rider. He was apprenticed to Mr George Paul of Te Awamutu. I believe he was still apprenticed to Mr Paul at the time of his death. George Baker the father was the son of  Charles Baker who won the Auckland Trotting Cup in 1906 with Typewriter.   I found records that show an older son born to Kate & George Baker, but not much else. Records show a John Patrick Baker being born and it’s not uncommon to find someone called John who is called Jack as a nickname. Found the reference to a JP Baker (Jack) who won the NZ Cup at Addington Raceway in Christchurch in 1965 who might be the elder brother of the apprentice jockey Albie. I’ve yet to discover if there were any sisters in the family. JP Baker the trainer lived in Morrinsville. So I have my fingers crossed that maybe he was the older brother or a cousin?

When you walk up the slight incline to the cemetery, you see a large polished headstone in a warm red colour which broaches a large plot in the 3rd row to your right. This is where Albie rests. Him and his folks need a bit of  TLC and hopefully on my way to Rotorua next time I’ll be able to stop in and tidy them up.  I sat for a while after I wrote the inscription down from the headstone and closed my eyes to clear my mind.  I hope I find a picture of him one day, to see if he looks like I imagine he did. I’m sure that he would have had a write up in a local paper from the area. I wonder who owned the horse he was riding and what the colours were he wore that afternoon.

A while back I talked with Colin Jillings and he said that he could recall seeing horses using the course as they travelled past the Takapuna coast heading north by boat to attend races in Whangarei back in the 30's. Just makes you think how times have changed. In the 1880s they rode the horses to the races or used boats to transport them, then there was the automobile and now planes. Watching a clip of Black Caviar traveling to the Northern Hemisphere in that awesome body suit … just where does it all go now.  I’m sure our angel riders are looking down very amused at what a bunch of comfort creatures we’ve become.

1. Bertram Thomas Castleton                     19yrs           3 Jan     1897
2. Alfred Charles Walter Butler                  24yrs          26 Nov  1904
3. William James Moylan                           15yrs          26 Nov  1921
4. Alfred John McFlinn (aka AJ McFlynn) 38yrs          29 Nov  1924
5. Edward Montague Preston                    28yrs            2 Feb   1926
6.Robert Henry Reilly                                28yrs          28 Nov  1928
7. George Albert Baker                            19yrs           27 Jan    1934

    Sorry I've been gone for so long, I've been a bit busy in the last 6-8 months.  My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer – guess it’s a forgone conclusion when you smoke for 62 years. Fast as my dad was (and he’s up there in the super dad category) he couldn’t dodge that bullet.  When I first started my research he would just nod at me in his fatherly way and pass by with his coffee, as he headed to his man-cave.  Later when the cancer took a tighter grip, he’d sit and watch me as I wrestled with my research. Just knowing he was around to answer questions seemed to make him feel part of what I was doing. Gradually he lost the endurance to do even that. Dad was there when I made my first phone calls, and started building up the material on each rider. I’d get all excited and tell him about my new discoveries … He on the other hand would recall the names and exploits of riders he knew, (which while interesting wasn’t all that helpful as  none of them died during their careers) but it was something we shared.

     During one of his last stays at hospice, he looked over at me and randomly told me to “finish it” …  I didn’t know what he was on about and then he said  … “the jockeys” At that point I hadn’t touched anything for months. I was stunned that amongst the pain, and there was lots of pain by then, that he thought about my project.  I promised him that I would keep going … and I will.  This is the first time I’m doing it without him. I miss him so much and I can only hope that each of these riders had someone who loved them and grieved for them the way my siblings and I are grieving for our dad. I intend to make sure our generations don’t forget my dad either, I couldn’t have wished for a better Dad, a better friend and a greater inspiration.

Eugene Alexander Chan : 16 February 1930 – 19 March 2012

My Dad being cheeky to the camera