Rangi Naylor 1927

A couple of weeks ago I felt inspired to start looking for Rangi Naylor. He was a young apprentice who died during a race at Hastings. He was 17 and that was about all I knew except that he was also buried in Hastings.

I had no luck trying to find Rangi in NZ Birth/Deaths/Marriages (BDM). I found his death reference, but couldn't find a birth for him. But as luck would have it, Past Papers who are getting more and more old newspapers on line, gave me a lead. While I've searched for Rangi before,  I never had any hits. Then out of the blue this time round I find one mention of him in the NZ Truth. I used a keyword search around that date and found two more articles also regarding Rangi's death which don't mention him, but which mention his father. So there I was, holding the name William (Bill) Naylor.  Back I go to BDM and search for any Naylor called William who had a child in 1909. Bingo, William and Nora Naylor had a son called Edward Rangi Totene Naylor. I needed to find out what was written on Rangi's headstone to see if this was the right person. Fingers crossed I went to the local library and searched genealogical microfiche with all the Hastings Cemetery inscriptions and I what I find what is written on the headstone blows me away.  Rangi's name is there with a woman called Loretta Thompson who states she is Rangi's mother??? I'm left wondering who was Nora and where did Loretta come from?

But why stop a good mystery at that point. I found William Foster Naylor had married Loretta Harriet Catherine Hollis in 1903.  So I had Bill and his wife and then their daughter Mary Rowena Naylor being born in 1904 in Pihiatua. Then came a son called William Richard Naylor born in 1907 at Pihiatua, and then I found Edward Rangi Totene Naylor. Just to ensure that any family historian had a proper goose chase, Mary Rowena had the correct parents name, but William Richard known as Richard (Man) William Naylor was under a William and Laura Harriet Naylor, Rangi was under William and Nora Naylor. Saving grace was an email from Terry Hollis a NZ Genealogist who had a family tree on Ancestry.com.  His information confirmed the BDMs errors and we do need to remember Loretta wasn't a common name in 1900+ so Laura or Nora could be misspellings by a country registrar who was possibly half deaf.

While William was born in Taueru, Masterton, New Zealand most of his siblings were born in Yorkshire, England.  Edward and Mary Jane Naylor and their family came out to NZ on the Zealandia with five of their seven children (two little girls died before they left England) then after arriving in NZ, William and Leonard were born in Masterton. I'm still to find out more about Rangi's mother's side Catherine Loretta Harriet Hollis was born at Taradale in 1884, her father Richard was a shepherd and her mother was Catherine Chase. Terry filled in a number of blanks and yes both William and Loretta had remarried and Loretta was indeed Loretta Thompson.


It was quite lovely to put a family around this young rider. because there was hardly anything out there about him. Rangi was apprenticed to 'Granny Maher' and had ridden his first race only the day before his accident.  at the Hastings Race Course. Both times he was riding Merry Singer. On the first day of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club's Autumn Meeting on the 6th of May, Rangi took Merry Singer out in the Mangatarata Hurdles in a field of 12. He came home second to last. Next day he was back in the saddle for the Karamu Hurdles but this time Merry Singer fell at the first fence, the ambulance picked him up and whisked him off to hospital. While he had broken both arms in the fall, it was a kick from a following horse that caused the head injury that was to take his life two days after the race. From different reports the first hurdle was blocked from the view of the reporters and some spectators by the Judges Box. They did say the Stewards had said he had made a strong start and was leading the field at the first jump. I can understand the desire to ride that Rangi may have possessed  his father William (Bill) Foster Naylor was the winner of the Grand National in CHCH on the Guard. His father had been only 19 years old when he won that race.

Big thank you to Terry Hollis for his input and to Past Papers.

Now to find a picture of him, and where he spent his early childhood? seriously how hard could that be in NZ ... only time will tell.

Ashlee Marie Mundy #150

I love researching, discovering and putting together a picture of someone's life. When you get to do a historical rider, it gives you a bit of a buzz that the dots are finally connected. This week, a new name was added to my list Ashlee Marie Mundy. Her passing is slowly sinking in. Don't actually feel like writing about her, what can I say? so this will be a very brief post.

I don't really want to discuss the race, the fall, the medical treatment.  For me Ashlee was an excellent rider, and no one seems to have a bad word to say about her. A clear indication of her personality and nature. Her family cherished their limited time with her as she was riding on both sides of the Tasman. I"m not one to question God on his decision to call her home, so I'm sure that he has plans for her in his big picture. I'm glad Ashlee's friends are making posts on her FB memorial page, speaking of their friend. All I can think, is that people seem to have some lovely memories of her, that maybe the race accident won't steal all the attention, and that memories will be of the other joyful events in her life.

Ash winning on Sale Along 14th of April 2012 G.C.T.C
photo share from Nikki Lee White

However a thought for her parents who decided to allow her organs to be donated. I have a friend that at 14 was considered legally blind. He needed cornea transplants to have any hope of seeing again. When the call came to get to the hospital, my friend could only think of one thing - that someone died - and that's the only reason he was getting his sight back. His commitment to the donor was to use their gift to him, to be a better person. He trained in the mental health field.Who ever the sick people are who are being helped by Ashlee this week, I hope they come to know how wonderful she was as a person, and how wonderful her parents are to have assisted her in her final gift to New Zealanders.

Rest in Peace Ashlee. 

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.