Image believed to be that of the "Prince of Wales",
the Aberdeen-built barque which brought the Rae family to Nelson, New Zealand in 1842.
Thomas Rae (surname sometimes alternatively spelt Ray or Rea) was born in Scotland around 1809. He settled at Forfar, in the county of Angus, where he worked as a farm labourer. Times were hard, and it’s likely that Thomas and his family fell victim to the Scottish Clearances, which saw landowners turn from traditional labour-intensive agriculture and instead enclose their land for sheep farming. Hundreds of rural workers were made redundant and evicted from their cottages, which were usually tied to the farms where they worked. Large numbers of Scots dispersed all over the world during this period, by preference to British colonies.
The New Zealand Company's agents were active in the stricken Lowlands counties and perhaps their efforts persuaded Thomas to take the momentous decision to emigrate to the far side of the world. In search of a better future, the Rae family joined the exodus from Scotland. Having made their way to London, on 2 September 1842 they set sail on the barque “Prince of Wales”, under the command of Captain Alexander and heading for Nelson, New Zealand. On board were 43 cabin passengers and 158 emigrants travelling steerage. Among the latter were listed Thomas Rae (aged 35), his wife Agnes nee Duncan (30) and their children, William (12), Elizabeth (10), Margaret (7) and Robert (4).
The voyage was a relatively smooth one, lasting 110 days, this being considered a very good passage. The “Prince of Wales” arrived in Nelson on the 31st December 1842, but sadly, the Raes were by then down by one. Agnes, wife and mother, had died during the voyage, leaving her family bereft.
Family legend says that the ship was met by Henry (Snr) & Mary Redwood, who had heard of the Raes’ loss and wanted to offer their help. The Redwoods, who became well-known Waimea West pioneers, had arrived on the “George Fyfe” on 12 December 1842, just 19 days before the Raes. I myself, though, believe that this charitable family were the Scottish Kerrs, given that both Elizabeth & Margaret Rae later named daughters after Mrs Kerr, and that their father Thomas appears to have been working for the Kerr family at Waimea West.
It has become clear that the Rae children were taken into the care of the Kerrs, another hospitable family of early Waimea West settlers, who were fellow Scots - John Kerr Snr and his wife Janet nee Ramage. Mrs Kerr was much esteemed for her generous nature and both the Rae sisters later named daughters "Janet Ramage" after her.
Further misfortune followed for the young Raes. Their father Thomas Rae died suddenly on 20 March 1849, just seven years later. He was only 40 years old.
It had been believed by descendants that Thomas had drowned crossing a river while going to visit his children at the Redwoods' property. This could have been a possibility, given that it os well known that his son Robert worked at the "Redwoods Stables" and it's possible that Robert's older brother William had also worked there. However a heart attack is given as the official cause of Thomas' death. His registration of death certificate has his name as Thomas Ray and this is how he appears in cemetery records. The detail on the registration document is pretty light, unfortunately, but does tell us that he was at the time of his death a labourer at Waimea West. The Rev Henry Francis Butt recorded as the informant in the case of Thomas' death was an early Nelson Anglican clergyman associated with St Michael's Anglican Church at Waimea West, and this fits with my assumption that Thomas was living in the area and was connected with the Kerrs. I think it likely that Thomas Rae had in fact been working for them since his arrival in Nelson, especially given that the Kerrs' homestead was sited almost opposite St Michael's.
Since at the time St Michael's didn't have a cemetery, Thomas was buried at Nelson’s oldest cemetery, Hallowell, off Shelbourne Street, a former Maori urupā (burial ground). The actual site of his burial is unknown, but Thomas’ name is recorded on a commemorative board at the cemetery listing the names of known burials there.
It seems very likely that the two Rae sons, William and Robert (who both later went alternatively by the surnames “Reay” and sometimes “Ray”), also lived with the Kerrs at Waimea West until old enough to find work. It's possible that both sons worked for Henry Redwood, firstly at his Redwood Stables at Waimea West and later at his "Chokebore Lodge" stables at Riccarton in Christchurch.
In 1860 William Reay was married in Christchurch to Mary Ann Pickering, a daughter of William Pickering and his wife, Susanna (Susan) nee Kite, who had settled at Richmond, Waimea East, around 1856. William and Mary Ann Reay later moved from Christchurch back to Richmond, where they lived with their family of four in a home next to the Oddfellows Hall. William then worked as a roadman for the Stoke Road Board. but sadly, he later fell prey to depression and on the 9th of October 1895, he took his own life whilst under the influence of alcohol.
His younger brother Robert Reay (known as Bob), was taken up as a protégé by Henry Redwood of “Redwood Stables”, Waimea West, after showing an early talent for riding and racing horses. Horse racing was hugely popular as both a sporting and social event during the early decades of Nelson’s settlement, and as a rider of note, Robert raced horses for a number of Nelson bigwigs at events like those held at the Stoke Racecourse, on land opposite the Turf Hotel; the Great Nelson Trial Stakes, and the Waimea South Steeple Chase based around the Wakefield Arms hotel. By 1870 Robert had moved to Christchurch, where he worked as a rider and horse trainer, becoming a well-known figure in the Canterbury racing industry based around the Riccarton Park Racecourse. He married Charlotte Higgins in 1872 and they had four children, with the oldest son, Robert Henry, later taking over his father’s horse training business. An obituary published in the “Press” following his death on 23 April 1905 listed Bob Reay’s achievements, describing him as “A Veteran of the Turf”.
Thomas & Agnes Rae’s daughters Elizabeth and Margaret (Maggie) Rae both married in 1855 - Margaret to Robert Hooker and Elizabeth to John (Jack) Kerr Jnr. Hooker and Kerr were at the time business partners in a butchery business on Bridge Street in Nelson, and now became brothers-in-law as well.
The following year John Kerr and Robert Hooker both moved further into Wamea South – Kerr running the Tarndale Station (later sold to William Acton-Adams) before moving in 1862 to Lake Station at Lake Rotoiti, while Hooker first managed then bought the lease from William Gordon Bell for the Gordon Downs Run, and was also granted a licence to build and run the Gordon Downs Accommodation House (also known as the Upper Motueka Hotel) at the ford near the site of the current Jansons' Bridge in the Wai-iti area.
Between them, the Kerr-Hooker family group held a useful chunk of the accommodation and supplies business on the Buller route – Robert Hooker at Gordon Downs, and brothers David Kerr at “Blue Glen” run near the top of Kerrs’ Hill on the Nelson side and John Kerr at Lake Station on the Buller side, with Tophouse in the middle run by various owners. For many years “Gordon Downs” and “Blue Glen” remained important stopovers for drovers taking stock through to Canterbury for sale at Addington, though the Hookers had moved on by the 1870s.
Robert Hooker sold out in 1864 when he bought George Duppa’s former Allington estate just outside Brightwater and in 1866 took over the management of the Belgrove Hotel. Margaret Hooker nee Rae died at Wakefield in 1874, and her husband moved to the North Island. Her sister Elizabeth Kerr nee Rae died in Nelson in 1904, her husband having predeceased her in 1898 when he accidentally drowned at Lake Rotoiti.
One of Elizabeth Kerr's daughters was named for her sister and she was also known as Maggie. The Maggie and Maud Creeks at the Howard goldfield were named for Maggie Kerr and her sister Maud, who married Motueka merchant, Henry James (Harry) Rankin.
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