The Bunbury Connection

Berkeley Bunbury - 1840 to 1910.
By Lesley Melody 2015

My grandmother Gwen Melody was very proud of her Bunbury connection. Her Grandfather was a Bunbury, and she never failed to use an opportunity to drop the name. It was taken as given that the name had some kind of aristocratic bearing.

Three of her four siblings had Bunbury as a middle name, and at the end of her life I note that Gwen inserted Bunbury into her name on the electoral role, going from Gwenyth Doreen Melody to Gwenyth Doreen Bunbury Melody. This name was very important to her.

I initially made the assumption that this Bunbury connection came from Major Thomas Bunbury, who played a part in gaining the signatures of the South Island Maori leaders on the Treaty of Waitangi. His timely public proclamation of sovereignty played a role in blocking an attempt by the French to gain sovereignty over Banks Peninsula and much of the South Island. It took about 2 minutes on Google to work out this was not our ancestor, as Major Thomas Bunbury went straight back to England and died without issue.

So who was our Bunbury?

First port of call for the Bunbury family history is Turtle Bunbury’s wonderful and extensive history of the family in Ireland:  http://www.turtlebunbury.com/

The website plots the path of Bunburys from England to Ireland. They were a family of wealth and connection, illustrious military careers and plenty of titles, plus a few big stately homes– all the stuff of my Grandmother’s fantasies. The New Zealand Bunbury story begins well down the tail end (and out the back door) of the aristocratic line. 

“The Rev. William Bunbury-Isaac was also reputedly the father of two young men, Berkeley Bunbury and his younger brother Vesey Bunbury (b. 1842) who were hurriedly shipped out to the Antipodes in the 1860s or early 1870s. Vesey ended up in Queensland, where he seems to have led a very tough life and died young in December 1876. Berkeley settled in New Zealand, where he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in 1873 and, possibly, again in 1909. Both brothers have descendants in their respective countries.”

Not quite the start that Gwen was hoping for.

Early UK War Records

The earliest reference to Berkeley Bunbury’s exploits is in the UK Naval Medal and Awards listing. He was awarded the Baltic Medal in 1857 while serving as a naval cadet on the Imperieuse (see below¹) at Castor during the Crimean War. Berkeley would have been 17 years old.

Seeking his Fortune in Victoria, Australia

By the end of 1858 (at the age of 18) Berkeley Bunbury had joined thousands of others seeking their fortunes in the diggings of Victoria in Australia in the gold rush.

He is recorded on a passenger list for the Meteor arriving in Melbourne from Liverpool. I can find no record of his fortunes in Australia other than a newspaper² report five years later aged 23. He is arrested in Melbourne along with a dozen or so others and charged with drunken and disorderly behaviour.

His experience may not have been all bad, as his younger brother Vesey followed him out to Australia, settling in Queensland. Vesey died young of heart disease leaving behind a wife and several children.

Sailing to New Zealand – joining the war for land.

In 1864 Berkeley Bunbury tries his luck in New Zealand. He volunteered in the Militia to defend the British interests in New Zealand in the Maori Land Wars. He arrived in New Plymouth, Taranaki on the Brilliant, in February 1864³.

The New Plymouth Library holds file cards from records pertaining to the first settlers, and in this case the Garrison Defaulters book.  The only records of Berkeley's time in the NZ military make sorry reading - he was repeatedly punished for being drunk, or the use of bad language.⁴

Taranaki – life after the military.

By 1866 Bunbury appears to have left the military service and was keeping a store at White Cliffs, North of New Plymouth.

At age 32 in 1872 Berkeley Bunbury ran for Provincial Council in the Bell & Grey District. He was unsuccessful, but Berkeley clearly sees himself as a man worthy of the job. ⁵

In 1874 the store of Clarke & Bunbury was trading in New Plymouth. They initially set up in Brougham Street in the Old Post Office then moved to Devon Street two stores up from the White Hart Hotel in 1874.  They were a general store selling everything from fish to axes. They also offered board and lodging by the week.^6,7 

Devon Street looking from Robe Street.  

Clarke & Bunbury has the horse and cart outside.

Marriage and a Life of Commerce

In 1876 Bunbury married Emma Jane Scammell,  daughter of a well-respected late Colour-Sergeant Ambrose Scammell of the 65th Regiment. ⁸ He was 35 and she was 19.

What became of the Clarke & Bunbury general store is not known but by 1878 Bunbury was in the tanning business. He was in the process of parting ways with his partner in that business, a Mr Davy. ⁹By the next year he was bankrupt. ¹⁰

The Taranaki Herald published the death notice of Berkeley’s sister Maria in Cork, Ireland.  Sad as this notice is, it showed to the New Plymouth community that he did come from a family of standing.¹¹

This family standing was clearly important. In 1901 in the marriage notice of Berkeley’s daughter Edith to Mr Henry Rogers, names Edith as “the second daughter of Mr Berkeley Bunbury, and niece of Doctor Bunbury, the present Bishop of Limerick”.  ¹²

This article appeared in the Taranaki Herald in July 1884 just a month after his wife Emma died leaving him with 3 young children, Eliza Lillian (my great grandmother, known as Lillian) 8, Edith Beatrice 7 and Berkeley William 5.

I wonder if it is evidence of an ongoing relationship with his family in Ireland? Berkeley refers to “money from Home” which was for the use of his children.

His postscript of “sailing for England” once his debts are paid appears to come to nothing as I can find no evidence of him ever leaving New Zealand again. ¹³

One of the prime ways I have been able to track the life of Berkeley Bunbury is through his over-indulgence in alcohol. There are at least a dozen reports of him being arrested on charges of drunkenness in New Plymouth over his years in the district. ¹⁴

Berkeley Bunbury’s Sunset Years in Taranaki

In his last years his name shows up in the electoral roles in various places around Taranaki. At age 65 his address was Eltham, where his daughter Edith lived. He gives his occupation as ‘author’. Some years earlier this advertisement appeared in the Taranaki Herald. I wonder if there is a copy on a shelf somewhere? ¹⁵

Berkeley died aged 70 in 1910. My Grandmother Gwen would have been 5 and I don’t know if she ever met him. My guess is that Berkeley instilled in his children tales of their illustrious forbears, and belief that they had come from great stock. It would have been something to cling to in their time growing up poor and motherless in the colonies. My Great Grandmother Lillian would have in turn passed on these connections to her children.

I do wish I had an image of Berkeley Bunbury – maybe there is one out there somewhere? Recently I came across a photo of his son, Berkeley William Bunbury. He was Gwen’s uncle but I do not know if she knew him. He bears a stunning resemblance to Gwen’s two sons Paul and my father Barry, a family look that runs strong in the following generations too. Are we all, indeed, a bit Bunbury? 

References

1. Author / Cartographer: Jones, Captain Oliver John Title: Hong Kong - H.M.S. Imperieuse at Hong Kong 1860 Date: 1860

2. Argus Newspaper. 17 July 1863 Melbourne Australia.

3. Taranaki Herald 20 feb 1864

4. New Plymouth Public Library. File cards pertaining to the Garrison Defaulters book.  4 March 1865.

5. Taranaki Herald 29 Oct 1872

6. Taranaki Museum. Devon Street looking from Robe St. File A.1.82 Clarke & Bunbury has the horse and cart outside.

7. 1874 Taranaki Herald.

8. 19 May 1875 Taranaki Herald

9.  29 Aug 1878 Taranaki Herald.

10. 22 Oct 1879 Taranaki Herald

11. 19 Jan 1879 Taranaki Herald.  

12. 2 Oct 1901 Taranaki Herald.

13. 28 July 1884 Taranaki Herald

14. 15 Julu 1895 Taranaki Herald.

15. 25 Jan 1889 Taranaki Herald.

If you have further information about this family, please contact lesleymelody@gmail.com