May Bartley and William (Bill) Allen & Eva Bartley and William (Bill) Cotes

May Bartley and William G Allen 

May Elizabeth Bartley was the ninth child of Edward Bartley and Elizabeth Hannken. She was born at Devonport 21 July 1875. Like her siblings she attended Devonport Primary School. She shared the family love of music and theatre.  

May as Queen of the Fairies - an early stage triumph reported in the Observer 20 June 1891 page 14

 At the age of 26 May married Bill ALLEN owner of the stationery firm W. G. Allen & Co. The wedding took place on 13 November 1901 at Holy Trinity Church in Devonport.The couple met through music and shared that interest all their lives.

Observer 21 November 1901

The light operas and musicals of this period made for popular programming. The Christmas performance of HMS Pinafore in 1903 proved a sell out show and a successful fundraiser for the Devonport Band.

May and Bill welcomed a son Bryan William 18 May 1902, followed soon after by their daughter Lois

Bryan William Allen in full command of his vehicle, from the Album of George F Bartley

May and Bill lived in Mt Eden all their married life. May died there in January 1951. Bill followed her a few years later, in May 1956.

Eva Bartley and the Cotes Family

Eva with her brother Percy who died in early adulthood Photo by Josiah Martin & E Partington Auckland.

Eva Rosine Bartley was the tenth child of Edward Bartley and Elizabeth Hannken. She was born 16 May 1877 at Devonport.

The younger Bartley children found good friends in the Cotes household. They were also Devonport residents and attended the Devonport Public School. Amy Cotes was a good friend of both May and Eva. Her brother Bill, Des Grattan and Bill Allen and the Bartley brothers all shared musical and social connections.


Observer 9 September 1905

Eva was late to marry. Her brother Percy (born 1878) was physically frail from just after his primary school years. He required nursing care. Eva became his inseparable nurse and companion by the time he died of consumption in 1907. Four years later, aged 34 she married William Proctor COTES on 2 February 1911 at Holy Trinity Church in Devonport.
Eva and Bill had one daughter Marjorie Eva



 Bill, as he was known was born in 1881 in Dudley, Worcester, where his family were living at 107 Stourbridge Road (RG11 2878/152p52). Bill's father, Arthur Edward Cotes was a native of Matlock in Derbyshire employed as a traveller for a drapery firm. Bill's parents Arthur and Annie were married in Manchester, Annie's home town, on 27 June 1874. The family emigrated soon after Bill was born and settled in Devonport. Bill had an elder brother Henry (known as Harry). Harry became engaged to Florrie COURT in 1898, a daughter of John Court.


Observer 12 February 1898


The romance did not prosper, however, and Florrie married another of their circle, Charles Rainger. Harry remained unmarried.
Bill's sister Amy Cotes married Desmond GRATTAN  3 October 1900. The couple had four children. 

Observer 13 October 1900

Albert Ernest Bartley and the Williams family

Albert Ernest Bartley was the 8^th child and fourth surviving son of Edward BARTLEY and Elizabeth HANNKEN. He was known in the family as Allie and was born at Devonport, North Shore, Auckland on 5 November 1873 where he attended the local primary school in his early years.
In 1901 his sister May was married. Allie was groomsman for Bill  ALLEN on that occasion. A few years later he stepped forward as the groom himself, when he married Lucy Helena WILLIAMS, 14 February 1906 at Sacred Heart Church in Ponsonby, Auckland.[ii]

 Lucy was almost 10 years his junior, being born in 1882 in Thames. Her parents were John and Margaret Williams[iii] . We know she had at least three siblings, as they were also baptized in the Catholic Church in Thames.

Her brother Thomas Henry was born in 1876 [iv], her elder sister Alicia  in 1877[v]  and younger sister Sarah was born in 1884.[vi]

The Williams family moved to Auckland some time after Sarah was born and settled in Ponsonby.

Albert and Lucy were married in the Catholic Church in Ponsonby. Two years later sister Sarah Williams married Bernard George HOLTON in the same church.[vii] Bernard’s parents were Thomas Holton and Emma PURSER from Clapham, England.  From the 1901 census we know of a second son William and a sister Edith. Bernard was a commercial traveler and the marriage was not a happy one. He moved to Australia and was living at 63 Surrey St Darlinghurst when he died. [viii]

Albert and Lucy had two children Jack b 27 November 1907 and Trevor Yelverton b 1909

. 

Jack and Trevor in the garden at Devonport

Lucy died aged 31 on 10 November 1913. [ix]

After Lucy’s death Alicia helped to raise her young nephews, as well as caring for her widowed mother.  Mrs Margaret Williams died 7 December 1922 and was buried at  Waikumete Cemetery.[x] In 1923 Alicia and Albert married. 

Albert died 15 October 1940 at home at 54 Albert Road Devonport.[i]

Alicia survived Albert by 24 years and died in Auckland on 4 August 1964.[xi]

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[i] Oneils Point Row T Plot 89

[ii] Index to Catholic Parish of Ponsonby Record of Marriage 1906 #171355

[iii] Index to Catholic Parish of Thames 1882 #95580 Record of Baptism

[iv] Ibid 1876 #95837

[v] Ibid 1877 #95189 transcribed as Eliza Prudence

[vi] Ibid 1884 #95733

[vii] Index to Catholic Parish of Ponsonby Record of Marriage 1908 #17145

[viii] NSW Register Deaths 1954/16091 16 August 1954 Informant brother W Holton of 97 Victoria St Potts Pt

[ix] Oneils Point Row T Plot 89 NZRBDM 1913/8135

[x] Waikumete Cemetery Records PRESBYTERIAN DIVISION C Row 3, Plot 8 NZRBDM 1922/2312

[xi] Oneils Point Row T Plot 87

A Visual Bouquet for Harold Stewart Bartley 1927-2014

Harold Stewart Bartley, great grandson of Edward Bartley, grandson of Frederick, son of George Bartley passed away last weekend. We celebrate his life here in images from the Bartley Archive.

WW1 NZ Armed Servicemen - Gilbert Slattery & George Bartley

The Bartley Archive holds a number of objects belonging to family members who served in the armed forces. These objects help us to more readily identify with the young men who served in the Great War.

Every person entering the armed services received identification tags so that in the event of death or injury they could be identified and the authorities advised. These tags, belonging to Gilbert Slattery are typical of the period.

Identification Tags belonging to Gilbert Slattery

Gil enlisted in August 1914 at the age of twenty. He was a gas fitter by trade, employed by Brodie's of Northcote where he lived. Before leaving New Zealand he was part D Company, 4th Reinforcements. From November 1914 to 22 March 1915 he was with the Samoan Detachment. Three weeks later he left New Zealand once more as part of the 3rd Auckland Regiment, later joining the Otago Infantry.

Gil remained overseas throughout the war years. He served at Gallipoli before being transferred to the Western Front in 1916, where he remained until the end of hostilities in 1918.
At the close of the war he was embarked for England. After a month recovering in military hospital there he was recruited into the NZPC, the Police Corps, with whom he continued to serve until embarking for home in January 1920.

Accoutrements box belonging to Gilbert Slattery. Soldiers commonly referred to these boxes by the traditional name of ditty box as they also contained their personal bits and pieces such a mending kit and memorabilia.

George Bartley at Enlistment 1918

George was a Pharmacy apprentice in 1917 when he enlisted, but he was required to remain in civvies until he passed his final examination to qualify as a pharmacist. He spent his 21st birthday with trainees for the Medical Corps at the NZ Army training base near the Awapuni Race Course.

 They embarked from Dunedin on the Hospital Ship Marama on the first of June 1918 on their journey to Europe. The ship collected patients at Durbin in South Africa from whom the new recruits heard their first uncensored reports of the military activities.

The Hospital Ship Marama

On arrival in Marsailles, France George was part of a draft detailed for the Western Front. By now, however, it was August 1918 and they were despatched instead to a hospital in Warminster. At the end of hostilities he was posted to "Sling Camp"- the base on the Salisbury plains from which NZ troops were processed for return home.

The First Aid Kit issued to George Bartley 1917

the intact contents of the first aid kit

Below are a selection of papers from the Attestation and Service Record of George Bartley. These documents are typical of those for servicemen  in this period.

War Correspondence 1914-1918

2014 brings with it a significant commemoration of the Great War. 

There are now thousands of images available depicting the theatre of war, but still very few which illustrate the means by which families and friends maintained relationships during the years of conflict. 

The postcards illustrated below were all sent to family members in New Zealand by fathers, brothers and uncles serving in Europe during the years 1914-1918. 

Censorship operated during this period, as well as the natural restraint of men making light of their situation to shield their loved ones from care and anxiety, but it was the point of contact represented by these post cards which was so important to those at home.

Bertha Bartley - fifth child of Edward Bartley and Elizabeth Hannken (1869-1944)

Emily Bertha Bartley (Tottie)

Emily Bertha Bartley was born at home in Union St, Auckland on May 9, 1869.[i]

She was the fifth child of the family and the eldest surviving daughter. She was known to family and friends as Tottie.

When she was still a toddler the family moved to Devonport on the North Shore, where the Bartley children enjoyed a seaside environment away from the public health issues of Auckland itself.

Devonport was a fledgling rural community at that time, but still a commutable distance for her father’s work and social engagements.

Like her siblings, Tottie was a talented musician. She enjoyed performing, was a gifted soprano, and was often in demand as keyboard accompanist or for string ensembles with her violin or viola.

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[i] Daily Southern Cross 7 June 1869 page 10

Tottie photographed by her brother Fred, about 1890

In February 1884 SS Doric berthed in Auckland. Amongst the new immigrants on board were Philip Hawe MASON and his wife Martha ROBINSON. Coming from Swindon, Wiltshire in England, they brought all their surviving children with them. The Masons settled at Kerr St Devonport where their similarity of social circumstances, religious and political views laid the ground for a solid and lasting friendship with the Bartley family. Their ninth child was Frank Ernest Mason. He was three years older than Tottie Bartley and a best friend of her older brothers. Frank was especially close to Fred Bartley, sharing his interest in the new dance music and new technology of photography.

Frank Mason about the time he arrived in Auckland, aged 17, in 1884

NZ Herald 2 March 1891

Frank trained as an accountant. From the beginning of his adult life and continuing into old age, he was active in church, school and district affairs. Both he and Tottie were so community focused there was hardly an organisation, interest group or charity in Devonport deprived of their energy. In this they were following the example of their respective parents, who were of a generation to whom community service was grounding principle of daily life.

Devonport School Committee Meeting Auckland Star 28 April 1891

Tottie and Frank had five children, all born at Devonport. They were Bertha Eileen 1892; 
Dorothy Hazel 1894; Marjorie Estelle 1897;  Norah Kathleen 1903 and Philip Hawe 1909.

Tottie died 27 May 1944 and was interred in the Mason family plot at O'Neills Point Cemetery, North Shore, Auckland.

Hazel photographed by her cousin George Bartley about 1913

Hazel in costume as an Egyptian Princess, from the album of George F Bartley

Marjorie Mason photographed by her cousin George Bartley about 1913

Marjorie Mason, from the album of George F Bartley

Nora Mason about 1913 from the album of George F Bartley

Frank's sister Ada married Bill Barrach in 1890

Frank's sister Ellen married Samuel Craig in 1889

the Mason plot O'Neills Cemetery North Shore Auckland New Zealand