Ebenezer Norris and Family (Part 2)

In 1890 when Ebenezer suddenly passed from this world following the untimely drowning of his brother William, his family fell on hard times. The 1880s had been a decade of financial struggle for many and the Norris family was no exception. Newspaper records show they offered their home ‘Barbreck’ for sale unsuccessfully for months, stretching into years, in the late 80s whilst Ebenezer was still with them.

Colin Campbell Norris, 1871-1926
Image courtesy of McKenzie family

Following his death sons Colin and Gregory, who were 19 and 15, found work on coastal ships, 17 year-old Amy undoubtedly helped to run the home, and the two youngest Ruby and Connie were but nine and six. 

Suddenly having to adjust to her straitened circumstances, Amelia coped admirably for one who prior to her marriage had not even had to attend to her own hair. Barbreck Store on Wharf Street continued to trade but eventually home and business were lost and they moved back to ‘High Trees’ in Harington Street and took in boarders. They were however a close and happy family.

Barbreck Stores advertisement, Bay of Plenty Times 11 Feb 1891

Frederick, the  adopted nephew married in 1902. Gregory George married in 1909 and he and his wife Edith had two daughters, Rose and Edith. She must have died rather young and some years later GG married Grace, the youngest daughter of family friend Canon Jordan. Amy married Captain Charles Millar, also in 1909.

Soon after this, Colin, Ruby, Connie and Amelia became resident at ‘Dilston,’ — “a large colonial homestead in Elizabeth Street East at an elevation of about 100 feet overlooking the harbour” — and advertised for boarders once more.

Wedding day of CC Norris and Annie Chivers, 1911
Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-585

In 1911 there were two more marriages in the family. Colin, now a land and estate agent who travelled and promoted Tauranga as a desirable area, met and married English born Edith (Annie) Chivers in Wellington at the Island Bay home of her uncle Richard Keene, the mayor of Melrose. Colin was 40 and his bride around 30. They returned from their wedding trip to set up home at ‘Dilston.’ Colin’s business partner George Bell won Connie as his bride that same year.

Small sailboats on Tauranga foreshore, Norris building behind, after 1911
Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-589

Around this time Norris and Bell commissioned a commercial building at the bottom of Devonport Rd later known as the Triangle building. At one time their estate agency was not too far along the Strand.

Colin and Annie had their first daughter Nancy in 1912, followed in 1919 by Amy Ada Campbell (called Gipsy all her life) but their aunts Amy and Connie remained childless and Ruby was a spinster. The latter was a talented florist and had her shop in Devonport Rd.

Sewing party in Fencible cottage, Tauranga, 1898
From L: Horne, Davies, Maria Harvey (née Bickers), Connie Norris
Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 01-617

Tragically Annie died within a week or two following Gipsy’s birth and shortly thereafter Colin put ‘Dilston’ up for sale and moved with 7 year old Nancy to ‘Rawhiti’ at 206 Devonport Road (opposite Holy Trinity). There they resided with Amelia once more and Connie and George took over the care of baby Gipsy.

Muriel Griffiths (back left) and Ruby Norris (centre front) with friends
Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 04-046

Interestingly, in 1923 an old family friend Gilbert Mair passed away aged 80 at ‘Rawhiti’ having spent several years with the Norris family. His body was taken by Te Arawa to Maketu for about 36 hours and then from the Ohau Channel by waka to Ohinemutu where he was later interred in front of St Faiths Anglican Church.

Colin was interested and involved in boating all his life, he established the Auckland Anniversary Tauranga regatta with the trophy known as the Colin Norris Gold Cup.  He died in 1926, aged 55. His mother Amelia reached the age of 88 and passed on nine years later.

Many thanks to Gipsy’s daughter Fiona for all her kind help with this story.

Sources
Papers Past
Pae Koroki
Notes by Gipsy Mckenzie from private family papers
Gilbert Mair, by Ron Crosby 2004
Three Brothers - The Adventures of Ebenezer, Gregory and William Norris in NZ, 1851-1899  by Rick Norris, 2021

Rupert Connell

Studio portrait of Sylvia Ashton-Warner, taken c. Dec 1958
Silver gelatin print in folder by Rupert Connell, Tauranga
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington Ref: PAColl-2522-7-01-01

This striking portrait of the idiosyncratic author and educational pioneer Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1908-1984) was taken at the Tauranga studio of Rupert Connell around December 1958, shortly after her first novel Spinster was published to critical acclaim and became a runaway bestseller. By this time Connell had already been in Tauranga for two decades, and was within a couple of years of retirement.

Century Grand field camera used by the Connell studio, Eltham
Collection of Puke Ariki museum, New Plymouth. Ref. PA2015.052

Rupert Douglas “Pip” Connell was born in 1907 at Eltham, South Taranaki, one of six children of photographer Nigel Douglas Connell (1874-1951). He attended school in Stratford and, after an early apprenticeship as an electrician for the Union Steamship Company on its Pacific routes in the mid-1920s, he probably learned the photographic trade in his father’s studio in Eltham. He continued working there after his marriage to Lois Mary Mclean in 1935, until at least 1938.

Pip and Lois Connell, by unidentified photographer
Courtesy of Connell Family Heritage

By July 1939 Pip and Lois had moved to Tauranga, where they moved into a home in 11th Avenue. In his first Bay of Plenty Times advertisement, Connell announced the display of examples of his photographic work in the shop window of Bernard Judd, an electrician and radio specialist, located at The Triangle.

Studio portrait of unidentified soldier, Hauraki Regiment, c.early 1940s
Laser copy of silver gelatin print by Rupert Connell, Tauranga
Hauraki Regiment Collection, courtesy of Pae Koroki. Ref. 2012-029

Despite the predicament of the outbreak of war, Connell opened his own studio premises in Devonport Road and found enough business to advertise for an assistant – “a keen, capable girl, 15-16 years, to learn all branches of professional photographing” - in early 1943.

View down Devonport Road, Tauranga, Rupert Connell’s studio at centre, behind S&N Motors
Black-and-white copy print, taken by an unidentified photographer, c1951-52
Courtesy of Tauranga Libraries, Pae Koroki. Ref. 01-500

Turkeys, possibly at the Brain Watkins House in Cameron Road, undated
Silver gelatin print by Rupert Connell, Tauranga
Collection of Brain Watkins House. Ref. BWH2004/0558/2

This undated snapshot of four turkeys, possibly taken in the garden of the Brain Watkins House in Cameron Road, Tauranga, is pretty incongruous given Connell’s normal oeuvre. The clue possibly lies in a series of advertisements which appeared intermittently in the Bay of Plenty Times between 1943 and 1948, typified by the following from 23 January 1948:

“Situations Vacant. Photography. An opportunity awaits suitable girl to learn all branches professional and candid work. Apply – Rupert Connell.”

The fact that he inserted no less than eight separate such advertisements during that period suggests that he was unable to attract the young women to that role for very long.

Advertisement, Rupert Connell, Devonport Rd
Western Bay of Plenty Year Book, 1952-1953, publ. Astra Publicity, Auckland
Image courtesy of John and Julie Green

Otherwise commonly known as outwork, taking on an assistant – here referred to as “the Candid Cameraman,” and presumably a young girl would not need to be paid very much – meant that a photographer could be sent out for general commissions, while Connell himself would not be absented from the more serious, and better paying, studio work encompassing “child studies, portraits, family groups” and bridal portraits.

Studio portrait of Lynette Christian (later Harpham) as a young girl, Tauranga, c1940s
Photo by Rupert Connell, Tauranga
Courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Pe Koroki. Ref. 06-496

Photo wallet, “Studio Photography by Rupert Connell, Tauranga, N.Z.,” c1950s
Image courtesy of John and Julie Green

 
Connell’s studio portraits were generally executed and finished to a very high standard, often softly toned, sometimes double-mounted on card, signed personally in pencil in the lower margin of the mount, and enclosed in a folder or wallet printed on the front with his name in a stylish brown design.

Rupert Connell retired from the photographic business some time between 1958 and 1963 and went to live in Ranginui Street (now Briarley Street, The Avenues). He and his wife Lois had two sons. He was, in the words of his great nephew, a “prodigious fisherman and hunter.” He died in 1977.

References
Alexander Turnbull Library / National Library https://natlib.govt.nz/
Auckland Library Photographers Database http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/photographers/basic_search.htm
Electoral Rolls
Pae Koroki https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers
Puke Ariki Heritage Collections https://pukeariki.com/research-and-heritage/heritage-collections/
Connell, Tim (2012) Connell Family Heritage https://issuu.com/bigtimeproductions/docs/connellfamilytreebook
Other examples of Connell’s work may be seen in the Tauranga Heritage Collection https://view.taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz/explore