Print, Photographic, Ernest & Jeanie Smedley
Production date
1908
Current rights
No known copyright restrictions
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Object detail
Description
A large format mounted print showing a person in a suit sitting in cane chair holding a hat. Woman standing with hand on back of chair. Dark skirt and jacket with white blouse. Dark hair, hat decorated with flowers. Cardboard mount is embossed with decoration. Handwritten on reverse "Married by special licence at St Matthews C. of E. Auckland. 28 Sep 1908 Mother travelled by boat up West Coast from Wanganui to Onehunga. Dad travelled by boat from Tauranga to mother in Auckland - came back to Tauranga via Rotorua (train then next day by coach over the Ōropi route). Coach decorated with clematis for the bridal couple - much to mother's embarrasment. Mrs Johnston met them at Tauranga and they drove out to Welcome Bay. Thelma Smith. Now Waitaha farm (1974) but shortly to be cut up for sections".
Robert Charles Ernest Smedley always called Ernest (1878 – 1953) married Sarah Jane Jackson (1884 – 1973) in September 1908. Originally from England he was a farmer at Welcome Bay, Tauranga. In 1911 they had a daughter Thelma Constance. George Dunton from Kaharoa bought Smedleys 71 acres in 1919 and the Smedley family moved into the Borough. Ernest had cottages to rent and bought and sold land while Jeanie emersed herself in her community. She was on committees and fund-raising efforts. Thelma attended Tauranga District High School and also learned the piano in which she did very well, as a teenager appearing in recitals and eventually becoming a music teacher herself having gained her ACTL. They lived on the corner of 10th Avenue and Norris Street. In 1939 Thelma married a Scotsman Norman Cameron Smith. He joined the New Zealand Army, trained for the Medical Corps and was stationed at Burnham Camp where he was part of the Second Echelon. A notice appeared in the newspapers saying that Smith was missing in action in Italy and believed to be a prisoner of war. Following a prisoner exchange he was repatriated to New Zealand and in August 1945 Richard Cameron Smith was born. (Research by Shirley Arabin, Collection volunteer, 2022)
Robert Charles Ernest Smedley always called Ernest (1878 – 1953) married Sarah Jane Jackson (1884 – 1973) in September 1908. Originally from England he was a farmer at Welcome Bay, Tauranga. In 1911 they had a daughter Thelma Constance. George Dunton from Kaharoa bought Smedleys 71 acres in 1919 and the Smedley family moved into the Borough. Ernest had cottages to rent and bought and sold land while Jeanie emersed herself in her community. She was on committees and fund-raising efforts. Thelma attended Tauranga District High School and also learned the piano in which she did very well, as a teenager appearing in recitals and eventually becoming a music teacher herself having gained her ACTL. They lived on the corner of 10th Avenue and Norris Street. In 1939 Thelma married a Scotsman Norman Cameron Smith. He joined the New Zealand Army, trained for the Medical Corps and was stationed at Burnham Camp where he was part of the Second Echelon. A notice appeared in the newspapers saying that Smith was missing in action in Italy and believed to be a prisoner of war. Following a prisoner exchange he was repatriated to New Zealand and in August 1945 Richard Cameron Smith was born. (Research by Shirley Arabin, Collection volunteer, 2022)
Production date
1908
Production place
Auckland, New Zealand
Measurements
250mm (height), 200mm (width)
Accession number
0521/08
Current rights