• The link below may be of interest, as it covers the roles of Henry Young and Theo Mannering in establishing the "Culverden" sheep station, based on Mannering's memoirs. Henry Young was an absentee landowner who never lived there. "Culverden" was an unlucky run - no one who owned it did well with it. it was eventually subdivided into smaller blocks taken up by settlers, a number of whom who went broke trying to farm their land. The current Culverden township was based around the site of the original homestead.
  
  "The Early Canterbury Runs, Ch. 9 Hill Stations between the Waimakariri & Waipara Rivers". See "Snowdale (Runs 234, 235 & 346)", pg 246. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-AclEarl-t1-body-d9.html
  

  Posted by Anne McFadgen, 18/01/2019 10:52am (5 years ago)

• Re Henry Young - yes,he did indeed know that dashing military officer Edwin Hare Dashwood (later the 7th Baronet Dashwood of West Wycombe) from East India Company days, which is why he let Dashwood talk him into such a dodgy deal. Dashwood hadn't fulfilled the conditions of his lease by stocking the land, and as you'll probably know from Mannering's account, there ensued a race to reach Nelson and on arrival young Mannering, a complete novice as far as farming goes, was dispatched forthwith to the Amuri to take down a flock of sheep and secure the property, which Young named "Culverden" for "Culverden House" in Tunbridge Wells, England, where he had once lived. "Culverden"was a hopeless arrangement for Henry, a member of the Plymouth Brethren who had set up home in Nelson and later moved to Motueka so he could assist his friend, Plymouth Brethren evangelist, James George Deck, establish the movement in the Nelson area. Henry didn't get to keep all that Amuri land either - others managed to snaffle chunks of it, the worst offender being serial runholder George Duppa, who ended up with a large block for his "St Leonard's Station". A fascinating story. Henry did end up with two different runs later in Southland, but never really prospered as a farmer. In fact, for a man who had held the very responsible position of "Judge" within the E.I.C. Civil Service, Henry Young appears to have had the unfortunate knack of not infrequently making the wrong choices.
  
  

  Posted by Anne McFadgen, 15/01/2019 6:46pm (5 years ago)

• My great grandfather Henry Young (1803-1881) set sail from London with his family in the screw steamer "Sydney", arriving in Sydney on 16th November 1852. He was accompanied on the voyage by 16 year-old Theophilus Mannering. Henry met Edwin Dashwood in Sydney, who according to Mannering’s memoirs ( https://collection.canterburymuseum.com/objects/714966 ) “offered Young the pastoral lease of 250,000 acres in the Amuri – then in Nelson Province – which included the pick of the grazing country there. Young accepted the offer and they crossed to Nelson in the 90 ton Comet.” … which arrived in Nelson on 24th December 1852 , with Dashwood (then aged 27) as a passenger ( https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/nelson-examiner-and-new-zealand-chronicle/1852/12/25/2 ). I presume Henry didn’t literally accept the whole 250,000 acres of Amuri land!
  Henry had been in India with the HEIC from 1821 to 1834. I note that Edwin Dashwood had also been in India, but must have been there in a later period than Henry’s time there. Was the common experience of India what connected Henry and Edwin Dashwood in Sydney?
  Can anyone add anything to this interesting snippet of history?
  Cheers, David Young
  

  Posted by David Young, 26/11/2018 7:14pm (5 years ago)

• I have been researching the life of Robert Matthews,an Australian, who married Adela Naper a widow who owned the large Loughcrew estate in Co Meath in November 1946.
  Following her death in 1952, the estate passed to a Naper cousin whose second son Charles Naper later inherited the estate. He married Emily Dashwood of West Wycombe and following the death of Charles,she is now the present owner of Loughcrew.
  In late 1945, while on leave from the Navy, I was a guest at Loughcrew for 10 days,and I met the Australian who was also a guest.
  Matthew's life story is stranger than fiction and his disappearance in April 1953 remains a mystery.
  I found your Dashwood material most interesting ad will forward he reference to your webpage to the present owner of the Dashwood estate. Ron Chapman

  Posted by Ron Chapman, 18/03/2017 9:27am (7 years ago)

• In 1852 Edwin Hare Dashwood bought Section 201 in the Moutere,
  a property established originally in 1843 and known as “Grove Farm”. At the time it was situated on the north bank of the Moutere River in what is now Central Road, Lower Moutere, and owned by a Nelson brewer, Charles Christie. Dashwood renamed it ‘”Herstmonceux” after his home in Sussex, England, and set about substantially developing the land. He imported merino rams from Rambouillet, France, and started a merino sheep stud. He also brought back pheasants after a trip to England and liberated them in the area.
  However, his enterprise at “Herstmonceux” was dogged by bad luck and in 1857 he put it up for sale. His remaining time in New Zealand was spent in Nelson and on his sheep run at the Wairau.
  May, 1857 – “For Sale: A Section at the Moutere formerly belonging to Mr Christie together with the adjoining Section known as Saxton’s. There are about 20 acres in English grasses, an orchard with 300 fruit trees, a bush with firewood enough to last for several years. About 23 acres land broken up, 3 of which are laid down in red clover, the remainder are in turnips, oats, tares, wheat and fallow, all the land except 25 acres is fenced, and divided into 5 fields. The house contains 13 rooms, a large shed, is substantially built, and most of the rooms are papered.”
  A short account of Dashwood’s time at Lower Moutere and his journey of exploration in search of an inland route to Canterbury, can be found in the “Motueka and District Historical Association Journal”, Vol. 3, pp. 29-30. The cover features an illustration of Dashwood’s home at the “Grove Farm” property, taken from a painting by Motueka pioneer, Sarah Greenwood.
  

  Posted by Anne McFadgen, 23/09/2014 1:55pm (10 years ago)

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