The Dobson family in early Blenheim history

Finding women’s first-hand perspectives in history is not easy as they often didn’t live their lives in the public arena with newspaper stories recording their words and achievements. However, the Marlborough Museum has a treasure trove of more than 40 diaries written by an early European settler, Lucy (Lough) Dobson between 1872 and 1916. Her diary entries provide an intimate view of daily life in early Beaver/Blenheim.

In the 1850s, two brothers Edward (1816-1908) and Alfred Dobson (1824-1887), both engineers, emigrated to Aotearoa/New Zealand and, with their wives and families, made many contributions to the fledgling colony. The brothers married sisters, Mary Ann (1821-1913) and Lucy Lough (1838-1916). 

Edward came to Aotearoa first following the collapse of the UK railway boom of the 1850s.  He arrived with his two oldest sons in Christchurch on 27 December 1850. Mary Ann followed a year later with their four younger children and Alfred, who emigrated because he had a weak heart. 

Alfred began engineering in Canterbury and was then appointed as Commissioner of Public Works for the Nelson Provincial Government in 1854. 

Back in London, 18-year-old Lucy received a marriage proposal from Alfred, with whom she had shared a friendship since childhood. She was described as ‘a born nurse’ and told her father that she would love to go to New Zealand to look after Alfred. 

She sailed for Canterbury on the Egmont, leaving Portsmouth on 11 September 1856. While she was initially seasick, by 13 September, Lucy had clearly got her sea legs and wrote in her diary: “Every lady was very ill, but me. I was quite bonnie running about helping anyone I could.” 

The next day Lucy enjoyed a delicious dinner of beef, mutton and plum pudding and she noted: “in the afternoon we saw an immense shoal of porpoises – one of our pigs jumped overboard.”

Lucy and Alfred married in 1858 in Sumner and began their married life in Nelson. In Marlborough, at various times, they had homes in Alfred Street, Blenheim, at Spring Creek, and Picton, where their eldest son, Frank was born. They had nine living children, with two daughters dying in early childhood. They have approximately 900 descendants.

While Alfred was busy in his work roles, along with church and community responsibilities, both Lucy and Alfred were willing to lend a hand when disaster struck such as a fire which razed the house of F. Williams and family.

“They had a large house, well-furnished and only saved a sewing machine, an old mangle and a little box with trinkets and a few useless things. Well next morning after going around with the mills, I drove Lucy up there soon after ten with clothes for the children which we collected from Mr Borleyman, Mrs E Eliot and ourselves and they were very thankful to get them,” Alfred wrote to his aunt Mary Barker on 6 February 1867.

A year later, the Marlborough Express reported the great flood of 3 February 1868. 

On Feb 11, 1868 Lucy wrote about it to her mother in law, Eliza Dobson from Southside, Blenheim: ”It was dreadful to see the water rising so rapidly and to hear the shrieking of people in distress and guns firing for boats to come to them – the whole of the town was under water and many of the houses three feet, some less, some worse than that.”

Lucy’s diaries show days filled with washing, church services, attending temperance meetings, visiting and receiving visitors. And of course, she was busy with a growing family.

On 2 August 1872, with five young children, Lucy wrote: “my darling arrived….in Blenheim at 6pm, the children were very pleased to see him. It is indeed a rest to have my good husband home again.” On 4 August she spent all day at home and Alfred ‘went about with the children’. 

Four more children were to follow, with Emily Rosamund (Millie) Dobson the last born in 1879.                                                              

By 1886, Lucy began to note in her diary that Alfred was experiencing bouts of ill health. On 8 July 1887, she wrote: “Dr Cleghorn doesn’t seem to be able to do anything more for Alfred.” 

“Dr Muller called, thought Alfred better than when he saw him last, but very frail,” she wrote on 21 July 1887. 

On September 8, 1887, Lucy wrote to her sister-in-law Ellen Dobson: “A few words to tell you that God has taken my darling husband, your dear Brother Home.” A clergyman, Mr Grace [a well-known missionary] had visited the night before and read the 20th Psalm and prayers with Alfred following feebly. He died the following morning surrounded by his loved ones. “The church was all hung in black and there was full Choral service…There we parted with our Dearest, the Boys only following to the Grave.”

Lucy was to live another 29 years. Son, Henry (born 1866) and his wife Daisy were frequent visitors and she noted on 30 August 1907: “…went to see Daisy, she was very bright with her babies’. 

Lucy was involved in women’s suffrage and the temperance movement. On 19 October 1893, she wrote in her diary that after dinner with Mrs Scott, she and Mrs Rose went to meet Mr Buick (a Liberal party candidate) to arrange for him to hold a meeting for ladies. On 27 October, she wrote that the meeting was good and very well attended, with the speeches not over until 11pm.”

Millie was just eight when her father died and seemed to be active as a child and teenager, going to school, staying overnight with friends, helping her mother at home. But by 1894, Lucy began writing about Millie having ‘bad nights’ and being unwell. 

By 1900, Millie was often unwell and receiving doses of strychnine or morphia. These were treatments for asthma at the time. 

Lucy herself seemed to have a strong constitution, writing on 27 February 1886: “I was very unwell this morning and hardly knew how to do the work, but did do it”.

On 5 June 1916, she wrote: “… did not get up til ½ past 8, had breakfast, cleaned stove and flues.” In July, she noted that Millie was ‘up in time to help with dinner’. There were no more diary entries after July 1916 and Lucy died on October 1916, aged 78. Alfred and Lucy are buried together at Omaka Cemetery in Marlborough. In spite of poor health, Millie died in 1951, aged 72.

 Dobson men

In total 20 Loughs and Dobsons emigrated to New Zealand between 1850 and 1860.

Alfred began engineering in Canterbury and was then appointed as commissioner of public works for the Nelson Provincial Government in 1854. He became provincial surveyor and engineer for Marlborough and was described as a kind, trustworthy, generous man whose professional ability was highly regarded. He laid out the towns of Nelson and Blenheim, then known as the Beaver.   

Alfred was involved in major works including construction of the Picton to Blenheim railway line, flood control of the Wairau River; and smaller but still important work such as construction of a footbridge over the Omaka River at Blenheim. His work is well documented in newspapers of the day, and you can read more in Papers Past.

Alfred and Lucy’s son, Douglas was an architect and engineer who carried out conservation and diversion works for the Lower Wairau River Board and became borough engineer at Masterton.

In 1854, Alfred’s brother Edward was appointed the Canterbury provincial engineer and designed and built many significant pieces of infrastructure including the Lyttleton Tunnel and the road through Otira Gorge.

Edward and Mary Anne’s sons  Arthur Dudley Dobson (1841–1934), Edward Dobson (1847–1934), and George Dobson (1840–66)  were pioneer surveyors in Nelson, Canterbury and Westland. Like Alfred and Lucy, Edward, Mary-Anne and their children contributed to the infastructure and development of the new colony

Arthur Dudley Dobson was an architect, surveyor and engineer. In 1866, he was appointed assistant provincial surveyor in Nelson and in 1875 he became district surveyor with the Public Works Department. He joined his father in private practice in Christchurch in 1878 and was knighted in 1931, described as a man who had done much to open up the lands and resources of three provinces.  

Arthur’s brother, George was involved in surveying with him at one time on the West Coast, but he was murdered at Maungatapu by the Sullivan gang in 1866. 

On June 26, 1866, Arthur Dudley wrote about his brother’s tragic death to ‘Dear Aunt Lucy [Dobson]’: “I do not realise the loss yet. It is nearly 3 years since I saw him last. We were never much together latterly, our work generally took us in different directions….. He will be a loss to the Province but we have the satisfaction of knowing that he died honoured and respected and a credit to his family.”

 

 

With thanks to George English, (UK), a Lough descendant and Director of Research Through People, who kindly shared his research and access to family papers.

 

Story by: Written by Joy Stephens