In 1863 if you boarded a ship in Gravesend for Lyttleton there was little chance that you would ever see the land of your birth again. For Mary Keith, a single seamstress aged 21 years, the prospect of such a voyage must have been extremely daunting and yet incredibly exciting. A voyage to the other side of the world, alone. A chance for a new life and a new beginning away from the streets of Greenock where people had endured 10 years of potato famine and poverty. Perhaps a husband and a family and land of her own to farm and become prosperous. So many thoughts must have been swirling in my great great grandmother's head.
Mary Bruce Keith was born in about 1843 in Kilkenzie, Argyleshire, Scotland. She was the third child of the ten children of John MacKeith (aka John Keith) 1806-1857 and Mary Bruce 1812-1876. In 1851 the family were living at Balachantye in the parish of Killean and Kilkenzie where John supported the family working as a Roading Contractor.
In 1861 Mary was living on her own at 20 East Quay Lane in Greenock and making her living as a seamstress. This occupation would have involved her both making and mending clothing. Not far from Mary's home were the Greenock Docks where ships departed for foreign ports.
By 1863 Mary was preparing to leave Scotland and emigrate to New Zealand. She may have seen some of the posters advertising New Zealand as a great place to live and inviting single men and women to travel, with their fare subsidised by the New Zealand Government, to their new home. It is also possible that she may have already met her future husband and promised him that she would travel to join him in Lyttleton.
The advertisements in the clippings above are from the London Times on 11 July 1863.
Samuel Vernon, a licensed passenger broker, advertised on 04 July 1863 in The Glossop Record that Brother's Pride was one of several "celebrated clippers, well known for their quick passages, punctuality in sailing, and splendid accommodation, are unsurpassed by any ships in the world and afford to passengers and shippers the most unrivalled advantages." Mary, along with the other passengers, was to discover that Vernon's assertions and other advertising in the newspapers of the day did not resemble the truth.
What we do know is that on 23 July 1863 Mary was on board Brother's Pride, a clipper ship weighing 1236 tons, with 371 other passengers bound for Lyttleton. Mary, like many of the passengers, was an assisted immigrant travelling for £13.6s.0d. The ship left London and arrived in Gravesend on the same day to board the passengers and here is where things began to go wrong. The doctor, instead of medically examining each passenger as they boarded as he was required to do, simply called out their names and the head of each family pointed out which children belonged to them as they boarded. A young boy with scarlet fever was in the crowd of passengers. Although the lad had boarded he was sent back to his home in Gloucestershire where he died three days later. Meanwhile people kept getting on to the ship unaware that they had been exposed to a deadly disease.
H B Hale, a passenger and habitual writer of letters to newspapers, recalled the birth of a child on 4 August and said that the day after that little Joseph Bailey died. By this time many passengers were ill and by 9 September there had been nine deaths but also five births. The ship crossed the equator on 16 September and though Hale recalls it as being a time of fun, other passengers reported that the sailors were demanding drinking money from the passengers on the threat of being shaved if they did not pay up. Some paid but were still shaved, others did not pay and were shaved. This involved tar being smeared on their beards and a piece of old iron scrapped along their chins. And people continued dying at an alarming rate.
The fever was "truly of an appalling character" according to the ship's doctor Fitzherbert Dermott. Passengers were later to complain of the doctor's incompetence and drunkedness when taking care of women in labour and of sick children. Others told of wet berths, of stench below decks (where the steerage class passengers were housed), of the lack of medical supplies and food, and of the filth from dogs and sheep left to roam freely on deck.
In the later inquiry into the voyage Dr Dermott told of the terrible deaths that occurred. He said that "children would seem healthy one minute and then be dead within just a few hours, dying of suffocation". As well as the scarlet fever introduced at Gravesend, people were now dying of typhoid. Added to this were the huge seas and constant storms, the ship battered by gales and the frequent burials at sea. By the time the ship limped into Lyttleton on 6 December 140 days after it left Gravesend, forty six passengers had died.
The ship was put into quarantine at Camp Bay for 28 days and ordered to fly the yellow fever flag as typhoid was still present. Four more people died and were buried there. There are reports of people leaving the ship despite the quarantine, and arrests were made.
Finally after 28 boring days at Camp Bay, Mary was allowed to leave the ship. On the very next day, 6 January 1864, she and William Todd were married at the home of Mr Saddler in Tuam Street, Christchurch. William gave his occupation as "gardener" and Mary said she was a "tailoress". We will never know if the couple knew each other before Mary set out for New Zealand and, if they did, where they would have met, as Mary was born in Scotland and her new husband was a native of County Amargh in Ireland.
William and Mary settled in Orari, about 4 miles from the little settlement of Waihi in Geraldine where William had 200 acres of land. It would seem that they lived peacefully; there are no newspaper accounts of anything untoward while their marriage lasted.
I know that William and Mary had at least four children although there are births recorded for just two. My great grandmother Mary Violetta Todd was born in December 1866 (recorded) and her sister Eliza Jane was born in 1869 (unrecorded). In 1870 a little boy was born. Unfortunately, although his birth is recorded, his name is not.
Then in July 1874 the unthinkable happened. Mary went into labour but it was a long protracted labour and Mary didn't recover. At just 31 years old Mary Bruce Todd died on 22 July 1874.
There is no record of what happened to the baby if indeed there was a baby - there may have been a stillborn child or even a miscarriage. There is no birth or death registered for a child.
According to the original cemetery records, William purchased two burial plots side by side on 22 July 1874. Mary was buried in Temuka Cemetery on 25 July 1874 in row 61 plot 8. It is possible, but there is no evidence, that Mary's last child is buried in her arms. There is no record of a burial in plot 9 which is the second plot owned by William Todd. Maybe William purchased two plots thinking that he would be buried beside his wife. William's story, however, doesn't stop with the death of his young wife and his own death was not to be in New Zealand.
Mary lies peacefully in Temuka far from her homeland. Her legacy has been handed down through the generations that follow her by the use of her middle name "Bruce". This name has been given to many children in the Todd, Cliff and Collins families that she helped to found.
I have found the stories of only two of her children - my great grandmother Mary Violetta and her sister Eliza Jane. Were there other living children with stories that are yet to be discovered? As they say, watch this space!
© Deborah Watson 2016
Mary Bruce Keith was born in about 1843 in Kilkenzie, Argyleshire, Scotland. She was the third child of the ten children of John MacKeith (aka John Keith) 1806-1857 and Mary Bruce 1812-1876. In 1851 the family were living at Balachantye in the parish of Killean and Kilkenzie where John supported the family working as a Roading Contractor.In 1861 Mary was living on her own at 20 East Quay Lane in Greenock and making her living as a seamstress. This occupation would have involved her both making and mending clothing. Not far from Mary's home were the Greenock Docks where ships departed for foreign ports.
By 1863 Mary was preparing to leave Scotland and emigrate to New Zealand. She may have seen some of the posters advertising New Zealand as a great place to live and inviting single men and women to travel, with their fare subsidised by the New Zealand Government, to their new home. It is also possible that she may have already met her future husband and promised him that she would travel to join him in Lyttleton.
Samuel Vernon, a licensed passenger broker, advertised on 04 July 1863 in The Glossop Record that Brother's Pride was one of several "celebrated clippers, well known for their quick passages, punctuality in sailing, and splendid accommodation, are unsurpassed by any ships in the world and afford to passengers and shippers the most unrivalled advantages." Mary, along with the other passengers, was to discover that Vernon's assertions and other advertising in the newspapers of the day did not resemble the truth.
What we do know is that on 23 July 1863 Mary was on board Brother's Pride, a clipper ship weighing 1236 tons, with 371 other passengers bound for Lyttleton. Mary, like many of the passengers, was an assisted immigrant travelling for £13.6s.0d. The ship left London and arrived in Gravesend on the same day to board the passengers and here is where things began to go wrong. The doctor, instead of medically examining each passenger as they boarded as he was required to do, simply called out their names and the head of each family pointed out which children belonged to them as they boarded. A young boy with scarlet fever was in the crowd of passengers. Although the lad had boarded he was sent back to his home in Gloucestershire where he died three days later. Meanwhile people kept getting on to the ship unaware that they had been exposed to a deadly disease.
H B Hale, a passenger and habitual writer of letters to newspapers, recalled the birth of a child on 4 August and said that the day after that little Joseph Bailey died. By this time many passengers were ill and by 9 September there had been nine deaths but also five births. The ship crossed the equator on 16 September and though Hale recalls it as being a time of fun, other passengers reported that the sailors were demanding drinking money from the passengers on the threat of being shaved if they did not pay up. Some paid but were still shaved, others did not pay and were shaved. This involved tar being smeared on their beards and a piece of old iron scrapped along their chins. And people continued dying at an alarming rate.
The fever was "truly of an appalling character" according to the ship's doctor Fitzherbert Dermott. Passengers were later to complain of the doctor's incompetence and drunkedness when taking care of women in labour and of sick children. Others told of wet berths, of stench below decks (where the steerage class passengers were housed), of the lack of medical supplies and food, and of the filth from dogs and sheep left to roam freely on deck.
In the later inquiry into the voyage Dr Dermott told of the terrible deaths that occurred. He said that "children would seem healthy one minute and then be dead within just a few hours, dying of suffocation". As well as the scarlet fever introduced at Gravesend, people were now dying of typhoid. Added to this were the huge seas and constant storms, the ship battered by gales and the frequent burials at sea. By the time the ship limped into Lyttleton on 6 December 140 days after it left Gravesend, forty six passengers had died.
The ship was put into quarantine at Camp Bay for 28 days and ordered to fly the yellow fever flag as typhoid was still present. Four more people died and were buried there. There are reports of people leaving the ship despite the quarantine, and arrests were made.
Finally after 28 boring days at Camp Bay, Mary was allowed to leave the ship. On the very next day, 6 January 1864, she and William Todd were married at the home of Mr Saddler in Tuam Street, Christchurch. William gave his occupation as "gardener" and Mary said she was a "tailoress". We will never know if the couple knew each other before Mary set out for New Zealand and, if they did, where they would have met, as Mary was born in Scotland and her new husband was a native of County Amargh in Ireland.
William and Mary settled in Orari, about 4 miles from the little settlement of Waihi in Geraldine where William had 200 acres of land. It would seem that they lived peacefully; there are no newspaper accounts of anything untoward while their marriage lasted.
I know that William and Mary had at least four children although there are births recorded for just two. My great grandmother Mary Violetta Todd was born in December 1866 (recorded) and her sister Eliza Jane was born in 1869 (unrecorded). In 1870 a little boy was born. Unfortunately, although his birth is recorded, his name is not.
Then in July 1874 the unthinkable happened. Mary went into labour but it was a long protracted labour and Mary didn't recover. At just 31 years old Mary Bruce Todd died on 22 July 1874.
from the Timaru Herald, 29 July 1874
There is no record of what happened to the baby if indeed there was a baby - there may have been a stillborn child or even a miscarriage. There is no birth or death registered for a child.
According to the original cemetery records, William purchased two burial plots side by side on 22 July 1874. Mary was buried in Temuka Cemetery on 25 July 1874 in row 61 plot 8. It is possible, but there is no evidence, that Mary's last child is buried in her arms. There is no record of a burial in plot 9 which is the second plot owned by William Todd. Maybe William purchased two plots thinking that he would be buried beside his wife. William's story, however, doesn't stop with the death of his young wife and his own death was not to be in New Zealand.
photo by Ross Collins, 2x great grandson of Mary Bruce (Keith) Todd
Mary lies peacefully in Temuka far from her homeland. Her legacy has been handed down through the generations that follow her by the use of her middle name "Bruce". This name has been given to many children in the Todd, Cliff and Collins families that she helped to found.
I have found the stories of only two of her children - my great grandmother Mary Violetta and her sister Eliza Jane. Were there other living children with stories that are yet to be discovered? As they say, watch this space!
© Deborah Watson 2016
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