ALBUM - The Greville Girls - Hokitika.ca.1905.

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DescriptionPhoto 1 :The Five Greville Sisters - top left, John, top right, Gus, Centre Darkie (Vi in later life), centre right, Dubbie (called Daisy by her children), and bottom left, Sadie. Photo taken c1905.
Photo 2:Emma Greville's grave at Karori Cemetery.

Five Sisters as they are known in the family are Francis Alice May, called Gus, born 1880, Daisie Emma Beatrice, called Dubbie, born 1883, Lizzie Violet, called Darkie, born 1885, Vera Louise, called John, born 1888, and Caroline Sadie, called Sax, born 1890. When their father Charlie Greville died in 1893,their lives to varying degrees were turned upside down. Responsibility fell upon the older sisters to help their mother especially with millinery and dressmaking and the care of the younger sisters. Two years after her father's death, 16 year old Gus was appointed to a Pupil Teachership position aat the Hokitika School. The minutes showed that Gus had demonstrated that her teaching and control of the classroom was good and in a hard fought appointment process she managed to win 8 votes to 1 against a pupil older than her by more than a year.
For their mother Emma, the future of her daughters was her prime concern. Socially the family was committed to improving themselves. A good marriage was important. In the family it was rumoured that their grandfather Joseph Henry Earle Greville was the second son of the Earl of Warwick. Rumour it was because the Earl only had one son on the right side of the sheets. However, in a colony that regarded Great Britain as Home and was afflicted with snobbery, this was just the sort of story that would enhance their prospects.
Gus and some of her sisters were also showing an academic aptitude and an interest in furthering their education. As for Hokitika itself, the town was suffering economically which meant Emma's drapery business would have been struggling. Wealth was also shifting from the small towns to the cities. It was time to move. Wellington was their detination. While there is no oral history in the family to say what was the prime reason for the shift, I think we can safely say money and prospects were top of the list.
The photograph of the sisters taken c1905 leaves little doubt that they were ready for the next chapter in their lives. They were about to become part of an emerging middle class. However, in July 1910 they saw their mother walking down the Terrace with suitcase in hand on the way to hospital for an operation. On 11 July aged 48 she died unexpectedly. For a second time the sisters' lives were turned upside down. Responsibility for four of the sisters fell on the newly married Gus and her husband Mr Watt. Sadie, the youngest was still living with them four years later. Their mother's estate barely provided for her funeral and grave as her headstone shows.
Date of Photo1905Map^[1]ContributorPhil Butler

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Location (city or town)HokitikaEventThe Greville Girls - Hokitika.

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Date Created4th January 2025CommentsColleen Yee
Lovely looking girls, so sad that they lost both their parents when they were young. I wonder how they gave by their "nick-names" ? My mothers siblings all had nick-names or went by their second Christian names. Makes research so much harder.

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ALBUM - The Greville Girls - Hokitika.ca.1905.

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