ALBUM - Joseph Henry Earle Greville and his wife Alice (nee Larmour)

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Description1.Joseph Henry Earle Greville.
2.Alice (nee Larmour).

The first Grevilles to arrive in Hokitika were Joseph Henry Earle and his wife Alice. The stories of their son Charlie and his wife Emma and their five daughters have been told. Joseph's story is intriguing and controversial. He and his wife arrived in Bluff in 1861 after Joseph had completed one year's hard labour in a gaol in Launceston, Tasmania. He had been convicted of embezzlement. He had been the Secretary of the North Tasmanian Building Society. One day he cashed a cheque of a little over 50 pounds that he should have deposited in the Society's accounts when his personal bank balance was less than a pound. He made headlines in the local newspapers. He high-tailed it to New Zealand upon his release. He was middle class, educated, trusted by those who knew him, a failed businessman but managed to find clerical work that put food on the table. During this time 1200 pounds was deposited in his personal bank account. There was no suggestion it was not his which raised a question for future generations - what they said happened to this huge amount? The answer seems to be he invested it unwisely and, in short, lost it.

Alice was typical of many women in the colonies. She was protestant-Irish who came to Melbourne in 1851 as an assisted migrant. They needed women for domestic work and marriage. Ireland was one of the poorest places in Europe and had had a famine. Over 2 million left for England and their colonies. Alice did what most women of her generation did, she produced babies. She seemed to be constantly pregnant, having more than ten children, including twins, when she was 48. Child mortality was a fact of life, and she had her share. The Taipo River took her eldest boy, 11-year-old Fred. Interestingly, none of the five Hokitika-born granddaughters had more than three children. It had become unfashionable amongst the middle-class protestant wives in the 1910s and 20s to have more than 3; Alice and Joseph left Hokitika for Wellington in 1877. She died in Hawera and he in the Hawkes Bay.
Date of Photo1st January 1851 and 31st December 1877Map^[1]ContributorPhil Butler

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Location (city or town)HokitikaPersonJoseph Henry Earle Greville Alice GrevilleEventJoseph Henry Earle Greville and his wife Alice (nee Larmour)

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Date Created6th January 2025

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ALBUM - Joseph Henry Earle Greville and his wife Alice (nee Larmour)

Editing is temporarily disabled