A Hardy Family Surprise.....

The house in the above photo that is to the left of the centre is situated at 43 Albert Rd in Devonport. It was home to Juliana and me and our children for about 20 years. We loved our time living in the old villa in Devonport. Our children grew up here and went to the local Playcentre, Primary School and then to Takapuna Grammar. We made lots of great friends and we still meet with many of these friends each month when Juliana attends the Book Club that she has been a member of for the past 30 years. As you can see from this Devonport is close to our hearts and always will be.

The photo below was taken not long after we had moved into 43 Albert Rd. The house had been built in the 1890s. We were told it had been built by a timber merchant for his daughter. It had been altered a bit over its long history. Note the front right hand side has had a veranda that was built- in at some point. The house had also at one stage been divided into two dwellings through a cunning internal division. The owner prior to us had restored it back into a single house.

The photo below shows the house some years later following a lot of changes we made such as restoring the front veranda, renewing the roof, repainting the outside of the house, adding a carport, removing an internal wall and old disused fireplace to create a new lounge area and dining room, building a new rear deck, returning the internal ceilings to their full height, updating the kitchen and bathroom and many other things that arose over the long period of our ownership. Juliana of course developed a wonderful garden

Below is a current photo taken from Google Maps. There have been two owners since our sale of the house. The current owner is a very good personal friend who I have known for over 40 years. We both worked in the insurance industry at the same company in our 20s. We recently met up at the house and had a tour to see what changes have been made by my friend and by the previous owner. The old place is looking very good thanks to many updates over the past 20 or so years. Note the current size of the tree on the street!

The Hardy Family Connection

A few days ago I came across the Electoral Roll record shown below. I was looking for information about my great aunt Lydia, daughter of Charles Lingham Hardy and his wife Annie. Lydia (known as Auntie Lyd) was someone my mother often talked about. I knew that Auntie Lyd had lived at one stage in a house fronting onto Cheltenham beach. I was interested in learning about Auntie Lyd's husband Christopher Chapman. He was sometimes referred to as "Chappie".

I soon discovered that Chappie was a shipwright/boat builder. He had grown up in Ponsonby at 4 Douglas St and his father was also a boat builder. Chappie worked for Chas Bailey Junior. The Bailey family were prolific shipbuilders of early Auckland. Charles Bailey Senior established the initial business in the 1800s and his sons Charles Junior and Walter Bailey carried on the tradition. There were Bailey Yards at both Freeman's Bay and at Torpedo Bay in Devonport. I believe that Chappie most likely worked at the Bailey yard in Torpedo Bay given he was living in Devonport.

The Baileys produced many fine sailing vessels including some very successful racing yachts. Chris Chapman grew up in Douglas St Ponsonby not very far from where Lydia's parents Charles and Annie Hardy lived. It is also close to Herne Bay where Annie's family the Riley's lived. That family was very connected to sailing. I have yet to find out whether they sailed a yacht built by the Bailey yard. It is a strong possibility this was the case.

I started the usual research in order to see the records of where Chappie and Lydia had lived. I came across the record below. It shows that Christopher, Lydia and their son Noel were living at 43 Albert Rd in 1957. They were also there on the 1954 Roll.

I did know that my mum had spent some time at Cambria Rd and that she enjoyed revisiting Cheltenham Beach and the surrounding area. I had no idea of this historic connection to our house. It is amazing and is a great example of what a small village this world can sometimes seem to be.

In the photo below are on the left my aunt Gwenda, in the middle Joyce Chapman daughter of Lydia and Christopher and on the right Lilian Jean my mother. I suspect they were off to a dance- probably at the Pirate Ship in Milford.

Below is the house on Cheltenham Beach where the Chapman's lived in the 1940s.

The Electoral Roll for 1946 indicates that at that time Lydia and Chris Chapman were living at this house. On the same Roll it shows that this was the address for their daughter Joyce and her husband Ken Collingwood. Ken's occupation was given as Soldier.

In the same Electoral Roll I found my mother Lillian Jean Hardy was listed at the address of 12 Cambria Rd. Her mother Lillian Hardy was also at this address. At this time my grandparents Lillian and Mervyn Hardy were separated. I think that my mother's sisters Gwenda and Shirley and her brothers David and Dennis were also living at Cambria Rd. I believe that Dennis was born at Cambria Rd in 1940.

12 Cambria Rd had previously been occupied by a Mrs Vos. The Vos family were well known boatbuilders. My thanks to John Hardy for reminding me of this connection and sending me the newspaper cuttings below.

The Percy Vos building on the Auckland waterfront near Westhaven has been restored and is now managed by the Maritime Museum. Boat building classes are held there on a regular basis with a view to keep the skills of wooden boat building alive.

The link below takes you to an excellent video about Percy Vos and his shipyard.

https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/percy-vos-heritage-boat-shed

Below is a current photo of 12 Cambria Rd.

Lillian's sister Ethel Alma Wison (known as Auntie Alma or simply "Auntie") was also living in Devonport during the 1940s. She was at 91 Vauxhall Rd.

The map below shows the close proximity of the three addresses of 43 Albert Rd (towards the bottom left side of the map) on the corner of Albert Rd and Everest St), Arawa Ave marked by the red flag and Cambria Rd which is about half-way between the other two addresses. The coffee cup symbol with the label Chateaubriant is next to the address at which Auntie Alma lived.

If you look closely at the location of Arawa Ave you will see it runs down to Cheltenham Beach. From 43 Albert Rd it was a short distance to the beach and on visits to the beach each summer weekend Arawa Ave was the obvious place to go. Most fine weekends when there was a favourable tide a large group of locals would gather around this area of the beach along with our children.