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Charles Alma Baker And His Parents In New Zealand
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Subject :Charles Alma Baker and his Parents in New Zealand
Published By : Published by Bridget Williams Books, author Barrie Macdonald
Location : New Zealand
Estimated Year : 1865
Media Type : Photograph
Source : Imperial Patriot / ipohWorld Library
Remark : Charles Alma Baker was born in Otago, New Zealand on 6th January 1857, the fifth child and third son of Andrew and Matilda Baker. They were immigrants from London who had only arrived in 1853. Originally settled in Dunedin, they did not take up agriculture like the majority of new arrivals, preferring the urban life of small business. However they thrived commercially and in 1860 moved to Oamaru, a smaller town, but one with clear prospects for the future, and established a hotel there, the first such establishment in the area. Hard workers they put their life into the hotel and prospered sufficiently to be able to purchase more land and establish themselves as sound business people, for the economic opportunities at the time were boundless for those who wanted them.
Andrew Baker (pictured left above) was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in 1821, but moved to London some time after. He married Matilda Headland (pictured right above) in 1840. They were both 19. While in London they had two daughters and one son, Elizabeth Christiana (born 1840), Matilda Catherine (born 1843) and William Andrew (born 1852).
In 1853 the family of 6 (including Matilda’s sister Amelia) took passage to New Zealand, along with 99 other new settlers, sailing on the Maori a sailing ship of some 800 tons. The voyage took 93 days.
In Dunedin, despite some problems with falling land prices affecting their first investment, Andrew was a shrewd businessman and soon turned this to his advantage by buying more plots at the lower price and then selling later as the town and need for houses grew. Over the next six years, the Bakers prospered on land deals and sheer hard work and by 1859 had moved up from a “substantial three-roomed dwelling” to a “new and substantially built” seven-roomed house, in Princes Street, with stabling for two horses and at the front of the building “Matilda’s thriving millinery (hats) business”.
With an eye on the future of Otago, and the realization that the new settlement of Oamaru, with its harbour and cheap land was likely to experience a major period of growth, Andrew bought three town sections there in 1859 and the family moved there in July 1860, a month after selling their Dunedin properties. The first task for Andrew was to supervise the building of the Northern Hotel, close to the harbour, the first hotel in the area, the first licensed (selling alchohol) premises and probably the most substantial building in the town, which at the time only had about 20 buildings comprising homes and small businesses.
With more astute land and other commercial deals the Bakers prospered in Oamaru. They had four more sons, Alfred, Charles, Walter and Herbert. Of the five boys, Charles (pictured centre above) who trained as a surveyor, was the most successful. Known as Barney to his friends he moved to Auckland and worked in the areas of Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Having grown up in an atmosphere of high society and smart commercial dealings, he soon became well known in the town and started to move in the top social circles which led to his meeting and marrying Florence (Floss), the daughter of Sir Frederick Whittaker, leading politician, lawyer and land speculator. Charles Alma Baker had arrived! However, on one of his surveying trips, he also fathered a child with Maria Nikora, a “high born woman of the Whakatohea tribe” and not long after in 1890 (possibly because he had to) he and Florence left New Zealand for Malaya and Perak.
The photographs show, from left to right:
To read about Charles Alma Baker and his wife Florence in Perak, click here.
To know more about the Book "Imperial Patriot", click here.
Andrew Baker (pictured left above) was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in 1821, but moved to London some time after. He married Matilda Headland (pictured right above) in 1840. They were both 19. While in London they had two daughters and one son, Elizabeth Christiana (born 1840), Matilda Catherine (born 1843) and William Andrew (born 1852).
In 1853 the family of 6 (including Matilda’s sister Amelia) took passage to New Zealand, along with 99 other new settlers, sailing on the Maori a sailing ship of some 800 tons. The voyage took 93 days.
In Dunedin, despite some problems with falling land prices affecting their first investment, Andrew was a shrewd businessman and soon turned this to his advantage by buying more plots at the lower price and then selling later as the town and need for houses grew. Over the next six years, the Bakers prospered on land deals and sheer hard work and by 1859 had moved up from a “substantial three-roomed dwelling” to a “new and substantially built” seven-roomed house, in Princes Street, with stabling for two horses and at the front of the building “Matilda’s thriving millinery (hats) business”.
With an eye on the future of Otago, and the realization that the new settlement of Oamaru, with its harbour and cheap land was likely to experience a major period of growth, Andrew bought three town sections there in 1859 and the family moved there in July 1860, a month after selling their Dunedin properties. The first task for Andrew was to supervise the building of the Northern Hotel, close to the harbour, the first hotel in the area, the first licensed (selling alchohol) premises and probably the most substantial building in the town, which at the time only had about 20 buildings comprising homes and small businesses.
With more astute land and other commercial deals the Bakers prospered in Oamaru. They had four more sons, Alfred, Charles, Walter and Herbert. Of the five boys, Charles (pictured centre above) who trained as a surveyor, was the most successful. Known as Barney to his friends he moved to Auckland and worked in the areas of Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Having grown up in an atmosphere of high society and smart commercial dealings, he soon became well known in the town and started to move in the top social circles which led to his meeting and marrying Florence (Floss), the daughter of Sir Frederick Whittaker, leading politician, lawyer and land speculator. Charles Alma Baker had arrived! However, on one of his surveying trips, he also fathered a child with Maria Nikora, a “high born woman of the Whakatohea tribe” and not long after in 1890 (possibly because he had to) he and Florence left New Zealand for Malaya and Perak.
The photographs show, from left to right:
Andrew Baker around 1865
Charles Alma Baker in Auckland in 1886, and
Matilda Baker around 1865.
To read about Charles Alma Baker and his wife Florence in Perak, click here.
To know more about the Book "Imperial Patriot", click here.
Filename : 20100328-002