User:Timhanley/sandbox

= EDWARD FRANCIS JOSEPH GRIGG (1874 – 1953) = Edward Francis Joseph Grigg was born on October 28, 1874 on the Longbeach Estate near Ashburton, Canterbury. He was the third son and youngest of the nine children of the pioneer farmer John Grigg and his wife Martha Maria Grigg [nee Vercoe].

Foreword
This biography has been written for several reasons. Perhaps the most important of these is an awareness of the need to record details of the life and times of ancestral family members, particularly when they have played a role of any importance in their local community or for the wider nation.Time passes quickly. All too often members of our family depart, leaving us with only scant recollections of them and their lives and a few faded photographs which other family members are hard-pressed to identify. Mostly we are compelled to rely upon oral accounts which, with the passing of years, can become inaccurate at best and sometimes quite distorted, so that the essential truth is clouded. In many instances we have very little at all to remind us who they were, the places in which they lived, the work they did, their opinions and their passions.A further reason for this work arises from my long-held opinion that, perhaps more than any previous generation, we as current guardians of the substance of the family’s chest of knowledge, have at least some obligation to ensure that it is properly recorded and passed on in a sensible and timely fashion. Our grandchildren and their children in turn, as generations accumulate, are entitled to know something of those who paved the way and the contributions they were able to make, each in their own often modest ways, to the fabric of the family’s history. The more time that passes the more difficult it becomes to do so.Hopefully this biography will serve as a catalyst, a start to the recording of details of the lives of so many in the family who have done interesting and sometimes important things. They deserve to be remembered in this way. The process has not been entirely straightforward. In this document there are some sections in which the primary evidence of activities and events has been less than might have been desired. As a result, based on the restricted information to hand, it has occasionally been necessary to make certain suppositions when attempting to arrive at likely truths. No apology is made for doing this as the many research hours spent checking the veracity of source material allows some confidence in what has been written.Nevertheless, in so many ways this biography of E.F.J. has gaps which are waiting to be filled. There are places within it where only scant information was available and these cry out for further factual embellishment. The process is under way but is yet far from complete.Further contributions, suggestions, anecdotes and facts from family members will be welcomed. Hopefully, before too long, the biography can be re-written, updated and made ready to be cemented into the Grigg family history for those who may wish to use it in the future.

Wayne Hanley (PhD)

Blackheath, NSW, Australia.

October, 2013

Early Days at Longbeach
Little of his early life at Longbeach is recorded but we do know that his scholastic education was undertaken on the property by his older sisters, of whom there were several. Furthermore, as a young boy growing up in a rural environment, he would also have been engaged with learning the many aspects of farming, tutored in this no doubt by his ageing father and also his older brother John Charles Nattle Grigg [JCN] who was thirteen years his senior. The success of the rigorous home schooling by Edward’s sisters is apparent in a somewhat formal letter he wrote to his father John at the age of nine 1 Although this letter suggests the formality of his relationship with his father, it is also quite probable that it was an academic exercise set for him by his tutors. The carefully formed phrases, coupled with the use of the semi-colon, suggests that this is the case, but nevertheless the well-formed hand and careful manner of the letter’s construction confirm that Edward was diligent in applying himself to his learning tasks. The letter reads ……..

“My dear Father, It is raining very hard, and the wild ducks are by the small round bed. I caught the peacock last Saturday, and tied it up, but it broke the string and got away; I have not been able to catch it yet, but I mean to.

Goodbye dear Father, I remain your loving son Ted”

Across the base of the letter is appended the note – “His first letter to me – J.G.”

A Balanced Education- On and Off the Field
After a brief illness Edward’s mother died at the age of 54 on December 19, 1884 when he was just ten years old. In the following year he was despatched to Christ’s College in the city of Christchurch to commence his secondary education. The Christ’s College Old Boys’ Association register 2 confirms Edward as being placed in Condell House between 1885 and 1893. He is known to have demonstrated both scholarly competence and sporting prowess during his time at the College, and was made Head Prefect in 1891.

Edward played cricket in the School’s 1st XI for four years and was captain of the team for the last two of these. He also played Rugby for the 1st XV and is credited with winning the Ballantyne Cup in 1893 which demonstrated his shooting prowess, presumably as part of his participation in the School Cadet system. During this period he is documented as having been involved more widely in outside athletics carnivals. A local newspaper notes that in 1893 Edward was listed as a competitor in both the 75 yards handicap foot race and the 125 yards hurdles at the Canterbury Amateur Athletics Club’s Spring Meeting which was to be held at Lancaster Park in October of that year.3 Whether or not he emerged victorious in these events is not recorded.

After completing his secondary education at Christ’s in 1893 Edward, then aged 19, was sent to England to continue his higher education in Jesus College at Cambridge University. Shipping records of the time confirm his passage from Wellington in the Shaw Savill & Albion Co. vessel ‘Gothic’, arriving April 15, 1894 in London, from where he made his way north to Cambridge.

In his almost three years at Cambridge Edward forged a balance between his academic studies and his sporting activities. He achieved success in some endeavours, receiving a cup for winning a hurdles event at a Cambridge athletic carnival. This trophy is today in the possession of his great-grandson William Grigg at Meadowbank. Edward was hopeful of being awarded a double Cambridge ‘Blue’ in both Rugby and Athletics in his final year but fate was not an ally. We learn from the Christchurch Star 4 that in May 1896 injury claimed him. The Star reported …

“It seems, by the way, that Dame Fortune has a grudge against New Zealand athletes who favour Jesus College, Cambridge. E.F.J. Grigg showed great promise at ‘half-back’ in the College Rugby football team, and was selected to play in the Varsity v. Richmond match in that position. But the day before the battle Grigg broke his wrist, and, of course, has to stand down.”

That was not all. Almost as soon as his wrist was mended and he could re-join the fray, he supposedly broke, or at least severely tore, his Achilles tendon and this effectively sidelined him for the remainder of the year and put paid to his aspirations for achieving the ‘double blue’ that he so coveted.

Longbeach to Akaunui – Transition to his own Land
In October of 1896, Edward travelled back to New Zealand on the Orient Line’s ‘RMS Ormuz’ 5 and returned to work with his family on the Longbeach Estate. The health of his father John had been steadily deteriorating during Edward’s time overseas and when Edward returned to Longbeach he found that the old pioneer was effectively blind.

Edward applied himself to the task of assisting with part of the management of Longbeach, taking up the role of Head Shepherd. To some extent he effectively became his father’s eyes. In addition, he reported regularly to John on the state of the crops on the estate and also recorded details of production. Building on the knowledge given to him during his younger years on the estate, Edward set about further enhancing his agricultural experience and skills.

There was no better place at which to do so. By this time, as a result of his father’s competent and sensible management, Longbeach was widely regarded as a ‘model’ property in New Zealand and beyond, reflecting as it did John’s shrewdness and insistence upon nothing but the best practice. A newspaper of the time puts this concisely ….

“He [John Grigg] was satisfied with nothing less than the best machinery, the best cultivation, the best stock and the best methods in his farming and pastoral operations and he has well earned the title of one of the pioneers of high-class farming in this colony”. 6

and undoubtedly the high standards demanded by his father would have, to a considerable degree, become entrenched in Edward’s own attitudes and practices.

By the turn of the new century Edward is recorded as having possession of two parcels of farming land in his own right. The first and larger of these was Akaunui, at Eiffelton. Akaunui, which was part of the original Longbeach Estate, produced crops of wheat and oats and also fattened sheep and occupied a total of 2,500 acres (1012 ha). The second, slightly smaller piece of land at 2,100 acres (850 ha) was situated at Lowcliffe, some 10 kilometres south-west from Akaunui. The Lowcliffe property was primarily used for grazing. 7

The fact that Edward should, at the age of 25, have acquired land of his own is perfectly understandable. What is less clear is exactly how he came to do so. There are several possible explanations.

It must be remembered that his older brother JCN was already running the Longbeach Estate and, as part of the order of things which prevailed in those days, he was expected to take its ownership on into the future after the demise of their father John. With this in mind, as Edward reached manhood, his father may perhaps have gifted these much smaller parcels of land to him as a form of early inheritance to enable him to find a footing as a landowner in his own right, given that his older brother had a ready-made future with the Longbeach property.

John Grigg’s Will 8, drawn up less than a year before he died at the age of 73 on November 5, 1901, contains quite specific instructions as to the disbursement of his estate, real or otherwise. JCN and Edward were both appointed as Executors of this Will in which provisions were made for an equal inheritance for their five sisters by way of income paid twice yearly from the earnings of a capital sum of £25,000. Otherwise, the entirety of John’s estate was bequeathed to his oldest son, JCN Grigg. [Note : The was a third brother, Henry Robert Scott Grigg, born between JCN and Edward who died whilst at Christs’ College in October 1880 of what was thought to be bronchial pneumonia]

Edward received nothing! He was not a beneficiary and yet he was also charged by the document with responsibility for managing and investing his sisters’ inheritances and ensuring that they received the prescribed regular income. Now, more than a century later, what Edward thought of this apparent inequity can only be a matter for conjecture. If, as stated earlier, John had already provided for Edward’s future by gifting him the two parcels of land referred to, this act may have partially or fully assuaged any of Edward’s concerns about an inequitable inheritance, and it may also explain his apparent exclusion from his father’s Will. On the other hand, if the surmise of an earlier gift is incorrect, he may at this time have felt quite badly done by. Throughout his life Edward frequently demonstrated his ability to voice an opinion and to seek justice on his own behalf. There is no reason to believe that he would have held back from doing so in these circumstances.

Another possibility deserves consideration. It might be the case that although JCN was compelled to abide by the prescriptions of his father’s will, he nevertheless felt that he should take some steps to adjust the register and might possibly have gifted at least the Akaunui property to Edward after his father’s death to go some way towards redressing the imbalance. We simply don’t know!

This brings us to the Akaunui homestead, an imposing two-storeyed building of brick and timber construction. At this time Edward was seeking out the company of a young lady who would before long become his wife and life-long partner. It is natural that he would wish to provide a fitting home for his intended bride and Akaunui was built, probably in 1900, for just this purpose. Diana McKenzie, a current owner, records that Edward built the Akanui house on a snap decision. He saw a photograph of the building complete with ground floor plan in an English magazine of the time and simply told his builder “here, build that!” It was then left to the builder to convert an impulse into reality. There was a plentiful supply of bricks available in the vicinity. Sited at Eiffelton, near Winslow, and using suitable clay from the locality, a brick works had been constructed to provide construction materials for the buildings of the Longbeach estate and for making the clay drainage tiles which were so widely used on Longbeach for the draining of swamp land. Eiffelton, which was some 7 kms directly north from the Longbeach homestead, actually received its name as a direct result of the presence of the brickworks. The brick kiln had a tall chimney stack which was of such height that it reminded the locals of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In consequence the area was referred to as Eiffelton and remains so to this day.

Whether the construction of the Akaunui homestead was funded from the Longbeach coffers or paid for by Edward himself, under some form of mortgage arrangement is not established. Regardless, by 1902, he had his land, a fine house upon it in which to live, and was ready to embark on the next significant phase in his life.

Satellite view of Akaunui Homestead & Grounds (2012)

Dora Frances Grigg [nee Cook] – A Marriage and a Lifelong Partnership
Dora Cook was a lady of considerable talent. She was born in the family home in Armagh Street, Christchurch on November 22, 1879, one of five children and the youngest of the three daughters of Professor Charles Henry Herbert Cook (foundation Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Canterbury College between 1875 and 1908), and his wife Emily Denman Peacock.

Dora grew up initially in the Armagh Street house until 1986 when the family moved to more spacious accommodation at 11 Cranmer Square in central Christchurch. It was a settled and intellectually stimulating family environment and one which was conducive to learning. The Cook parents fostered the development of knowledge and skills in all their children. Music played an important role in the early lives of the youngsters and Dora’s older sisters Mary and Lucy became accomplished musicians. Dora was also musically capable in her own right, but her best talents were displayed by her artistic activities. She took these innate skills beyond secondary school and attended the Canterbury College School of Art in Christchurch in the late 1890s. A newspaper report of 1897, listing the results of the annual examinations at that organisation includes …. “Freehand Drawing – Pass, Excellent – D.F. Cook “Model Drawing – Pass, Excellent – Dora F. Cook”. 9 Where and how Edward and Dora first met is not known to us. In the final decade of the 19th century there was a good deal of social interaction between the landowning families of Canterbury and the more esteemed and affluent families of Christchurch City. In all probability their first encounter came at one of the numerous social events of the time which captured the attention of the younger people of both urban and rural backgrounds. Perhaps an introduction was made via friends of either party. Details of their courtship, its manner and duration, can only be surmised. As was the custom of the time, Edward undoubtedly put himself about the social scene, presenting as a young country gentleman of potential. For her part, and in a different way, having already traversed the challenge of her emergence as a debutante, Dora would have wished to be viewed as an elegant, educated and mature young woman of considerable eligibility. Whatever the case, Edward was clearly impressed with what he saw and committed himself to the pursuit of a serious relationship. He prosecuted his case with ultimate success.

The Wedding of Edward Grigg and Dora Cook – reception in the grounds of the Cook family’s Cranmer Square house On April 9, 1902, the pair was married at St. Michaels of All Angels Anglican Church on Oxford Terrace, Christchurch (the place of Dora’s baptism some 23 years earlier). The subsequent nuptials were held at the family home at Cranmer Square a few blocks north from the church.

The contribution that Dora made to her newly acquired family over the decades to come was substantial and it is fitting that we devote time to examining the lady and her ways.

On their return to Akaunui, the newlywed couple set about the task of arranging their home and adjusting to their respectively changed circumstances. Although Dora had little or no previous experience of matters agricultural and a farming lifestyle which was so different to that which she had previously encountered, she was a determined, resilient and dependable woman who readily adapted to her new role and all of its challenges. Important tasks such as the engagement of appropriate staff were quickly attended to. Akaunui placed advertisements for the staff necessary and appropriate to a large country house and Dora wasted no time setting her stamp upon her new home. The Ashburton Guardian 11 records the process with a subsequent advertisement stating …

“WANTED -  Experienced General.

Reply by letter with references to

Mrs Edward Grigg,

Akaunui, Winslow.”

Not the least of Dora’s skills was her ability to communicate with people in all walks of life. She gave assistance to the wives and children of the men who worked for Edward on Akaunui in practical and useful ways. Equally, she was just as much at home playing hostess to larger social occasions such as the “Bachelors of Akaunui Ball” which was held in most years and was widely advertised 12 …

Similarly, throughout most of her life Dora devoted a good deal of energy to the promotion of and fundraising for the various charities with which she was willingly associated. Her son Hugh remembers her social activities and has described Dora as “a powerhouse of energy and a very well-organised woman”. 13  Somehow, in amongst all the other efforts required of her by her family and the operation of the property, she managed to fit an almost endless stream of neighbourly and civic duties which ranged from growing vegetables to help feed the poorer members of the community, visiting and supporting sick or elderly friends and neighbours, including minding their children, to adopting executive positions in charitable organisations such as the Red Cross where she was appointed as their official visitor to the Military Hospitals of the Dominion. She also worked tirelessly throughout her life for the Victoria League.

Perhaps more than anything else, Dora’s capacity to remain in contact with people by means of correspondence stands out as a singularly memorable attribute and possibly her crowning achievement. In short, she was an inveterate writer of letters, notes and memoranda. It was not uncommon for her to write as many as ten or sometimes twelve letters to people in a single day. This is verified by the lists she kept in her diaries of her letter writing and mailing tasks. 14 She derived great pleasure and sometimes personal solace from writing letters to other family and friends to keep them abreast of current happenings, both local and elsewhere. Just as importantly, she derived wonderful satisfaction from the many and varied items of correspondence she received in return.

These were the abilities and energy that Dora brought to her marriage with Edward. Anecdote suggests that she was a woman who, by virtue of circumstances i.e. the continuous demands of her role as wife and mother, never truly realised the potential of her talents, intellectually, artistically and in many other ways. Yet without her rock-like support, it is arguable that Edward may not have been able to achieve the things he was able to do in his lifetime. In the decade following their marriage, Edward and ‘Gay-Gay’ (as Dora was affectionately referred to by most of the family) cemented their place in both the agricultural and the social circles of the Ashburton District and of course in Christchurch a little further afield.

Before long the family numbers grew. A seemingly constant procession of infants arrived at Akaunui. In all Edward and Dora had five children who were, in chronological order …..

Donald Edward Grigg (1903 - 1978)

Roger Christian Grigg (1904 - 1989)

Nancy Rachel Grigg (1907 – 1983)

Martha Denman (‘Patty’) Grigg (1911 – 2002)

Hugh Tempello Grigg (1915 – 1990)

It has been said that perhaps, as time passed, Dora became somewhat burdened by the daunting task of raising a family of five, although she never really said so and was noticeably long suffering.15

As the family grew in numbers, the size of the in-house staff necessary to accommodate the family and its numerous and frequent visitors expanded also. The Christchurch papers advertised …

“SITUATIONS VACANT – Wanted, for the country, Cook, House maid-laundress, also House-Parlour Maid. Apply with references to Mrs E. Grigg, Warwick House, or by letter to Akaunui, Eiffelton.” 16

Edward with Donald – early 1904                      Patty, Roger (rear), Donald holding Hugh & Nancy (circa 1915)

Schooling of the children in their early years took place at Akaunui under the directions of a governess, but in due course both Donald and Roger were sent to a boys ’preparatory boarding school ‘Waihi’, at Winchester, some 40 kilometres south from Akaunui. The early education of Nancy and Patty is not recorded, but we know that they later attended preparatory schools at Craighead and Chilton St. James respectively.

In the same manner as their father before them, in due course Donald and Roger were despatched to Christ’s College in Christchurch to tackle the task of secondary schooling. In later years, both Nancy and Patty would attend Woodford House, a private Girl’s boarding school in Havelock North, Hawkes Bay.

Taking Care of Business : Interests & Acumen
In his years at Akaunui (1900 – 1919), by all accounts Edward ran the property successfully and profitably and was always entrepreneurial in doing so. He pursued a diversity of agricultural production which, to a greater or lesser extent, mirrored the pattern of farming and the manner of farm management employed at the nearby Longbeach Estate. Edward was very much the man in control, keeping a close watch on all that took place, driving change and development and ensuring that the enterprise continued to move forward successfully. Never was an opportunity missed to utilise the property’s resources in the most advantageous way and we see in the Ashburton Guardian of 1915 the following ….

“NOTICE – Akaunui Dip is now ready. Anyone wishing to dip sheep can do so by making arrangement with me or C. Samuels. E.F.J. Grigg, Akaunui, Eiffelton.” 17 From time to time, of course, there were setbacks and farming the land did not prove to be as straightforward as Edward might perhaps have expected. Although he could and did control most things, the weather was beyond his grasp. On one occasion the weather proved to be entirely uncooperative and not even the renowned Longbeach drainage system could cope. In a feature column entitled “A Wail from Akaunui” the Ashburton Guardian set out in graphic terms the effects of …

“… four days of ceaseless rain, which could be gauged easier by feet than by inches. About 2 a.m. on Monday morning, the Hinds River overflowed its banks, and like Odin’s hounds came howling through the night, making involuntary immersionists of many of Mr E. Grigg’s harvest hands who were temporarily camped in tents … the water steadily rose, and at 3 p.m. the cook signified his intention of clearing out ‘whilst yet it was day’. The men remonstrated, yet it was of no avail, and under escort of two ploughmen he made his way through the already deepened mire, his swallow tailed coat bobbing spasmodically up and down as he feverishly crossed the flooded area. Towards early morning on Tuesday the rain subsided, and the flood water collected itself into a few well-worn channels, causing peace once more to reign in the camp. The central piles were washed away from under the Hinds bridge, situated on the Surveyor’s Road near Eiffelton; many of the wheat stooks on the Longbeach and Akaunui Estates were for days surrounded by water, about 120 acres of oats estimated to yield 100 bushels to the acre, and many acres of wheat are still in the stooks, possibly beyond threshing; everywhere there are evidences of the deluge. In ‘Akaunui’ camp the casualties were – one pair of trousers ruined; missing – one cook, last seen near ‘Moore’s Camp’ in company with a bottle of painkiller, and expressing a firm resolution to ’cook no more in flooded regions’”. 18 Humorous as this might be, it was certainly not the sort of event that Edward would have appreciated from a financial perspective, but by and large such events were rare. Akaunui and Lowcliffe were both productive properties although rather different in their emphases. The former ran dairy and beef cattle and was also substantially utilised to grow fodder, wheat, oats and other crops, Lowcliffe was substantially a sheep and cattle property used for grazing and fattening of livestock. E.F.J. Grigg’s Properties at Akauniu and Lowcliffe

Bat and Ball
While he was still a relatively young man, Edward continued to pursue his interest in sports, was supportive of local events and whenever he could, participated in them. The annual rugby football series between Akaunui and Longbeach was always popular and was even reported in the Christchurch Press which tells us …

“In the return football match, Akaunui v. Longbeach, the former team won by five points to three. For the winners E. Grigg scored, the try being converted by Lloyd,and McGuinness scored for Longbeach. The teams were subsequently entertained by Mr E. Grigg at dinner.” 19

Similarly, during summer months Edward could be found engaged in the occasional cricket match in the district. A particular favourite and one looked forward to by many in the district was the annual match between Lowcliffe and the adjoining Coldstream estate. History records that in the 1915 challenge Edward, playing as opening bat for the Lowcliffe team, top scored with 18 runs. His team’s total of 42 runs was unfortunately insufficient to carry them to a victory over their long-time rivals on the day. 20

The Exhibitionist
It was not just the sporting field which drew out Edward’s competitive spirit. He appears to have inherited the same interest in growing and exhibiting good produce that was evident with his father and older brother in turn. One of the few organisations with which he publicly engaged was the Longbeach Horticultural Society of which he was a Patron for several years. Not often, but occasionally, success crowned his efforts and in 1911 the Guardian reports that he was awarded 1st prize for Cut Flowers in the Open Class and 2nd prize in the open class for exhibits of apples. 21

The Property Trader
From his earliest days Edward seems to have had a penchant for owning property and even up until a couple of years before his death constantly watched the property market for the right deal, in the right place, at the right time. Throughout his lifetime he owned rural properties at …

Canterbury : Akaunui, Lowcliffe, The Dunes at Bankside (which was later farmed by his oldest son Donald), an un-named parcel of land in the Mount Herbert County on Banks Peninsula (and also managed Lowlands near Hororata for his wife Dora).

Marlborough : Part of Tyntesfield Station and the entirety of the nearby Meadowbank Station (which will be described in more detail later) plus a section on a cove in Blackwood Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.

In town : At various times he owned Nos. 87 and 123 Dyers Pass Road on the Cashmere Hills and a block of land in the Borough of Lyttelton. The final years of his life were spent at 30 Francis Avenue in the suburb of St. Albans.

There may well have been other purchases, some short lived, others of longer duration of which we no longer have any record.

His family watched his real estate activities with some interest and perhaps even occasional concern. We have commented already on the fact that it was Edward’s nature to be entrepreneurial. He was often ‘away’ looking at some prospect or other and from time to time his family gently chided him for his enthusiasm and the often fruitless effort he would devote to it. In a letter to her father from England in 1943, daughter Nancy, obviously responding to advice about a current scheme writes …

“I wonder if you have bought Bailey’s farm. You didn’t mention it again. A good idea in many ways and useful for holding travelling stock. But wouldn’t you be happier in Christchurch among your old friends.” 22

The Pastoralist : Run No. 107
‘Shepherd’s Bush’, a pastoral run of 7,100 acres, was one of the first two pastoral leases in Canterbury under the terms of the 1913 Act. Situated approximately 11 kilometres from what was then the Mount Somers railway station this block was described as high pastoral country running up to 4,500’. 23

In 1914, the Government was beginning to lease by auction quite large areas of land which were unsuitable for cultivation. In February of that year, Run 107 was offered up for lease at the Lands & Survey Office in Christchurch. The annual rental for this lease was set at £500 and not a single bid was forthcoming on the day. Perhaps this was due in some part to the newly instituted compulsory residence clause which had been inserted into the revisions of the 1913 Act. The revision dictated that the lessee must commence residence on the run within one year of taking it up and remain there until the lease expired. This stipulation was intended to deter the speculators of the time, but it was less than well received by those who had genuine agricultural intentions.

In the following April the Lands Board once more offered Run 107 to the public at a reduced annual rent of £325 but because the compulsory residence requirement was still included again no outcome was recorded. Finally, in August of that year Run 107 was successfully leased for £325 over a 14 year period to Messrs Colin McKenzie and Robert J.C. Evans, both farmers from the Geraldine district. The residency clause of the Act remained a condition of that lease. 24 At some time between August 1914 and October 1915 Colin McKenzie must have extracted himself from the arrangement and was replaced in the deal by one E.F.J. Grigg who then became a joint lessee with Robert Evans. In October a question in the Parliament was put to the then Minister of Lands, enquiring ‘whether the conditions in regards to buildings and improvements were being carried out on Government runs 106 & 107 situated in the Ashburton County’. This would appear at face value to be a rather unusual question to occupy the time of the country’s leaders and begs the question that it might have been put to the House by one of Edwards many antagonists, given that he was involved in some rather strident and spiteful public debate at that time. In the event, the Minister, Mr Massey was able to report that the Crown Land Ranger had visited the property and discovered Mr Evans camped on the run, with men employed building a dwelling house and a woolshed. 25 Possibly McKenzie had a difference of opinion with Evans to cause his early departure, or perhaps was unable or unwilling to finance the required building work and this situation would have provided Edward with just the sort of commercial opportunity he relished.

This was not the end of the matter. Edward may have found that he could not work comfortably with Evans, or vice-versa. Within two years, the November monthly meeting of the Canterbury Land Board approved transfer of the lease to E.F.J. Grigg this time in partnership with a Hugh Hutcheson.

No record can be found of how they subsequently used this land, or of its stocking rates and productive capacity. How long Edward continued his involvement with Run 107 beyond 1917 is also undiscovered.

The Voyager
During 1910 Edward departed New Zealand and went on a voyage to England, stopping off at a number of other countries along the way. The shipping registers of April of that year record Mr E.F.J. Grigg as a passenger aboard the Cunard liner ‘Campania’, which arrived at the Port of Fishguard at Liverpool, U.K. The Dominion newspaper 26 published his arrival in London on April 21st, noting that he was staying at the Waldorf Hotel. His stay in the U.K. lasted four months at which point we see him listed in the passenger manifest of the Orient line vessel “Ormuz” embarking on September 19, 1910 at London bound for Gibralta, Naples, Port Said, Ismalia, Suez, Colombo and Australia.

The purpose of this journey is not known. Because of the fact that he was recorded quite specifically as being unaccompanied, it can only be assumed that his travel was a matter of business rather than recreation.

The Mariner
Although he was essentially a man of the land, Edward was equally at home on water. During his lifetime he is reported to have owned and sailed several vessels of varying types and sizes. Yachting was a favourite pastime.

The first of Edward’s vessels was the yacht ‘Yvonne’ which he owned in partnership with Professor Scott of Canterbury College. It is reported 27 that, whilst approaching the entrance to Otago Harbour in particularly difficult weather, Yvonne and her crew, Edward included, rode up on a surprisingly large wave and managed to jump completely over ‘The Groyne’, the mole constructed from rocks at the harbour entrance. This must have been both spectacular and quite frightening and was certainly unintended.

‘Yvonne’ was followed by a 24’centre-boarder named ‘Storm Bird’ which Edward, Donald and Roger successfully sailed from Lyttelton to Picton without motor assistance.

During the family’s years at Meadowbank, Blenheim, Edward pursued his aquatic activities in the Marlborough Sounds and at that time owned a motor launch named ‘Sterling Girl’ which is seen in the photograph at left.

For most of his life, Edward was a member of the Christchurch Yacht Club, the Annual Subscription for which (in 1952) set him back the princely sum of         £1.5.0.

In the later years of his life, Edward’s final vessel, which could be found at different times either in Lyttelton Harbour or otherwise at a mooring or on Morgan’s slip at Picton in the Marlborough Sounds, was ‘Spree’, a twin-masted  28’ Bermudan Ketch. In the mid-1960s, more than a decade after Edward’s death, his youngest son Hugh sailed Spree widely around the islands of the southern Pacific Ocean, as far afield as the Cook Islands and Tahiti.

One of Edward’s early design sketches for his Ketch

A Small Place in History
The 1910-1912 Antarctic Expedition of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his bid to be the first man to reach the South Pole, together with the contest with his rival the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, is the stuff of legend. History records that his efforts were unsuccessful and the lives of Scott and his pole party were lost out on the Barrier as they strove in vain to reach the safe haven of their hut at Cape Evans on Ross Island.

JCN and Edward Grigg had a more than passing interest in this expedition for they played a part in its early organisation. The expedition’s vessel, the 744 ton barque and Dundee whaler “Terra Nova”, arrived in Lyttelton Harbour on October 28, 1910. The timber vessel had developed a leaking hull which became progressively worse as she sailed south from England to New Zealand. On arrival the ship was berthed alongside Shed No 5 at Lyttelton. People and stores were unloaded to enable her to be ‘docked’ for repairs to what was discovered to be a split in the false stem. Meanwhile, the expedition’s 19 Siberian ponies and 46 sledge dogs had been offloaded onto Quail Island, a small 81 hectare island within the confines of Lyttelton Harbour. Used in the early days as a leper colony, Quail Island had also seen service as a place where animal quarantine regulations could be satisfied by previous Antarctic expeditions.

The Terra Nova had brought with her from Melbourne approximately 30 tons of compressed oaten hay. This was to be used to feed the ponies during their time on the ice. In the event, after careful calculation, Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates, the pony handler convinced Scott that this supply was inadequate and an additional 15 tons would be needed to sustain the animals, not only during their time in Antarctica but also on the journey south. This is where the connection with the Grigg family begins.

The prominence of Longbeach in agricultural circles, throughout New Zealand and further afield, had been growing steadily throughout the early years of the twentieth century. The property was held in high regard for the effectiveness of its animal breeding and management practices and for the quality of its produce, and was therefore an ideal candidate to be chosen as the source of supply of food for ponies and dogs alike.

From left : dog handler Cecil Meares, Edward Grigg, Capt. Scott on Quail Island, November 1910

As a result, in November 1910 we find JCN and Edward on Quail Island, meeting with Captain Scott and those members of his expedition charged with the well-being of the animals under quarantine, Ensuring they were sustained by the best produce Longbeach had to offer. Doubtless, John and Edward Grigg were also able to give Scott the benefit of their considerable experience with breeding and raising horses and dogs under southern hemisphere conditions and to help prepare the animals for the more rigorous conditions they would before long encounter in the far south.

When the Terra Nova departed Lyttelton Harbour on December 15, 1910, secure in her holds were many gifts of butter, cheese, bacon, hams, tongues and preserved meats donated to the expedition by New Zealanders. We can be almost certain that at least some of this produce going south with Scott would have had its origins at Longbeach and Akaunui. Perhaps without realising the importance of what they were doing, the Grigg brothers had played their part in what was to become, arguably, the most famous Antacrtic expedition in history.

The Man and his Motors
The petrol-powered automobile made its appearance in Europe in the mid-1890s. By the time Edward had completed his formal education motor cars were becoming an integral part of civilisation in many parts of the world, albeit predominantly in the hands of the more affluent members of society. Edward made his acquaintance with this new mechanical form of transport during his university years at Cambridge. At this time there began what he later referred to as his “enthusiasm and unshakeable belief in the motor car which had its origins as early as 1895”. 28

When he returned to New Zealand at the end of his time at Cambridge, he took with him what was by this time an intense interest in, perhaps even a fascination with, the possibilities of the motoring age which was now well established. It was the beginning of a life-long association with motors and things mechanical in New Zealand. Edward notes that the first car he actually drove was a 5hp belt-driven Benz which was owned by a Mr F. Adams, after which he next drove a 10hp two cylinder Wolseley owned by the Wardell brothers. Quite how he managed to convince the owners of these expensive machines to allow him to drive them on their behalf is not clear, but he appears to have had regular success in doing so.

Naturally, it was a forgone conclusion that before long Edward would purchase a machine of his own, and so it transpired. In 1906 he bought his first motor car, a ‘Simms’, but this was replaced less than a year later with a more powerful ‘Dennis’ and he continued to own and drive this marque from 1907 through until 1915.

Indeed, during his time as a farmer at Akaunui, the letterhead which he used for correspondence formally proclaims him to be a “Mechanical and Electrical Engineer”. Whether he achieved formal qualifications of any kind in either of these engineering disciplines is a matter for conjecture. Perhaps, as was his way, he was simply using every possible means to promote his perceived skills and present to the public at large a “professional” image. Regardless, what is particularly interesting is the additional statement on the same letterhead which describes him as the “Sole Agent for Dennis Motor Cars – Indents Undertaken”.

Clearly he viewed the new motoring era as a long term prospect and a potential source of business which was worthy of a little advertising on his behalf.

Whether he did so as a means of promoting his business interests or because he just simply wanted to be involved with it all, from time to time Edward participated in what were described in the early 1900s as ‘Motor Reliability Runs’. In these events, motor cars and their drivers both engaged in tests of endurance by confronting the not inconsiderable rigours of the primitive country roads of the time. In places these roads were in reality little more than tracks and the impost upon the strengths of man and machine, not to mention the patience of the former, were substantial.

The Dominion newspaper 29 records that in January 1908 just such a reliability run was undertaken from Christchurch to Dunedin and return. The article confirms the awarding of a ‘special’ prize to Mr E.F.J. Grigg and his 20-22 h.p. Dennis for the car putting up the best performance, exclusive of slips for tyre troubles only, not finishing first second or third in its class. Far from being pleased with this award, Edward strongly contended that a broken spring on the Dennis had robbed him of first prize. Reluctantly, he was obliged to accept what he regarded as a ‘consolation’ prize instead. If nothing else, the fact that he had made it through to the end of the event points up his doggedness and determination.

We have no evidence to indicate whether Edward’s agency for the Dennis motor car brought him financial success or otherwise, but we do know that, from time to time, his motoring enthusiasm brought him into conflict with the transport regulators and the new road by-laws which were by then emerging.

A Christchurch newspaper of 1912 30, under the banner headline “Motorists in Trouble”, records an outcome from the Magistrate’s Court of the day where one Edward Francis Grigg was fined 40 shillings plus costs, for driving a motor car at an excessive speed along the New Brighton Road. Such rashness cannot be attributed necessarily to youthful exuberance, for at the time Edward was 38 years old. Viewed tolerantly, this episode might be regarded as a minor indiscretion which reflected the offender’s affinity for motoring and was merely a momentary lapse in judgement. In reality, it may well have reflected the phase Edward was traversing in his life, a time when he was not comfortable with authority restrictions being progressively placed on his activities, particularly his motoring ones.

Whatever the case, his enthusiasm for motoring at speed before long brought him once again to the attention of the authorities, this time no less an eminence than Mr Christie, the Traffic Inspector for Ashburton, who “lodged an information” having observed Edward driving across the Ashburton traffic bridge at a speed of 16 mph which he considered to be significantly in excess of the speed permitted by the by-laws of the town. The matter was further exacerbated by the fact that during this high speed action it was alleged that Edward had also, at some risk to himself and others, overtaken a gig, another motor car and what was described as ‘an express’, all within the length of the bridge.

Never one to give ground to an authority of any sort, Edward promptly engaged Counsel and proceeded to defend his honour in the Ashburton Magistrate’s Court. The newspaper report of the day 31 tells us that Edward protested that he normally crossed the bridge at least twice a week and knew the road and its obstacles well. Moreover, on the day in question he explained, he had also had Mrs Grigg in the car with him and was not in any hurry to get anywhere. The explanation in defence continued. Edward insisted that, having seen the inspector at the end of the bridge, he continued on at his particular speed, which he also insisted was much less than had been claimed. He simply overtook the other vehicles because they, too, were travelling at a considerably slower pace. When asked by the prosecution how many times in the last five years he has been convicted for “furious driving”, Edward was adamant that he had not, conveniently forgetting the New Brighton Road episode from less than a month before. Perhaps not necessarily to the advantage of his case, he also declared that anyone present who dared to suggest that he may have offered to bet anyone a sum of £50 that he could ‘race the express to Christchurch’, would be telling an absolute lie.

The case was deferred for a week to enable the Traffic Inspector to call two additional witnesses, but quite mysteriously, on the resumption of proceedings, neither of them could recollect seeing the defendant at all on September 26th, the day the offense was alleged to have occurred. Nevertheless, the Magistrate was unmoved by the apparent dearth of condemning evidence and after hearing all submissions said he was satisfied that the defendant had exceeded the by-law limit and imposed a fine of 40 shillings and costs.32

Although these fiscal setbacks were beginning to assume a certain regularity, Edward continued his motoring activities with unabated enthusiasm and remained an advocate for motorists’ rights. His crusade against what he considered to be the inappropriateness of the local by-laws, and what he saw as their departure from common sense, roused his ire to a degree which provoked him to address the issue in the local press. In October, 1915 33 in a letter to the Editor of the Ashburton Guardian which was an undisguised assault on the businesses, tradesmen, pedestrians and particularly the councillors of Ashburton, Edward gave vent to his opinions. He was a man of strong views and in his customary manner he did not resile from them in the slightest, making his feelings abundantly clear. He wrote …..

“Sir,

Permit me to draw attention to the by-laws relating to motorists and the frequent fining of them for mere technical offences in Ashburton. It would seem as if Councillors framed these by-laws especially to annoy and inconvenience motorists, and the manner of their enforcement is nothing more than persecution. It looks as though the business people and tradesmen of Ashburton do not wish motorists to frequent their town. Car drivers nowadays constitute a large and powerful body. I consider it is high time that we took steps to protect ourselves from this form of petty tyranny. The best way to do this is to follow the example of English motorists in some country centres, and boycott the town. Formerly I dealt almost exclusively in Christchurch, but for some years I have been doing an ever-increasing amount of business in Ashburton, and purchasing more goods there. From this on, I mean to do as little business as possible in the town. I call on motorists as a body to do likewise. All goods can be landed at country stations from Christchurch or Timaru more cheaply than they can be bought in Ashburton, and wool and other produce handled in just as easy a manner. The townspeople who elect the Borough Councillors have the redress of this matter in their own hands. Ashburton cannot complain if the action of its councillors results in loss of business to the town. What a contrast this small town is to Wellington, where motorists are encouraged to drive fast to prevent congestion of traffic in the narrow streets. It is the usual sight in Lambton Quay to see motor cars travelling at from 25 to 30 miles per hour. It is not my intention to insist on high speeds through Ashburton, but to point out that endless unjust convictions of country motorists may recoil on the towns-people’s heads. If the Borough Councillors wish to be up-to-date and do useful work, might I suggest that they give their attention to preventing the blocking of East Street or Burnett Street corner by pedestrians, who loaf about in such numbers, especially on sale days and Saturdays, as to be a source of danger to themselves and traffic. This is at present a grave reflection on the conduct of the town E.F.J. Grigg”

Edward’s outburst provoked an immediate and equally firm response, in more ways than he might possibly have imagined. The Editor of the Guardian, in the same column, felt moved to describe Edward’s composition as “an extraordinary letter”, at the same time confirming that it had held publication of it off for a time and approached Edward with a view that his correspondence was not in the interests of the town, suggesting that on reflection he may wish to withdraw it. Edward was not to be swayed and equally was not one to modify his opinions once they had been publicly expressed. The letter was published on its merits (or otherwise) in the public domain but an end to the matter had not quite been reached. Two days later, another correspondent writing under the pseudonym of ‘Worker’ 34 reviewed the controversy in an unexpectedly social class context stating ……

“Sir,

Allow me a few words in answer to Mr E.F.J. Grigg’s epistle in last night’s Guardian. Now sir, I am only a working man, and cannot afford to go about in a motor- car, so have to console myself with the luxury of a push-bike, and as I consider, when riding at an ordinary rate, I do about eight to 10 miles an hour, I am going quite fast enough for public safety. Well, I have repeatedly taken notice that these motorists whom Mr Grigg stands up for pass me at an excessive rate, which I consider at the pace I am travelling, must be 20 to 25 miles an hour; and in the face of this, Mr Grigg has the audacity to state that the electors of the Borough should support candidates who will make by-laws to support him and the rest of his sort. Now, sir, I always thought that a person who caused, or tried to cause, a boycott was liable to be prosecuted, and I would like some abler pen than mine to take this matter up.

The only thing I can agree with Mr Grigg is his complaint about the way the corner of East and Burnett Streets are blocked of a Saturday, which I consider is a grave danger to the public.

And now to conclude : I think if Mr E.F.J. Grigg was to enlist and offer his services to the Defence Department and fight our enemies, instead of picking fault with our by-laws, he would set an example which your humble servant and many others of the working class would be pleased to follow.”

Worker Ashburton, October 6

Beyond this the matter seems to have been laid to rest, and Edward does not appear to have recorded his thoughts on the extent of outrage his correspondence had engendered, nor do we know how he viewed the suggestion that his energies might be better spent on a real battle ground rather than one surrounded by the comforts of home. Edward’s enthusiasm for motoring was more regularly expressed in an informative rather than a confrontational way. His documents include a comprehensive set of notes he wrote which became the substance of a newspaper article on the history, development and the vagaries of motoring in New Zealand and elsewhere. These seven pages of notes were published in a feature article entitled “My First Car”- Thirty was too fast for Early Passengers”, in what is presumed to be the Christchurch Press 35. A copy of the article is included in Edward’s papers but it has been clipped in such a manner that the reference to the newspaper and date has been removed. Nevertheless, from social and other commentary printed on the reverse side of the sheet we can be reasonably sure that the article appeared in October 1932. The notes and article are of considerable interest as they provide an insight into the difficulties and costs of motoring in New Zealand in the early days, and also point up the reluctance of a significant section of the N.Z. populace to accept and adopt this new mode of transport.

Sadly, the newspaper did not include the final paragraph of Edward’s handwritten notes in their published article. It was, in a way, quite a prophetic statement. He wrote …..

“As soon as the heavy oil self-ignition engine is over its teething troubles, and they are nearly over, a passenger can be taken from Invercargill to Auckland more quickly, comfortably and cheaply, and quite as safely as the present methods employed. This does not even depend on the success of the proposed planes that are now being built experimentally to fly at tremendous heights”. 36

In his letters Edward also reveals something of his parallel interest in the emerging field of aviation. He was a man of considerable vision and it might be supposed that, had the aeroplane developed a decade or so earlier than it did, a younger Edward might well have been a champion of the cause and may have been tempted to risk a bet (make an investment) on the probabilities of its future growth and success.

Undoubtedly he took pride in the aviation achievements of his sons Donald and Hugh. Donald was one of the early aviators of Canterbury, and an RNZAF pilot who reached the rank of Squadron Leader and commanded aircraft in the Pacific islands during WW2. Hugh, was a man who, from an early age dreamed about aeroplanes and made flying models of them during his school years. Also a qualified pilot, Hugh went to England after his schooling to achieve qualifications as an aeronautical engineer and later served in the RNZAF as a Wing Commander with responsibility for the supply and repair logistics for New Zealand’s aircraft in the Pacific region. Anecdotal evidence 37 suggests that Edward’s pride in the aviation achievements of his offspring, although substantial, was rarely displayed and very infrequently communicated to them. Demonstrating sentiments of that sort openly was simply not Edward’s way. Returning to his mainstream interest, it is beyond question that Edward was passionate about motor cars in general, and his motor cars in particular. He loved the speed, the exhilaration and the freedom of movement which they provided. A motor car was the mark of the modern man and a person of substance, and Edward considered himself to be qualified on both counts.

The Beginning of Change – Venturing North
Edward Grigg always looked towards the wider horizon – that was his nature. The focus of his land ownership was well and truly centred in Canterbury, but even as a young man he began to cast his gaze beyond his immediate environs. Edward had a good eye for country and a matching ability to recognise a bargain when he came across one.

Between 1900 and 1915, a number of the large, long-established pastoral runs of the Marlborough region began to be subdivided as economic and social pressures of the time fuelled a push for closer land settlement. Edward watched these changes with some interest. The call for more land to be made widely available gathered momentum and was bolstered by government regulation which facilitated the initiative. The introduction at that time of a Graduated Land Tax imposed additional financial burdens on the owners of the larger tracts of land thereby providing a very strong incentive for a reduction in the size of holdings by means of subdivision. More land, in smaller parcels, was to be made available to broaden the opportunities available to the increasing number of people prepared to commit to earning a living from the land. Just how influential the new legislation ultimately was in causing the widespread break-up of the old pastoral runs is not easy to determine, but we do know that it was the cause of considerable debate. On the one hand the changes were favoured by the general populace as a means of enhancing opportunities for many, of increasing the productivity and prosperity of the region and of expanding the size of the local community. The counter-argument was that the whole process did not truly make much land available for a man hungering for a chance to establish his own place and to win an independent livelihood. Instead, it was argued, a large number of the newly created smaller holdings were actually acquired by people already in possession of land and/or existing incomes. 38  Edward Grigg was most definitely one of the latter. The public called them ‘land speculators’!

By 1910 we find Edward in a mood responsive to fresh opportunities. Having consolidated his position in Canterbury he was now paying regard to his wider horizons. The changing land ownership circumstances he saw occurring in the north of the South Island seemed ideal for his purposes. From Edward’s point of view an expansive venture into Marlborough made considerable sense, notwithstanding the fact that any acquisition in that area would have to be managed carefully, given that it was located over 400 kilometres from his place of residence. Edward was a risk-taker and he would have carefully considered the odds and the conditions. The timing was appropriate, the marketplace was favourably disposed, the land was good and should be able to be procured at a ‘sensible’ price. If a parcel of land of reasonable size could be obtained, and provided also that certain improvements were made to it without incurring significant additional costs, the return on investment should be perfectly satisfactory.

Tyntesfield for a Time
Although we don’t have an exact date, evidence suggests that at some time late in 1910 or early in 1911 Edward purchased 10,491 acres from Redwood F. Goulter. 39 The land on offer was part of the intermediate level break-up of the large ‘Tyntesfield’ Station, the closest boundary of which was some 13 miles (21 ha) from the town of Blenheim. Tyntesfield was potentially quite productive land which was somewhat under-utilised. With his canny eye and business acumen it is likely that Edward was quick to recognise the potential it held. Certainly, the possibilities for agricultural diversity and for even further subdivision would have attracted his attention and motivated a financial commitment. How he was able to fund this purchase is not readily apparent. He would almost certainly have been obliged to enter into a mortgage agreement to do so.

Change is a factor in most people’s lives and none more so that the life of Edward Grigg. Within a year or so we find his portion of the Tyntesfield Estate back on the market and being offered for auction at the Blenheim town hall on November 26, 1912. The copious advertising inserted in the local newspaper described the property in glowing terms. It was referred to as …..

“some of the best pastoral and agricultural land in Marlborough … consisting of mainly sweet sunny pastoral country, in good order, with some rich agricultural flats and a fair quantity of ploughable land.” 40

As the advertisement shown here indicates, 41 a total of 10,491 acres (4,246 ha) was offered in four separate blocks, ranging in size from 4,407 acres to as little as 471 acres. Despite the extensive publicity, on the appointed day the auction did not achieve quite the outcome that Edward had hoped for.

Records of the time reveal that attendance at the event was poor and in some respects the scarcity of bidders was attributed to the decidedly inclement weather experienced on that particular Tuesday. Although the terms of the sale were quite favourable to potential purchasers, bids were received for Lots 1 & 3 only. Nothing was forthcoming for Lots 2 & 4. In an attempt to stimulate interest, the auctioneers offered the homestead block and the other large block (Lots 1 & 2) as a combination however this strategy was also unsuccessful. None of the bids received reached the reserve prices which Edward had set and the entire property was withdrawn from auction and made available for private treaty. 42 The newspaper that day commented …

“Mr Grigg had only recently acquired this land, but he had dual reasons for selling out. One was that he had vested interests elsewhere, and the other was that he held the opinion which was substantiated by many, that the property was admirably suited for subdivision.” 43

By all accounts it took Edward some time to divest himself of his Tyntesfield holding and the process was further complicated by the complexity of the newly introduced Land Transfer Act which delayed the issue of Certificates of Title, sometimes for years. It is thought that Edward eventually sold Lot 3 to Charles Goulter and Lot 4 to Jose Jackson under private treaty. 44 It is also probable that the remainder was then sold to Alan Le Clere Latter who resold it in December 1917.

The question is, therefore – why did Edward relinquish his Tyntesfield holding so quickly after he had purchased it, especially when he might well have subdivided it further himself? The key to the matter may lie in his comment about having vested interests elsewhere. We do not have records of his personal finances at this time and so we can only speculate that he may have encountered a short term liquidity problem which obliged him to convert some of his assets into cash which was needed for other things. It cannot be argued that he was financially constrained by any downturn in New Zealand’s economic fortunes at that time. The period between 1896 and 1920 was one of unparalleled growth and prosperity when both wool and meat prices were at high levels. What is a more sustainable argument is that Edward, far from losing his enthusiasm for land ownership in Marlborough, had shifted his ground and had his eyes firmly fixed on a new and even larger prize – the purchase of Run No. 13, Meadowbank, an exercise which of necessity required capital beyond his immediately available resources.

Put simply, Edward most likely needed to sell Tyntesfield in order to fund the purchase of Meadowbank which he must have viewed as a better long term proposition. It is appropriate, therefore, to briefly consider the background of this Meadowbank property and the changes and developments which were taking place there to set a scene for the time of Edward’s involvement with this piece of land.

Meadowbank – for the Long Haul
In the twenty years between 1890 and 1910 a good deal of development and improvement occurred at Meadowbank. Advertisements and public notices at different times attest to this and record activities such as the construction of a cross road into the property; the clearing and breaking up of different pieces of land, sometimes as much as 100 acres at a time; the cutting of flax; the installation of miles of fencing and even the erection of a house for which tenders were called in 1901.45 Much of this improvement was instigated by George Billingsley Richardson who initially managed the property for his absentee owner father Dr Ralph Richardson. In late 1896 Ralph put the property to auction, obviously without success, for in the following year his son George purchased it from his father.

At this time Meadowbank comprised two distinct parts. There was the main pastoral run of 18,500 acres (7,487 ha) in the hill country immediately behind and to the south of Blenheim township and a more intensively cultivated flat land farm of approximately 1,500 acres (607 ha) below the foothills. George Richardson worked the flat land farm and leased the hill country run to George Turner Seymour in 1901 for a period of 15 years.

Just after the turn of the century another small part of Meadowbank was attracting attention, but not for its agricultural merits. Some twenty years earlier, Philip Vercoe had discovered deposits of limestone on what was described as the ‘Island Block’ on Meadowbank. He had been burning the high grade limestone from that area for some years as it was found to be highly suitable for cement making. In 1903 G.B. Richardson leased the piece of land containing the deposits to Philip Vercoe and the Wellington and Marlborough Lime & Cement Company Limited was established for the specific purpose of extracting and processing the Meadowbank mineral. Tests of the deposits also indicated a potentially valuable yield of phosphate which was in strong demand by the N.Z. rural population for use as a fertiliser. 46

Following investigations by ‘experts’, the local newspaper was able to report …

“an unlimited demand for cement in and out of the Colony, and a prospective supply of such a superior manufacture as the Meadowbank developments promise should find much favour in the market”.47 By December of 1903 a number of men were employed at Meadowbank constructing machinery for the Company. Richardson, no doubt, viewed the development of this new industry with anticipation and the hope of deriving a useful and long-lasting income from this part of his land, however the world of business is a harsh and rarely predictable master.

In reality, the mining of limestone at Meadowbank was quite a short-lived affair. Despite such a promising start, before long an even better quality source of the rock was discovered just outside Picton. The new seam was found immediately adjacent to the railway line and this, as well as being close to the port of Picton, swung the economic balance forcefully. More or less immediately, the Wellington and Marlborough Lime and Cement Company abandoned the Meadowbank deposits and transferred its entire operation to the new site. Meadowbank’s days and prospects of becoming a centre of industrial development were over.

Although the property’s foray into the world of mining was brief, in a more social way Meadowbank was establishing a reputation as a place of activity and interest and it played an important role in the life of the wider community during this period. From time to time Meadowbank was the venue for the annual Church of England Sunday School picnic. A traction engine would leave from Blenheim’s Central School on the morning of the event, transporting people the four miles or so to the property. For the princely sum of 1/6d for adults and 1/- for children, participants would be rewarded with return transport and two meals and entertainment at Meadowbank. 48 At this time the property also regularly hosted similar events for the Salvation Army and even became a place for the encampment and drilling of the Dominion’s military forces. In March 1906, no fewer than 30 officers and 250 men were to be found under canvas on Meadowbank soil. 49 On a more rural front, since the late 1870s Meadowbank has hosted dog trials of various kinds and from 1901 dog events, some local, some national, have been held on the property, a practice which continues to this day.

In 1906, George Richardson sold firstly the 1,500 acre farm and then later the larger run itself. Prior to the grand auction at Jellymans Hall on June 8, 1907, the public were able to derive considerable amusement from some quite innovative advertising of the merits of the property. The Marlborough Express 50 creatively proclaimed ……

“Do you think of taking a trip? First buy a Meadowbank section. The rest is easy”

Then …

The farm was purchased by a Wellington syndicate headed by Donald McCallum for £25,000 with the intention of subdividing it into smaller farms and reselling it. This they did, eight months after purchase when various smaller parts of it went to auction, fetching between £13 and £17 per acre. The large 18,500 acre Meadowbank run was described as having boundaries extending as far as the Red Hill and The Ned, and including all the country to the right [westward] from the Taylor Pass Road between the Cemetery and the Sugar Loaf. 51

The Meadowbank run in its entirety was purchased by Robert John Bell (who owned nearby Riverlands) in association with his wife Amy, for the sum of £21,000. In the months following, G.B. Richardson progressively sold off his livestock, machinery, equipment and household contents and moved on.

Robert Bell continued his ownership of the Meadowbank run, still leased to G.T. Seymour, for the next five years. The manner in which Edward Grigg became involved as a prospective buyer is not documented and a search of newspaper files of 1912 provides nothing to indicate that the property was publicly advertised for sale at this time. Instead, it is much more likely that, in the manner common to most rural communities, Robert Bell may have expressed informally among his agricultural associates and fellow landowners that he was of a mind to sell Meadowbank off, either as an entire concern or in smaller parcels. In this event, the situation would undoubtedly have come to the attention of Edward Grigg. In all probability discussions would have taken place between Robert Bell and Edward with the object of reaching a mutually satisfactory private treaty. In this they were ultimately successful and the Marlborough Express in August 1912 was able to report …

“The Meadowbank Estate of some 20,000 acres, situated a few miles from Blenheim in the Taylor Pass district, was purchased recently from Mr Robert Bell by Mr E. Grigg, son of Mr J. Grigg of Longbeach. It is understood that Mr Grigg’s intention is to erect a residence on the property and reside there.”52

No sale price was publicly revealed which further supports the argument that the deal was reached by means of a private sale, however other evidence suggests that the property changed hands for £48,850 including the purchase of 7,000 merino sheep from Mrs Amy Bell. 53

In this way, the stage was set for a Grigg family association with the Meadowbank property which, at the time of writing, has continued uninterrupted for one hundred years.

During the period from the time he purchased Meadowbank until 1922, although directed and controlled by Edward, the day to day operation of the property was in the hands of a series of managers. Records and newspaper clippings refer to several different people acting in tis capacity during the period. In May of 1914 the Meadowbank manager was recorded as being Mr R.H. Watson. Later that year a change appears to have taken place and we see the return of G.B. Richardson and his wife who appear quite frequently in advertisements as Meadowbank managers until towards the end of 1917. In 1918 the manager referred to in public notices was E.A. West.

Development of the property continued and in July 1914 tenders were called for the erection of a new house at Meadowbank. 54

Throughout these years the property appears to have been under fairly constant siege by trespassers, shooters, stray dogs and those engaged in acts of vandalism. By 1915 notices were appearing in the Marlborough newspaper warning the general public that persons entering the property with guns and dogs were liable to prosecution and that persons wilfully damaging noticeboards on Meadowbank could expect similar attention. 55

These were not the only problems Edward faced as an absentee owner. Of even greater consequence was the pressure placed on him to comply with the legislation which sought to control the spread of the rabbit population on his newly acquired property.

The Rampaging Rabbit
Rabbits had always been a problem on Meadowbank, together with most of the other runs throughout the district. As early as 1894, legal proceedings were instituted against the Richardsons for failing to take proper steps to destroy rabbits on their land. 56 Of course this occurred well in advance of Edward’s tenure and responsibility but the problem just simply would not go away and when Edward bought Meadowbank in 1912 he inherited a plague of rabbits with it. Technically, under the terms of the lease agreement, the obligation to take steps towards diminishing the problem lay with George Seymour. Various official notices had been issued and in February 1913 government inspectors visited the property and reported that ‘in many parts the country was badly infested with rabbits.’ 57 It was recognised by the Court that the land was in the process of transfer to the new owner Edward Grigg, however the Magistrate took the view that Seymour should not give up the property in a dirty condition as far as rabbits were concerned. 58  By agreement with the Court, the poisoning of rabbits was deferred until March of that year, the normal month for doing so when the necessary sheep work would be completed and there was not likely to be any effect upon the livestock.

The whole business of rabbits and the ability of landowners to control their spread remained an issue for several years and again came to a head in 1917. In January that year we find a case commencing in the Magistrate’s Court in which Edward Francis Joseph Grigg was charged with having contravened Section 7 of the Rabbit Nuisance Act by failing to take reasonable and diligent steps to destroy rabbits. 59 Whether this action proceeded ultimately to a conviction and a fine has not been established but it is clear that Edward was forced to accommodate the wishes of the authorities. Quite soon afterwards, an advertisement appeared in the local newspaper …

This advertisement 60 is worded in such a way that we are left to ponder the likelihood of both job requirements being satisfied by the same applicant. It would be many years before Meadowbank’s rabbit plague could be considered to be ‘under control’ and judging by the frequency of advertisements for a cook during this time it appears that the provision of food on the estate suffered similarly! From a landowners point of view Edward was by this time coping with events on two widely separated fronts. Although he was more or less permanently at Akaunui he was able, in whatever way he chose, to administer his Marlborough holdings from a distance by a combination of directives to his manager and occasional visits to assess the situation himself.

We now return the narrative to Canterbury for a time, to investigate in more detail some of the involvements of Edward’s southern life. It is helpful to consider the challenges which he faced to enable us to better understand the circumstances which in due course led to him abandon his life in the southern province.

A Consequential Public Stoush - Grigg versus Friedlander (or vice-versa?)
Edward Grigg had always keenly followed horse racing. For him the sport was a useful amalgam of his interest in breeding and training these animals and his innate enjoyment of gambling. He liked a good punt! It is not at all surprising therefore that for many years he was an active member of the Ashburton County Racing Club. Edward enjoyed the company of the racing fraternity and the challenge of recognising and picking a winner. Sometimes he would succeed, sometimes not, but as things transpired his biggest challenge in the racing community came not from the unpredictability of the horses on which he placed his money but from the capriciousness of a fellow member of the Racing Club.

Hugo Friedlander arrived in Canterbury in the late 1860s. He was born and educated in Prussian Poland which was at that time part of the German empire and as a teenager migrated with his family to New Zealand by way of Australia. As he grew into adulthood Hugo became a shrewd businessman and the dominant partner in the firm of Friedlander Brothers which was based in Ashburton and traded as auctioneers, grain, wool and general merchants and commission agents. The firm handled most of the grain production of Ashburton County in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Hugo has been described as intelligent, generous and public-spirited, but also stubborn and even combative at times 61. He made a significant contribution to Ashburton society as the town’s second mayor, and as a member at various times of the Ashburton County Council Board, the Hospital Board and the Lyttelton Harbour Board. As far as this narrative is concerned, what is important is the fact that Hugo Friedlander was a leading racehorse owner and a member of the Board of the Ashburton County Racing Club. This alone was sufficient to create the inevitability of potential conflict between Hugo and Edward, both men of strong opinions and not easily swayed from their respective viewpoints. So it proved to be.

The disagreement which arose between these two men developed from a relatively minor incident into an all-out verbal, literary and even legal tussle. It was probably more a vehicle for a clash of minds rather than an issue greatly in need of debate and resolution. Nevertheless, it became a titanic stoush which careered on for more than a year. It had the public of the Ashburton District entirely engaged with it and came about as follows….

In April 1915, at a meeting of the Racing Club a motion was put to vote a sum of 100 guineas to the Belgian Relief Fund, a charity organised to support those requiring assistance as a result of the impact of World War 1 in that area of Europe. Under normal circumstances such a vote would have been a matter of procedure however, in speaking to the motion, Hugo Friedlander objected to it on the grounds that the rules of the Club stipulated that no special business should be dealt with unless notice of it had been given beforehand. Despite Hugo’s protest the motion was put to a vote and carried, in response to which he immediately put a further motion of his own that any such matters in future meetings must be given notice of in advance. Although Edward had not been the proposer of the initial motion to vote the sum for the relief fund, he was greatly annoyed by Friedlander’s opposition to it. Thus the conflict was set in motion and the two men, both of strong mind and stubborn will, shaped up for the fight and engaged in a battle of attrition, which contained more than a fair touch of malice and which would variously occupy, amuse and annoy the people of Ashburton for the following twelve months.

Edward’s immediate tactic was to claim that Hugo had attempted to block the vote and then to find a rule to base his action on after the event. In a letter to the Ashburton Guardian a few days later, Edward expressed his extreme disappointment stating …

“As a member of the club I am sorry that it is now made public that amongst all the racing clubs which throughout the dominion have given so liberally to the various patriotic funds the Ashburton County Racing Club is one wherein a member of the Committee attempted, by means of a supposed technical point, to block a vote for the relief of the poor in Great Britain and Belgium.” 62 A short time afterwards, at a nearby political rally, Friedlander stated that he still believed he was correct and took the matter to the next level. Hugo publicly confirmed that he would lodge a sum of £1,000 in trust with the newspaper if Edward would put up £100 [the difference in the amounts was obviously some form of one-upmanship] and agree to have the matter adjudicated, the loser to pay their amount in trust to the relief fund. The response was swift and unequivocal and Edward, in the second of what was to become an ongoing stream of letters to the Guardian countered by saying …

“Sir, - In his address at Allenton on Monday night Mr Hugo Friedlander issued a challenge to me. I accept that challenge.”63

He then went on to say “the issue is clear, and admits of no side-issues being dragged in.” Edward promptly lodged his cheque for £100 which the newspaper duly acknowledged and entreated that Friedlander follow suit. After a modicum of manoeuvring and having a good deal to say about Edward’s methods, Hugo likewise offered his payment in trust. The way was now clear for the appointment of an arbitrator which both men agreed was probably necessary. This proved to be a matter easy in the saying but somewhat more difficult in the execution.

Seizing the initiative Edward proposed that either Mr F.H. Pyne of the Canterbury Jockey Club or Mr C.P.Skerrett, a member of the Racing Appeals Board and a King’s Counsel, be appointed as adjudicator 64 to which Hugo responded that there was no such official status as ‘Member of the Racing Appeal Board’. At this juncture the Grigg response was that Friedlander, if he was unable to accommodate the names that Edward had suggested should therefore “kindly, and without delay, propose three names also from which I may choose.” 65

The game was by now well and truly afoot and the battle was joined in writing by Mr F.H. Nicoll the original proposer of the motion who, in attempting to set the record straight, probably did little more than cloud the water. Meanwhile, the Ashburton County Racing Club committee, under pressure of members’ opinions, sent a circular to all other clubs throughout the Canterbury Metropolitan Racing District, asking that Hugo Friedlander be requested to resign his position as one of the representatives on the Racing Conference. Interestingly enough, one of the signatures on this document was that of J.C.N. Grigg (President). Friedlander was incensed by this action taken behind his back and whilst he was absent from the area and denounced it as being ‘un-British’. He concluded that the Committee wished to add further injury to the gross injustice it had meted out to him.

As the debacle unfolded it became clear that the actions of the Committee (or at least some of the members of it) were motivated by a more wide reaching intent. Hugo was a German by birth and until the outbreak of World War I the racing colours of his horses had always been the red, yellow and black of the German flag. He quickly rebadged these colours to red, white and blue when hostilities commenced and this was viewed by the committee as a somewhat devious action. The Grigg brothers and a number of the remainder of the committee, conveniently forgetting the extent of Hugo’s long-standing community efforts and generosity, gave attention only to what they described as ‘the recent barbarous outrages by the German nation’, and felt that it was not fitting that one connected with that people in any way should be the representative of any British community or body. 66 The matter was becoming very personal, perhaps even a touch vicious and all of it aired publicly. Edward had spoken against Hugo at the time of his original nomination as a representative to the Racing Conference and had not succeeded in preventing the appointment. The suggestion of a possible ‘getting even’ hung palpably in the air. By this time the matter had developed far beyond a mere clash of wills between Grigg and Friedlander and had taken on a rather more hostile and racially focussed flavour.

As events escalated the townsfolk began to take sides and at this time Edward wisely, or at the very least tactfully, maintained a media silence for a period, but by the end of June he could restrain himself no longer and re-entered the fray going to press and saying …

“How Sir, am I going to deal with Mr Friedlander”. He continually shifts his ground and evades all attempts to bring the issue to a conclusion.”67

By this time the general public too was beginning to involve themselves and to voice opinions. One citizen, Robert Frizzelle, went to print with …

“So Mr Grigg is at the barrier and waiting – evidently fit and game as old ‘Calibre’. Bravo! Now we shan’t be long. Mr Friedlander. Where are you? None so impatient as the starter and the public, so don’t be long.” 68

It was all beginning to become rather farcical and to the eye of the normal citizen certainly appeared so. Edward continued to use his pointed pen, writing amongst other things …

“After reading Mr Friedlander’s letter in Saturday’s ‘Guardian’ I really begin to doubt if he understands plain English.” 69

In due course, having beaten each other about a little further with their continuous media counterpoints, the antagonists each placed the name of their nominated representative into an envelope and lodged it with the newspaper editor for an official and simultaneous opening and revelation. In consequence, Mr F.W. Watt (for Friedlander) and Mr T.F. Gibson (for Grigg) were ratified as accepted representatives. By this time it was August and the game had been in play for some months. The contestants were wearied but there was yet a good way to go.

Behind the scenes the discourse and acrimony continued, but from the public’s perspective the whole matter fell strangely silent. Despite the fact that there was a good deal of relatively unpublicised discourse going on between the combatants, mostly through their representatives, for the most part the people of Ashburton had tired of the matter and sought more interesting entertainment elsewhere. A series of proposals and counter-proposals were made. These were later disclosed in the newspaper through letters from the representatives and by subsequent editorial comment. By this time the newspaper itself was becoming more than a trifle agitated by the fact that it was being constantly used as a tool of propaganda in a seemingly endless and stupid confrontation in which its readers had largely lost interest.

Suddenly, and rather surprisingly, Hugo Friedlander appears to have had a change of heart and rather abruptly threw in the towel, stating in the newspaper of the day that as far as he was concerned the matter was settled and that no matter what new proposal was made he would not have anything to do with it. 70 Hugo then authorised the Editor of the Guardian to release his cheque to the Belgian Fund. What may well have ‘tipped the pot’ was the fact that Edward, feeling that he was getting little help from the appointed representatives who were not achieving any results leading to an arbitration which would vindicate his position, quite independently sought and personally funded advice from a legal firm in Christchurch. His lawyers addressed the matter in before, in due course, placing the matter before Sir John Findlay, K.C in Wellington. All the salient facts were presented but deliberately on Edward’s part no actual names were mentioned with the combatants referred to as A [Friedlander] and B [Grigg ] in order to foster an unbiased assessment. Before long the King’s Counsel returned his reply and Edwards was not tardy in going to print with the findings. Findlay stated …

“There is certainly nothing in the rules either express or implied which would justify the contention that no special business can be transacted by the committee unless notice is given of a special meeting, when special business only can be undertaken …. Who should hand his cheque to the Belgian Fund – A or B?. I am therefore of the opinion that A should hand his cheque for £1,000 to the Belgian Fund.” 71

Finally, more than a year after the battle lines were first drawn, the campaign appeared to be over. It had truly been a war of nerves and attrition and it is fair to say that neither opponent really took the prize. What had really been achieved? The length and breadth of the egos of both parties had been well and truly exposed. The public had at first become engaged with the fight and to some extent had become polarised by it. As time passed, the people of Ashburton became progressively burdened by the seemingly interminable saga and self-indulgent antagonism of the two men which

…25 was persistently being laid upon them, and openly clamoured for both parties to make an equal contribution. Whether Edward made such a final contribution is not known.

Of greater consequence were the long term effects of this very public stoush upon both of the assailants. There is no doubt that the esteem in which both had previously been held by the wider community was severely eroded as a result of what was ultimately seen as petty posturing. The related outcomes were even more pronounced. Hugo Friedlander became increasingly disgruntled with his adopted community and history records that within a couple of years he had forsaken all his local business interests and moved to Auckland where he stayed for the remainder of his life to escape what he described as the bigotry of the Ashburton community.

As far as Edward was concerned it undoubtedly acted as a significant catalyst in the changes which were to occur in his life in the years immediately ahead, notably a move away from Canterbury and the forging of an empire of his own further to the north.

It is not the place of this document to pass judgement on the episode and the men involved one way or the other, but it is pertinent to comment that, in no small way, the aftermath of it created an environment which led to change for both of them.

There was one other consideration which played a significant role in the decisions Edward would make for himself and his family in the years which followed.

Living in a Shadow
The contrast between the two Grigg brothers, John of Longbeach and Edward of Akaunui, was a distinct one in so many ways. Both had studied at Christs’ College and subsequently at Cambridge. Both regarded themselves as a ‘man of the land’ yet that is essentially where the similarity ended.

JCN was a man for the broader community, well known in agricultural circles throughout New Zealand and beyond, widely recognised for his diverse abilities and community engagements, and esteemed as the owner and operator of one of the country’s largest and most successful intensively farmed holdings. It was not only accepted but also expected that JCN would adopt a role as an eminent person of the district who would immerse himself in affairs of regional agriculture and civic management. He took up this role readily, without reluctance, throughout his life.

In matters agricultural JCN was at various times President of the Canterbury A & P Association, Chairman of the A & P Societies of N.Z. and Patron the N.Z. Holstein Fresian Association, not to mention his role as Chairman of Directors of the Flemington Cheese, Butter and Bacon Factory Company Ltd., and as a Board member of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company. Locally, he was President of the Longbeach District Horticultural Society, Patron of the Ashburton Horticultural Society and for a time was also Chairman of the Longbeach Roads Board and the Ashburton County Council. In the sporting arena JCN’s greatest passion was the breeding and racing of horses and he was President of the Ashburton Count Racing Club from 1907 to 1922. All of these things contribute to a formidable resume of civic activities which is quite amazing when it is considered that they were undertaken as an appendage to his primary role of overseeing the management of the Longbeach estate. It is clear that he was a capable, efficient and generally popular man. In contrast, as far as we can tell from public and private records, Edward generally shunned direct involvement with the community and its organisations, no matter what their merits or purpose. We know that he shared his brother’s affinity for horses and horse racing and he too was a member of the Ashburton County Racing Club. As we have already seen, this particular involvement brought him into conflict with other racing club members and with the wider Ashburton community. For the most part though, Edward appears to have placed little importance on the need for participation in public organisations. As the record stands, this was an attitude he maintained strongly throughout his life.

In fairness it must be said that Edward did sometimes support the charitable work with which his wife Dora was involved, but for the most part he appeared to remain disinterested. The newspapers of the times often recorded contributions to good causes and the Griggs were more often than not at the forefront of such fundraising activities. Edward, though, rarely appeared in any published list of contributors. A good example of this is shown in the Christchurch Press in 1917 72 in a list of donations for Christmas gifts for Canterbury nurses involved overseas in WW1. Dora and her five children are each listed as contributing 5/- to the cause. Of Edward there is no mention. His focus appears to have been otherwise directed.

These other directions were not difficult to find. Horse racing was one of the strongest of his indulgences and he pursued his interest in the ‘Kingly sport’ with enthusiasm. Anecdotally 73, it has been suggested that although he was genuinely interested in horses and their breeding and management, this was paralleled by his fervour for the opportunities the sport provided for enhancing the returns on monies invested. Edward was, by nature, a gambler and a risk taker – in short, he relished the prospect of a ‘punt on the nags’!

There is no simple explanation of Edward’s reluctance to participate in public matters. To understand his apparently divergent attitude we need to look more closely at the character of the man. In doing so, it is important to account for the circumstances of his childhood years and those as a teenager and young adult. It must have become plain to Edward at quite an early stage that, although he and JCN were both sons of John Grigg, there was no particular emphasis placed on equality between the boys in the grander scheme of things. Edward’s role, from the outset, was very much a subordinate one.

It is very difficult, then, to disregard the hypothesis that Edward lived most of the first three decades of his life distinctly in the shadow of his older brother. Throughout this time, and probably rightly so, JCN took the lead, addressed the opportunities and was generally to the fore in all things to do with Longbeach and the family. He was the figurehead, the man who took the initiatives and set the pace. This was seen as his right and also as his responsibility.

It is conjectured that, as time passed, Edward may have come to regard himself as something of an ‘also ran’! Certainly the two men were markedly different in character and temperament. Unlike JCN who, although progressive in his thinking, was also conservative and tended to avoid risks, Edward was more volatile and entrepreneurial, prone to outbursts of temper and more than a touch antagonistic when confronted by authority, regulations, or anything which challenged or impeded the course of action that he favoured. In consequence, although it may be an oversimplified explanation, it is reasonable to suggest that Edward viewed his time at Longbeach and Akaunui as years in which he lived in the shadow of JCN. Given the sort of man he was, we can be sure that this relatively subordinate position would not have sat comfortably with him and would have played no small part in the decisions which he would shortly take. Edward moved on in his life with a very definite point to prove.

Fresh Pastures
It is unlikely that Edward reached a decision to sell his properties in the Ashburton area on any sort of impulse. More likely, as described earlier, other factors motivated this quite major change in his life’s direction. Most probably it was the cumulative influence of many things which, over time, brought him to the realisation that a change was both appropriate and necessary. Although he was a man who was known to do things on a whim, he was not recognised as being overly rash when matters of great import were to hand and he would have carefully reviewed and assessed all the circumstances before making his decision.

In some respects he may have been mindful of the fact that he now had a family of five children to support. Although his Canterbury holdings were productive and profitable they were not of sufficient size to provide adequate support for all of his offspring in times to come. We can only guess at his reasoning but the outcome of his deliberations quickly became plain. It was a time to move on and this he did.

The family had been comfortable growing up at Akaunui. It was a well-appointed lifestyle and they did not lack the comforts that attended a reasonably affluent landowning existence.

Hugh, Nancy, Dora and Patty circa 1918

Donald and Roger – home from Prep School at Waihi, Winchester … homework on the Akaunui veranda

The children, of course, knew little or nothing of Edward’s landowning ambitions away from Akaunui, but it is quite reasonable to expect that at some point during these years he may have spoken to his older sons Donald and Roger about his ambitions and the opportunities that awaited them at a distance.

Patty, Hugh & Nancy - circa 1916

The Sale of Akaunui
The departure from Akaunui was a staged process. The first signs of change were significant and unmistakable. On January 25, 1919 the Ashburton Guardian signalled the campaign. E.F.J. Grigg was selling off some of his land. The National Mortgage & Co advertisement which notified the event was quite detailed 74

The public was advised that 294 acres of Akaunui, the eastern portion joining Surveyors Road and extending along New Windermere Road would be sold in three blocks and that the entirety of Edward’s Lowcliffe holding (a further six blocks of varying size and totalling 2,794 acres) would also go under the hammer at 2p.m. at Bullocks Arcade. The terms of the sale were quite generous. To some extent this reflected Edward’s business acumen and his understanding of the market forces of the time. He was sensible enough to realise that the size of his holdings were not sufficient to attract the well-moneyed land speculators. Rather, the type of person most likely to respond to his offer would be a person with some savings but also relying on an element of mortgage support, for whom extended terms of payment would be not only attractive but in fact fundamental to a successful purchase.

Before long buyers were secured and the next phase of the process came into play. In March, 1919 the N.M. & A. advertised the stock from the properties and it is interesting to see the Agent’s comment …

“Mr Grigg’s sheep are so well known that they need no comment from us.” 75

In a separate advertisement the livestock was described as …

“Tip-top Young Breeding Ewes, Half & Threequarterbreds, Forward Wethers and Lambs in lots to suit purchasers.”76

Here for the first time we get a clue to the future – the advertisement clearly states

“Mr Grigg, having decided to dispose of his properties, the above sheep are for absolute sale.”

Given that there was no follow-up advertising for resale published, we must presume that this first offering of Edward’s livestock was successful.

Only a few months passed before the balance of the property came onto the market and in November it was reported that …

“Mr E.F.J. Grigg’s Akaunui farm at Eiffelton, originally of 2,500 acres, has changed ownership.” 77

Town Dweller
With his time at Akaunui at an end, Edward was faced with a dilemma.

His prevailing circumstances were governed by the fact that he no longer had a place in Canterbury in which to live. It would be reasonable to expect that he might therefore relocate to his Marlborough property, Meadowbank. This was not to be the case, or at least not for the time being.

Reference was made earlier to his concern that the Akaunui and Lowcliffe holdings would not be adequate for the future support of his children. This concern continued to prey on his mind. He now had funds available from the recent sales of property and stock. Providing a suitable inheritance for his children was a long-term objective but for the moment his immediate focus was to set up opportunities for income and employment for them, particularly the latter in the case of his sons (at this time Donald, the oldest, was just a year or so short of completing his secondary education at Christ’s College).

Old habits die hard and being a man of the land Edward began to consider the purchase of other rural properties which might, over time, produce the outcome he desired. A consequence of this train of thought was his purchase of ‘The Dunes’, a sheep and grain farm alongside both the highway and railway line near the Rakaia River bridge at a locality known as Bankside. It is probable that his purchase of The Dunes was also prompted by its appearance on the market at that time as an enforced sale which Edward readily identified as a bargain buy. There was more to come.

Around this time Dora also became a rural landowner. We do not k now the exact date but in the early 1920s she purchased ‘Lowlands’, a somewhat under-developed 2,700 acres light tussock sheep property, located about 8 miles to the south-east of the small town of Hororata on the Canterbury Plain. Lowlands was a land only proposition and did not include any sort of residence other than a small shack. It is not clear how this purchase was funded. Dora may have done so through an inheritance from the estate of her father, although this is doubtful. After his retirement, Professor Cook did not enjoy financial comfort and was obliged to sell the large family home in Cranmer Square in Christchurch. He came to the end of his life in 1910, all but penniless and living in Marton in the North Island with his spinster daughters Mary and Lucy Cook. A more likely explanation was that Lowlands was funded by Edward who, for reasons of taxation or otherwise, at the time saw it necessary to disguise his recognisable assets by purchasing the property in his wife’s name. Further investigation may confirm the circumstances but the arrangement did not change and Dora held title to the property for the remainder of her life.

Returning then to the central dilemma, what was Edward to do for the best? On the one hand he had a property of substantial size to the north in Marlborough which had good prospects for change and development that begged his presence and attention. On the other hand, he had now acquired two more rural properties and also had his involvement with Run 107 remaining to complicate matters. These enterprises continued to require his management and supervision. Where should he best locate himself in order to do justice to this physically diverse portfolio of business activities? What would be the most efficient way of maintaining and protecting his various assets?

Because of his dilemma Edward’s next property purchase, although a little surprising given the kind of man he was, when carefully considered appears to be a reasonably rational solution to the problem of where he should live to get done what he needed to do. He bought a house in suburban Christchurch. Aside from the agricultural considerations there were other factors affecting his calculations at the time. Perhaps not the most, but certainly not the least important of these was his family. His older sons Donald and Roger were both at secondary school at Christ’s College in the city of Christchurch.

The older daughter, Nancy was also at Craighead boarding school at this time. Therefore, a combination of the needs of his southern rural properties together with the social and educational requirements of his wife and children worked to keep the family in Christchurch, living as urban dwellers, for the next few years until even more powerful forces drew them away.

Roger Hugh & Donald – circa 1919

Taking their younger daughter Patty and youngest son Hugh with them, in 1920 Edward and Dora moved to a newly purchased urban residence at No. 87 Dyers Pass Road, a sizeable home on the Cashmere Hills south-east from the city centre.

Family records from the time do not tell us where Patty received her schooling in the three years the family lived in Dyers Pass Road but we know that possibly towards the end of that time, and certainly after the family went north to Marlborough, at the age of 9 or 10 she was enrolled at Chilton St. James Preparatory School in Lower Hutt, Wellington 78 before following her sister                                                                                                      Nancy’s footsteps to Woodford House in Havelock North.

The youngest child of the family, Hugh, stayed with his parents at Dyers Pass Road. Although only five years old when they moved there, he remembers his time in what he described as the ‘town house’ and in particular the whirring noises made by the electric motors of the tramcars as they made their run up the steep road on the Cashmere Hills. 79 At the age of 7, Hugh was sent as a day pupil to begin his formal primary school education at a nearby private school known as ‘The Binzian’.

The family remained at 87 Dyers Pass Road from 1920 until 1923. This is verified by entries in the telephone directory of the time 80 which tell us that E.F.J. Grigg was an automatic exchange subscriber at No. 87 with the telephone number A7032.

Curiously enough, these directory entries also give rise to another mystery. As well as having his telephone at No. 87, Edward was also listed as being the subscriber at No. 153 Dyers Pass Road in one particular year. This may have been nothing more than an erroneous entry, however it is possible that for a time Edward had an additional investment interest in Dyers Pass Road real estate. The mystery remains unsolved!

The years in Christchurch passed more or less uneventfully. Dora was able to re-engage with her friends and the groups within Christchurch Society which she had been part of before her marriage twenty years before. Edward continued to do the rounds of his business interests, making trips north to Marlborough from time to time when he felt it was necessary. As time passed and Meadowbank continued to develop, Edward was beginning to find it increasingly difficult to manage from afar. Through the years he had employed several managers on the property. The last recorded of these was a Mr E.A. West. Apparently, by 1922 the property was not being controlled by his hired manager in the manner Edward wished and a good deal of acrimonious discussion took place early in that year between owner and manager. Finally at the end of that year, the situation reached crisis point and Edward decided that something drastic had to be done about it all. A solution was to hand and it was one that set the pattern for the operation of Meadowbank for all the years ahead.

Meadowbank Years 1923 - 1943
What follows is not a comprehensive chronicle of the evolution of the Meadowbank property under the control of the Grigg family. That is a matter for others. Instead, the focus here is on Edward’s activities and interests during the twenty years he, Dora and some of the family resided there.

Late in 1922, Edward’s solution to his management difficulties was a straightforward one. At the end of that year Roger completed his time at Christ’s College. His older brother Donald had likewise completed his secondary education one year earlier. Roger, by all accounts, was something of an academic and had proven himself to be a more than capable scholar during his school years. Family anecdote has it that both he and his sister Nancy had been proven to have I.Q.’s of at least 140. The upshot of this was that Roger, in all probability, nurtured a hope that he might have been given an opportunity to continue on to university to further his scholastic pursuits. Edward was having none of that. It did not suit his immediate purpose.

Further anecdote 81 records that, on the final day of Roger’s time at secondary school, Edward and Donald appeared at the gate of Christ’s College in a motor car. Donald and Roger were given the car and summarily despatched by themselves to Meadowbank to take control of the property and put things in order. That was Edward’s solution. The boys would assume the management of the property, albeit on a temporary basis. Edward presumably saw his sons as a simple and cost effective method of bringing his production difficulties under direct control and may also have been using this strategy to test their mettle. Reportedly the trip north was not an easy one. In those years the road between Christchurch and Blenheim was in some places little more than a track and it is said that at times they had to wait for a change in the tide in order to be able to progress along the beach and pass a headland that was obstructing their progress. After two days of rather arduous travel the two young men arrived at Meadowbank and took up the challenge that had been set for them.

In Donald’s case the arrangement was not to persist for any length of time and within a year he was to return south to begin farming on his father’s property ‘The Dunes’. For Roger it was different. The temporary solution would in fact become a life-long commitment and he remained working at Meadowbank until his retirement in 1951. Throughout that time he was employed to run the property and was paid a wage to do so.

Late in 1923, Edward and Dora left Christchurch and Canterbury behind. The moved their possessions to Meadowbank and took up residence some eleven years from the time Edward initially purchased the property.

In the twenty years which followed, Meadowbank evolved slowly but surely under Edward’s direction with Roger at his side to implement his father’s wishes. Throughout these years there were many occasions when the relationship between father and son was less than cordial. Edward would not have been an easy man to work with and was prone to outbursts of temper when things were not to his liking. He liked to have control. He has not recorded his thoughts about the capabilities or otherwise of his sons however family conversations over more recent years suggest that he was by and large disgruntled with some of what he saw and it is fair to say that many of his family had a similar view of Edward.

In these years the emphasis was placed on consolidating Meadowbank’s reputation as a source of fine produce. Corriedale sheep flocks were extended and improved and the property hosted herds of thoroughbred Galloway and Holstein cattle.

The family, too, was growing and changing. By the mid-1920s the younger children were away at boarding school in the North Island for most of the year, Nancy and Patty at Woodford House, in Hawkes Bay and Hugh at Huntley just outside the town of Marton. They would return during school holidays and in these years it was customary for the entire family to gather at Meadowbank on such occasions as Christmas.

Patty & Nancy in their Woodford Uniforms – circa 1925

Roger, Donald, Edward and friends 	outside Meadowbank Cookhouse – Christmas 1924

During these middle years Dora continued her role as the family anchor, communicating with everyone and making sure that her family was appropriately provided for. She was the quiet force behind the whole arrangement, maintaining equilibrium when things became difficult. She was also able to find time to involve herself in Blenheim life and was for many years a leading light in the Victoria League which was a charitable organisation devoted to providing an exchange of information and hospitality between people from different countries in the British Empire., fostering friendly understanding and good fellowship. During WW2 the N.Z. branch of the Victoria League was able to raise sufficient funds to provide meals and accommodation for servicemen in London and also organised food parcels to be sent from N.Z. to Britain during and after the war. Dora did much to achieve these ends in her Blenheim District and was widely regarded for doing so.

Meanwhile, the two girls had completed their schooling and were once again home in Meadowbank, preparing as all young girls of the time did for the social season and for their ‘coming out’ as debutantes.

Nancy and Patty

Hugh, was still very much the young child of the family. When home from boarding school he spent his time hunting rabbits with his newly acquired collection of small armaments, catching eels and fish in the Taylor River, making model aeroplanes and being moved around the district to endure various forms of social engagements with older friends of his parents or with children of his own age who had been selected by his parents for the purpose of ‘socially educating’ him.

In 1926, possibly as means of reducing land tax, but also to further his objectives of providing for the future of his children, Edward began to divide Meadowbank up and sold to Donald the Tempello section and the Taylor Pass paddocks, while Roger purchased some 6,330 acres of the Taylor Pass and Branch sections, taking up a mortgage to do so. 82 A trust was put in place for daughters Nancy & Patty. Hugh, because of his youth, did not feature in these arrangements.

By the early 1930s the family was beginning to expand. On April 20, 1932, Donald was now well and truly established at The Dunes and was also enjoying his recreational pursuit of aviation. On April 24, 1932, Donald married Nancy Bruce Harper and the homestead at The Dunes changed from a bachelor’s quarters to a family home.

Two years later it was Roger’s turn. Having fallen in love with a young lady his sister Nancy, brought from Woodford for a visit to Meadowbank, in due course he married Brenda Mary Blyth at Dannevirke on April 5, 1934. After their honeymoon the couple returned to Meadowbank to live in the Stone Cottage adjacent to Edward & Dora’s homestead. Reportedly Roger did much of the construction of this building himself. In due course the couple moved to a new residence which had been built for them up on the hillside overlooking Omaka aerodrome and the town of Blenheim.

Life at Meadowbank continued very much as before. With the majority of the day to day running of the property being undertaken by Roger, Edward had sufficient time to indulge himself in the things he enjoyed. Living as he now did quite close to the extensive waterways of the Marlborough Sounds, there was ample opportunity to pursue his passion for yachting and time was spent sailing in the Sounds and further afield.

However, one of the things about Edward which had not been altered or diminished by his move to Marlborough was his interest in current events. Although he had many things to occupy his attention during the Meadowbank years, he remained a constant subscriber to the national press and received a copy of the Christchurch Press in particular on an almost daily basis.

We have seen that from a very early age Edward was always capable of crafting a reasonably creditable letter and he did not allow this skill to atrophy, even during his busiest years. From time to time matters would be aired and debated in the printed media and, according to his son Hugh 83 Edward was rarely to be found devoid of an opinion on anything currently of concern to the public at large. On occasions he would give vent in print to his opinions, joining a rush of correspondence in the newspapers when he felt sufficiently irritated, or felt that it was his duty to give the world the benefit of his thoughts on the matters to hand.

Often the topics concerned were rather innocuous and Edward’s contribution was made more or less to educate readers. At other times the subject involved more combative exchanges and, as he had always done, Edward threw himself into the fray as we will see in the following examples.

Water Divining
In August 1932, readers of the Christchurch Press were much taken with a debate on the credibility of the process of water divining. Having followed the arguments and counter-arguments, Edward could no longer constrain himself and wrote to the Editor.

As it transpired, Edward was not only a strong advocate for water divining but was also a practitioner of this science. He had no doubt that it was a genuine faculty with which only certain people were endowed and he insisted that it had been practised for hundreds of years and the veracity of the process was beyond question. Edward was convinced that the whole thing was an ‘electrical phenomenon’, to use his own words. He assured readers that it was entirely founded on the principle of conducting electricity around a completed circuit and suggested the following experiment to prove his point.

“Take a person with whom the rod will not work, and let him stand beside the diviner and on his left. The diviner takes one branch of the rod in his right hand, the other person the other branch in his left hand. Both now move forward over a previously located strong stream. The rod will not work; but if they join their disengaged hands, thus completing the circuit, and try it again, it will dip at once. The non-diviner cannot stop it. 84

He went on to explain that the process appeared to become less forceful as the age of the diviner increased, and that there were consequences …

“When I was younger and the rod would work for me more strongly that it does now, I noticed that exhaustion followed if it were used for too long at a time.”

Edward’s rather lengthy correspondence cited several examples of his own success with the divining process. One of these described the way in which he had been able to assist the owner of nearby Blairich Station to increase the water supply to his homestead. Edward claims he was able to locate no fewer than five underground streams in close proximity and was also, according to his own claim, able to predict their width and strength of flow. He also publicly claimed that he had been successful in divining water whilst blindfolded, although he did qualify this by saying that he felt the blindfolding interfered with the process to some extent.

He was a convert to the cause and was in no doubt at all that the process was genuine and reliable.

He concluded …

“A diviner balances the forked wand with meticulous care, and actually resists any tendency for it to turn so that he might be quite sure that it is an external influence at work. 85

Whether the public agreed with Edward or not seems immaterial. Before long the matter faded into the background as debates of greater interest attracted people’s attention. As far as water divining was concerned Edward was content that his correspondence should be merely informative however when it came to the matter of sheep dogs his opinions were more inflammatory and struck a much more discordant public note.

One-Eyed Dogmatism
Meadowbank’s involvement with public dog trials can be traced back more than a century.

The inaugural meeting of the Marlborough Collie Dog Trial Association was held there on April 15, 1899 86 and each year thereafter. When he took the property over Edward was perfectly happy to allow this annual event to continue, but as time passed he became increasingly disgruntled with what he described as ‘the prostitution of this noble breed of dog by the infiltration of the eye-dog strain’! As he saw it, the eye dog had been evolved by crossing sheep dogs with gun dogs, and the outcome was an animal with numerous faults which was almost useless for mustering. Edward’s point was that, to a large degree, this change had been condoned and encouraged by dog clubs around the country allowing the control of dog trials to pass into the hands of professional judges, some of whom he considered to be less than impartial in their actions. It was a brave stance to publicly accuse judges and administrators of what was effectively cheating, but Edward was never one to hold back.

His case was plainly made in a letter to the Secretary of the Marlborough Collie Club 87 in which he stated …

“If matters are allowed to drift on as at present, it will become more and more difficult to breed a good all round honest dog, that can get his sheep off rough country. The genuine and capable musterer has little chance to win at trials”.

At this point in his letter Edward tabled what he must have thought was his trump card saying …

“To bring the matter forcibly before the public, I cannot grant the use of my land for any future dog trials, this applies to Championships as well as to local trials under present conditions. I have been meaning for some time to notify your Club and as I have left the writing of this letter so late and I understand that my son has promised the ground for the next fixture, it can stand. I can assure the Club that I am taking this step with regret, but unless someone takes a firm stand things will go from bad to worse. Professionalism has ruined every sport it has entered into … sheep dog trials have now got to the stage where they are similar to horse racing, it only needs ‘bookies’ on the course to complete the picture.

Yours faithfully E.F.J. Grigg”

Contrary to what he might have expected, the establishment called Edward’s bluff. A fortnight later he received a letter of reply from the national body which was courteous but final.

If this official reproach was intended to bring Edward to heel it had limited success. His passionate viewpoint on the issue of eye dogs remained dormant for a time, but it was largely undiminished and resurfaced several years later.

In April 1946 a North Canterbury farmer, writing under the pseudonym of ‘Amuri Shepherd’, complained to the newspaper about the difficulty of obtaining good sheep dogs. His gripe was that too many people were breeding dogs for sheep trials competitions only, and that these dogs and their subsequent offspring were of very little use in a practical farming sense. The correspondent urged a return to some of the good old breeding strains which he called …

“Those bold upstanding types that looked like real dogs and cut out the squirming fox-like clapping types that resemble cats more than dogs. Give me, for real sheep work, an upstanding dog with some stamina in him, a man’s dog.” 88

Over the following few weeks the correspondence on the matter was vigorous. Some insisted that the quality and capabilities of sheep dogs was not deteriorating at all. Others emphasised the dire need to return to breeding headers and huntaways as had previously been the fashion. A strong argument was mounted that the real heart of the matter lay in the fact that farmers were progressively losing their own abilities to successfully train their young dogs in the most acceptable methods.

All of this was music to Edward’s ears and gave him the chance he awaited to say just what he thought about the whole thing. His letter to the Editor of the Christchurch Press is comprehensive and quite forthright and is reproduced below in full. 89

Not unexpectedly, other correspondents rose to the challenge and Edward was roundly castigated. Mr A.J. Brown of Dunedin pointed a very straight finger. 90

“To my mind, a man who beats a sheep dog is not a very good trainer”.

Another correspondent, ‘Musterer’, weighed into the argument 91 …

“Neither the eye dog nor the honest-to-goodness collie will ever make a first class worker if subjected to the beatings Mr Grigg seems to think necessary for working dogs”.

… but Edward’s viewpoint did gather some support. The debate must have been published more widely throughout New Zealand. ’Old   Bob’ from Waipukerau said …

“I agree that there is far too much breeding to the ‘eye’ dog. Results are disastrous. Let us get back to the real faitheful hones collie, the only worthwhile sheep dog in the world”. Whether his view was supported or not was of little concern to Edward who continued to describe the modern eye dog as a useless cur and a dishonest worker. 921 He did not, ever, change this view!

The world beyond Meadowbank was changing. Events were occurring far afield which would have a very significant impact in different ways on Edward, Dora and their children. Political change in Europe began to escalate rapidly and before long Germany was in conflict with surrounding countries. Eventually a state of war between Germany and England was declared in 1939 and in consequence other nations of the British Empire felt compelled to follow suit, New Zealand among them. The country was from this time officially on a war footing and the Grigg family found themselves inextricably bound up in the whole process.

On a War Footing
The onset of WW2 in 1939 affected almost every family in New Zealand and the Grigg family was no exception. With the country at war significant changes began to gather momentum. People were mobilised for war service in various ways, industrial production began to be concentrated on the war effort and more emphasis was placed on improving agricultural production. A general reorganisation began to take place on the land to ensure that the people of the Dominion could continue to be fed and clothed and that assistance could be provided to Britain in whatever form might be needed.

Austerity measures were soon in force and New Zealanders found themselves faced with growing restrictions in the availability of goods and services in almost every aspect of their daily lives. Rationing books were introduced for many things, even the most fundamental commodities, as we can see from the adjacent photographs of Edward and Dora’s personal rationing records from the period.

Motor fuel, too, became subject to ever tighter controls at this time, a restriction which was of particular concern to men of the land generally and especially to Edward. From his point of view, with his widely dispersed interests and investments, anything restricting his use of his vehicle was of paramount importance. Having the fuel to operate it as he saw fit was critical in allowing him to play his part in contributing essential produce to the war effort.

Edward and Dora were accustomed to travelling down to Canterbury from time to time to shop and visit old friends in Christchurch, to visit son Donald and his wife Nan and children at ‘The Dunes’ at Bankside and, more importantly, to inspect and oversee the management of Dora’s property of 2,700 acres “Lowlands” not far from Hororata. Of necessity, such visits were greatly curtailed by the rationing of petrol.

To Edward’s mind, the issue was a straightforward one. In January 1942 he wrote to the Government setting out what he considered to be his case for special consideration for supplementary fuel…..

“I hereby apply for a special licence for 37 gallons of petrol to take myself, dogs, drenching gear, emasculators, ram clamps, personal effects and other gear to Canterbury. The work I propose to carry out is absolutely necessary for the efficient working and production of sheep, wool and lambs for the forthcoming 12 months on Mrs Grigg’s property “Lowalnads”. The facts are as follows. There is a whare1 on the property from which the work is carried out. There is no house or trap on the property and the nearest centre to which a bus runs is Hororata eight miles away. I have no means of getting stores or bread other than from Hororata or Rakaia which is 11 miles away. The following is the urgent work that I propose to carry out with the aid of an old man of Govt. pension class. The number of sheep on the property is 1597.”

The letter then set out a comprehensive list of absolutely essential tasks, followed by a summary justification….

“It will be impossible to carry out the work, much of which is of an expert nature. I have to get this work through and then return to this property, Meadowbank, to help deal with 14,500 sheep besides cattle and horses. I have only one unfit man on this property of 20,000 acres, my son having been called up. I hope you will see the position is absolutely impossible without petrol. Suitable labour is unprocurable.

Yours faithfully, E.F.J.”

The authorities did not share Edward’s view and before long he received the following correspondence …

For the time being, Edward was obliged to fall back on his own resources, a prospect which did not particularly please him for it forced him to curtail his travels to essential movements only.

=== Meadowbank and the Forces in the Delta === As the war in Europe and later in the Pacific intensified, the Blenheim area became a focus of military activity, particularly for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. From as early as 1939 both the Omaka and nearby Woodbourne airfields became operational air stations used for aircrew training and for service and repairs. Omaka, particularly, was located immediately alongside the flat land paddocks of Meadowbank and it was a level walk of only a little over a mile from the airfield to the homestead. from Wings over Cambridge website – www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz

Before long the capabilities of the region were even further expanded. A large RNZAF station comprising seven separate camps and another airfield was constructed on 1000 acres north-west from Woodbourne. RNZAF Station Delta was located on land between the Wairau, Omaka and Waihopai Rivers. It was a Class B airfield and was used extensively for aircrew and ground crew training, as well as functioning as an auxiliary operational base. The standard of food there was poor and the living conditions cold, damp and generally quite primitive.

Family correspondence of the period indicates that from time to time the flat paddocks of Meadowbank were made available to the military forces to conduct exercises of various sorts and at one point the army had a training camp established on the Meadowbank property. More importantly, RNZAF officers and airmen were quite regularly invited to the property by Edward and Dora and also by Roger and Brenda for recreation on their leave days. This took the form of outdoor pursuits and general relaxation not to mention a cuisine which was a vast improvement on their regular military fare. The hospitality offered by Meadowbank and the Grigg family at this time would doubtless have been popular and gratefully received by the hapless inmates of Station Delta.

Wartime Contributions of the Younger Family
By the time World War 2 commenced, Edward and Dora were aged in their 60s. Their contribution was an indirect one as we have seen and they continued to do whatever they could to support the war effort as the conflict continued. Their children also had a contribution to make, each in a very different way. It is worth spending a little time here to review these respective contributions for it indicates a good deal about the different characters of these younger members of the Grigg family and also points to the values instilled in them by their parents.

Donald Edward Grigg
As he grew towards manhood, Donald’s interest in aeroplanes and matters of aviation grew commensurately. At the time he returned from Blenheim to farm The Dunes towards the end of 1923, both military and private aviation were becoming activities of note in Canterbury. In these circumstances, given his enthusiasm, it was understandable that he would want to learn to fly an aircraft. Before long he was able to do so.

The Canterbury Aero Club was established at Wigram airfield on the southern outskirts of Christchurch early in 1928 and Donald was one of its earliest members and trainee pilots. Learning to fly aeroplanes proved no real challenge to him at all. It was a skill which he mastered easily and showed a natural ability for. His early days of training and his subsequent flying accreditation were accomplished in the dual-winged aircraft of the post WW1 period. These rudimentary machines, which appeared to be quite fragile but were strangely durable, taught Donald the fundamentals and the vagaries of flight and proved to him beyond his doubt that he had the skill to match the challenges they gave him. In quite a short time he was an experienced and able aviator.

Miles Hawk with Donald in the front cockpit – circa 1929

On February 3, 1931 a massive earthquake brought devastation to Napier and the region around it on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. A newspaper account two days later describes a flight made by Donald Grigg from Christchurch to Hawkes Bay to inspect and photograph the immediate aftermath of this national disaster. Flying conditions on the day were abominable with gale force headwinds on the return trip which took seven and a half hours to complete. The newspaper commented …

“Mr Grigg, after the habit of good pilots, refused to enlarge on any difficulties met on the trip, but it was obvious from the weather reports given from the North island towns which were telephoned that he had an unusually bad trip.” 93

Not only was Donald an extremely able pilot but he was also one with a considerable share of courage.

At this time the New Zealand Air Force was pushing strongly for recruits to build up its reserve forces and Donald enlisted in 1930 as an Air Force Reserve officer. The following photograph shows him assembled with other recruits and one of the training aircraft at Sockburn aerodrome in 1931. He remained in the air force in a stand-by military role throughout the 1930s, continuing his training and expanding his levels of experience and capability.

Donald Grigg – Back Row 4th from left – RNZAF Group Photos

Progressively the military recognised Donald to be a competent pilot and also a potential leader. In 1937 he was chosen to go to London as the only airman among a group of military personnel from the Dominion invited to attend the Coronation of King George VI. More than this, he was honoured to be asked to lead the N.Z. contingent participating in a parade through the streets of London as part of the grand event. This he did with pride, not only for himself, but also for his family and his nation.

With the outbreak of war in 1939 Donald moved to a permanent rather than reserve status in the RNZAF. He served initially at Wigram and then at Whenuapai air base at Auckland as a Flight Lieutenant (RNZAF No. 1139) before being transferred to Air Headquarters in the same city. For the next two and a half years Donald flew himself around the country to the various RNZAF bases, performing administrative duties in his customary well-organised manner.

In recognition of his service and the quality of his work Donald was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours list in 1942 and the awarded was presented to him in August of that year by the current N.Z. Governor General, Sir Cyril Newall, who was himself a Marshall of the Royal Air Force. Shortly after receiving this award, Donald was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader. He remained at Air Headquarters in Auckland (living at No. 97 Mountain Road, Newmarket) for almost another year and was then posted for overseas service in the Pacific in May 1943. Initially he spent a short time in New Caledonia at an airfield named ‘Plaine de Gaiacs’, in the north of the Island, but in short time he and the No. 9 Hudson squadron of which he was commanding officer were transferred to RNZAF No 1 (Islands) Group HQ located near Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

As the allies pushed the Japanese troops further north up the Solomon Islands chain, new airfields were established at strategic points to accommodate fighter wings, light bomber squadrons and all the associated administrative and repair functions necessary to keep them fully and continuously operational. Donald accompanied them on the push northwards, working predominantly in an administrative ‘managerial’ capacity, even serving on a Court of Enquiry after a major aircraft accident in the area. In December of 1943 he was stationed at APO 308, Munda on the island of New Georgia and then in February of 1944 at the most recent front line strike airfield Ondonga also on New Georgia. At this point he was well and truly in the conflict zone. This is reflected in occasional comments in his letters home to Dora. For example…

“Some guns must have been moved in close to camp for last night there were several terrific bangs and everyone automatically leapt for the fox-hole until they realised what it was all about. The guns were firing at intervals during the night and so a bit of sleep was lost in consequence. They certainly shake things.” 94 and … “Had a few bursts of machine gun fire from several Japs very nearly in the camp the other day, all adds to the excitement. Don’t know how much has been in the papers so can’t say much but our fighter people have been doing quite well lately, as usual they get the glamour while ours is the humdrum work. Still I am not envious.”95

From the Weekly News, August 25, 1943. RNZAF Lockheed Hudsons after take-off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. These were aircraft of No 9 Squadron that Donald both flew and commanded.

To some extent Donald was a reluctant warrior as far as his term of overseas duty was concerned. He was more than happy to serve his country but was deeply devoted to his wife and children and missed them terribly whilst he was at such a distance from his family. Of course the censorship which prevailed throughout the war prevented him from letting his loved ones know where he was located at any time. He didn’t see the point of censorship as he didn’t feel it really achieved any real purpose, especially for mail travelling by secure military transport between the islands and N.Z. In one of his letters from Munda which could only be identified as APO308, he commented on the different treatment the mail from other serving nations received. “by the way, none of the letters from people in the U.S. on the way out here get censored, I can’t think why they bother with it in N.Z. It would save somebody a terrible amount of time if the whole thing was cut out, but perhaps that is much too revolutionary.” 96

By July of 1944, having served almost a year in the Pacific Islands, Donald was returned to New Zealand and demobilised. In the months which followed he gave himself over to recovery from his tropical ordeal, tried some new hobbies which included spinning wool and bread baking, but more than anything else devoted time to re-establishing his relationship with his wife and children and farming once more at The Dunes. Donald had more than done his bit for the cause.

Roger Christian Grigg
Roger’s contribution to the war effort was not essentially a military one, but it was no less significant because of that. For his part, he was quite willing to do his bit by enlisting in the armed forces and he was in fact a member of an Independent Mounted force which paraded regularly. Nevertheless, he was called upon to play a different role.

Because of Edward’s advancing years and general health, and perhaps for other reasons less obvious, he was concerned that if Roger was absent serving with the military forces, he would struggle to maintain the 20,000 acre property almost unassisted. Edward always had a strategy for most problems and this one was no exception.

Edward wrote to the Manpower Board asking that Roger be permitted to remain farming, claiming that he was engaged in managing a total of 20,000 acres and  14,000 sheep spread across three properties and was absolutely indispensable in this role. 97 He also argued that he had two other sons already serving in the air force, perhaps subtly implying that the family was already doing its fair share. He argued that if Roger was to remain working at Meadowbank he would, in fact, be of much greater benefit to the country, presumably following the line that his potential contribution to maintaining and increasing food supply, as the manager of a large, productive agricultural concern, would greatly exceed what he might otherwise be able to contribute as just another serviceman following routine in whatever part of the armed forces the authorities might choose to put him.

In due course the Armed Forces Appeal Board wrote back, formally approving Roger’s exclusion from formal enlistment. His status remained thus throughout the war years.

We cannot confirm if Roger approved or disapproved of his father’s tactic, but regardless of whether he was wearing a uniform or not, he took up his fair share of the load. The people of New Zealand, and especially those serving in the armed forces, needed to be well fed and Roger and his family got right on with the task of doing so.

Nancy Rachel Grigg
From the time she left school at Woodford House at the end of 1925 until she departed from New Zealand in 1936, we have very little evidence of Nancy’s activities other than an occasional mention of her social engagements in the Marlborough newspapers. Having completed the passage to adulthood, including coming out in society as a debutante, she appears to have remained at Meadowbank assisting Dora with the running of the household, mixing socially with friends and associates throughout the district and also becoming involved with her mother’s charity work for the Red Cross and the Victoria League.

She has been described as highly intelligent, but moody and unpredictable and quite a lot like her father, quick-witted but equally quick-tempered and generally of a rather fiery disposition. 98

As the years passed, Nancy became more and more disgruntled with what she described as the small town mindset of New Zealanders in general and the people of Marlborough in particular. Progressively she became more intent upon escaping what she regarded as the protected part of society in which she had grown up in Canterbury and Marlborough. Nancy desperately sought to make her own way in a larger world where she was not simply Edward Grigg’s daughter.

In April 1936 Nancy determined upon a different life and at the age of 28 sailed alone from Wellington on the N.Z. Shipping Company’s vessel ‘Ruahine’, arriving in London some weeks later. In the ship’s manifest her occupation is listed as ‘Home Duties’, an appellation not to her liking and part of the motive for her dramatic change in lifestyle and location. Before long, with the help of a distant relative ‘Ned’ Grigg who was a bureaucrat of some importance in Whitehall at the time, she was able to secure employment as an administrative clerk at the War Office in London and she remained working for this organisation in several different departments for the following decade.

Always unpredictable and very direct, Nancy was not easily assimilated into British life and society, much to her chagrin. Possibly this resulted from the rather superior attitude she adopted, and she made it quite clear in her correspondence to her mother that she felt that she was a cut above the ordinary public. When reminded by her mother about the necessity for taking refuge in the air raid shelters during bomber attacks on London, she replied that she would certainly not consider doing so. The underground shelters were meant to be used by the common people.

Like her mother she was a frequent correspondent and most of her letters and airgraphs home to Dora (rarely to Edward) throughout this period have survived for scrutiny.

A typical ‘airgraph’ sent by Nancy during WW2. These were hand-written telegrams which were then photographically reduced. The resulting much smaller version was then usually sent by air or by sea if air mail was not possible.

The example shown here is approximately three quarters normal size.

In her correspondence Nancy records that she frequently felt obliged to, as she put it ‘set people straight’! For example…

“I told the staff people I did not believe in educating soldiers, it only makes them more difficult to lead”.

and

“Something tells me I shall not remain in this tomb long. I am not that sort of a girl. Besides, I do have a few brains; why should I waste the on non-essentials. But I am glad I left my old joint. I could have got no further promotion, and I could not stick the weird collection of clerks, including an old man from the Docks. The day before I left I exploded and said ‘You are a rude, rough, tough old man from the docks, and you had better go back there’! He said ‘I will, you gets[sic] more civility there!’” 99

Nancy did not restrict her forthright pronouncements to just her work colleagues…

“I ticked off a Jew in the train coming back tonight. He was finally forced to stand, so many women coming in. I suddenly said I hope you stand all the way to Hell.” 100

Late in 1943 Nancy met and became romantically involved with an army engineer named Peter Story, the son of a retired British Navy Admiral. Peter was some years older than Nancy and was married to but long separated from a Canadian wife who lived across the Atlantic. The relationship flourished and after a period Nancy moved to Peter’s house in Richmond. Peter constantly assured Nancy that his lawyers were taking steps to secure his divorce from his overseas wife after which, he promised, she and Peter would certainly marry. The process dragged on for some considerable time. Finally, of her own accord, Nancy contacted Peter’s lawyers to enquire what she could do to speed the process up. It was then that she discovered that there was no such process in train. When challenged with this revelation Peter ultimately confessed that he had been lying to her about the divorce. He had never applied for one. His family would not permit him to do so. They were Roman Catholics, it was forbidden!

At this point Nancy abruptly severed her relationship with Peter saying that she could not remain with a man who she was unable to trust. She moved from the Richmond house to upstairs accommodation in Flat No. 8, Queen Elizabeth House, No.157 Old Church Street in Chelsea, but her life was never the same. She suffered frequent bouts of depression and general ill-health and her behaviour became quite erratic which further prejudiced her work arrangements and her association with the few friends she had in London.

157 Old Church St, Chelsea. Nancy’s apartment was on the top floor, behind the two far left windows. (Google Street View - 2011)

The deterioration in her mental state became quite apparent in her letters home …

“I don’t think I am as strong as I used to be. Perhaps it is five years of war. But I get so very weary.” 101

“Sorry if this is a depressing letter. I don’t often say what I think or feel. Don’t allow myself that luxury.” 102

Nancy’s worsening state of mind was of great concern to Edward and Dora but there was little they could do about it. We should remember also that the emotional turmoil which followed her separation from the only man she had ever loved, and still continued to love, was only one aspect of the situation. She had, alone in her Chelsea flat, endured the terror and devastation of the German aerial blitz which destroyed much of inner London around her. The fact that she became progressively more mentally unstable during this time was almost a certainty and unsurprising.

Her deterioration continued. She began to behave more and more irrationally, despite the efforts of family in England to assist her. Finally, after the war had ended, Nancy made a mistake which took her future beyond her control.

One evening, so the anecdote has it, a London organ-grinder complete with monkey on chain, was playing loud music on the footpath immediately below her flat. The music irritated her to the point where she lifted the window and taking up a pot plant from within her flat dropped it two floors onto the head of the hapless organ-grinder to silence him. Quietness certainly followed, but only for a short time. The police were summoned and Nancy was taken into custody. We have no record of her interview but considering her general disposition it is likely that she was a challenge to the authorities. It was decreed that she should be mentally assessed and this took place quite quickly. As a result, it was ordered that her freedom should be restricted until she could be rehabilitated. She was placed in the custody of carers in an institution known as Stone House. This facility, located in Dartford in London’s outer eastern suburbs, was formerly the City of London’s asylum for private patients and here she remained for a programme of further assessment and treatment.

Nancy was nick-named “Fuz” by her famiy and friends as a result of her tight curly hair

Nancy would never return to regular society and remained at Stone House for the rest of her days. As time passed her condition worsened and it became clear that conventional treatment would be of little or no consequence. Eventually, in 1952, it was decided that she should be given a course of the new ‘electro-convulsive therapy’ in an attempt to stimulate some sort of turn towards normal brain function. The success of this treatment was limited. In fact, in the months following, she became progressively more violent and her treatment was now directed to an equally new but quite drastic surgical intervention.

In May 1953, after lengthy discussions in both England and New Zealand, the family gave permission for a last resort surgical procedure to be carried out. Nancy was operated on and the frontal lobe of her brain was removed in order to calm her erratic behaviour and to protect her from physically harming either herself or her carers. She remained in a semi brain-comatose state for the remainder of her life during which she was financially supported by Edward and after his death by her brother Hugh as trustee for his father’s estate.

Nancy died at Stone House in March 1983 at the age of 75, an end to the tragic life of a clever but feisty and unstable lady who might have been capable of so much more had different circumstances prevailed. She made her contribution to the war effort in London but the price she ultimately paid for doing so was a severe one indeed!

Martha Denman (Patty) Grigg
Martha, who was also affectionately referred to by her parents and siblings as ‘Tige’ (presumably short for ‘Tiger’) always called herself Patty. Nobody seems to know why.

After her final schooling at Woodford House she followed the same general path that her older sister Nancy had before her - helping on the property, involving herself in the social activities of the district and becoming quite committedly engaged in charity work. She was a person dedicated to the work of the Red Cross and gave a good deal of her time to furthering that cause, and was fortunate to be able to accompany her brother Donald to England when he represented the RNZAF at the Coronation of King George VI.

Dora and Patty in a social setting                                                            Patty – Red Cross worker

When war broke out in September 1939, Patty was determined to help in any way she could. The Red Cross at that time had no direct role in the conflict, however other options were emerging. A Voluntary Aid Division was formed in Blenheim and over time Patty became progressively more involved with the organisation, becoming its Commandant after only two years of service. She was also an active member of the Land Army at that time.

In October 1941 she joined some 200 other young women who were interviewed by a Board in Wellington. From this group a number were chosen to become officers in the Voluntary Aid Detachment which would accompany troops to wherever they were required to assist with the running of military field hospitals. She was given an official army rank of Second Lieutenant serving with the Overseas Hospital Unit. The Unit departed by ship from N.Z. bound for the Middle East on 22 December 1941, stopping only at Northam in Western Australia on the way. During this stop Patty made a radio broadcast to Australians thanking them for their assistance and support to the Unit.

Patty’s first posting was to a field hospital near Beirut. Whilst there, some of her contingent of VADs were invited by officers of the British Army to attend a dinner at Brigade HQ in the town of Bhamdoun inland from Beirut. At this dinner, on 18 December, 1942 she met a young British artillery officer named Norman Walter Routledge. He rather captured her attention and it is reported that he was no less enamoured of Patty. Some days later, Norman invited her to accompany him on an official reconnaissance over the Lebanon mountains to the wine vaults of the Beka Valley and she saw no reason not to accept this offer. After the heat and dust of her Middle East existence, any distraction was welcome.

A newspaper photograph of VAD Patty Grigg

Friendship turned soon to a more serious relationship but just as a strong bond formed between them Patty was transferred away in February 1943 to Egypt where she was stationed at a field hospital in Kantara, alongside the Suez Canal. It appeared that they were fated to be apart without having really had any length of time to get to know each other, however fate works in strange ways and not long after their separation the anti-aircraft battery commanded by Major Norman Routledge was transferred back to Cairo, only a short distance from Patty’s hospital. In the time following they spent all their available leave together and in due course Norman asked Patty to marry him. A wartime marriage after so short an acquaintance might not be the ideal arrangement but the pair was sure of their ground. Hasty arrangements were made for there was word that Norman’s outfit was soon to be posted away to some remote and yet unknown destination. Patty married Norman Routledge in Cairo’s Cathedral at 2:30pm on Saturday, June 5th, 1943.

They had a brief honeymoon of a few days in Cairo before they had to return to their duties. Almost immediately Patty was given orders to travel with the VAD group to where it was most needed, a field hospital just inland from Tripoli in Libya, a city from which the enemy had only recently been dislodged. The group travelled by boat from Egypt’s port of Alexandria along the Mediterranean coast to reach Tripoli a few days later.

Norman was also on the move and though the newly-weds had high hopes of being able to be together on their next leave it was not to be. Having defeated Germany and Italy in the Middle East, the allied forces were now preparing for a return to the European mainland via the islands of the Mediterranean. Norman’s anti-aircraft unit was much needed for this campaign. His regiment were embarked from Egypt in July, 1943 and taken by boat to the Island of Kos in the Aegean Sea. Alongside Australian and New Zealand troops the British Army fought off a determined attempt by the Germans to prevent occupation. Heavy aerial bombardments occurred throughout the length of the Island. As a result of this, assisted by the fact that the British military decision makers deliberately did not provide the support troops and equipment the spearhead group needed, the Allies were repelled. Those that could escape the island did, by whatever means possible. Those that could not were taken prisoner by the returning German forces, mainly paratroopers who arrived from the sky without notice. Norman was unable to retreat. His leg had been broken by a bomb which exploded nearby him and he had little option than to resign himself to capture. In due course he was removed from Kos and taken to a German military hospital in Athens where he was operated on several times and spent some months recovering.

Patty knew nothing of this for some time but eventually Norman was officially listed as ‘missing in action’. How she felt can only be imagined but she remained stoic and hopeful he was alive, as the telegram dated 22-11-1943 to her parents indicates.

She did not learn of his survival for many months and by that time he was incarcerated in a German prisoner of war camp Stalag 344/E in Silesia in the centre of Europe. After the joy of their marriage and a honeymoon of a few days, the couple would not be reunited for another two and a half years.

Before long Patty was relocated, this time to Europe and closer to her husband, although she still did not know that. Her VADs were shipped to Italy to become part of the 1st N.Z. Convalescent Depot of the 3rd N.Z. General Hospital which had been established at Casamassina about 15 miles inland from the east coast port of Bari, as the allies rapidly forced the Germans back up the peninsula. She worked in this location until late November 1944. Recently prior to this time she had learnt that Norman was alive and relatively well, although still having some difficulties with infections in his leg. Better still, it was thought that because of his injury and inclement health he might soon be repatriated to England. The timing of this was very vague, but more than anything she wanted to be there to meet him if and when this event occurred. She therefore resigned her voluntary army commission, by now a full Lieutenant, and using any means she could, made her way back to London to wait. The proper procedure took its time but eventually she was formally discharged from service on November 20, 1944 after a total of three years of overseas duty. Her contribution to the war effort was over.

Norman was finally returned to England in early February, 1945 and at last the pair could resume the marriage that had never quite had the chance to get going. Norman remained in the British Army until his retirement and together they moved with his postings around the British Isles and into Germany once again where he served with the Army of the Rhine, raising a family of two girls as they did so. Patty returned to New Zealand on a few occasions over the years to visit but never to live. England was her new home.

Hugh Tempello Grigg
Hugh Grigg loved aeroplanes. Even as a small boy he was fascinated with the whole idea of flying. While at boarding school at ‘Huntly’, he built models of aeroplanes, mostly completely from scratch even to the extent of hand-carving the tiny propellers from pieces of timber he found lying around. When the Huntly boys were allowed to go into the nearby town of Marton on their free days, whereas others bought sweets Hugh purchased knife blades and sandpaper. Some of his models flew, some disappointed him, but even the occasional failure was not sufficient to dampen his enthusiasm.

In the early years Hugh’s ‘out of term’ holidays were largely spent on the Meadowbank property. The close proximity of the Omaka aerodrome gave him a good deal to watch and even further fuelled his interest in aviation. When he finished his secondary education at Christs’ College at the end of 1934 he was confronted with the realities of adulthood and the need to make career decisions.

A straightforward option would have been to return to work on the family’s rural property. Although he had a more than passing interest in a career on the land, his long-held interest in aviation took precedence and he chose to pursue further education which was directly about aviation overseas, He enrolled as a student at the College of Aeronautical Engineering in Chelsea, London. His decision to move in this direction may have been fostered by his two aunts Mary & Lucy Cook who, it is said, were firmly of the opinion that he was a very intelligent young man whose talents may be quite wasted if he was to restrict his future engagement to a life on the land. It has been suggested that these ladies provided Hugh with some form of financial support to allow him to do what he did, although they were, themselves, women of limited means. Why should this be so? As we have recorded, Hugh’s father Edward was a man of strong opinions on most things. Despite his own long-time interest in aviation, it is possible that he and Hugh were not entirely in accord concerning the career choice of aviation as opposed to farming. Edward’s position on the matter is not recorded but it is likely that he was sufficiently reluctant about it to cause Hugh to seek outside assistance to pursue the option he favoured. At the very least, it is most likely that aunts Mary & Lucy funded Hugh’s passage to England. 103 Shipping records confirm that Mr H.T. Grigg, aged 19, boarded the New Zealand Shipping Company vessel ‘Rotorua’ at Auckland and disembarked at the Port of in London on November 23, 1934.

Hugh has described the Chelsea College of Aeronautical Engineering as “a private school with the accent on practical work and not attached to a university”. Indeed, the institution appears to have been one of high repute within the aviation industry, with its graduates assured of appropriate employment. The course comprised three years of a combination of academic classes conducted at the College’s premises in Chelsea, together with hands on experience at the Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, and then a final year of outplacement in the aviation industry itself. The Brooklands Circuit was near Weybridge on the south-western edge of London. As well as its focus on motor sport, it was also arguably the birthplace of British aviation and home to the Sopwith School of Flying.

Should they wish to do so, students of the College of Aeronautical Engineering could obtain accommodation at the College’s nearby residential hall in Princes Road, Wimbledon, and this became Hugh’s home for the period from early 1935 until late 1937.

He completed his time at the College with the award of an Honours Diploma (only the fourth such award to be issued by the College since its inception in 1924). Clearly, the faith shown in him by his aunts back in New Zealand was well and truly justified. In addition to this achievement, Hugh also sat and passed the examination to qualify as an Associate Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. His achievements were not limited solely to academic pursuits. In December 1937, he qualified for a Great Britain Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate (the equivalent of today’s non-commercial pilot’s licence) and was rated to fly solo in both the De Haviland Moth Major and the Gypsy Major. He obtained the ratings to pilot these aircraft at the Portsmouth Aero Club.

The final year of Hugh’s time at the Aeronautical College was an entirely practical one. From January until mid-July in 1938, he worked at the Austin Motors Airframe Factory at Longbridge, just south of Birmingham. His role there, as a floor inspector, was to conduct final checks on airframes and wing structures before the two separate units were attached to each other. At this time, a year before the onset of World War 2, the Austin Airframes Factory was classified as a ‘shadow factory’, surreptitiously producing the Fairey Battle, a forerunner of the famous Spitfire which was to follow in numbers before long. From July until late November 1938, Hugh gained further and different aviation experience with Imperial Airways at Hythe on Southampton Water where he was involved with the servicing of ‘C’ Class Flying Boats, the forerunner of the Sunderland.

By the end of this second period of practical training he had also qualified for a ‘Ground Engineer’s Licence’ for that type of aircraft. His weekly pay as a licensed Engineer at that time was £3-10-0 (out of which he had to spend only 30 shillings a week for his board and lodging) and he was given an additional one shilling and sixpence for signing out a flying boat as airworthy to undertake the Imperial Airways first leg flight to Alexandria in the Mediterranean.

Armed with his thorough training and well recognised academic and practical qualifications, Hugh was now faced with the prospect of finding permanent employment and his dilemma became whether to remain in England or to return to New Zealand. Opportunities were undoubtedly greater in England but, as he says in his recollections “it seemed very hard to get a decent job unless you knew someone to pull strings, and that annoyed me”…… “this was 1938 when Neville Chamberlain came back from Munich waving a bit of paper with Hitler’s signature and talking about ‘Peace in Our Time’!” 104  He notes that gas masks were already being issued in the U.K. and, more importantly, that the English climate was getting him down. These and other factors before long led him to decide to return to New Zealand, which he duly did in late November 1938, travelling on the P & O liner ‘Ormonde’ via Naples, Suez, Colombo, Freemantle & Sydney.

The six months following his return (Dec. 1938 to May 1939) were spent farming with his father on at Meadowbank and also at his mother’s property ‘Lowlands’. At this time, Hugh met a Karitane Nurse assisting his older Brother Roger’s family at Meadowbank. The nurse was Joan Harrison and the attraction was a strong one. They were to be married a year later.

On his return to New Zealand in December 1938, with war apparently likely, and as a matter of duty, Hugh advised the Air Department that he was back in the country. Within three days of the outbreak of World War 2, on September 6th 1939, Hugh was called up for service in the Air Force. He was given a temporary commission with the rank of Flying Officer and “made assistant to Michael Sullivan Keogh, a delightful Irishman affectionately known as ‘Mickey’, who was trying to cope with organising aircraft maintenance in a rapidly expanding Empire Air Training Scheme”. Hugh recalls that “there weren’t even enough hand tools for a start and we had to go out and buy spanners, screwdrivers, pliers etc. from commercial firms”.105  During this period he was flown around New Zealand in Communications Flight aircraft visiting the various Elementary Flying Training Schools as far afield as Mangere in the north and Taieri in the south. His RNZAF Service Record notes his medical classification as “B2 (Vision)” reflecting the fact that he wore spectacles. Hugh notes that, although he had a Civil “A” pilot’s licence, this eyesight constraint prevented him from passing the military medical examination which would allow him to fly military aircraft himself, and he therefore had to be content with a passenger seat in air force planes. As a result of his armed forces enlistment, Hugh moved to Wellington, taking up residence in a boarding establishment at 233 The Terrace. On October 1st, 1940, Hugh received his first promotion to Flight Lieutenant (temporary) Equipment Branch Section II. [All war time promotions were listed as temporary appointments] Then, on October 12, 1940 Hugh and Joan Harrison were married in the Chapel at Woodford House, the private school in Havelock North where Joan had formerly been head prefect. The couple established their first home together in a flat at 59A Thompson Street in Wellington.

For the next six months Hugh’s work in New Zealand continued, based in Wellington until April 1941 when he had his first overseas tour of duty, being sent to various Pacific Islands to review the supply and repair requirements of New Zealand service units there, many of which were functioning under the operational control of American Forces at this time.

During his period in the RNZAF, in recognition of his organisational abilities and his capacity for constructive thinking, Hugh was appointed as a member of no fewer than three formal Military Boards of Inquiry. The first of these took place at Blenheim on February 18, 1942 and was followed by further and separate Inquiries, again at Blenheim on October 26, 1942 and at Ohakea on March 28, 1945. In April of 1942, he received a further promotion to Squadron Leader.

Before long, his direct involvement in the Pacific War was to gain momentum. At this time there were few New Zealand aircraft in the front line of the Pacific Islands War Zone and the majority of the flying action was being conducted by the Americans. The New Zealand Government offered the United States an RNZAF salvage party to repair wrecked U.S. aircraft at their front line airstrip at Guadalcanal. The Americans decided that they did not need such assistance at Guadalcanal, but would welcome it at their main base at Espiritu Santo. As a result, in November 1942 Squadron Leader Hugh Grigg was officially despatched to the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides [today Vanuatu] to assess the extent of the American’s requirements and to determine what would be necessary to put their request into effect. On the basis of his report, a party of aircraft service and repair personnel would quickly be deployed at Santo to form the beginnings of what would shortly become the No. 4 Repair Depot which, as well as assisting the U.S.A., was to carry out the inspection and servicing of the increasing number of New Zealand aircraft, in particular the Hudsons, which up till that time had been obliged to fly back to N.Z. for overhaul.

After this assessment and review journey, Hugh returned briefly to New Zealand but his homecoming was short-lived. On December 15, 1942 he was again sent to Espiritu Santo to take command of the Aircraft Service Unit at the RNZAF Base Depot (NZAPO 361) at Santo Pekoa airstrip at Luganville. At this time he was only the second Engineer Officer to be sent up into the islands war zone. Put simply, his job as commanding officer of the New Zealand aircraft servicing personnel was to control all matters relating to aircraft maintenance in the Pacific Islands and to keep the RNZAF in the air to be ready as needed to play its part in the Pacific War effort. This task was at times difficult and always frustrating due to the rather primitive site conditions and an almost perpetual shortage of parts and equipment, but it was a task to which he applied himself with considerable dedication. Although he did so with caution, Hugh was able to establish and maintain very sound working relationships with the American forces with which he had to co-exist, and upon whom, to a certain extent, his New Zealand contingent relied for supplies of both food and equipment. His efforts did not go unnoticed in New Zealand, and in May 1943 the RNZAF hierarchy decided that Hugh should travel to the United States as the N.Z. representative to investigate aircraft production, servicing and supply methods in that country, in order to facilitate the forthcoming operations in the Pacific.

On May 11, once again he said his goodbyes to Joan and Oliver in Wellington and went north to Auckland, then flew in an RNZAF transport aircraft to New Caledonia where he stayed over for three days before continuing on to Fiji and then to Honolulu in Hawaii, arriving there seven days after leaving New Zealand. He was glad of a couple of rest days in Honolulu and, referring to the previous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, noted in a letter to his family “no sign left of Tojo’s effort eighteen months ago”.

In Honolulu Hugh boarded a U.S. civilian aircraft, the Pan American Airways Martin M130 ‘China Clipper’ flying boat NC14716 to continue his journey further east across the Pacific to San Francisco. He was disgruntled that war-time restrictions were interfering with his touring experience and complained of the this flight that ‘’on these semi-civil parts of the route they draw the curtains over all the windows when taking off and landing & so we didn’t see the bridges from the air”. The trip across the United States from San Francisco to Washington was a tiring one, lasting from 6 a.m. on the day of departure until 4 p.m. the following day. His trip followed the northern route passing along the shores of the Great Lakes, all new country to him. Finally, Washington was reached and Hugh describes himself at that point as “tired and unshaven, having had quite enough of air travel for a while”. The following week in Washington was occupied by formal meetings which enabled him to learn a good deal more about the methods and the operations of the American forces with which he and his staff would soon become closely involved back in the Pacific theatre during the forthcoming two years. Leaving Washington he then travelled north spending several days visiting aircraft production plants in and around New York and in Hartford, Connecticut, before returning to the Capital once again. He did at least have the opportunity of a one night stopover in New York which provided a well-earned chance for a bit of sight-seeing before his final days of “rushing around on official business in Washington”.

The return trip westwards across the U.S.A. took the southern transcontinental route, passing along the border of Mexico to San Diego and then up to Los Angeles where he overnighted in Hollywood. The next day’s journey was a relatively short one, on to San Francisco. Two days later, on June 21, 1943, a United States Department of Justice Immigration Information Sheet records that Hugh Grigg (RNZAF) boarded what was, at that time, probably the most advanced and luxurious airliner in service, Pan American Airways Boeing 314 ‘Honolulu Clipper’ NC18601, to travel westwards back across the Pacific to Honolulu. In this document he is recorded as being aged 27, five feet nine inches tall with fair hair and blue eyes. The purpose of his journey is described rather secretively as ‘Official Business’. Beyond Honolulu, it took a further three days with a number of intermediate stops for his comparatively spartan RNZAF aircraft to return him to New Zealand after a whirlwind visit to America which he later described as “more strenuous than I had realised at the time”. Hugh would not return to North America during the remainder of his life.

On his return to New Zealand, Hugh was immediately tasked with sharing the knowledge he had gained in the U.S. with appropriate RNZAF people in various parts of the country, however, within a couple of months after his return he was back with his command at Santo in the New Hebrides. This was not entirely unwelcome. In his own words he was glad to be doing something useful as he “was really beginning to get down in the dumps in Wellington, probably as a result of being on one job so long with very little break”. By this time, the Japanese had been driven northward to such an extent that it had become possible to establish operational bases on Guadalcanal and New Georgia in the Solomon Islands and in December, 1943 an RNZAF Fighter Wing with supporting service and repair units was being established, initially at the joint U.S./N.Z. base at Munda and then shortly afterwards at the new airfield a short distance further north at Ondonga. At the same time the RNZAF’s operational control was shifted from Santo north to what was called Fighter 2 Kukum Field on the coast about three kilometres from the U.S. airfield ‘Henderson Field’ near Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal.

With his area of responsibility expanding quite rapidly, Hugh’s time was divided amongst the various airfields which now came under his control as the Senior Maintenance Engineer. His activities at this time were not confined merely to matters of servicing and maintenance, and he was rapidly proving that he was capable in other areas of operational control. On December 7, 1943, in response to questions from the RNZAF in N.Z., he sent a memorandum to the Air Department in Wellington providing information on certain aspects of the practicalities of using not officially approved identification markings for aircraft on the front line. In order to assist the Americans to readily identify New Zealand aircraft, it had become an unofficial practice to copy the U.S. marking system by painting white lines sideways out from either side of the RNZAF roundels on wings and fuselages. This made it possible to immediately identify any N.Z. aircraft so marked as “friendly” and thereby minimised the chances of any unnecessary “mishaps”. Hugh’s memo which was entitled ‘Warhawk P-40N : White Identification on Empennage’ stated …..

“It is understood that white panels on either side of the roundel, similar to those in the new American  national markings, are also being added at New Georgia, but until the position is a little more stable…they can be readily painted on up here”.

Eventually the wisdom of such an irregular practice was accepted by Head Office and on Dec 12, 1943 Hugh despatched a further memorandum to the Air department entitled ‘Nationality Markings RNZAF Combat Aircraft’, which demonstrated the degree of precision with which he approached all his work and which said ….. “In reply to your signal T682 of 9th December enclosed herewith is one copy of Drawing BD21001 which gives details of the white bars to be added on either side of the roundels on both wings and fuselage. It will be noticed that the bar is in the proportion of ½ radius wide by 1 radius long. The radius being that of the outer circumference of the roundel. All other markings not shown on the drawings including flashes on the fins are retained as formerly. All units in this area have been instructed to paint in these white bars at the first opportunity”.

January 1944 he relocated from Santo to Kukum Field, Guadalcanal as Commanding Officer of the servicing operations of No 1 (Islands) Group Headquarters (NZAPO 366).

Kukum Field, Guadalcanal – of necessity, makeshift aircraft servicing. Photo by RNZAF Group photos

There, in Guadalcanal, he describes the relative luxury of living in his officers’ accommodation in “a hut fourteen feet square, raised up off the ground with gauze ventilation, prone to leaking during heavy rain, hot and cold showers located less than twenty yards away and camp stretchers with sheets and pillowcases”. Mosquitos were a constant scourge in this location and for some months he had considerable trouble with what he referred to as “prickly heat”! However, the N.Z. contingent’s accommodation was located up on a ridge which gave them a cooling breeze and a view of sorts, but for the most part life in this region was hot, humid and uncomfortable. As a result of having several widely separated airfields to cope with, not to mention the rigour of his responsibilities, Hugh’s life throughout this period was quite frenetic, but as he puts it he was lucky “to have a more interesting job and one that keeps me on the run from dawn till well after dark, and doesn’t give me any time at all to fret, even if I were inclined that way”.

Given the general progress of the Pacific war and in particular the retreat of the Japanese forces northwards up the islands chain, by early 1944 the focus of interest for the RNZAF was now on the island of Bougainville immediately to the north of New Georgia. A new front line airfield was established by the U.S. at Torokina Point, on the shores of Empress Augusta Bay and from March onwards N.Z. squadrons and their associated service units operated from this facility. This too became part of the widely spread RNZAF maintenance system for which Hugh was responsible and as a result, in these days, he spent a good deal of time in the air travelling between the various facilities and his base at Kukum Field on Guadalcanal, even going as far afield as Suva in Fiji.

While all this was taking place, back home in Wellington Hugh’s wife Joan was expecting their second child. Although Joan continued to hope for a timely return of her husband, they had both reconciled themselves to the fact that Hugh most probably would not be in New Zealand in July when the baby was due. In a letter to his mother Hugh said “As Jo has probably told you by now I shall be up here for considerably longer than she at first anticipated, hope to be able to get back before the brat arrives, though I suppose I can’t bank on even that …. Personally I would rather get it over all at one stretch instead of going home and then up again. Too disruptive for all concerned”.

Like all servicemen in time of war, Hugh became increasingly worn down by the duration of it all and by the restrictive nature of an armed forces existence. Once again, to his mother he wrote “Don’t worry Mum, we’ll soon be home again. I for one shall be very glad to get my bowler hat back – not for me the peace time service”. He could not see any sort of worthwhile long term career in military service and wrote …….

“I suppose it is still too early to plan anything for there is very little chance that the service would release me before the show is over, which will probably mean another eighteen months to two years … I have thought about this after-the-war business a lot and have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no future for me in the service ..... don’t feel I could possibly bring up a family on the pay I should get after the war. Then I don’t think there will be much of an opening in my line in Airways in N.Z., so that if I were to stick to engineering I should have to go to England or Canada, or some such place and there is very little inclination to do that, so unless something very attractive falls from the skies, the land would appear to be my best proposition & anyway I would much rather do that than anything else”.

Hugh’s responsibilities and heavy workload were beginning to take their toll, however circumstances began to improve and by March of 1944 he had an assistant at Kukum who was able to relieve him of a good deal of the routine work which was bogging him down. This assistance meant that for the first time since his arrival he had his evenings to himself, a most unaccustomed luxury.

On July 24, 1944, his second son Andrew was born in Wellington. Hugh’s hopes of being at home for the event did not materialise, but not long afterwards he received the news that he was to return at last to New Zealand, after nine months on end away from home. On August 12th he boarded an aircraft at Henderson Airfield for the last time and flew back to Auckland, but not before he had taken time out to do a spot of crocodile hunting in a rubber dinghy up one of the local rivers.

On his return to Wellington, Hugh returned to work under the RNZAF Director of Repairs and Maintenance, one Michael ‘Mickey’ Keogh, who had long been his mentor and champion. On August 28th, in a Minute to the Air Board, Michael Keogh made the recommendation that Squadron Leader Hugh Tempello Grigg be appointed as RNZAF Deputy Director Repairs and Maintenance, stating that “a more intelligent, capable and efficient officer does not exist, nor one with better qualifications”, for appointment to the position. …57 Simultaneously, it was recommended that Hugh should be promoted to a rank of Wing Commander which would be commensurate with his recommended new position. Both Director Keogh’s recommendations were duly endorsed, and The New Zealand Gazette of October 1944 records the Promotion of Squadron Leader Hugh Tempello Grigg to the position of Acting Wing Commander.

Recognition of Hugh’s achievements continued, this time from much further afield. On January 1, 1945, both Hugh and his parents received a Telegram from F. Jones, the then Minister of Defence, stating that His Majesty the King had been graciously pleased to confer upon Squadron Leader Hugh Tempello Grigg the Order of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and that the Prime Minister conveyed his congratulations on behalf of the New Zealand Government. No doubt Hugh was pleased by such recognition, however throughout his life he was humble to have received it. Many decades later, when his grandchildren asked him what was it that he had done to be given such an award, his offhanded reply was to the effect that he “had made lots of cups of tea for people during the war”. This response may have puzzled the grandchildren but it earned the wrath of his daughter who demanded that he provide a sensible answer, lest he go down in the annals of family history as a tea waiter, a title he certainly didn’t deserve given what he had achieved.

A few weeks after this, Hugh received a further accolade and one which perhaps, from his point of view, he considered even more meritorious. He was made a full member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.In October of 1945, after more than six years in the RNZAF, his military service came to an end. An RNZAF Posting Instruction dated 18-10-45 indicated that he had been granted fourteen days release leave from October 19th till November 1st, and that thereafter he would be transferred to the RNZAF reserve of Officers, Class B Section 1 with effect from November 2, 1945, with the Rank of Wing Commander confirming his previously temporary appointment.

The contributions to the war effort by each of the Grigg children were markedly different. To a great extent, what each of them did and how they did it reflected the circumstances in which they variously found themselves, both before and during this global event. It is equally clear that the war changed their lives, affecting the way they thought about things and the manner in which their lives evolved from then on. Edward very rarely allowed himself the luxury of showing any emotion by telling his children that he was proud of them. It was not his way of doing things, but we see from the occasional reference in Dora’s notes and diaries that inwardly he admired their fortitude and their accomplishments. For Dora’s part, she was much more open. She was proud of them, she worried about them and she said so!

Dora too had played a bigger part in the war effort than most might imagine.

The Secret Airfield at Te Pirita
The Te Pirita airfield was a flying facility built as a result of fear.

In 1942 Japanese forces were advancing rapidly southward through the chain of Pacific islands towards New Guinea. Those in high command were obliged to address the increasingly real proposition that allied forces might not have the resources to stem this advance. Credence was given to the possibility that, in due course, Australia and perhaps even New Zealand might be invaded by the aggressor.

High Command decided that contingency plans must be drawn up to establish a preservation strategy should such an event take place. The Americans in particular were vehement about the importance of establishing an undisclosed place of refuge for their large B-17 Flying Fortress bombers if the airfields of Australia were no longer available to them.

The Te Pirita flying field came into being as a result of these deliberations. It was built in total secrecy and entirely at the expense of the government of the United States of America. It comprised three runways, the largest of which had to be two miles long to cater for the roll-out requirements of the aircraft it was designed to accommodate. This made it easily the largest airport in New Zealand at that time. In addition to the runways, five large underground pits, or ‘revetments’ as they were known, were constructed to house aircraft repair and maintenance facilities and even some of the aircraft themselves. The revetments were hidden and camouflaged as much as possible to protect them in the event of an air strike and to maintain the secrecy of the installation.

This high level strategy would not normally have become known to Edward and Dora at all, except for the fact the government and the military authorities had, unbeknown to them, chosen Dora’s Canterbury property ‘Lowlands’ on which to build part of this secret airfield. Their first indication of events to come was a letter dated March 16, 1942 from the Public Works Department.

Things moved quickly forward and no less than a week later the casual hired hand who kept an eye on the property for Dora, one George Cavanagh wrote to Edward saying …

“I am writing to know what to do with the sheep in the NE block as the flying people told me to shift the sheep as the fence will be cut. I put the sheep from the NE block in Sharlands block and the two tooths in the two small paddocks at the yards. They said that they would write to you. They are building a run away for the planes.” 104

Edward’s response was swift. He wrote immediately to Mr Smith, the Public Works engineer, asking for a date for removal of the sheep and suggesting that they would have to be sold off as there was no other place to put them. 105 Edward’s sights were very squarely directed towards receiving compensatory payment. If the government wished to destroy Dora’s farm, even for the very best of reasons, he saw no reason why he should be financially disadvantaged. Almost immediately he put the matter into legal hands and thereafter the matter was dealt with formally.

Through his firm of solicitors Edward asked that plans of the proposed airfield be made available to him to enable him to make an assessment of the impact it would have on their land, and also of course to allow him to determine the likely financial implications and the possible compensation they might be able to claim. The government replied that they would not do so. In their words …

“The work which has been carried out on the property is regarded as secret and the request for a plan cannot be complied with at the moment.” 106 The bulldozers were rolling on Lowlands and Edward’s strategy matched their pace. Through his lawyers he suggested that the Government should purchase the farm from Dora, however this notion was quashed when the authorities indicated that they might consider doing so but only at the prevailing market rate for agricultural land. There wasn’t the profit margin in that solution that Edward wanted.

The solicitors were quite level headed about the issue and recommended that Dora pursue a settlement for compensation through the normal channels. Edward must have suggested that they might seek recourse through litigation. His legal advice in response was …

“Recourse to the court should be as a last resort only. The result of claims before the Compensation Court are often rather unsatisfactory, and you will have to realise that the President of the Court will, in all probability, be Mr Justice Northcroft, who is very extreme as to the views of all citizens to do everything to help the war effort.” 107

Edward and Dora did not receive plans as they had wished. With the passage of time, the official drawings of the Te Pirita airfield as it was actually constructed are available today.

Source : website S. Keyte – Places of Interest ………. The red lines have been added and indicate the extent of the Lowlands property. The position of the underground revetments can be seen to the right of the confluence of runways 160 & 200. When the dust had settled compensation was paid to Dora in the total amount of £450 which was received in October 1945. In his turn, Edward had little option other than to be content with the payment and it might well have occurred to him that a substantial portion of it had already been expended on legal advice.

Until quite recently the remains of the Te Pirita airfield could be seen from the air as the satellite image below shows. When the runways were constructed, the gravel used was dug from an area which was covered with wattles. The seeds of the wattles flourished after construction ended and clearly identified the positions of the runways. Today, a redevelopment of the property for a rotary dairy operation has removed most visible traces of what was once New Zealand’s largest airfield.

Source : Google Earth Source : Google Maps

As events transpired, the situation for which Te Pirita had been constructed never arose. The airfield never hosted American bombers and was used only a few times by the RNZAF Airspeed Oxford aircraft from Wigram airfield testing the experimental Beam Approach Landing system. One of the NZ pilots who took part in these experimental exercises and visited the place once for a ‘touch and go’ landing is thought to be an airman named Donald Grigg.

FINALLY SOUTH - THE END GAME
When the war reached its peak in 1943 Edward was by that time almost 70 years old and Dora only four years younger. Age was beginning to take its toll on them both and with it came increasingly regular bouts of illness. Letters from their children overseas at this time often expressed their wishes that either parent might swiftly recover from whatever illness they were presently suffering. Edward, in particular, would from time to time be confined to his bed suffering from Lumbago and on at least a couple of occasions this enforced inactivity lasted almost two weeks. Needless to say, such confinement did little to soothe his volatile temperament. Both of them were prone to catching colds and they both realised they no longer had the stamina and the mobility they had once enjoyed. In consequence, they began to consider the manner in which they might choose to live the final passage of their lives and, even more to the point, where they might go to do this.

Edward had always remained very much in charge of affairs as far as the various properties were concerned. Even though he was now considering retirement, it appeared to the rest of the family that it might be a retirement in a very technical sense only. He gave no indication that he was about to relinquish control of his empire in any significant way.

Paradoxically, a comment made many years later by his son Hugh 108 tells us that Edward and Dora’s discussion on the retirement issue did take into consideration the fact that if they remained living on Meadowbank, or even nearby in Blenheim, they would inevitably be drawn into the working of the property in different ways. If this was to occur it would rather defeat the whole purpose of retiring. Perhaps the discussion addressed the likelihood that if Edward was still close by he would be unable to resist the temptation to ‘interfere’. They might also have considered the importance of simply moving on and allowing Roger to get on with the job he was doing without unnecessary intervention. All of this was easier in the saying than the doing. As long as he was alive, no matter where he was, Edward always insisted that he be kept informed as to what was being planned and done, and he always had his say.

An additional factor in the decision to retire from active work was Edward’s eyesight which was beginning to deteriorate. It should be remembered that in final part of his father’s life John was completely blind. There may well have been a genetic predisposition to blindness transferred from one generation to the next. Perhaps even more than Edward, Dora had eyesight difficulties of her own. In a letter to her mother -in-law, Brenda Grigg expressed her concern that Dora’s eyes didn’t sound a bit good and that perhaps she should consider visiting a specialist. 109

Often when people retire, their choice of a place to do so is strongly influenced by the location of their family members. As far as his generation was concerned, some of Edward’s siblings were deceased, including by this time his brother JCN. All but one of his remaining sisters now lived in England. For Dora, her family too was only a little less remote. Her surviving brother Harry lived in Reading, England and her sisters Mary and Lucy were living in Marton in the North Island at ’Edale’ which had been the house of her now deceased brother Charles. Grandchildren were beginning to appear and they too were quite widely dispersed. Hugh and Joan were temporarily in Wellington and might possibly end up being wherever the RNZAF chose to send Hugh in the future. Donald was still serving in the Pacific but he and Nan were well established at The Dunes near Ashburton in Canterbury. Roger and Brenda of course remained at Meadowbank in Marlborough. The dispersed locations of the various parts of the family created a puzzle for which there was no simple solution and ultimately this factor was of little significance in the decision which Edward and Dora ultimately took.

After much discussion the die was eventually cast. They decided to retrace the path they had followed twenty years before and return south to the city of Christchurch. Their decision to change to an urban lifestyle undoubtedly reflected their age and circumstances. They wished to live out their remaining years in a place of sufficient size to provide them with the services and the recreational and social opportunities which they now required. Medical facilities and public transport were by no means unimportant in their broader consideration.

With Christchurch confirmed as the place to live, they next had to decide whether they would buy a suburban block of land and have an entirely new home built to their specification, or instead purchase an existing house which suited their requirements. They decided to follow the latter course of action and in 1942 set about the task of finding a house which would fit the bill. Eventually they opted to purchase No. 30 Francis Avenue, in the inner city suburb of St. Albans, a short distance north from the city centre.

It is rare for prospective home purchasers ever to find the perfect property and Edward and Dora were no exception to this rule. Although the Francis Avenue house satisfied most of their wishes, not unexpectedly there were a number of rectifications and some modifying work to be undertaken before they could occupy the place. Correspondence from that time records both delays and frustration with tradesmen of different kinds. Eventually, by the middle of 1943, with the majority of the necessary work done, they moved south, leaving their life at Meadowbank behind them.

The piece of land on which their house sat was approximately a quarter of an acre in area, the standard size for land in subdivisions of that era. This land was not so large that they would have difficulty maintaining it, but it was of sufficient size to enable them to continue to indulge their lifelong interest in growing vegetables and flowers.

Despite their increasing frailty, the couple threw themselves into life under the new arrangement. Edward continued to journey south to Lowlands near Hororata, particularly during the time of re-establishment of agricultural operations there once the government had finally relinquished control of the property. Dora was no less busy, organising clothes and knitting for various family members, and maintaining her interest in and membership of the Blenheim branch of the Victoria League. Often she would travel up to Blenheim during these years to attend committee meetings of the organisation. Sometimes Edward went with her, often she went alone. Brenda’s correspondence confirms these events. She wrote …

“The Vic. League Committee meeting is Thursday morning so I expect you will be up soon. Is ‘Grandad’ coming too?” 110

As time passed the family both in New Zealand and elsewhere became increasingly concerned that they were placing themselves in harm’s way by all this frenetic activity. Almost every one of the children at different times cautioned them to slow the pace of their lives. Edward continued to go off into the countryside, leaving Dora behind and still he continued to rush around looking at possible property purchases. Old habits clearly died hard. As late as 1947 Brenda again plaintively writes … “were you all alone while Grandad was at Lowlands?” 111

During her last few years, as the correspondence from Patty in England records, Dora had at least two periods of hospitalisation following what sounded to be quite significant surgical episodes. The letters refer to this in only general terms and the precise nature of Dora’s medical difficulties is not disclosed. Dora died in Christchurch in March, 1950.

Edward continued to live at Francis Avenue after Dora had gone. During this time (in 1951), he superintended the final arrangements for the division of his property between his children. Nancy of course was by then unable to administer her own life and Edward made adequate provision to fund her comfort and medical care for the remainder of her days. Donald had The Dunes at Bankside and had previously sold his portion of Meadowbank to Roger and Brenda which was now Tempello and The Ned. Hugh inherited the remainder of Meadowbank from his father and Lowlands from his mother. A more comprehensive and detailed account of the evolution of the Meadowbank and Tempello properties has been set out by others. 112

In the last years of his life Edward Francis Joseph Grigg lived with his youngest son at Hugh’s property Oranga property near Hororata. Edward died in Christchurch on November 4, 1953, at the age of 79.

The journey had been an eventful and often challenging one. The partnership had endured and a new empire was in place. The man’s mission was finally over !!!

Edward and Dora in their final years – a couple of stalwarts !

EPILOGUE - THE MAN AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
Investigating the private life of another person, even though that person has now been deceased for almost sixty years, brings with it a responsibility to ensure that their life is presented factually, accurately and in a balanced manner. There are dangers associated with the task. Of necessity an investigation such as this must rely on personal recollections and anecdotal evidence, sometimes generations old. Occasionally, because of human frailty and with the passage of time, what commenced as somebody’s honest and factual recollection can become embellished in the telling depending upon the hands through which it has passed. Despite this, Edward has given us sufficient of himself in so many ways to enable us to stand back and cast an appraising eye over his life and to record it in a way which is both fair and accurate.

How then do we summarise this life?

Edward Grigg was a very strong character and he polarised peoples’ opinions about him. From Edward’s point of view, the world in which he lived was quite a clear cut one. Things were black or white. Shades of grey were unnecessary and not countenanced. He had little regard for people who sat on the fence in any issue. Once he took a stand there was no backing away from it. More often than not, Edward was stubborn beyond sensible bounds. He was quick to make his own judgements of both people and on the issues of the day. Once his mind was set in a particular direction there was no straying from the often narrow path it followed. You might not necessarily agree with Edward’s viewpoint, but if you were dealing with him or in his company you ignored his opinions at your own peril!

Overall, he was a reasonably successful businessman although, as we have seen, he was entrepreneurial and not averse to the occasional risk if he felt that circumstances warranted it. Nevertheless, he always did his sums carefully and there was even an element of cunning in some of the strategies he pursued. More often than not, in his business dealings he would attempt to get as much as he could for as little outlay as possible. Sometimes this meant he did not always get the best quality outcome possible. Nonetheless, throughout the course of his life he was able to steadily progress his business empire and the parts that still remain in the control of his descendants today attest his success.

He enjoyed a drink, loved his motor cars and his boats and, possibly because of his background, quite genuinely saw himself as a man of some status in the community.

Edward was an extrovert, a publicly jovial man with a raucous booming laugh. At a more personal level, he struggled to show outward affection to others, especially his immediate family. We are told that he very rarely ever applauded their efforts privately or publicly. He had better relationships with some of his children than others and the entire family was wary of his volatility. Throughout their married life, Dora walked very much in the shadow of her man, supporting him in the pursuit of his ambitions and his frequent ‘schemes’. She was his rock and his stabiliser. She maintained a balance of family harmony and was diligent in that role. Edward was not an easy man to deal with and he owed Dora a lot more than he might ever have thought.

If Edward could stand beside us today on the front balcony of Meadowbank homestead, looking out beyond the Omaka airfield towards the town of Blenheim not far beyond, what would he think?

He would be confronted by seemingly endless acres of vines planted in their rows upon land that was, in his time, the exclusive domain of fat lambs and cattle. A great change has transformed the district in the seventy years since Edward left Meadowbank. The livelihoods of the various Grigg families who today occupy and farm both Meadowbank and Tempello are derived from a combination of the traditional farming of Edward’s era together with the new viticulture which now provides diversity for the region and points it toward the future.

What would Edward have thought of it all? How would he regard the many changes which his descendants have made to his empire? He would be at once amazed, perhaps even a little confronted. Of course he would never have said so but he would probably look upon it all with pride and perhaps even a touch of jealousy. Regardless of what he might have thought, we can be certain that he would have had an opinion and he would not have been reluctant to tell us in the strongest possible terms just exactly what his opinion was. When it came to having the last word, Edward was a specialist !

For Edward Francis Joseph Grigg, the mission is now long over. He has left a tangible legacy of his time behind him for others to build upon. For them, the task continues. The mission goes on.

== Notes & References: == 1	E.F.J. Grigg - Handwritten letter to John Grigg dated August 13, 1884, 4pp. 2	Christ’s College Old Boys’ Association Register No. 1237 3	Christchurch Star, Issue 4773, October 13, 1893, p1. 4	Christchurch Star, May 22, 1896, p3. 5	Christchurch Star, October 24, 1896, p5. 6	Auckland Star, November 7, 1901, p6. 7	The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1903), Vol. 3, Canterbury Provincial District. 8	Last Will of John Grigg of Longbeach, dated December 28, 1900 9	Christchurch Star, December 22, 1897. 10	Christchurch Star, 10 April, 1902. 11	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXI, Issue 5893, 18 February, 1903, p3. 12	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXIX, Issue 7574, 25 August, 1908, p3. 13	Hugh Grigg – conversationnotes, 1987. 14	Personal diary of Dora Grigg, 1942. 15	Hugh Grigg – conversationnotes, 1987. 16	The Press, Vol. LXVII, Issue 13966, 13 February, 1911, p10. 17	The Press, Vol. LX, Issue 11639, 12 August, 1903, p10. 18	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9043, 13 January, 1915. 19	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXI, Issue 5632, 29 March, 1902, p2. 20	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9033, 1 January, 1915, p3. 21	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXI, Issue 8304, 27 February, 1911, p4. 22	Letter to EFJ Grigg from Nancy Rachel Grigg dated 3 June, 1943. 23	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIII, Issue 8806, 28 February, 1914, p7. 24	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. L, Issue 15051, 20 August, 1914, p5. 25	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 8263, 7 October, 1915, p7. 26	Dominion, Vol. 3, Issue 830, 31 May, 1910, p16. 27	Hugh Grigg – conversation notes, 1987. 28	EFJ Grigg handwritten notes and as published in Christchurch Press, October 1932. 29	Dominion, Vol. 1, Issue 84, 2 January, 1908, p6. 30	The Press, Vol. XLVIII, Issue 14460, 14 September, 1912, p4. 31	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIII, Issue 8395, 25 October, 1912, p2. 32	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIII, Issue 8401, 1 November, 1912, p6. 33	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 8261, 5 October, 1915, p3. 34	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 8263, 7 October, 1915, p3. 35	Newspaper clipping – unnamed and undated, likely to be The Press, October, 1932. 36	EFJ Grigg Personal Papers (handwritten) p7. 37	Notes from conversation with Hugh Grigg, 1987. 38	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVI, Issue 300. 18 December, 1912, p4. 39	Joanna Grigg (2007) Private research notes – There is some variance in reports of the size of the land purchased at this time. The acreage cited herein is that which was made available for resale a year later as no record has been discovered of any interim addition to the original purchase. 40	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVI, Issue 249, 19 October, 1912, p5. 41	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVI, Issue 255, 26 October, 1912, p8. 42	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVI, Issue 281, 26 November 1912, p5. 43	ibid p5. 44	Joanna Grigg (2007) Private Research Notes. 45	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXXV, Issue 199, 28 August, 1901, p3. 46	Marlborough Express, Viol. XXXVII, Issue 20, 25 January, 1904, p1. 47	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXXVII, Issue 132, 8 June, 1903, p1. 48	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLII, Issue 260, 31 October, 1908, p1. 49	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March, 1906, p3. 50	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLI, Issue 132, 6 June, 1907, p4. 51	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 244, 31 October, 1906, p3. 52	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVI, Issue 192, 13 August, 1912, p4. 53	Joanna Grigg (2007) Private research notes. 54	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVIII, Issue 169, 21 July, 1914, p8. 55	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLIX, Issue 140, 16 June, 1915, p8. 56	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXX, Issue 35, 10 February, 1894, p3. 57	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLVII, Issue 55, 5 March, 1913, p2. 58	ibid. 59	Marlborough Express, Vol. XLIX, Issue 21, 26 January, 1915, p4. 60	Marlborough Express, Vol. LI, Issue 79, 3 April, 1917, p1. 61	McCausland, R. Dictionary of N.Z. Biography 1850-1929, Te Aru – Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 62	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9124, 26 April, 1915, p8. 63	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9127, 29 April, 1915, p4. 64	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9129, 1 May, 1915, p4. 65	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9131, 4 May, 1915, p4. 66	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9173, 23 June, 1915, p6. 67	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9179, 30 June, 1915, p4. 68	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9180, 1 July, 1915, p4. 69	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 9184, 6 July, 1915, p8. 70	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXV, Issue 8430, 20 April, 1916, p5

…66

71	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXVI, Issue 8465, 2 June, 1916, p5. 72	Christchurch Press, Vol. LIII, Issue 15974, 8 August, 1917, p7. 73	Hugh T. Grigg – conversation notes, 1987. 74	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 9510, 25 January, 1919, p8. 75	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 9546, 11 March, 1919, p8. 76	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 9528, 1 March, 1919. 77	Ashburton Guardian, Vol. XL, Issue 9154, 12 November, 1919, p4. 78	Personal recollection of Patty’s daughter Elizabeth O’Hanlon, Sept. 2013. 79	Notes from a conversation with Hugh Grigg, 1987. 80	Alphabetical Directory of the Christchurch Telephone Exchange, 1922, p61. 81	Robin Grigg – verbal recollection, 5 April, 2011. 82	Joanna Grigg (2013) – Meadowbank & Tempello 100 Years, family centenary  publication. 83	Hugh Grigg – conversation notes, 1987. 84	Christchurch Press, 19 August, 1932. 85	ibid. 86	Marlborough Express, Vol. XXXIV, Issue 86, 15 April, 1899, p3. 87	E.F.J. Grigg – personal letter dated 15-05-1941, typed, 1pp. 88	Christchurch Press, 10 April, 1946. 89	Christchurch Press, 1 May, 1946. 90	Christchurch Press, 15 May, 1946. 91	ibid. 92	E.F.J. Grigg – private handwritten not, 1946. 93	Christchurch Press, 5 February, 1931. 94	Donald Grigg – letter to Dora dated 04-03-1944 95	Donald Grigg – letter to Dora dated 19-06-1944 96	Donald Grigg – letter to Dora dated 16-01-1944 97	Joanna Grigg (2013) – Meadowbank & Tempello 100 Years, family centenary publication. 98	Hugh T. Grigg – conversation notes, 1987. 99	Nancy Grigg – letter to Dora dated 25-08-1943 100	Nancy Grigg – letter to Dora dated 13-05-1943 101	Nancy Grigg – letter to Dora dated 26-02-1944 102	Nancy Grigg – letter to Dora dated 13-03-1944 103	In the section on Hugh Grigg, all quotations in small italics are taken directly from Hugh’s wartime letters to his mother Dora. Due to the frequency of them they are not separately referenced here 104	George Cavanagh – Handwritten letter to Edward Grigg dated 23 March, 1942. 105	Edward Grigg – handwritten notes for draft of letter to Public Works, April 1942. 106	Letter to Edward Grigg from Charles S. Thomas & Bowie, solicitors, dated 22 April, 1942. 107	Letter to Edward Grigg from Charles S. Thomas & Bowie, solicitors, dated 20 April, 1942. 108	Hugh T. Grigg – conversation notes, 1987. 109	Brenda M. Grigg – letter to Dora dated 12-02-1944, 7pp. 110	Brenda M. Grigg – letter to Dora dated 20-03-1944, 8pp. 111	Brenda M. Grigg – Letter to Dora dated 30-04-1947, 5pp. 112	Joanna Grigg (2013) – Meadowbank and Tempello 100 Years, family centenary publication.