John Edgerley, pioneer, plant collector / botanist / nurseryman 1814 - 1849

John Edgerley was born about 1814, probably in Upper Arley (then Staffordshire) and worked as a gardener at Arley Hall.

He migrated to New Zealand in 1834 on the sailing ship Emma Eugenia ex the Downs, arrived en route at Sydney 10, May, 1835 and reached the Hokianga 30, July.  He spent the years to 1841 at Horeke in the Hokianga as gardener / botanist / explorer  for Lieutentant Thomas McDonnell who had been appointed an additional British Resident in New Zealand, they had travelled out together. Horeke was pictured in two watercolours by Augustus Earle in the 1830's and the establishment McDonnell purchased through a mortgagee sale in Sydney was known as "Deptford Dockyard", see ship being built below in online image from National Library of Australia.
Other aspect of Deptford Dockyard by Augustus Earle.  Sketch of what looks like a festive occasion by Richard Taylor  in 1840 from the back of  McDonnell's residence on the day  Treaty of  Waitangi documents were being signed  by Hokianga  Maori.  From NZ National Library, links to all these sites below.

In October 2004 I visited Horeke briefly and enjoyed a discussion with the owners of the Horeke Hotel who have built a collection of historic material. These include a copy of an 1840 petition to Gov. Hobson by 46 Hokianga residents (incl. John Edgerley) asking for an improved mail service. Text of petition and signatures 1 and signatures 2.  Bars in the hotel are made of large slabs of Norfolk Pine from a tree planted by John Edgerley, according to Mr Peter Maddren the publican. He says Edgerley is recorded to have first imported the trees to New Zealand.   Buried deep in one of the slabs is a musket ball.  According to Peter Maddren the central part of the Horeke Hotel is the remnant of a cottage that was used by John Edgerley. The Hotel being enlarged progressively by additions to each side of the cottage. The image below is from a photograph of a picture on the wall of the Horeke Hotel.  Mr Maddren says Wesleyan missionaries from Mangungu (several km west) make  mention of Edgerley's "English style garden". In the paper by R.C. Cooper (see page 1 & 2 of scans below) a Mr Mariner is mentioned as living in a "...cottage below..."  McDonnell's elevated house.  Maybe future research will elucidate exactly where John Edgerley lived but as McDonnell's gardener he could have resided in the cottage pictured below or in the precincts of McDonnell's house on the terrace. 2004 photo from jetty of the terrace on which Lt. Thos McDonnell's house would have stood.  Horeke Hotel from their jetty showing the different building styles and the old roof outline.  Thanks to the Maddren's for their hospitality and time.

At the bottom of a web page  on the subject of early Roses http://www.rosarosam.com/story/antipodes/story_antipodes_01.html
is corroboration that John Edgerley  lived in the cottage by the water.

Edgerley returned to England and was at Arley Hall again in April 1842, he married Sarah Newnham at Upper Arley on 27, December, 1842 and they travelled on the Tyne arriving at Hobart August 1843.

In 1843 he bought 6 acres in Newmarket,  marked now by Edgerley Avenue, Epsom and established a nursery which he worked until he died in  1849  at 35 years, leaving Sarah, two sons and a daughter. Text of a death notice in the New Zealander newspaper can be found at;
http://pearlspad.net.nz/IndexToDeathsNZPapers.htm
EDGELEY On Saturday 9th June 1849, after a short
 illness, Mr John Edgeley of the Epsom- road, aged 35 yrs.
 [NZ'er 13 June 1849]

This 1863 photograph from the online collection of the Auckland Art Gallery is by John Kinder and is indexed  "Mt Eden from the Onehunga Road near Hobson's Bridge (Newmarket)".  
Kinder is known to have visited Horeke and may have met Edgerley. I think it is likely the prominent treed area is in fact the site of Edgerley's "Eden Nursery" and could possibly be the reason for the photograph. 

Various notes and materials on Edgerley's life have been assembled in a paper by R.C. Cooper, "John Edgerley, Botanist in New Zealand", Records of Auckland Institute &  Museum, 7, 123-136, March 31st., 1970, which is the source of much of the above information.  This paper has been scanned and is posted at the bottom of this page.

There are references in the paper to plant specimens and live plants sent to Kew Gardens, Mr. A. B. Lambert and the Earl of  Mountnorris by Edgerley in the period up to 1843.  Two uncommon New Zealand shrubs bear Edgerley's name.
Pomaderris prunifolia Fenzl var edgerleyi and Psuedopanax edgerleyi

John and Sarah had two boys, John born 26, July, 1846 and William born 4, April, 1848.  A daughter Sarah Newnham Edgerley was born in 1850.

John's wife Sarah died in June 1895 aged 83.

The writer of this page is Warwick Hughes a great great grandson of John Edgerley, who is  interested to hear from anyone with information on relatives and ancestors of John Edgerley and Sarah Newnham.
Please contact wshughes@iinet.net.au
An eighteen month old descendant of John Edgerley also takes an unusual interest in flowers. See Fig photos

Some relevant LINKS

Tetbury Census web site
There is more than one mention of  the Edgerley name in the Tetbury Census of 1735

National Library of Australia online picture collection
http://www.pictureaustralia.org/

National Library of New Zealand online search engines for the Richard Taylor sketch
http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz

Online collection of Auckland Art Gallery
http://www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/

The web site of  Australian National Botanic Gardens has a reference to John Edgerley which suggests that he collected plants in Australia at some time and this is recorded in some herbarium collections.  Possibly  while waiting in Sydney or Hobart for a ship connection to Auckland or maybe he journeyed to the trans-Tasman colonies at some time from NZ and we have no record of this. On page 124 of the Cooper paper scanned below there is mention of "...many of the New Holland flowers and shrubs." in the Horeke garden.

My web site http://www.warwickhughes.com/kiwialbum/ has more photos etc relating to the Edgerley family.

Exerpt from book by Dinah Holman, Newmarket Lost and Found. The Bush Press of New Zealand.

John Edgerley, botanist and gardener, was living in the Newmarket area by 1843. According to the police census of the time, by 1844 he was living in a raupo hut in that location.' Edgerley is a figure of considerable interest, having first come to New Zealand in the 1830s with Lieutenant Thomas McDonnell, who was appointed an additional British Resident to Busby. McDonnell reached his property at Horeke, Hokianga, on 30 July 1838. Edgerley brought with him from Britain a number of plants and when Edward Wakefield visited Horeke in 1839 he found a flourishing garden there. McDonnell and Edgerley had explored, the Kaipara at the end of 1835 and from there Edgerley sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew a plant that is now known as Pomaderris prunifolia Fenzl. var. edgerleyi. From similar explorations, Edgerley sent, and later himself took, more live plants and dried specimens back to Britain. When he returned to New Zealand in 1843, he again brought plants from England with him, and also a wife. The Auckland War Memorial Museum holds a collection of items brought out from England by the Edgerleys, including a set of blasting tools, a pair of candle snuffers, a tinder box and an humane man trap. Such were the expectations of some early settlers.

Edgerley was one of the first nurserymen in Auckland, although D.F. Carnegie (the 'D' stood for Dalrymple) of Epsom had also already advertised a variety of fruit trees, 'propagated in New Zealand from the choicest stock', in the Auckland Chronicle in September 1843. In the same year, Edgerley bought six acres of land in Newmarket, on which he set up his 'Eden Nursery'.  According to Paul Waite this first parcel of land was the Kelly/Whitaker grant on the preceding Crown Grant map, where Edgerley Av. is today.  Note this map looks west.
By 1846, Edgerley was advertising a large variety of fruit trees for sale, including a dozen varieties of apples. He acquired a further five acres of land behind his first purchase in 1848 - marked as Edgerley on the preceding Crown Grant map. This set up a substantial land holding in Newmarket, which his descendants were to occupy for more than century.    Edgerley served as a judge at the first Agricultural and Horticultural Show, held on 18 December 1843 at Mr Hart's Exchange Hotel.

John Edgerley senior died suddenly in 1849, having lived only a full and eventful 35 years. His widow Sarah sold the fruit trees in 1852, put cows on the land and ran a milk supply. Their eldest son, John, joined the Auckland Volunteers during the Waikato Wars, and later became a builder. Their other son, William, also became a builder and was a member of the first Newmarket Borough Council in 1885.
Map printed in black & white from Google Earth marking  where I think the two Edgerley blocks run.  I have scaled off from the above old land parcels map and marked the old equidistant section boundaries between Mortimer and Alpers - then it is just a matter of projecting two boundaries west over Gillies.  Where Google Earth have the name Edgerley - that is in the SE corner of the 6 acres  west of Gillies Av.
I have annotated Gillies Av, Alpers Av, Mortimer, and Edgerley Av.  Original Google Earth colour image. The Google Earth maps look north.

Family Pictures

Page scans of the paper  by R.C. Cooper, "John Edgerley, Botanist in New Zealand", Records of Auckland Institute &  Museum, 7, 123-136, March 31st., 1970.
Page 123
page 124
page 125
page 126
page 127
page 128
page 129
page 130
page 131
page 132
page 133
page 134
page 135
page 136
Kaipara map south sheet
Kaipara map north sheet
 
 
 

Posted 3, August, 2001, last updated  11, November 2004.