Mysteries I’ll probably never solve - #2

How was William employed between November 1841, when the family arrived in Wellington, and January 1844, when the first evidence of him running his own business appears?

William was the family breadwinner. Sarah doesn’t appear to have ever worked outside the home – she stayed home and raised her siblings as her mother produced one baby after another. She would have been totally reliant on William’s earnings to support her and the children. It’s unlikely that they had sufficient savings to live on for more than a few weeks after arrival; most of their money probably came from selling furniture and household items in England, with a view to spending it on replacing these items once they got to New Zealand. As soon as the house had been made livable, William’s priority would have been to find work.

For the first two years in New Zealand, there’s little evidence of William’s employment. I suspect 1842 was a pretty lean year financially, and he might not have had full-time work. In 1842, Wellington was proclaimed a borough, and arrangements were made for the first election of a mayor and aldermen. I can’t imagine anything stopping William from participating in the democratic process except lack of money - yet his name is not on the 1842 burgess roll. Every male inhabitant of the town over the age of 21 could register to vote – however, they had to pay 20 shillings for the privilege, which would later be credited against any rates levied by the new Council. If William couldn’t put aside 20 shillings by the time registration closed on 30 August 1842, then money must have been very tight.

The following year, when voters had to register by 31 May, and pay 2/6 for the privilege, William’s name appears on the roll of voters. He could also afford to subscribe 5/- in July to the fund for the repair of the Lambton Quay footpath, so his financial situation had obviously improved. This would have been a big relief to Sarah, with an increasing family to feed and clothe.

While there seemed to be plenty of labouring work around, including building roads for the New Zealand Company, it’s reasonable to assume that William would have initially looked for work as a plumber. He was a qualified journeyman plumber, and the only thing preventing him from setting up shop as a plumber in his own right would have been lack of money. I’m sure that he didn’t plan to launch his own business straight away – he would probably have assumed he would be able to get employment with another plumber until such time as he could afford to start his own business.

When the Norgroves arrived in Wellington, seven plumbers had arrived before them, but the 1842 burgess roll suggests that only five were practising their trade with some degree of success - John Minifie and his younger brother Thomas, Jabez Dean, Joseph Miller, and Edward Fox. Miller and Dean were the only two advertising in the local papers, and the first of these advertisements that William would have seen was Jabez Dean’s. The style of advertising was very different from today :

Jabez Dean,
Plumber, Glazier, and Painter,
Lambton Quay, near the Royal George Inn,

Returns his sincere thanks for the liberal support he has received, and begs to assure those gentlemen who may favour him with their orders, that they may depend on materials of the best description and good workmanship, combined with reasonable charges and punctuality.

William would have got a bit of a surprise when he went to knock on the door of the punctual and reasonable Mr Deans, as he was not the middle-aged master plumber he might have expected, but a young man of 22 or 23. The Minifie brothers were also young, in their mid-twenties. However, Thomas Fox was 35, and Joseph Miller was in his mid-forties. Miller advertised his plumbing business for a while in 1842, but by 1845 appears to have left for Sydney. Any or all of these men may have provided employment for William in 1842 or 1843.

Plumbers were generally also glaziers, and often painters as well. It’s possible William may have found employment with one of the many painters in Wellington, and learned his additional trade there. By the time of his first newspaper advertisement in January 1844, he is advertising himself as a painter first :

Cheap Paints
W. Norgrove, Plain and Ornamental House and Sign Painter,

Plumber and Glazer, Lambton Quay, has for sale :-

Red Anti corrosion for shingles, weather boards, Agricultural implements &c., white and red lead, oil and colours, varnish, glue, whiting &c. Wholesale and retail at the lowest prices.
Colours of every description for Artists &c.

There’s no way of knowing how long William had been in business for himself before he started advertising in the local paper, however we do know that this particular business only lasted until 15 November 1845. That’s when the bailiff was planning to sell everything, including the lease on the house/shop the Norgroves were occupying, as the result of a writ taken against him by one Harry Hughlings. Hughlings was most likely William’s landlord, and the court action was an attempt to recover unpaid rent. William and Sarah’s address remains Lambton Quay for a few years after this (they moved to Thorndon Quay in 1849) so whether he was able to come up with enough money to salvage the lease, or whether they moved to another property, is unknown.

Jury lists in the following years continue to list William’s occupation as painter. It doesn’t seem that he had a business of his own again until 1852, when he advertises himself as having taken over a local private hotel and boarding house – a complete career change that’s yet another unsolved mystery!