The Anderton Family

Thomas Andrew Anderton (21-02-1829  -  08-09-1896)

Thomas Andrew Anderton was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England on 21-02-1829 to parents George Anderton and Sarah Wilkinson.  He had brothers and sisters as follows:

Mary Ann Anderton (18-11-1830 - ?)

Martha Anderton (30-12-1832 - ?)

William Anderton (7-08-1834 - ?)

Jane Anderton (27-03-1836 - ?)

Thomas Anderton married Sarah Ellen Spencer in 1857 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. 

Thomas and Sarah emigrated to New Zealand on the ship Metropolis, a ship of 1082 tons, commanded by Captain Kennery which sailed from London on 04-03-1863 and arrived at Lyttelton on 16-06-1863.  Thomas was named as a gardener from Yorkshire in the passenger list. 

Soon after arriving, Thomas and Sarah would have moved to the Courtenay area of Canterbury where Sarah's sister Mary Ann Lord (nee Spencer) already lived with her husband Jabez Lord.  The Andertons ended up living just down the road from each other.  The Andertons had a farm on West Coast Road (which is now the Old West Coast Road). 

The family story was that Thomas and Sarah had no children but there was an entry in the Press dated 30-05-1868 that said they had a daughter on 27-05-1868.  After over ten years marriage with no children, this child would have been much loved and adored and very special to them.  Not many people advertised their children's births in those days.  However this baby must not have survived for very long as there was never an Anderton child who grew to adulthood as far as we know.  There is no record of her birth on the Births, Deaths and Marriages website and no record of her death.  This may be because of a transcription of typing error in the records, or maybe she was never registered and died only a few days after birth and they were too heartbroken to register her.

The loss of their child would have been terrible.  Sarah Anderton's sister, Mary Ann Lord nee Spencer sent her son Edwin Lord to live with the Andertons.  We are not sure what age he was when he went there, but the family story was that he was pretty much brought up by the Andertons.  The Lord and Anderton families lived only  a few hundred metres down the road from each other on separate farms, so he wouldn't have been greatly missed as he wasn't far away.  The Lord family was big and Mary Ann Lord would have had enough on her plate already.

On 08-09-1869 the Board of Conservators met and Anderton was awarded 14 pounds for "ploughing for gorse plantations."  Little did the farmers know then that gorse would become one of the worst introduced plants in New Zealand, taking over the countryside and growing far more vigorously than back in Great Britain.

In the Press of 05-05-1873 Thomas Anderton made an objection to the electoral roll for Selwyn District as he had been incorrectly named as "Anderson".  His land was leasehold, not freehold at the time.

Jabez Lord and Thomas Anderton were both farmers and well involved in the Courtenay community.  They had a couple of roading tenders accepted that were advertised in the Press 14-07-1873.

The Courtenay Road Board met at White's Accommodation House on 04-05-1875 to discuss roading in the area and the West Coast Road contract had taken too long to be commenced by a man named McDowell, so the contract was passed on to the next local men, Lord and Anderton.  The article from The Press dated 07-05-1875 said that they were "now at work" on the contract, obviously being more consciencious than McDowell.

On 26-06-1875 a committee was chosen for the Courtenay Flower Show which consisted of Messrs Anderton and Lord as well as other men.  Messrs Anderton offered one of the special prizes.  In 1878 and 1889 this prize was 5 shillings for the best six kidney potatoes.

In the Press 21-10-1886 Thomas Anderton was chosen to judge best kept garden at the annual show:

"It was arranged that the annual show be held on Friday, 24th December. Resolved, that the Secretary endeavour to arrange for three judges for the show, and communicate with Mr Crooks with reference thereto. The date for judging the gardens was fixed for Saturday, 18th December, and Messrs McNae, Anderton, and Davis, were appointed judges for the same."  He was also appointed a judge for the gardens in 1878 and 1888.  In the Press of 17-12-1890 Thomas Anderton was listed as a committee member for the Courtenay Horticultural Society who were holding a flower show.  It seems that Thomas was very much into his gardening and the Horticultural Society which is understandable considering he was a gardener back in England.  He didn't however seem to enter any of the competitions, preferring to be on the committee instead.

On 05-04-1889 in The Press, Thomas Anderton was listed as sending sheep to the Kirwee saleyards for the monthly sale.  It seems that times were hard and a bit of a drought was hitting the Canterbury area:

"At the Kirwee Saleyards on Monday, April 1st, we held our monthly sale. Large entries of sheep were sent in, over 4000 yarded, but although there was a large attendance there were not many buyers present, and the majority of the sheep were purchased by dealers. Despite the heavy rains we have had, this part of the country looks very dry, and there is a scarcity of feed, and farmers do not care about burdening themselves with sheep that they cannot keep properly. Our entries were for Mr G. Spencer, H. W. Mac- Lelland, B. Hale, E. Guiney, W. McLellan, G. McCausland, J. O'Brien, Geo. Bedford, Geo. Seaton, T. Anderton, T. H. Anson, W. Round, R. Kemp, A. Calder, T. W. Johnson, H. J. Pearce, W. Finlay, E. Brown, and others our principal sales being 100 four-tooth wethers at 10s 6d; 556 crossbred ewes, 3s 4d, 260 crossbred lambs, 6s 6d; 761 first cross lambs, 6s, 461 merino ewes, 1s 9d, and 100 merino ewes, 4s; and a fair entry of timber and sundries at prices satisfactory to vendors."

On 11-09-1889 there was an article in the Press regarding the River Board for the Waimakariri.  It said, "Tenders were opened for the supply of 25 casks of cement, and half a ton No. 10 wire. That of W. Langdown and Co. (anchor brand) at 16s od per cask, and wire at £11 16a per ton was accepted. The tenders of W. Fellows and T. Anderton were accepted at 7  3/4d per cask for carting the cement."  It seems he did carting around the community in general.  His brother in law Jabez Lord was a wool carter, so maybe he got tips from him in the business.

Thomas Andrew Anderton passed away on 08-09-1896 aged 66 and is buried in St Matthew's Church Cemetery, Courtenay with his wife Sarah Ellen Anderton (nee Spencer) who died on 22-03-1912.