Bannister

Harriette Matilda Bannister 

Harriette Matilda Bannister (1853 – 1912) Herbert Walter Stace’s mother, Norman’s grandmother) was born in NZ, the third daughter of fourteen children of Edwin Bannister and Mary Tutchen.

Edwin Bannister

Edwin Bannister (1827 England – 1895 New Zealand) was Norman’s great grandfather. He was born in Dudley Castle in England. In 1840, when Edwin was 13 years old, his family travelled to New Zealand on the ship Bolton.[1]  

He was secretary of the Order of Odd Fellows (Antipodean) in New Zealand for 28 years.

He was initially apprenticed to the New Zealand Gazette, and subsequently joined the Spectator and

Cook's Straits Guardian, the original Wellington newspaper; the Independent, and then the Evening Post. He continued on to the Government Printing Office, remaining there until he finally retired from active city life to his farm at Woodlawn, beyond Johnsonville. 

He was survived by 40 grandchildren at the time of his funeral.

Mary Tutchen 

Mary Tutchen (1829 England – 1917 New Zealand) was Norman’s great grandmother.

Bearing fourteen children with her husband Edwin Bannister, and living to the age of 87, Mary Tutchen was a pioneer of Wellington, New Zealand. 

She arrived in New Zealand with her parents in 1841, age 12, aboard the Arab.[2] When they arrived there was no wharf or housing – the families lived aboard while the men built the wharf. They moved to Happy Valley, then Hawthorn Hill in Wellington, now named Tutchen Street. Her mother was Sarah Banger. The Banger family can be traced back to 1599 in Dorset, England.

Mary Tutchen (wife of Edwin Bannister), c1870 and c1913  3

William Bannister 

Norman’s great grandfather

Edwin’s father William Bannister was manager of Lord Ward's estates – Limestone Works and Dudley Castle – for 30 years. He lived in a beautiful place called 'The Old Park'. The house was approached by a carriage drive lined with white and blue flowered lilacs. He was allowed a gig with two horses and two servants. When William's father died, the family convinced him to leave his position with Lord Ward to manage the Delph Clay Works (a family business). One or more of William's brothers did not cooperate with his running of the business and the business ran into trouble. He then went into the business of coal pits. When one of the coal pits being flooded William decided to emigrate to New Zealand.

William, his wife Mary Eades, and their three sons travelled from England to New Zealand on the ship Bolton in 1840.

The Bannister family can be traced to 1669 in Sussex, England.