OBITUARY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 868, 21 July 1910, Page 2

OBITUARY.

MRS HELEN ROBINSONAGED 84 YEARS.

Mrs Ellen Robinson, relict of the late Capt. Robinson, passed peacefully away, full of years and surrounded by members of her family at the homestead, “Herrington,” on Wednesday night last. Her death was not unexpected, as she had been failing for some time prior to the dissolution. Thus another link with the past has been broken and we are again laced with a loss that grows with time. The late Mrs Robinson’s husband predeceased her in 1888. It was away back in iB4o that the deceased lady, then a maiden of 14 summers, arrived from the Old Land in the good ship London, 700 tons, in command of Captain Shuttleworth. Her father, the late Mr Cummerfield, took up land under the N.Z. Land Company and brought his good wife and family out in the ship above referred to. The family consisted of Mr and Mrs Cummerfield, their two daughters, Ellen (whose death we record) Mary (afterwards Mrs Armstrong, who settled with her husband at Akaroa, where she died), John (who settled in Rangitikei and subsequently returned to Wellington, where he died), Henry (drowned in Napier) and Edward is the only one left and still resides in Foxton). The late Mrs Robinson’s father took up and farmed a hundred acre section in Karori. It was at Karori that deceased met her future husband, the late Captain Robinson, then a handsome young officer late of the Indian service—a class of man singled out by the Land Company to lay the foundation of settlement in New Zealand. He was strong, fearless and withal an English gentleman. He arrived shortly after the Cummerfield family and took up the Herrington Estate at Te Awahou or what is now known as Foxton. At 19 years of age Mrs Robinson was united in wedlock and with a brave heart settled down with her husband and endured hardships and trials unknown to the present generation. Eleven children were born of the marriage, eight of whom (three daughters and five sons) still survive, all of whom are married except the youngest son. They are Francis (Carnarvon), James Henry (No. 2. Line), John Walker (Lady’s Mile), Charles Edward (Lady’s Mile), Octavius Roland (Herrington), Mrs Thynne (relict of the late E. S. Thynne, one-time editor and proprietor of the Manawatu Herald), Mrs Hadfield (Wanganui), and Mrs Wm. Robinson (Greenmeadows, Napier). There are also a number of grand and great grand children, /jerriugton was known to many' distinguished visitors to New Zealand in the early days. The late Mrs Robinson and her husband were the soul of hospitality and included among their guests such distinguished people as Lord Cecil as he was then, afterwards the Marquis of Salisbury, late Prime Minister of England, Sir George Grej', Bishop Hadfield and Sir D. McLean, and most of New Zealand’s early statesmen. In fact, Herrington was looked upon as the half-way house between Wanganui and Wellington in those days, and many less distinguished visitors were hospitably entertained by the deceased and her husband. Only once did Mrs Robinson leave her home and go to Wellington, and then on the advice of the natives during the troublous times. She not only held the respect of all with whom she came in contact, but was held in very high esteem by the old Maoris. It can be said of her that she was a noble wife and affectionate mother, and her memory will be revered by those who are left to mourn their loss. Up to about three years ago the deceased had enjoyed splendid health. The funeral will leave Herrington on Friday, at 12.30 p.m. for All Saints’ Church, and thence to the Foxton cemetery, where the remains will be interred by the side of her late husband.

The Herald joins with others throughout this district in extending its sympathy to the bereaved.-