LIVING THE PAST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 January 1943, Page 5

LIVING THE PAST

GOWNS OF LONG AGO RELICS OF MARSDEN’S DAY. FROCKS WITH EiKTRAORDING HISTORY. Power to recreate the atmosphere of a hundred years ago is in the possession of two Auckland sisters, Misses Marnie and Lila Spicer, for they have carefully preserved bonnets and frocks dating from the early period of Marsden’s missionary work at the Bay of Islands. Dressing up in these extremely rare relics of a bygone age, they posed in the quaint garden of their old home in Parnell. The frocks have an extraordinary history. The Misses Spicers’ grandmother was a Miss Williams, born at Bristol, England, in 1802. She joined one of the missionary parties organised at Windsor, New South Wales, by the Rev. Samuel'Marsden, and she arrived at the Bay of Islands in 1828. The bonnet worn by Miss Barnie Spicer is the identical bonnet worn by Miss Williams when she set foot on land in the new colony. ORIGINAL “POKE BONNET.” The bonnet is made of very fine Leghorn straw and has what was called the jam-pot crown, with a curtain of straw at the back. It is the original “poke bonnet” of those times. In 1833. Miss Williams married a missionary of the Church of England, Mr James Preece, at Kerikeri. The eldest child of that marriage, born at the mission station at Puriri, near Thames, on August 24, 1834, was the Misses Spicers’ mother. The frock Avhich accompanies the “poke bonnet” is of the style worn in the years immediately following, from about 1840 to about 1847. It has a pointed, well-fitting bodice, and the skirt measures five yards at the hem. Both frock and lace fichu are handmade. A FRANKLIN RELIC. The Paisley frock, displayed by Miss Lila Spicer, originally belonged to Lady Franklin, wife of Sir John Franklin, of North-west Passage fame. Lady Franklin was one of the first guests to stay at Government House, Auckland, with Captain and Mrs Hobson in 1840. She afterward journeyed by brig to Tauranga and was carried ashore by Maori litter to Mr Preece’s mission station at Ahikereru, where she stayed a fortnight. The fine Indian muslin shawl worn with this frock dates from before the Indian Mutiny. The preservation of these historic garments by the Misses Spicer is due to the perpetuation of a childish indulgence. When they were little children, they were permitted to dress up in their grandmother’s clothes, provided they folded them away carefully each time when finished; and the habit has continued all through the years. Mr Preece, who opened stations of the Church Missionary Society at Puriri, Thames, Ahikereru and Whakatane, finally retired to Coromandel as a justice of the peace and died there on Christmas Day, 1870. Mrs Preece passed away in Auckland in 1878.