Percy William FOGDEN & Ellen QUIRKE
Ellen QUIRKE was born in the 1860s, one of five (?) children of Timothy & Ellen QUIRKE (nee GALVIN). They lived in the little village of Rathas near Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. She left home at the age of 14, later than her four siblings (two of her sisters had already emigrated), intending to reach New Zealand. Was this in the aftermath of the potato famine in Ireland when something like a million Irish people emigrated?
A few days after leaving the port of Plymouth in January 1883 the Oxford, in which she was travelling, was struck by a devastating storm in the Bay of Biscay. All 302 passengers were kept below decks and the ship was dismasted by the storm. Though badly damaged the Oxford managed to get back to Cardiff. But a few days after docking typhoid fever broke out aboard and there were many deaths. The ship was placed in quarantine which delayed the repairs. Here the passengers were given the option of returning home or being housed in old and dilapidated hostels while awaiting further transport. Ellen, though still a child and desperately homesick, chose the latter. She was determined to get away but had to wait 3 months before the Oxford was ready to sail again. Eventually she reached Wellington, New Zealand, in July 1883 but the ship was again placed in quarantine for several days due to more sickness on board. Finally Ellen joined her sisters, Mary & Catherine, at Blenheim.
Initially she worked as a nursemaid as this gave her a roof over her head. Later she became an experienced hotel worker and, at the request of her employers in Wellington, went to Gisborne to run a hotel which they had just bought there. This was in 1900 when Gisborne was a very remote settlement on the east coast of North Island – the only way to get there was by train to Napier and then boat to Gisborne. This was where she met a wandering Englishman, Percy William FOGDEN.
Percy’s father, Charles FOGDEN, was a butcher on ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Ship Company running from England to the Far East. Charles had married Kate KENDLE at Lambeth, Surrey, in 1870. They had 3 children all born at Southampton, Hampshire: Andrew Richard born in 1872, Percy William on 7th May 1874 and Kate Louise in 1875. Percy’s mother found herself separated from her husband for many months each year and in due course this got too much for her and she left her husband, taking their daughter with her. Percy & Andrew were then brought up by their Grandparents, Andrew Richard & Emma Louisa FOGDEN (nee GALE) in Chichester. In 1887 Percy was apprenticed to Henry LOCK, a grocer of Woodstock in Oxfordshire. The Indenture was signed by Allen FOGDEN, Percy’s uncle, one of Charles FOGDEN’s brothers. He became a master grocer and worked for John Brown & Co, a large firm of grocers, in London.
Charles FOGDEN died at sea, off Plymouth, on the SS Oriental in 1893. He was 48. The cause of death was jaundice. This resulted in Percy inheriting £2,000 (I am not sure about this – when Charles's will was proved the effects came to just under £1000). But whatever sum he inherited Percy squandered the money on the bright lights of London. He then decided to try his luck in New Zealand and arrived at Wellington in 1897. He eventually made his way to Gisborne, walking from Napier and picking up any odd jobs he could, where he booked in to the hotel which was run by Ellen Quirke. He got a job in the local freezing works. Whilst at the hotel he courted Ellen and she agreed to marry him on the condition that he give up drink (except for an occasional drink at home). Apparently Ellen had been engaged to a brewer in Wellington who was a heavy drinker and she broke off the engagement. Percy gave his word and never entered a public bar from the day they married.
Percy William FOGDEN married Ellen QUIRKE at Gisborne on 17th November 1902. They had two children, twins named Charles Allen Leo & Eileen, on 31st January 1904. The following year Percy joined the Civil Service. He retired in 1939 after 34 years of Government Service in Gisborne.