Biography

Henry Tewsley (1824-1879)

Henry Tewsley was a gentleman of prominent position in the commercial circles of Dunedin City*. During the period 1863 – 1879 he was Dunedin Manager and a partner* of Sargood Sons & Ewen Limited, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Harbour Board*, and a founding parishioner of the St John’s Church, Roslyn*.

He was born in Clapham, Surrey, on September 20th, 1824*, being the third of six children of William (b. Elstead, Surrey*) and Sophia (née Mitchelmore, b. Stokenham, Devonshire*). He was a scholar with Mr Bower in Mortlake, Surrey*.

Henry emigrated to Melbourne in August 1852*. With capital from Sir Fredrick James Sargood, owner of Australasia’s biggest wholesale warehouse business last century*, he set up his own warehousing business in Collingwood and later in Geelong employing his brothers James and Arthur for periods of time. The goods traded were bought by Sargood’s agents at auction in London and shipped out.

On March 2nd, 1854, he married Elizabeth Shearer Coltherd. On Dec 24th, 1863, with seven children, Jessica, Georgiana, Milton and Cromwell, Henrietta, Florence, and Maud they arrived in Dunedin, Henry having accepted the position as ‘Financial Manager’ for Sargood Son and Ewen’s new store. Here three more were born, Eveline and Edward, and Ernest after whose birth Elizabeth died tragically from puerperal septicemia on Oct 5th, 1866. Henry found the shift financially draining and Dunedin a backward town in comparison to Geelong (which with a population of 20,000 was well developed). He wrote to Sargood that “many of the inhabitants are very filthy in their habits, casting out offal and refuse, chiefly of fish of which we have a great abundance, on the public ways and unoccupied lands, polluting the atmosphere, and what is worse, the water supply”*. And, “Dunedin is a hot bed of disease”* to which his daughter Eveline succumbed in 1866.

On July 31st, 1869, he married his deceased wife’s sister, Mary Ann Coltherd who had come to Dunedin to care for his large young family They had four children, Gertrude, Ursula, Harold and Cyril. The marriage, doubtless a necessity in his circumstances, was considered irregular and unacceptable by a section of Dunedin society and Henry describes some women at church “drawing their skirts aside”* as Mary Ann passed by.

To house his family Henry purchased three and a half acres bordering Highgate and Leven Street, where he built ‘Sheen House’, named after his home area in England. He planned and planted extensive surrounding gardens, ordering and exchanging plants from Australia and England. In 1872 he was awarded the medallion of the Otago Royal Horticulture Society as first prize for ‘Best kept half-acre garden’.

He developed Sargood, Son & Ewen from its infancy. The company began in Stafford Street and relocated to their new purpose built, three storied warehouse with boot factory in Lower High Street. Here in 1881 his son Edward was killed from a fall down the lift shaft. It is evident from the copious letters Henry wrote that he worked diligently and for long hours while constantly requesting more support from the Sargood family, which was not forthcoming. Though he was manager of the business, decisions were often made overseas without consulting him about the goods required by the colony.

Henry was elected a member of the fledgling Harbour Board in 1874 and was Chairman of the Board for the year 1879-1880. He was appointed to the subcommittee to establish the rules and guidelines for the Board and was part of a Harbour Trust deputation for harbour transformation and the dredging of the Rattray Street jetty. Henry’s commitment to the Harbour Board was recognised by the naming of Tewsley Street on the Dunedin waterfront.

With the creation of roads, Roslyn Town quickly developed. Henry, with his previous experience of setting up a church in Collingwood, involved himself from the founding meeting, planning to raise money and build a Church of England for the Parish of Kaikorai. Fundraising events included a grand concert for Dunedin’s musical public organised by his daughter Jessie, regarded as a pianist of ‘uncommon ability’*. Henry was Vicar’s Warden of the parish from 1877 to 1879 when, after a short illness, he died on Dec 26th, 1879. St John’s Church was built in 1880 incorporating the bell he had donated.

It is of note that from such a numerous and vibrant family there are no persons remaining with the surname Tewsley.

*ODT 2nd Aug 1879 “Miss Tewsley’s Concert”

*Letters from Henry Tewsley’s Copy Book

*”A Church that is set on a Hill” by Margot Ross. A centennial history of St John’s, Roslyn, 1980

*Parish records, Holy Trinity Church, Clapham

*Mortlake Census records 1841 and 1851

*Parish records Ford Chapel, Independent Church, Stokenham

*ODT newspaper article March 15 1873

*Hocken Library records of the Harbour Board

*Evening Post article “The Folly of Sir Fred” ?1980s