KOHUNGA PŪERU / HISTORY
The Buxtons
The Buxton family lived at Broadgreen House from 1855 to 1901
Edmund Buxton, who was born in 1805, descended from an ancient Derbyshire family, de Bawkstone. However he was born in Liverpool in Lancashire and it was from an area of Liverpool that Broadgreen was named. He married Martha Buxton in Liverpool in 1826. They had eleven children of whom six daughters survived.
Although his education is said to have been that of an independent gentleman, the occupations of the father listed on the birth certificates of his children include iron monger, hardware dealer, woollen draper, gentleman and rentier. Mr Buxton arrived in Lyttleton in 1851 on the Canterbury Association ship ‘Castle Eden’ and bought 30,000 acres in Waiau, North Canterbury. In the returns of 1853 E. Buxton ‘Highfield’ is credited with ownership of 2000 sheep. He transferred his licence to C. L. Rose in 1855.
Between 1851 and 1856, Edmund travelled extensively. Journeys recorded in ‘Coastal Shipping’ (Nelson Provincial Museum) include Nelson to Melbourne - Lyttleton to Nelson - Nelson to Sydney and London to Nelson.
In 1855 he founded the firm of E. Buxton & Co. Merchants and sold everything from firearms to sausage skins. The business was located in Trafalgar Street in central Nelson. Mr D. Moore managed the business for two years and later Mr Henry Buckeridge (son-in-law of Edmund Buxton) was taken into partnership.
According to folklore, Mr Buxton was driven from Broadgreen in Stoke to his business in Nelson in his horse-drawn carriage every morning.
Although his education is said to have been that of an independent gentleman, the occupations of the father listed on the birth certificates of his children include iron monger, hardware dealer, woollen draper, gentleman and rentier. Mr Buxton arrived in Lyttleton in 1851 on the Canterbury Association ship ‘Castle Eden’ and bought 30,000 acres in Waiau, North Canterbury. In the returns of 1853 E. Buxton ‘Highfield’ is credited with ownership of 2000 sheep. He transferred his licence to C. L. Rose in 1855.
Between 1851 and 1856, Edmund travelled extensively. Journeys recorded in ‘Coastal Shipping’ (Nelson Provincial Museum) include Nelson to Melbourne - Lyttleton to Nelson - Nelson to Sydney and London to Nelson.
In 1855 he founded the firm of E. Buxton & Co. Merchants and sold everything from firearms to sausage skins. The business was located in Trafalgar Street in central Nelson. Mr D. Moore managed the business for two years and later Mr Henry Buckeridge (son-in-law of Edmund Buxton) was taken into partnership.
According to folklore, Mr Buxton was driven from Broadgreen in Stoke to his business in Nelson in his horse-drawn carriage every morning.
However, his great interest was in the farm, and particularly in raising and breeding pigs. He planted many different oak trees on his property - no doubt with acorns for the pigs in mind. One special pig was named Alice, after one of his daughters.
Described as an irascible man, he fell out with a great many people and was regarded with awe, fear and sometimes rebellion by his employees. In 1867, Edmund Buxton went into semi-retirement, a wealthy man. E. Buxton & Co. Merchants continued to be run as a family business. However in In the 1870s, financial troubles beset the firm and the bank disposed of the business in 1881 to Mr F. Hamilton of Greymouth. Hamilton retained the Buxton business name.
Mr Buxton had supposedly made a substantial contribution towards the building of St Barnabas Church in Stoke in 1866 but later quarrelled with the Vicar. Ten years later he bought a burial plot at Richmond where Mr Buxton, his wife and five daughters are buried. His problem with Stoke must have been resolved because he bequeathed a sum to be invested for supplementing the stipend at St Barnabas.
A memorial stained glass window stands in St Barnabas to the memory of Mr Buxton, his wife Martha and their eldest daughter Martha. Edmund Buxton died in 1882 at Stoke after a long painful battle with cancer.
Holton House in Ruby Bay, which was built in 1867 and originally served as the Buxton's holiday home, is now privately owned.
Buxton Square in central Nelson is another reminder of this early Nelson business owner and his family.
Described as an irascible man, he fell out with a great many people and was regarded with awe, fear and sometimes rebellion by his employees. In 1867, Edmund Buxton went into semi-retirement, a wealthy man. E. Buxton & Co. Merchants continued to be run as a family business. However in In the 1870s, financial troubles beset the firm and the bank disposed of the business in 1881 to Mr F. Hamilton of Greymouth. Hamilton retained the Buxton business name.
Mr Buxton had supposedly made a substantial contribution towards the building of St Barnabas Church in Stoke in 1866 but later quarrelled with the Vicar. Ten years later he bought a burial plot at Richmond where Mr Buxton, his wife and five daughters are buried. His problem with Stoke must have been resolved because he bequeathed a sum to be invested for supplementing the stipend at St Barnabas.
A memorial stained glass window stands in St Barnabas to the memory of Mr Buxton, his wife Martha and their eldest daughter Martha. Edmund Buxton died in 1882 at Stoke after a long painful battle with cancer.
Holton House in Ruby Bay, which was built in 1867 and originally served as the Buxton's holiday home, is now privately owned.
Buxton Square in central Nelson is another reminder of this early Nelson business owner and his family.
Meet the Buxtons
Edmund married Martha in Liverpool in 1826. They had eleven children of whom six daughters survived.
- Edmund Buxton1805 - 1882Photo credit: Mr Buxton, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio, 18614
Edmund Buxton descended from an ancient Derbyshire family, de Bawkstone. He was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and Broadgreen House was named after an an area of Liverpool. Edmund went on to become a successful merchant and self-made man. At the birth of his first son his occupation was ironmonger. When Adeline was born he was a hardware dealer, and when Cordelia was born he was a woollen draper. By the time Everhilda was born, he had become a 'gentleman'. When Edmund came to Nelson, he set up a shop called Buxtons and Co. in Trafalgar Street, a general store that sold a variety of goods imported in bulk to sell to the residents of the burgeoning town. Edmund died in Stoke, Nelson in 1882. - Martha Buxton senior1807 - 1875
Photo: Broadgreen Collection, courtesy of Black Family.
Martha was born in April 1808 in Bonsall, Derbyshire, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Buxton. It is likely that Martha and Edmund were cousins. They married n in 1826. Martha had 11 children that we know of, six of whom survived to adulthood and travelled to Nelson with their parents aboard the Castle Eden and William Alfred in 1850 to 1851. They were long and eventful voyages. When they arrived in Nelson, the family lived in town, probably above their shop, while Broadgreen House was built between 1853 -1855. Martha died in 1875. She was buried at Richmond, Nelson.
- Martha Buxton junior1829 - 1882Photo credit: Miss Buxton, Nelson Provincial Museum, William Davis, 120.
Martha was an invalid. and cared for by her family. She never married. Martha pre-deceased her father by one month, dying on 11 September 1882. - Adeline Buxton1830 - 1893Photo credit: Adeline Chisnall, Photo coloured on glass, Nelson Provincial Museum, A2587
Adeline married Thomas Chisnall in 1861. Thomas was head gardener at Broadgreen and their courtship was a scandal at the time. Although Adeline’s father, Edmund, at first opposed their marriage (and locked Adeline away), he finally relented and the couple married in the parlour at Broadgreen House on 30 October 1861. They went on to have four sons and the Chisnall family became well established respected farmers and fruit growers in the area. The family lived in the gatekeeper’s cottage on Nayland Road which still stands today. Adeline died in Nelson on 12 October 1893. - Cordelia Buxton1832 - 1912
Photo credit: Miss Buxton, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection, 46745.
Cordelia never married. She nursed both her invalid sister, Martha, and her elderly parents. When her parents died, she lived at Broadgreen House alone under reduced circumstances for some years. ‘Miss Delia’, as she was known, was fond of cats and kept a great number of them. When she sold the property to Mr F. Langbein in 1901, she returned to England. She died on 27 March 1912, in Dorchester, England.
- Everhilda Buxton1835 - 1897Photo: Broadgreen Collection, courtesy of Black Family.
Everhilda married William Black at Broadgreen in 1862. They had three sons. She died at the age of 62 and was buried at Richmond, Nelson. - Alice Buxton1841 - 1918Photo credit: Mr and Mrs Waring of Richmond, Nelson Provincial Museum, 328055.
Alice was born on 21 September 1841 at King St, Edge Hill, Liverpool and baptised 28 April 1842 at St Peters, Liverpool. She married Dr Edward Burman Waring on 1 January 1873 at St Barnabas Church, Stoke. Alice and Edward had no children. Alice died on 13 July 1918 and Edward died just a year later on 2 July 1919. - Matilda Buxton1845-1888Photo credit: Miss Buxton. William Davis. Nelson Provincial Museum, Davis Collection, 119.
Matilda was born 20 February 1845 in St Helier, Jersey in the Channel Islands. She married Henry Buckeridge at Broadgreen on 21 January 1864. They had three sons. She died on 12 February 1888 at Clifton, Tākaka.